The Sri Lankan Home Guards were a paramilitary organization that played a significant role in the local security apparatus during the Sri Lankan civil war from 1983 to 2009. Over the course of the conflict, the Home Guards evolved from a poorly equipped self-defense force into a state-organized and armed unit that worked closely with the police and military.
The new emergence of the auxiliary forces such as the Home Guards began as the direct results of the broader rising ethnic conflict and the states response to the protest. The government relied on these locally recruited defense groups to help support the formal military regime and continue to have control over their territories, especially as violence became increasingly overwhelming in the border regions.
However, their operations remained controversial: In addition to their role as a security force, the Home Guards were repeatedly accused of human rights violations, involvement in ethnically motivated violence, and other atrocities.
Reports from the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International document allegations stated that many of the members of the Home Guards were a part of the defensive attacks on civilians, in particular those that were in ethnically mixed regions. These reports assert that poor training, very little oversight, and unorganized command structure led to the patterns of abuse. With the end of the civil war in May 2009 and the reorganization of state security structures, large parts of the Home Guards were integrated into the Civil Security Department system, and the Muslim Home Guard unit was disbanded. The addition of the Home Guards into the formal national security department was a result of the port-war efforts to centralize the auxiliary forces, however this action raised concern regarding accountability in human rights reporting.
Background The Home Guards in Sri Lanka were local auxiliary units established to protect Muslim villages in areas affected by communal and insurgent violence. The Home Guard system itself traces its origins to the early 1980s and was formalized into the National Home Guard Service in the mid-1980s under the Mobilization and Supplementary Forces Act, No. 40 of 1985, which creates the legal framework for establishing and administering supplementary forces, reserves and other civil defense formations. Distinct Muslim Home Guard units were later established during 1990 in response to a wave of attacks on Muslim communities along the east coast; these units operated as lightly armed, village-based defense detachments often under local police oversight.
In 2006, the Home Guard system underwent a major reorganization. Through a government gazette No. 1462/20 of 13 September 2006, the Home Guard Service was reorganized as the Civil Security Department (CSD) and placed within the Ministry of Defense. The reorganization aimed to standardize training, command structures, and pay for the auxiliary force to integrate it more closely with national security institutions.
The Muslim Home Guards were primarily deployed in areas territorial control was constantly challenged. This situates the role of the Home Guards within the wider context of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009), which was marked by widespread violence with numerous massacres targeting Tamil civilians. These incidents are part of a larger history of ethnic conflict between the Tamil minority and the Sinhala majority, intensified by the rise of the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE), a separatist group seeking autonomy. Major incidents of violence during this period are summarized below to illustrate the scale and nature of violence directed against Tamil communities.
The Sri Lankan judicial system has not prosecuted nor pursued legal proceedings against members of the Home Guards alleged to have participated in attacks on Tamil civilians. Across multiple phases of Sri Lanka's civil conflict, allegations involving actors aligned with the state have rarely turned into an investigation beyond initial reporting, resulting in a persistent gap between public reporting and judicial action. This absence of accountability has been noted as part of a broader, long-standing pattern of impunity.
The Sri Lankan Home Guards operated with official support, including arms and training provided by the Sri Lankan military, and frequently acted in coordination with state forces. This collaboration contributed to a series of massacres and systematic attacks on Tamil villages, particularly in the eastern districts; namely Trincomalee, Ampara, Batticaloa. Similar patterns of violence also emerged in Mullaitivu, in the Northern Province, where interethnic tensions between Tamils and Muslims had already been intensified by the war.
Attacks in Chronological Order
AttackDateLocationDeath TollInjuries, Vulnerable Victims & Property DamagesPerpetratorsReferencesMassacre of 18 Tamil fishermen9 December 1984Mullaitivu18Sinhalese Home GuardsMadawachchiya massacre11 December 1984Madawachchiya65Women were victims of rapeSinhalese Home Guards1985 Trincomalee massacresMay – September 1985Several places in Trincomalee280+Army, Sinhalese Home Guards, NavyMurugapuri massacre8 September 1985Murugapuri Trincomalee3Army, Sinhalese Home GuardsNilaveli massacre16 September 1985Nilaveli, Trincomalee40Army, Sinhalese Home GuardsKalvettu massacre20 September 1985Kalvettu, Ampara1510 injuredSinhalese Home GuardsSampur massacre27 November 1985Sampur, Trincomalee218 injured, 165 houses burnedArmy, Sinhalese Home Guards, NavyAnpuvalipuram Road shooting10 December 1985Anpuvalipuram, Trincomalee02 Tamil children injured and hospitalizedSinhalese Home GuardsRape and murder of 2 Tamil women in Muthur25 December 1985Muthur, Trincomalee22 women rapedMuslim Home GuardsAkkaraipattu massacre19 February 1986Akkaraipattu, Amparai805 women rapedArmy, Muslim Home GuardsSeruvila massacre12 June 1986Seruvila, Trincomalee212 aid workers InjuredSinhalese Home Guards1986 Thambalakamam massacre28 June 1986Thambalakamam, Trincomalee34Sinhalese Home GuardsMollipothana massacre10 July 1986Mollipothana, Trincomalee11Sinhalese Home GuardsPeruveli refugee camp massacre15 July 1986Peruveli, Trincomalee4820 injured, many women rapedArmy, Sinhalese Home GuardsSammanthurai massacre10 June 1990Sammanthurai, Amparai37Army, Muslim Home GuardsVeeramunai Massacres20 June 1990 – 15 August 1990Veeramunai, Amparai250+2,000 homes and a Hindu temple set on fire Muslim Home GuardsKalmunai massacre10 July 1990Kalmunai, Amparai31Army, Muslim Home GuardsTiraikerny massacre6 August 1990Tiraikerny, Amparai54+Victims included women and childrenMuslim Home GuardsXavierpuram massacre7 August 1990Alikampai, Amparai71 disappeared, 12 badly injured; houses, church and school burnedMuslim Home GuardsRev Fr. Eugene John Hebert and Betrum Francis (His Driver)15 August 1990Eravur, Batticaloa2Muslim Home Guards, ArmyEastern University massacre5 September 1990Vantharumulai, Batticaloa158Army, Muslim Home GuardsSathurukondan Massacre9 September 1990Sathurukondan, Batticaloa2055 infants, 42 children below the age of 10, 9 pregnant women and 28 seniors that were over 68 were victims of this attackArmy, Muslim Home GuardsSavukkadi massacre20 September 1990Savukkadi, Batticaloa3310 children and an infant were burnt to death.Army, Muslim Home GuardsThalavai massacre20 September 1990Thalavai, Batticaloa9+Army, Muslim Home Guards1990 Puthukkudiyiruppu massacre21 September 1990Puthukkudiyiruppu, Batticaloa17Victims included women and children. Serious injury of 27 othersMuslim Home Guards1990 Valaichchenai massacre22 December 1990Valaichchenai, Batticaloa9Sinhalese Home Guards1991 Eravur massacre20 February 1991Eravur, Batticaloa625 seriously wounded injuredSinhalese Home GuardsPolonnaruwa MassacresApril 29, 1992Muthugal and Karapola89+13 children under the age of 10 were victims of this attack Sinhalese Home Guards4th Colony village massacre24 September 1997AmparaiBetween 8 and 15Sinhalese Home Guards1998 Tampalakamam massacre1 February 1998Tampalakamam, Trincomalee8Sinhalese Home Guards, Police2006 Trincomalee massacre of NGO workers4 August 2006Muttur, Trincomalee17Army, Muslim Home Guards, Navy
The Deployment and Expansion of the Home Guards By 1987, Human Rights Watch estimated that around 11,000 Home Guards were active in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The Home Guard system continued to expand, reaching approximately 22,000 personnel by early 1991 and operating under police supervision to protect villages. By 1994, at least 17,000 Home Guards were stationed at security points across the island in peacekeeping and law-enforcement support roles. More than 20,000 Home Guards were also involved in election security measures in 2002. Following the 2006 restructuring of the Home Guard Service under Gazette Notification No. 1462/20, which established the Civil Security Department (CSD), the force expanded rapidly and by early 2009, an estimated 45,000 predominantly Sinhalese villagers belonged to the Civil Security Department.
Most of the massacres carried out by the Sri Lankan Home Guards were predominantly concentrated in the eastern districts, specifically in Trincomalee, Amparai, and Batticaloa, which were known for their agricultural productivity and access to coastal trade routes. Alongside these eastern districts, Mullaitivu in the Northern Province also experienced significant violence which served as a key LTTE stronghold.
In the eastern districts, Tamil populations often lived as minorities amongst Muslim communities. Notably, these regions experienced frequent incidents of communal violence. Home Guards, operating in coordination with Sri Lankan state security forces (local police and army), are reported to have played a vital role in exacerbating tensions and conducting operations aimed at destabilizing and damaging Tamil-Muslim relations, in order to assert control over the contested territories.
In December 1984, the Sri Lankan government authorized the relocation of roughly 200,000 individuals from the southern part of the country to predominantly Tamil‑populated areas. A portion of these settlers were recruited as home guards and supplied with shotguns and automatic weapons under the guise of local self‑protection. These armed units have been accused of serious human rights abuses against Tamil civilians and are considered to operate beyond the authority of the police and security forces.
Weli Oya “System L” The Sri Lankan Home Guards have been instrumental in altering the demographic landscape of Tamil-speaking areas; acting as a vanguard for colonization. While their official function is defensive, they actively expand colonized areas by attacking nearby Tamil villages and are used as a first line of defence by the military to protect army camps and consolidate power in areas captured by the armed forces.
The strategy of using the Home Guards is part of a broader state-sponsored colonization effort, which includes schemes like Weli Oya that settled Sinhalese farmers on lands formerly populated by ethnic Tamils. The Mahaweli Authority backed this effort by systematically arming the settlers, using schemes such as System L in Weli Oya to advance frontier militarization. This approach aimed to alter the demographic balance of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, effectively changing the region's composition in favour of the majority Sinhalese population.