In early 1986 disputes amongst the EPRLF leadership led to it splitting into two factions: EPRLF (Ranjan) and EPRLF (Douglas).
In late 1986 the Tamil Tigers attacked the EPRLF, inflicting heavy losses.[3] Many of its cadres were killed or taken prisoner and its camps and weapons were seized by the Tigers. Douglas Devananda was blamed for the debacle.
After its military defeat by the Tamil Tigers the EPRLF transformed itself into political party and allied itself with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) who were occupying much of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka.
On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Varatharajah Permual moved a motion in the North Eastern Provincial Council declaring an independentEelam.[7]President Premadasa reacted to Permual's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province. The EPRLF's leadership fled to Madras (now Chennai), India.[8]
In 1997, after the Sri Lankan military had recaptured the Jaffna peninsula from the Tamil Tigers, the EPRLF re-opened its Jaffna office.[10] It took part in the 1998 local elections held in the peninsula and was able to win 13,140 votes (14.35%), winning 25 seats across 11 local councils.[11]
The party broke into two factions in 1999 when its General Secretary Kandaiah "Suresh" Premachandran made a deal with the Tamil Tigers.[10] The majority of the party formed the EPRLF (Varathar) wing under the leadership of Varatharajah Perumal whilst the rest formed the EPRLF (Suresh) wing under the leadership of Suresh Premachandran.[12] Crucially Suresh had control of most of the EPRLF's assets as well as its name (as registered with the Sri Lankan Department of Elections).[10]
Suresh wing
The Suresh wing joined other pro-Tamil Tiger parties in 2001 to form the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
The Varathar wing has restyled itself as the Padmanaba wing, after its murdered leader. It is registered as a political party with the Sri Lankan Department of Elections under the name of Padmanaba Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front.[13] In 2008 it joined with other anti-Tamil Tiger parties to form the Tamil Democratic National Alliance (later restyled Democratic Tamil National Alliance) to contest provincial and local elections.
The wing's de facto leader (Varatharajah Perumal is in exile in India) Kandiah "Robert" Subathiran was murdered on 14 June 2003.[14] The wing's current General Secretary (and de facto leader) is Thirunavukkarasu Sritharan (Sridharan).[15]
Paramilitary group
There have been repeated allegations that various factions of the EPRLF, despite their claim to have given up violence, operate armed wings which have worked with the IPKF and Sri Lankan Army. A group composed of former EPRLF cadres known as Razeek Group works along with the Sri Lankan Army as a paramilitary group in activities against the Tamil Tigers in the Batticaloa region. They have also been accused of indulging in massacres, kidnappings and torture [16]
^K T Rajasingham (20 April 2002). "Sri Lanka" The Untold Story". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 27 April 2002. Retrieved 28 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
