The 1971 Insurgency in Sri Lankan Literature in English
Sri Lanka and India have been Exceptional among Third-World countries in preserving a multi-party parliamentary system since gaining independence from their colonial master (Britain)Â—India in 1947, Sri Lanka in 1948. However, there have been two serious but abortive attempts to overturn the established order by violence in Sri Lanka. Oddly enough what may appear to be such an instance, in 1959 when Prime Minister Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was assassinated, was in fact a consequence of conflicts within his own party. In 1962 a few high-ranking officers of the police and armed services planned a coup and were arrested before the coup took place. In April 1971, there occurred the only planned and organized uprising against the