Several groups have alleged that there have been instances of state terrorism by Sri Lanka

Thousands of Sinhalese settlers were moved into traditional Tamil homelands.^{[citation needed]}Whole villages were emptied ^{[citation needed]} their Tamil residents driven out by the Sri Lankan Army and turned into refugees dependant on the government for rations ^{[citation needed]}. Their homes and lands were then offered to Sinhala settlers for free ^{[citation needed]}. Tamils were not opposed to individual migration but only to large scale government colonization schemes which changed the ethnic composition of an area, i.e. ethnic cleansing.

Generations of estate Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka for more than a 115 years. In 1948, at independence, the Tamils had 33% of the voting power in the legislature.^{[citation needed]}. Upon the disenfranchisement of the estate Tamils (in 1950), however, this proportion dropped to 20%. The Sinhalese obtained more than a 2/3 majority in the Parliament, making it impossible for Tamils to exercise an effective opposition to Sinhalese policies affecting them.

English was removed from its status as the official language and Sinhala was made the sole official language of Sri Lanka. All government employees were required to be fluent in Sinhala. Most Tamils who worked for the government lost their jobs. Government administration was offered only in Sinhala, even in areas where 99% of the population was literate in Tamil.^{[citation needed]} The Tamil Federal Party led a group Tamil volunteers and staged a sit down Satyagraha or peaceful protest of the kind popularized by Mahatma Gandhi in the days of the Indian freedom struggle, in Colombo. This protest was broken up by armed Sinhalese gangs, while Sinhalese policemen stood by and watched. Some protesters were thrown into nearby Beira Lake. Riots then broke out through out Sri Lanka where Tamils were assaulted, homes, shops and property burned.

In 1956, 150 Tamils were murdered. The violence continued for two more years.^{[citation needed]}

In 1958 another 150-200 Tamils were murdered, thousands more were assaulted and Tamil property looted.^{[citation needed]}. Over 25,000 Tamil refugees were relocated to the North. As peaceful protests against discrimination continued in 1961 the Sri Lankan Army attacked hundreds of men and women in Jaffna.^{[citation needed]}

Importing Tamil language films, books, magazines, journals, etc. from Tamil Nadu, India were banned. Sri Lanka also proscribe the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham and the Tamil Youth League. Culturally, the Tamil people were cut off from Tamil Nadu.^{[citation needed]} Foreign exchange for the long established practice of Tamil students going to India for university education stopped. Equally, examinations for external degrees from the University of London were abolished. Having thus cut off Tamil students from their traditional educational opportunities, Sri Lanka government introduced various restrictions on Tamil education^{[citation needed]}.

In short Sinhala students did not have to score as well as their Tamil counterparts in order to gain entrance to universities^{[citation needed]}. Professor K.M. de Silva from the University of Peradeniya had this to say at the time "The qualifying mark for admission to the medical faculties was 250 (out of 400) for Tamil students, whereas it was only 229 for the Sinhalese^{[citation needed]}. Worse still, this same pattern of a lower qualifying mark applied even when Sinhalese and Tamil students sat for the examination in English^{[citation needed]}. In short, students sitting for examinations in the same language, but belonging to two ethnic groups, had different qualifying marks^{[citation needed]}." The government then brought in district quotas. This effectively based university entrance on ethnicity^{[citation needed]}. Less than 15% of university seats were available for Tamils^{[citation needed]}.

A group of 200 Policemen went on rampage on the nights of May 31 to June 2 burning the market area of Jaffna, the office of the Tamil Newspaper, the home of the member of Parliament for Jaffna, the Jaffna Public Library and killing four people. The destruction of the Jaffna Public Library was the incident which appeared to cause the most distress to the people of Jaffna. The 95,000 volumes of the Public Library destroyed by the fire included numerous culturally important and irreplaceable manuscripts.

The fourth week of July 1983 (23 29) witnessed the worst violence and blood shed in Sri Lanka. This was following the ambush and killing of 13 Sri Lankan soldiers by the fledgling LTTE, which in itself was in response to alleations of the gang rape of a female Tamil doctor by Sri Lankan Army personnel^{[citation needed]}. During the week, the Sri Lankan state orchestrated violence that claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Tamils^{[citation needed]}; over a billion dollars worth of Tamils' property were destroyed. More than a hundred thousand Tamils were made destitute. The government of Sri Lanka itself systematically planned and executed the atrocities against the Tamils^{[citation needed]}. The government provided the rioters with voters' lists to identify the homes of Tamils. Once the Tamil homes were identified the occupants were either chased away, and in some cases hacked or burnt to death by the state sponsored criminals, and the properties were plundered. In Colombo, 53 political prisoners were massacred inside a high security prison. No individuals have been convicted of crimes relating to these incidents ^{[citation needed]}.

==1987-

ICRC Sixty five Tamil civilians were killed and 150 injured when government forces dropped multiple bombs on a church and surrounding grounds being used to shelter the refugees. The Church of St. Peter and Paul in Navaly had earlier been designated as a refuge by the government and Tamil civilians had been encouraged to take shelter there.

Amnesty International Thirteen Tamil civilians were reportedly killed in a spate of incidents on Kayts Island, a small islet off the northwestern coast of the Jaffna Peninsula that is strictly controlled by the Sri Lanka Navy, which has a major base there. On 13 May, at about 8.30 p.m., unidentified gunmen reportedly entered the home of Sellathurai Amalathas in Allaipiddy and opened fire. Eight people were killed on the spot, including a four-month-old baby and four-year-old boy, and one other person died later in hospital. In another incident, at around 10:30 p.m. the same night, unidentified gunmen reportedly entered the home of 72-year-old Murugesu Shanmugalingam in Puliyankoodal, also on Kayts Island, and shot him and two other members of his family dead. Ten shops in Puliyankoodal were reportedly burnt down. In Vangalady, gunmen reportedly entered the home of Ratnam Senthuran, a tea shop owner, and shot him dead. Other members of his family also were shot and injured, but managed to escape. Amnesty International has received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with the Eelam People’s Democratic Party, a Tamil political party that is opposed to the LTTE, were present at the scene of the killings. It is still not determined as to whether government soldiers carried out the killings.

BBC Report AP Article Survivors and witnesses of attack accused Sri Lankan forces for storming and then indiscriminately shooting and lobbing grenades inside the church where hundreds of Tamils were taking shelter. The shootings killed five people in the village and injured over forty, four of these were Tamil fishermen found shot execution style stilling clutching their identification cards. While many witnesses implicate Sri Lankan government forces, the Sri Lankan government says the responsibility for the casualities lies with Tamil rebels and denies accusations that it is deliberately targeting civilians.

• • ^Air strike kills displaced civilians