updated: Apr 27 2021, 01:51 ist
April 21 marks two years of the deadly Easter attacks in Sri Lanka led by Islamist groups like National Tauheed Jamaat (NTJ) and Jaamiyathul Millathu Ibrahim (JMI), drawing attention to the Islamic radicalisation in the island. Two years hence the attention is still on Islamic radicalisation. But what about other radicalisations in the island state?
Post-independence Sri Lanka in fact witnessed three radical movements – Sinhala, Tamil and Islamic – that were primarily youth revolts. Sinhala radicalism was spearheaded by the JVP, firstly in the early 1970s and later in the late 1980s. Tamil radical movement that initially started in a moderate manner in the 1950s turned militant in the early 1980s, principally led by the LTTE.