Ltte and Terrorrism in Srilanka

8/3/2019 Ltte and Terrorrism in Srilanka

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LTTE AND TERRORISM IN SRILANKA

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

BACKGROUND AND FORMATION ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.

TERRORIST ATTACKS UNDERTAKEN........................................................6

WORLDWIDE OPERATION ........................................................................... 7

SRI LANKAN WAR ......................................................................................... 9

INDIA AND SRI LANKA............................................................................... 10

INDIA AND US &WORLD RESPONSE TO LTTE ....................................... 12

MILITARY DEFEAT ...................................................................................... 14

UNITED NATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION .......................... 15

REGROUPING AND PRESENT SCENARIO ................................................ 17

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 19

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 21


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INTRODUCTION

The ethnic conflict of Sri Lanka is a well-known issue of the international political arena. Desireto maintain the unitary state structure of the country, while weakening the political solution to

the deadly ethnic civil war in Sri Lanka, aggravated the ethnic tensions between the Tamils and

the Sinhalese, the dominant majority ethnic group .

The campaign evolved into the Sri Lankan Civil War, which was one of the longest running

armed conflicts in Asia until the LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan Military in May 2009.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was founded in May 1976 by Velupillai

Prabhakaran, it waged a raging secessionist campaign that sought to create Tamil Eelam, an

independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

Post nine eleven the LTTE was listed as a terrorist organization both in the UK and USA and

subsequently in 2006 by the European Union. It is the only terrorist group which once possessed

its own Military Tigers (infantry),Sea Tigers (sea wing) and Air Tigers (Air Wing), in the

world, began its armed campaign in Sri Lanka for a separate Tamil homeland in 1983.

Continued fundraising abroad through which terrorist activities in Sri Lanka are being sustained

by the LTTE, has become a major factor militating against government's search for a political

solution on the basis of extensive devolution of power to address the grievances of all groups

comprising the country's citizenry.

The activities of the LTTE abroad have also received considerable publicity in Sri Lanka. There

is therefore a growing public opinion against the impunity with which the LTTE conducts its

fundraising activities and their propaganda work directed at sustaining terrorism in Sri Lanka.

This project aims to provides an overview of the conflict, emphasizing on the role played by

LTTE. It attempts to look at how the Sinhalese political elites in their quest for a power

attempted to consolidate the unitary structure of the country since country's independence in


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1948, and the Sinhalese unwillingness to share the power with the Tamils led the Tamils to lose

trust in the state and its institutions and thus, gave birth to the violent Tamil political movements

including that of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Finally the current scenario in

Sri lanka would be dealt with .

BACKGROUND AND FORMATION

A sizable group in Sri lanka is the Indian Tamils. They are differentiated from the Sri lanka

tamils by the time of their arrival in Sri lanka. They are the descendants of south Indians broughtto Sri lanka by the british to work on the tea and coffee estates in the 19

thcentuary.

They believe that they are culturally distinct from the Srilanka tamils and both groups consider

themselves to be separate ethnic groups. When India was still a British colony, British colonial

authorities made all the Tamilian people move, they moved to a lot of countries among them, Sri

Lanka, with one of the biggest population of Tamils. Back in the days of the British Empire, the

divide and rule policies of the British rulers created lots of animosity between the Sinhala

majority and the minority Tamils.

The problem occurred when the Tamils first moved from India, since they were all new to the

country and to all the traditions those people had, they started to be treated in a different way, not

the way they treated others. The government did not support them and they started to live in

poverty, but even though a lot of time passed since then, nothing changed, many of Tamilians are

still experiencing poor living conditions as well as working conditions.

In the '50s a series of laws were passed that drastically reduced the opportunities for education

and employment available to Tamils in Srilanka.

Though many of these laws were repealed by later governments. It didn't stop the powder keg

exploding in 1983 when terrorists killed 13 Sri Lankan soldiers in the northern province.

Sections of the Sinhala community enraged by this incidence took to the streets burning and

looting Tamil shops and homes. The authorities took some time to bring the situation under

control. This was the point of no return. Many tamils left the country, the economy and the

tourism industry in particular suffered heavy blows from which it has not fully recovered 15

years later. And the support for the Tamil militants grew.


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Terrorism in Sri Lanka actually began in 1970 with the formation of a militant student body

called the "Tamil Students Movement" to protest government plans to limit access of Tamil

students to universities. Very soon this movement went underground and turned to overt terrorist

activities. Violence escalated in Jaffna from 1972 onwards, beginning with the publication of a

new constitution seen by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) as anti-Tamil.

The year 1972 saw the formation of two Tamil terrorist groups the Tamil New Tigers (TNT)

and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), splinter groups of the original Tamil Students

Movement.

In July 1983, countrywide riots and clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils left thousands of

Tamils dead and several hundred thousand as refugees. Large number of Government forces

were deployed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. This period marks the beginning of the

LTTE guerrilla campaign against the Sri Lankan Government.

The LTTE was formed on May 5, 1976 Headquartered in the Wanni region, under the leadership

of Velupillai Prabhakaran, and emerged as perhaps the most lethal, well organised and

disciplined terrorist force .

Its ultimate goal -: to seize control of the country from the Sinhalese ethnic majority and create

an independent Tamil state ,the Tamil Eelam in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri

Lanka.


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TERRORISTS ATTACKS UNDERTAKEN

The LTTE is notorious for its suicide bombings. Since the late 1980s,. Targets have included

transit hubs, Buddhist shrines, and office buildings.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the LTTE invented the suicide belt and

pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks. The group has conducted approximately two

hundred suicide attacks, assassinated two world leadersthe only terrorist organization to do

so1. Beyond suicide bombings, the LTTE has used conventional bombs and Claymore mines to

attack political and civilian targets,..

In an April 2008 report, the U.S. State Department also accused the LTTE of engaging in

abductions and extortion. According to which violations of the 2002 cease-fire agreement by

both the LTTE and the government killed more than 5,000 people since 2006.

Assassinations and attacks on officials allegedly committed by the LTTE include the following2:

y The May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a campaignrally in India by a woman tiger who was allegedly raped by IPKF blew herself up killing

former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi along with 16 other bystanders.

y the May 1993 assassination of Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa which alsokilled 23 bystanders;

y the July 1999 assassination of a Sri Lankan member of parliament, Neelan Thiruchelvam,an ethnic Tamil involved in a government-sponsored peace initiative;

y a pair of December 1999 suicide bombings in Colombo that wounded Sri LankanPresident Chandrika Kumaratunga;

1http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/january/tamil_tigers011008

2http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations/liberation-tigers-tamil-eelam-aka-tamil-tigers-sri-lanka-

separatists/p9242


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y the June 2000 assassination of Sri Lankan Industry Minister C.V. Goonaratne;y the August 2005 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar;y the January 2008 assassination of a member of parliament from the opposition United

National Party (UNP), T. Maheswaran;

y the January 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Nation-Building Minister D. M.Dassanayake;

y the February 2008 assassination of two cadres of the political party and paramilitarygroup Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP); and

y the April 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Highway Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle.

WORLDWIDE OPERATION

It set up a parallel civil administration within its territory by establishing structures such as a

Police force, law courts, postal services, banks, administrative offices, television and radio

broadcasting station, etc. The most prominent of the LTTE state structure' is the Tamil Eelam

Judiciary and the Tamil Eelam Police. The Tamil Eelam Police, with its headquarters at

Kilinochchi was formed in year 1993, and reportedly has several wings, including traffic, crime

prevention, crime detection, information bureau, administration and a special force. LTTE cadres

collect taxes, its courts administer their version of justice and the entire law and order machinery

is LTTE-controlled.

The LTTE is still believed to have a wide network of publicity and propaganda activities with

offices and cells located in at least 54 countries. The largest and most important centers were

located in leading western states with large Tamil expatriate communities, most notably the UK,

France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Australia3.

In addition to these States, the LTTE is also known to be represented in countries as far-flung as

Cambodia, Burma, South Africa and Botswana. Its publicity networks covering Europe,

Australia and North America also included radio and TV satellites.

Another important aspect of LTTEs strategy is fundraising. The majority of financial support

comes from six main areas, all of which contain large Tamil Diasporas: Switzerland, Canada,

Australia, the UK, the US, and the Scandinavian countries. The LTTE has established a wide

network of offices and cells practically across the globe.

They have secured a considerable degree of visibility in the United Kingdom the headquarters

of its "International Secretariat" as well as in Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland,

Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and South Africa. These networks of offices and

3www.state.gov/documents/organization/65479.pdf


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cells carry out propaganda, organize the procurement and movement of weapons and raise funds

from the Tamil Diaspora4.

The LTTE's overt organizations supported Tamil separatism by lobbying foreign governments

and the United Nations. The LTTE also used its international contacts to procure weapons,

communications, and bomb making equipment. The LTTE exploited large Tamil communities inNorth America, Europe, and Asia to obtain funds and supplies for its fighters in Sri Lanka. The

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were involved in numerous trans national criminal activities,

including partnerships with Pakistani heroin producers/traffickers, alien smuggling, extortion

from Tamil families living abroad, and various forms of fraud. All this in order to raise funds for

their insurgent activities in Sri Lanka . The LTTE also attacked several ships in Sri Lankan

waters, including foreign commercial vessels and infrastructure targets such as commuter trains,

buses, oil tanks, and power stations. The LTTE prefered to attack vulnerable government

facilities then withdraw before reinforcements arrive, or to time its attacks to take advantage of

security lapses on holidays, at night, or in the early morning.

Reports also claim that LTTE raises money through drug running, particularly heroin from

Southeast and Southwest Asia. The LTTE is in a particularly advantageous position to traffic

narcotics due to the highly efficient international network it has developed to smuggle munitions

around the world. Many of these arms routes pass either directly through or very close to major

drug producing and transit centers, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, southern China,

Afghanistan and Pakistan5.

Military and arms procurement played a vital part in the LTTEs battle against the Government

sources. The LTTE arms network was headed by Kumaran Pathmanathan colloquially known as

"KP." At the heart of the KPs operations was a highly secretive shipping network. The shipsfrequently visit Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa, Burma, Turkey, France, Italy and

Ukraine, scouting for arms.

4

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:oJd8o44lyvMJ:www.srilankaembassy.be/PressRealease/PressReleas

eFullText.pdf+They+have+secured+a+considerable+degree+of+visibility+in+the+United+Kingdom+%E2%80%93+th

e+headquarters+of+its+%22International+Secretariat%22+%E2%80%93+as+well+as+in+Canada,+France,+Germany

,+Holland,+Switzerland,+Italy,+Sweden,+Denmark,+Norway,+Australia+and+South+Africa.+These+networks+of+off

ices+and+cells+carry+out+propaganda,+organize+the+procurement+and+movement+of+weapons+and+raise+fun

ds+from+the+Tamil+Diaspora.&hl=en&gl=in&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShahtUTNhtlnrLaKMWBwgOy0mCNuTcIlc50dKc

NpezKV2SmT1WOfsSrqzjGV6wzTnNYcq4h9xoxYZRsP3C2Ud7K4SkwkIvQiByw5g2HxlHl-

DMty7x_WhCTNY5FG7DSJsroyf_I&sig=AHIEtbQ6N9GleLg1fzBHRHDZ4oqJO5OFZw&pli=1

5

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=D936BCDBEFB0DD3A11CC3C643143D8AB.inst2_3a?docId=

104071982


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The LTTE also attacked several commercial ships flying foreign flags in the waters off the north

and east of the country. In 1998, threats were directed at domestic air carriers flying between

Colombo and Jaffna, and in September of that year, a domestic civilian aircraft flying from

Colombo to Jaffna crashed, killing everyone on board. The cause of the accident is still

unknown.

Moreover, the generally unrestrained liberal democratic freedom that the LTTE has been allowed

to enjoy in these states has enabled the group to slowly build and develop a complex, multi-

layered and truly integrated global support structure which has become increasingly difficult to

detect and root out.

THE SRILANKAN WAR

The Sri Lankan Civil War , was a an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other few rebel groups, which fought to create an

independent Tamil state named Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island.

After two decades of fighting and four failed attempts at peace talks, including the unsuccessful

deployment of the Indian Army, the Indian Peace Keeping Force from 1987 to 1990, a lasting

negotiated settlement to the conflict appeared possible when a cease-fire was declared in

December 2001, and a ceasefire agreement signed with international mediation in 2002.

However, limited hostilities renewed in late 2005 and the conflict began to escalate until the

government launched a number of major military offensives against the LTTE beginning in July

2006, driving the LTTE out of the entire Eastern province of the island. The LTTE then declared

they would "resume their freedom struggle to achieve statehood.

The War ended in May 2009 after surviving for nearly 26 years and causing significant hardships

for the population, environment and the economy of the country, with an estimated 80,000

100,000 people killed during its course.


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INDIA AND SRLANKA

India became involved in the conflict in the 1980s for a number of reasons, including its leaders

desire to project India as the regional power in the area and worries about India's own Tamils

seeking independence as well as a flood of refugees entering India. The latter was particularly

strong in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where ethnic kinship led to strong support for

independence for Sri Lankan Tamils.

Throughout the conflict, the Indian central and state governments supported both sides in

different ways. Beginning in the 1980s, India, through its intelligence agency, provided arms,

training and monetary support to a number of Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups, including the

LTTE and its rival Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO).

After subsequent negotiations, India and Sri Lanka entered into the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in

July 1987. Thoughout the negotiations, India had acted as an intermediary between the Sri lanka

government and the Tigers. The peace accord assigned a certain degree of regional autonomy in

the Tamil areas with Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) controlling the

regional council and called for the Tamil militant groups to lay down their arms.

India was to send a peacekeeping force, named the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), part of

the Indian Army, to Sri Lanka to enforce the disarmament and to watch over the regional

council.

Although the accord was signed between the governments of Sri Lanka and India, and the Tamil

militant groups did not have a role in the agreement, most Tamil militant groups accepted it. But

the LTTE rejected the accord because they opposed the candidate, who belonged to the EPRLF,

for chief administrative officer of the merged Northern and Eastern provinces. Instead, the LTTE

named three other candidates for the position, which India rejected. The LTTE subsequently

refused to hand over their weapons to the IPKF.


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Thus LTTE found itself engaged in military conflict with the Indian Army, and launched its first

attack on an Indian army rations truck on October 8, killing five Indian para-commandos who

were on board by strapping burning tires around their necks. The government of India decided

that the IPKF should disarm the LTTE by force, and the Indian Army launched number of

assaults on the LTTE, including a month-long campaign dubbed Operation Pawan to win control

of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. The ruthlessness of this campaign, and the Indian army's

subsequent anti-LTTE operations made it extremely unpopular among many Tamils in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan nationalist sentiment led many Sinhalese to oppose the continued Indian presence in

Sri Lanka. These led to the Sri Lankan government's call for India to quit the island.

SRI LANKA AND US

Certainly because of the suffering and bloodshed that the Tamil Tigers have caused, US

stated that its ruthless tactics have inspired terrorist networks worldwide, including alQaeda in Iraq. Also the group has placed operatives in their own backyard, discreetly

raising money to fund its bloody terrorist campaign overseas, including purchases of

weapons and explosives.

The U.S. government designated the Tigers a foreign terrorist organization, making their

activities illegal & determined to stop them, using the full range of investigative and

intelligence capabilities6.

In April 2008 , for example, it struck an important blow when the Joint Terrorism Task

Force in New York arrested the alleged U.S. director of the Tigers. The man supposedly

held several fundraising events at a church and various public schools in Queens and in

northern New Jersey in 2004. Also accused of arranging high-level meetings between the

groups leaders and U.S. supporters.

It has also arrested several Tamil Tiger-related suspects in the New York City region.

And in Baltimore, following a multi-agency investigation, a pair of Indonesian men pled

guilty and were sentenced recently for working with others to export surface to air

missiles, state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns, and night vision goggles to the Tigers in

Sri Lanka7.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its January 10, 2008 report stated that the

LTTE is one of the most dangerous and deadly extremist outfits in the world ,most

capable guerrilla organisation in the world and the world should be concerned about the

outfit as they had inspired networks worldwide, including the al-Qaeda in Iraq.

6http://www.lagunajournal.com/world_terrorist_the_tamil_tigers.htm

7http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items08/120108-2.html


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REACTION OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD TO

THE ACTIVITIES OF LTTE8

The earliest action against an LTTE front organization was taken in the U.K., when in October

2000 (even before the LTTE was eventually proscribed in the UK in February 2001), an

investigation was launched into the activities of the TRO in UK, and the organization was

subsequently removed from the register of charities by the UK Charity Commission on 10

August 2005. One of the findings of the report was that TRO Sri Lanka liaised with the LTTE

in determining where funds could be applied and also that the trustees of TRO/UK exercised

little or no control over the application of funds in Sri Lanka and failed to demonstrate a clear

audit trail relating to expenditure. They also failed to provide the commission with anyexplanation as to the provenance of some of the funds received from the US and Canada.

Although the TRO was de-listed from the charitable organizations list in the UK, it continues to

collect funds within the UK, through White Pigeon, another front organization of the LTTE. (It

is noteworthy that subsequently both the TRO and White Pigeon were proscribed in the US in

2007.)

Notwithstanding the de-listing of the TRO, numerous LTTE front organizations continue to

operate in the UK to carry forward the activities done by these organizations for the LTTE.

In France, 21 activists belonging to LTTE front organizations including Nadarajah Mathinthiran,

in-Charge of the Coordination Committee of Tamils in France (CCTF) were arrested in April,

May and September 2007. for criminal conspiracy with a view to perpetrate acts of terrorism,

financing of terrorist enterprise and extortion

8TIME TO ACT , The LTTE, its Front Organizations, and the Challenge to Europe, EU-US INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR

ON LTTE 9th -10th Dec 2008 EUROPOL The Hague , pdf .


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In Italy, on 19 June 2008, Italian police arrested 28 Sri Lankan suspected LTTE sympathisers for

providing funding for the group. According to Naples police all suspects are Sri Lankan citizens

and extorted money from their fellow nationals in the various cities and sent it home to finance

the LTTE. The investigations are continuing.

In Denmark, TRO-Denmark has had its assets amounting to DKK 52,000 (over 7,000 Euros)frozen for supporting the LTTE.

In Canada, on 13 June 2008, the Government proscribed the Toronto-based front organization of

the LTTE, the World Tamil Movement (WTM), under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Canada. The

directive issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions advised banks and

insurance companies to notify the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or Canadian

Security Intelligence Service if they held any accounts linked to the WTM.

The LTTE is entrenched in Canada and a 58-page RCMP document refers to the WTM as "the

Canadian arm of the LTTE. Documents emerging from the investigations into the WTM haveestablished, inter alia that the WTM is a foreign branch of the LTTE and that the WTM received

direct instructions, through an operational manual dated 28 July 2003, from the LTTE Leader

Prabhakaran, inter alia, on raising funds for the LTTE. Whether to designate the TRO a terrorist

"entity" under the Anti-Terrorism Act, is believed to be currently under consideration in Canada.


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MILITARY DEFEAT

In May 16, 2009, the Sri Lankan government declared the twenty-six year long conflict had

ended.

The military claimed it had defeated the rebels and killed the LTTE's elusive leader Vellupillai

Prabhakaran. The group conceded defeat, several LTTE fighters committed suicide when they

became surrounded.

However, some experts warn it may be too early to write off the group, which has proved to be a

ruthless guerilla outfit in the past.

Thus collapse of LTTE was due to multiple miscalculations by LTTE leadership primarilyPrabhaharan. Main reasons behind the collapse are as follows9.-

1. LTTE lost the support of Tamil people in Sri lanka . In fact Tamil people were literallyhappy to see the end of LTTE. This is a far cry from the times when the people

affectionately called them as "boys".

2. LTTE was isolated internationally with either countries working against it or standingneutral. For example in spite of the their own rivalry all major powers US, Russia, China

and India helped Srilankan forces.

3. LTTE was so much focused on getting the support of West and Tamil Nadu . LTTE madeno attempt at all in winning the support of Sinhalese community in the South. Leftmovement in Srilanka was sympathetic to and many occasions championed the Tamil's

struggle. During the ceasefire LTTE could have built an alliance with Left movement in

South. On the other hand LTTE's actions during and after ceasefire basically alienated the

entire Sinhalese community.

9http://www.scribd.com/doc/37841537/Indian-Peacekeeping-Force-in-Sri-Lanka


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4. India provided much needed intelligence and logistics support for Srilankan forces. LTTEmilitary communication was monitored by Indian agencies and was provided to Srilankan

forces.

5. Sri lankan forces were highly professional and ran a well planned and effective campaignunder very capable leadership.

6. LTTE lost it's conventional war capability after Karuna's defection and loss of easterncadres.

7. Without any air protection LTTE lost the conventional war in East. It should haveimmediately reverted to guerrilla warfare and defended it's rear base in Mullaitivu .

Instead it was defending urban areas and places of symbolic value.

UNITED NATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

By mid-2000, human rights groups estimated that more than one million people in Sri Lanka

were internally displaced persons, living in camps, homeless and struggling for survival. As a

result, a significant peace movement developed in the late 1990s, with many organizations apart

from UN holding peace camps, conferences, trainings and peace meditations, and many other

efforts to bridge the two sides at all levels.

As early as February 2000, Norway was asked to mediate by both sides, and initial international

diplomatic moves began to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

The UN Security Council demanded that Tamil separatists holding out against the Sri Lankan

military surrender renounce terrorism, and allow a UN-assisted evacuation of the remaining

civilians in the conflict area, and join the political process allow civilians trapped in the war zone

to leave..

The Security Council "strongly condemned" the Tigers and accused them of using civilians

trapped in a small strip of land as human shields10

.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, accused both sides guilty of violating the

international law."The fact that both sides have been shooting at civilians as they leave the safe

zone is one gross manifestation of the apparent violation of international humanitarian law," shesaid

11.

10http://www.telo.org/February2009.html

11http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/news-gaza5.html


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China and Russia have been among some countries which have opposed the idea of a formal

Security Council discussion of the conflict, which has spanned 26 years, saying it being an

internal matter for the Sri Lankans12

.

Human Rights Watch had suggested The UN Security Council should impose sanctions on

armed groups in Sri Lanka for using children in their forces. The LTTE and the Karuna groupwho used children to fight their battles was a clear violation of international law and Security

Council resolutions.

Human Rights Watch also called upon the UN Security Council to publicly condemn the Sri

Lankan government for failing to investigate cases of child abduction and recruitment in

government-controlled territory, and the complicity of its security forces in abductions by the

Karuna group.

On January 31, 2008, UNICEF reported 1,430 outstanding cases of LTTE child recruitment,

including at least 196 children still under the age of 18 in the LTTE ranks. In a report onchildren and armed conflict worldwide made public in January, the UN secretary-general listed

the LTTE for the fifth consecutive time since 2002 for violating international standards regarding

the recruitment and use of child soldiers. Listing the Karuna group for the second time13

.

In a separate report specifically on Sri Lanka issued in December, the secretary-general noted

that the Karuna group continued to abduct children, and had failed to effectively engage with the

United Nations to end child recruitment.

Human Rights Watch also recommended Security Council sanctions against the Karuna group

due to its continual violations of international standards.

In addition it also criticized the Sri Lankan government for failing to thoroughly investigate

cases of abduction and complicity of security forces in child abduction by the Karuna group.

Reports by the secretary-general, the Special Advisor to the Special Representative to the

Secretary-General on children and armed conflict Allan Rock, and Human Rights Watch have all

found complicity by Sri Lankan security forces in the abduction of children by the Karuna

group14

.

As a result of the pressure from the UN , the Members of a government committee was

appointed by Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe to investigate abductions and child

recruitment in the country .

12http://www.scribd.com/doc/38851187/Issues-for-Debate-in-Human-Rights-Selections-from-CQ-Researcher

13http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,LKA,,47bea7ed1e,0.html

14http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/02/20/un-sanction-ltte-karuna-group-child-soldiers


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RE GROUPING & PRESENT SCENARIO

Although the May 16, 2009 defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has dramatically

reduced the diasporas influence, the majority of Tamils outside Sri Lanka continue to support aseparate state.

Following the defeat of the LTTE, the mood in the diaspora has been a mix of anger, depression

and denial. Although many had mixed feelings about the LTTE,as some maintain that it was

widely seen as the only group that stood up for Tamils and won them any degree of respect.

The Tigers humiliating defeat, the enormous death toll in the final months of the war and the

internment of more than a quarter million Tamils left the diaspora feeling powerless, betrayed by

the West, demanding justice and, in some cases, wanting revenge. A minority in the community

is happy the LTTE is gone, since it directed much of its energy to intimidating and even killing

those Tamils who challenged their rule.

The international community too has been pressing the government to enact constitutional

reforms to share power with and protect the rights of Tamils and other minorities now that the

war is over.

Most in the country are exhausted by decades of war and are more concerned with rebuilding

their lives under difficult circumstances than in continuing the struggle for an independent state.

There is no popular support for a return to armed struggle. Without the LTTE to enforce a

common political line, Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka are proposing substantial reforms within a

united Sri Lanka.

According to a notification issued by the Union home ministry, even though the LTTE has been

"decimated in Sri Lanka ,recent reports reveal that remnant LTTE cadres and leaders are

regrouping in Tamil Nadu". The notification said the possibility of its remnant cadres using India

and especially Tamil Nadu as a rear base for their re-grouping activities cannot be ruled out. It

also said the possibility of their entering in the guise of Tamil refugees also cannot be ruled out.


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Sources said LTTE sympathisers were posing a security threat by continuing to spread anti-India

propaganda on the internet accusing the Indian leadership and its officialdom of being

responsible for their defeat.

Nonetheless despite the end of the struggle, most Tamils abroad remain profoundly committed to

Tamil Eelam, the existence of a separate state in Sri Lanka. This has widened the gap betweenthe diaspora and Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Reports claiming activities of certain remnant cadres have been noticed in Tamil Nadu have

come out and an extension of ban on LTTE is required.

In 2010 reports came outstating that elements of the LTTE have been trying to re-consolidate

the organization by raising money from the Tamil diaspora.

Funding networks established by the LTTE over decades even though seriously weakened but

are still in place. There is little chance, however, of the Tigers regrouping in the diaspora .

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa have also asserted that the government is vigilant

against any efforts by the remnants of the LTTE to regroup after the rebel outfit's chief Velupillai

Prabhakaran was killed .

Also recently reports of the LTTE planning to target VVIPs during Assembly elections have

come out15. Some probable targets of the LTTE, as perceived by the Central intelligence

agencies, are the Prime Minister, National Security Advisor and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister,

among others, as the sources maintain.

However the DGP of Sri lanka, Letika Saran. denies presence of operatives of the banned LTTE

in Tamil Nadu16

. Stating that the police have confirmed that there were no LTTE elements in

Tamil Nadu in the wake of an alert on the threat to political leaders in the state. Despite that

adequate protection would be given to political leaders in the state during the ensuing assembly

elections.

With its huge population of Sri Lankan Tamils, Canada fears that resentment over the defeat of

the Tamil Tigers last to last year may lead to violent response by sections of the 300,00-strong

community .

Canadian law enforcement officials & security agencies have been concerned that, if left

unchecked, LTTE activities could result in an event similar to the terrorist bombing of an Air

15http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1448097.ece

16

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/


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India jet in 1985 to avenge the army attack on the Golden Temple to flush out militants, which

was planned and funded by Sikh separatists in Canada.

Titled 'The Sri Lankan Diaspora After The LTTE', the report by Brussels-based International

Crisis Group (ICG) says: "The Tigers' humiliating defeat, the enormous death toll in the final

months of the war and the internment of more than a quarter million Tamils (has) left thediaspora feeling powerless, betrayed by the West, demanding justice and, in some cases, wanting

revenge ."

CONCLUSION

Political developments in Sri lanka in 2009 centered primarily around the end of the protracted

civil war between the state and the LTTE , with total military defeat of the LTTE.

Sri lanka subsequently entered an uncertain phase of post- civil war political reconstruction. The

announcement to hold early presidential elections in January 2010 added to uncertainities to Sri

lankas post civil war political process.

The failure of federalism to take hold in the developing world has been attributed primarily to

factors related to the political intergration of ethnic minorities. The integration of diverse

minorities into a nation-state has been a difficult task for many developing societies. During the

last twenty years, several multi ethinic nations have desended into an intractable civil war the Sri

lankan Conflict being noteworthy.

The group threatened not only the domestic stability of srilanka and India but the security of the

entire international system as a whole. Especially with globalization, events that effect the affairs

of one state can have important implications for governments both regionally and globally.

The Tigers carried out acts of terrorism. They made fatal mistakes, but they also mounted a few

carefully-planned and bravely-executed missions.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka, defenseless, have been led to the worst situation ever in their history, a

crisis out of which no one can predict if they will ever emerge.


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The failure of the LTTE leadership was because of being unreceptive to advice, brutalilty

towards dissenters, had little grasp of the wider international picture. He was unable to recognise

trends in time, and was unable to change policy and tactics.

His final, desperate measure of forcing trapped and terrified children, women and men to act as a

buffer (even when he must have realised that the government was not going to relent in itsadvance) does not, to put it mildly, excite admiration.

Terrorism is and can never be a solution to a problem. Terrorists are always indiscriminate in

their targeting; it would never be effective in combating oppression; as terrorists never

participate in fair negotiations, as they merely wish to switch places with their oppressors.

While the Sri Lankan government's recent military onslaught against the LTTE has been

surprisingly successful, history is clear that a meaningful solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka

will be found not on the battlefield but in the hearts and minds of the Sri Lankan people and the

government. At present the government of Sri lanka is in the stage of implementing massivedevelopment projects to strengthen the country's economy and holding free and fair elections, the

intention being to "rebuild the country in a way that nobody can divide it."

The current military success against the LTTE coincides with a wave of collective Sri Lankan

anguish at the country's grim predicament. For several reasons, the present represents a potential

moment of critical realignment in Sri Lanka.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.economist.com http://www.indianexpress.com

http://www.timesnow.tv/article

http://www.jstor.com www.deccanherald.com http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,HRW,,LKA,,47bea7ed1e,0.html http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/02/20/un-sanction-ltte-karuna-group-child-soldiers

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article1448097.ece http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com www.wikipedia.com


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http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/january/tamil_tigers011008 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/04/20094230501161928.html

www.Googledocs.com

http://www.telo.org

http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/news-gaza5.html