Following the events of the Black July riots , and later the outbreak of the Sri Lankan Civil War , tens of thousands Sri Lankan Tamil refugees arrived in Tamil Nadu in four waves . The first wave on 24 July 1983 , after Black July , to the 29 July 1987 up until the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord , 134,053 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived in India . The first repatriation took place after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987 and between 24 December 1987 and 31 August 1989 , 25,585 refugees and non-camp Sri Lankan nationals returned to Sri Lanka . The second wave began with the start of Eelam War II after 25 August 1989 , where 122,000 Sri Lankan Tamils came to Tamil Nadu . On 20 January 1992 , after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi 54,188 refugees were voluntarily repatriated to Sri Lanka , until March 1995 . Eelam War III commenced in April 1995 starting the third wave or refugees . By 12 April 2002 , nearly 23,356 refugees had come to Tamil Nadu . The flow of refugees had stopped in 2002 because of the cease fire agreement
Black July riots
Black July
Sri Lankan Tamils in India