1987–1989 JVP insurrection

The 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, also known as the 1988–1989 revolt or the JVP troubles, was an armed revolt in Sri Lanka, led by the Marxist–Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, against the Government of Sri Lanka. The insurrection, like the previous one in 1971, was unsuccessful. The main phase of the insurrection was a low-intensity conflict that lasted from April 1987 to December 1989. The insurgents led by the JVP resorted to subversion, assassinations, raids, and attacks on military and civilian targets while the Sri Lankan government reacted through counter-insurgency operations to suppress the revolt.

Guerrilla forces of the insurrection were led by the military branch of the JVP, the Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya (DJV). The insurgency reached its peak in 1988 and impacted all Sri Lankan civilians, including those without any political stake in the situation. Attacks on civilians by pro-government guerrillas began after the re-election of president Ranasinghe Premadasa. A period of government mass killings soon began following the ceasefire of the Sri Lankan Civil War and the expulsion of the Indian Peace Keeping Force, resulting in the death of many Sri Lankan civilians and multiple Indian expatriates.

JVP received support from its one-time enemy, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). However, this alliance broke down following the SLFP's participation in the provincial elections which the JVP and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) openly boycotted. The government lifted the ban on both parties in 1987, hoping that they would participate in the elections, but this attempt ultimately failed. For over two years, the state saw mass militancy of youth and workers, mass execution, and feuds between government militias and the JVP. Anti-JVP militias also caused violence, including the Black Cat group, the Eagles of the Central Hills and the leftist People's Revolutionary Red Army.

In 1989, Sri Lanka Armed Forces launched Operation Combine (Ops Combine). Even after revolutionary Rohana Wijeweera was killed, the insurgency persisted. Violence escalated when the DJV leader Keerthi Vijayabahu took over. DJV members also operated in the LTTE-occupied areas of Trincomalee against the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the IPKF. The DJV was supported by Tamil militants so that it could also operate as a front against the Indian forces. Many smaller anti-government groups gave up the armed struggle, but the largest threats persisted, with the DJV continuing to operate as an armed group until December 1989. Ranjan Wijeratne, who played a major role in the Ops Combine, claimed he was ready to launch a similar counterinsurgency against the LTTE. Wijeratne was assassinated in 1991, which led to the outbreak of the second phase of the Sri Lanka-LTTE conflict, known as the Second Eelam War.