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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
LeaderVelupillai Prabhakaran
Dates of operation1972 - present
MotivesThe creation of a separate Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka
Active regionsSri Lanka Sri Lanka
IdeologyTamil nationalism, socialism
StatusRuns de facto state Tamil Eelam, proscribed as a terrorist organization by 31 countries

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Template:Lang-ta), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, is a militant Tamil nationalist organization that has waged a violent secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s in order to create a sovereign socialist Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). The LTTE is currently proscribed as a terrorist organization by 31 countries (see list). It is headed by its founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

History

See also: Sri Lankan civil war

Rise to dominance

The LTTE was founded in 1972 by Velupillai Prabhakaran and attracted many supporters amongst disenchanted Tamil youth, the LTTE following the Black July in 1984, when the Sinhalese slaughtered more than thousands of Tamil people. Following this attack ,The LTTE in resentment carried out low-key attacks against various government targets, including policemen and local politicians. A notable attack carried out during the time was the assassination of the Mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiyappah. Initially the LTTE operated in cooperation with other Tamil militant groups which shared their same objectives, and in April 1984, the LTTE formally joined a common militant front, the Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF), a union between itself, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS), the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).[1]

TELO had always supported India as it was openly funded, trained and supplied by India. TELO usually held the Indian view of problems and pushed for India's view during peace talks with Sri Lanka and other groups. LTTE denounced the TELO view and claimed that India was only acting on its own interest. As a result in 1986, the LTTE broke from the ENLF. Soon fighting broke out between the TELO and the LTTE. [2] [3] Over the next few months clashes took place between the LTTE and TELO. As a result almost the entire TELO leadership and many of the TELO militants were killed in the clashes. [4] [5][6]

A few months later, the LTTE attacked training camps of the EPRLF, forcing it to withdraw entirely from the Jaffna peninsula.[7][1]

The LTTE then demanded that all remaining Tamil insurgents join the LTTE. Notices were issued to that effect in Jaffna and in Madras, India which Tamil groups used as their main headquarters. With the major groups including the TELO and EPRLF eliminated, the remaining Tamil insurgent groups, numbering around 20, were then absorbed into the LTTE. This made Jaffna an LTTE dominated city.[8]

LTTE's practice such as wearing a cyanide vial for consumption if captured appealed to the Tamil people as dedication and sacrifice. Other practices by the LTTE also involved taking an oath of loyalty which reiteration of the LTTE’s goal of establishing a state for the Sri Lankan Tamils also gave them the edge on the support by Tamil people. [9][2]

In 1987 the LTTE established the Black Tigers, a unit of the LTTE responsible for conducting suicide attacks against political, economic and military targets,[10] and launched its first suicide attack against a Sri Lanka Army camp, killing 40 soldiers.

The IPKF period

Main article: Indian Peace Keeping Force

In 1987, faced with growing anger amongst its own Tamils, and a flood of refugees,[1] India intervened directly in the conflict for the first time by initially airdropping food parcels into Jaffna. After subsequent negotiations, India and Sri Lanka entered into an agreement. 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. Further India was to send a peacekeeping force, named the IPKF to Sri Lanka to enforce the disarmament and to watch over the regional council.[11][12]

Even though the accord was signed between the governments of Sri Lanka and India, with the Tamil Tigers and other Tamil militant groups not having a role in the signing of the accord[2], most Tamil militant groups accepted this agreement. [13] 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[12]. Instead the LTTE named three other candidates for the position. The candidates proposed by the LTTE were rejected by India. [14] The LTTE subsequently refused to hand over their weapons to the IPKF. [2]

The result was that the LTTE now found itself engaged in military conflict with the Indian Army, and launched their 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.[15] The government of India then decided that the IPKF should disarm the LTTE by force,[16] 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 amongst many Tamils in Sri Lanka.[17][18] the

The post-IPKF LTTE

The Indian intervention was also unpopular amongst the Sinhalese majority, and the IPKF became bogged down in the fighting with the Tamil Tigers for over 2 years, experiencing heavy losses. The last members of the IPKF, which was estimated to have had a strength of well over 50,000 at its peak, left the country in 1990 upon request of the Sri Lankan government. A shaky peace initially held between the government and the LTTE, and peace talks progressed towards providing devolution for Tamils in the north and east of the country. [citation needed]

Fighting continued throughout the 1990s, and was marked by two key assassinations carried out by the LTTE, that of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993, using suicide bombers in both occasions. The fighting was briefly halted in 1994 following the election of Chandrika Kumaratunga as President of Sri Lanka and the onset of peace talks, but fighting resumed following the sinking of two Sri Lanka Navy boats in April 1995 by the LTTE.[19] In a series of military operations that followed, the Sri Lanka Army re-captured the Jaffna peninsula, the heartland of Tamils in Sri Lanka.[20] Further offensives followed over the next three years, and the military captured vast areas in the north of the country from the LTTE, including area in the Vanni region, the town of Kilinochchi and many smaller towns. However, from 1998 onward the LTTE hit back, reversing these losses, culminating in the capture of the strategically important Elephant Pass base complex, which is located at the entrance of the Jaffna Peninsula, in April 2000, after prolonged fighting against the Sri Lanka Army.[21]

Mahattaya, a one-time deputy leader of the LTTE, was accused of treason by the LTTE and killed in 1994.[22] He is said to have collaborated with the Indian Research and Analysis Wing to remove Prabhakaran from the LTTE leadership.[23]

The 2001 ceasefire

A LTTE bicycle infantry platoon north of Killinochi in 2004

In 2001 the LTTE dropped its demand for a separate state. Instead, they stated that a form of regional autonomy would meet their demands [24] Following the landslide election defeat of Kumaratunga and the coming to power of Ranil Wickramasinghe in December 2001, the LTTE declared an unilateral ceasefire [25]. As a result the Sri Lankan Government also agreed to the ceasefire. In March 2002 both sides signed an official Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). As part of the agreement, Norway and the other Nordic countries agreed to jointly monitor the ceasefire through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.[26]

Six rounds of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and Tamil Tigers were held but they were temporarily suspended after the LTTE pulled out of the talks in 2003 claiming "certain critical issues relating to the ongoing peace process".[27][28]

In 2003 the LTTE proposed an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA). This move by the LTTE was welcomed by the international community. This proposal was based on self-governing authority. However, the Sri Lankan President rejected this offer. [29]

In December 2005, the LTTE boycotted the 2005 presidential election. While LTTE claimed that the people under its control were free to vote it is alleged that they used threats to prevent the population from voting. The United States condemned this act.[30][31]

Further peace talks were scheduled in Oslo, Norway, on June 8 and 9 but canceled when the LTTE refused to meet directly with the government delegation, claiming its fighters were not being allowed safe passage to travel to the talks. Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim told journalists that the LTTE should take direct responsibility for the collapse of the talks.[32]

Rifts grew between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE which resulted in a number of ceasefire agreement violations by both sides. Suicide attacks[33], military skirmishes and air raids took place during the latter part of 2006. [34][35]

Military confrontation continued into 2007 and 2008. On January 2008 the government officially pulled out of the Cease Fire Agreement[36]

Dissension

In the biggest show of dissent from within the organization, a senior LTTE commander named Colonel Karuna (nom de guerre of Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan) broke away from the LTTE in March 2004 and formed the TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal amid allegations that the northern commanders were overlooking the needs of the eastern Tamils. The LTTE leadership accused him of mishandling of funds and questioned him about his recent personal behavior. He tried to take control of the eastern province from the LTTE, which caused clashes between the LTTE and TEMVP. The LTTE has suggested that TEMVP is backed by the government,[37] and the Nordic SLMM monitors have corroborated this.[38]

See also: Colonel Karuna

Organization and activities

Structure

The LTTE is organized into two main divisions, namely, a military wing and political wing. A central governing body oversees both of those divisions, which is headed by the LTTE supreme leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Military

Tamil rebels in a pickup truck in Killinochchi in 2004

In the LTTE, recruits are instructed to be prepared to die for the cause, and are issued with a cyanide capsule to be swallowed in the case of capture.[39] The LTTE also has a special squad of suicide bombers, called the Black Tigers, which it deploys for critical missions.[40]

The military wing contains following specific subdivisions, which are directly controlled and directed by the central governing body:

  • Sea Tigers - an amphibious warfare unit focusing on utilization of naval firepower and logistics, mainly consisting of lightweight boats.[41]
  • Air Tigers - an airborne group, consisting of several lightweight aircraft. It is known to be the world's first air force controlled by an organization proscribed as terrorists. [42]
  • Black Tigers - a suicide commando unit.
  • An intelligence wing.
  • A political wing.

Sea Tigers

Main article: Sea Tigers

The Sea Tigers is the naval force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and is lead by Colonel Soosai [43]. The sea Tigers are believed to have about 2000 personnel and have become a potent threat to the Sri Lankan Navy at Sea[44]. Over the years it is believed that they have destroyed 35-50 percent of the Sri Lankan Navy's coastal crafts.[45][46]

Air Tigers

Main article: Air Tigers

The Air Tigers is the air force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The Air Tigers are believed to operate five light aircraft. The Air Tigers were revealed on 2007 when it conducted its first air raid on the Sri Lankan Air Force base. Since then they have conducted another four air raids. With the Air force the Tamil Tigers became the first rebel organization to establish an air force . [47]

Administrative

Percentage of Sri Lankan Tamils per district based on the census from 2001 or 1981 (cursive), the last census year in Tamil regions.

Even though the LTTE was formed as a military group, it has later transformed itself to a de facto Government. The LTTE controls sections in the north of the island, especially the regions lying around the cities of Killinochchi and Mulathivu.

The LTTE has implemented a judicial system that consists of courts to adjudicate in criminal and civil matters. Currently the Tamil Eelam judicial system consists of district courts, High courts and Supreme court as well as a court of appeal. The district courts handle civil and criminal cases. The two high courts handles criminal cases such as rape, murder, treason and arson. The supreme court has jurisdiction over the whole of Tamil Eelam. The Tamil Eelam courts are said to be effective [48] and people who have a choice sometimes go to the Tamil Eelam courts rather than the Sri Lankan courts.[48] LTTE also releases law books that are updated. [48] [49] [29] [50]

LTTE has also established a police force. The Tamil Eelam police is the other key factor in maintaining law and order. The Tamil Eelam police was formed in 1991 and currently has its headquarters at Killinochi.[29] Police stations have been established in all areas that are controlled by the LTTE. The LTTE claims that their police force is the reason for the low crime rate but critics of LTTE claim that the police force is an integrated arm of the LTTE armed force and that the crime rate is low as a result of LTTE authoritarian rules. However, everyone agrees the Tamil Eelam police force and the judicial system is reason for high degree of rule of law in the areas controlled by the LTTE.[48]

Another state function of the LTTE administration is social welfare. This humanitarian assistant arm is funded by tax collection internally .[48] [49] [50]. LTTE has also established an education and health sector that offers services to the people under their control. [29] They have also created a human rights organization, called Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights, that functions to advocate the rights of Tamils. Though not recognized by international government it acts as a human rights commission. The commission has communicated with the LTTE regarding complaints of child recruiting which has resulted in the release of the recruit. [48]. The Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) was established in 2004 which acted as a needs assessment body which was responsible for studying the needs for people and formulating a plan for effective action in areas that needed humanitarian assistance. There are also many civil servants who work in the LTTE-controlled areas who are directed by the LTTE but are paid by the Sri Lankan government.[51][52] [53][48]. Furthermore, a customs service is also operated at the "border" by the Tamil Tigers. [50][54]

In addition to the civil administration LTTE also runs its own radio and television stations. These entities are named the Voice of Tigers and National Tamil Eelam Television respectively. Both the radio and television channel are aired from the areas under LTTE control. [49] [55]

LTTE also runs a bank named the Bank of Tamileelam which uses the Sri Lankan rupee as its currency but offers higher rates than any bank on the island.[56][57] [58]

Humanitarian assistance

After the Boxing Day tsunami the Tigers set up a special task force called tsunami task force. The newly established force was responsible for humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the tsunami. The Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) was responsible for needs assessments for various humanitarian organization to maximize effectiveness of resettlement reconstruction and rehabilitation. After the tsunami the PDS was responsible of coordinating and directing the various NGO's that were involved in Tsunami relief work. [48] Furthermore, according to Tsunami Evaluation Coalition the key NGO's who responded also claimed that the LTTE forces provided extremely efficient and focused leadership and support to the relief effort in the areas controlled by the Tigers. [59]

During the second round of negotiation between Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka an agreement was reached for a joint Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). This mechanism would allow the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to share funds for tsunami relief. However, this agreement was bitterly opposed by hardliners in the Sri Lankan government and some moderates. As a result the P-TOMS was challenged in the Sri Lankan supreme court. The Sri Lankan supreme court put the P-TOMS on hold. [59][48]

Political

The 2002 Cease Fire Agreement made the LTTE shift its struggle for self-determination from militant to more political means. The LTTE's own political wing was the result of this. This political wing also played a critical role in regard to both the peace process and local state building. However, LTTE's political wing did not participate in Sri Lankan parliamentary elections. The LTTE instead openly supported the Tamil National Alliance. The Tamil National Alliance won overwhelmingly in 22 out of 25 electorates in the North-east and won over 90% of votes in the electoral district of Jaffna [48][29] [60]

Women in LTTE

Sothiya Regiment of the LTTE - Female soldiers

In 1984, LTTE created a unit of female squad called the Freedom Birds (Suthanthirap Paravaikal). This unit was the first group of women to be given military training in India. The LTTE advocates equality for women from both male oppression and social oppression. [61][62]The support of the LTTE for equality attracted many women into the LTTE ranks. As a result LTTE became the first Tamil militant group to employ women as a soldiers in the battlefield.[citation needed] The main belief of the Tamil women fighter is that their participation in the armed struggle will bring them advantage in the future, peaceful society and allow them to take part in "liberating" their society. The proportion of female combatants in the LTTE was small until June 1990 but increased rapidly afterward.[62] Freedom Birds' first operation was in October of 1987 and the first woman combatant to die was 2nd Lt. Malathi,[61][62] on October 10, 1987, in an encounter with the IPKF at Kopai on the Jaffna peninsula. An estimated 4000 women cadres have been killed since then, including over a hundred in 'Black Tiger' suicide squads.[61] Apart from military roles, the female soldiers have also produced numerous publications and many of them are described as rich in culture and writing.[62][63][64]

Some experts have alleged the existence of connections between the LTTE and other internationally designated terrorist organizations including al-Qaeda.[65] While other experts dismiss this claim. They further add that "that the secular nationalist LTTE currently has no operational connection with al-Qaeda, its radical Islamist affiliates, or other terrorist groups" [66]


Others security and counter-terrorism experts, such as the Council on Foreign Relations have rejected claims of links as propaganda. Al Qaeda is well known to have a deep loathing of secular politics of the sort pursued by the LTTE, and the LTTE is formally a secular organization with no interest in helping establish Islamic regimes elsewhere.[66]

Copying of LTTE tactics

Some of LTTE's attacks in Sri Lanka have been copied by other proscribed groups. Some examples are:

  • The anti-rebel website "South Asian Terrorism Portal" claimed that the LTTE provided forged passports to Ramzi Yousef, the man who was one of the planners of the first attack against the World Trade Center in New York in 1993.[68]
  • The anti-rebel website "South Asian Terrorism Portal" claimed that there are increasing intelligence reports that the LTTE was smuggling arms to various terrorist organizations, including islamic groups in Pakistan and their counterparts in the Philippines,[69] using their covert smuggling networks, and findings by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies that they were building commercial links with al-Qaeda and other militants in Afghanistan.[70][71]
  • Falk Rovik, accused the LTTE stole Norwegian passports and sold them to the al-Qaeda organization (in Algeria) to earn money to fund their arms purchases. He further alleged that the Government of Norway has funded the LTTE and finances Terrorism. [72][73]
  • According to an anti-rebel website, Glen Jenvey, a former employee of the government of Sri Lanka and a specialist on international terrorism claimed that al-Qaeda has copied most of its terror tactics from the LTTE [74] He highlighted the LTTE as the mastermind that sets the pattern for organizations like al-Qaeda to pursue. However, has established no causal link, no interaction between groups, just coincidences.
  • According to Asian Tribune, an anti-LTTE website, attacks on civilians in buses and trains in Sri Lanka were copied from the attack on public civilian transport during the July 2005 bombings in London. [74]

Human rights violations

Main article: List of attacks attributed to the LTTE

The US state department claims that its reason for banning LTTE as a proscribed terrorist group is based on allegations that it does not have respect for human rights and that it does not adhere to the standards of conduct expected of a resistance movement or what might be called "freedom fighters".[75] [76] [77] [78] Other countries have also proscribed LTTE under the same rationale. Some countries cite that LTTE attacks civilians and recruit children.[79] The FBI has described the LTTE as "amongst the most dangerous and deadly extremist outfit in the world".[80]

Attacks on civilians

The LTTE has attacked non-military targets including commuter trains and buses, farming villages, temples and mosques, resulting in civilian deaths.

Some of the attacks resulting in civilian deaths include the Kebithigollewa massacre, the Gonagala massacre (54 dead), the Anuradhapura massacre (146 dead), the Dehiwala train bombing (56 dead),[81] the Palliyagodella massacre (109 dead) and the bombing of Sri Lanka's Central Bank (102 dead). The LTTE claims that some of these attacks on civilian targets are collateral damage.

The anti-rebel South Asian Terrorism Portal claims that even after the signing of the Ceasefire agreement in 2002, the LTTE has continued to carry out attacks against civilians. They murdered 6 Sinhalese farmers on April 23, 2006 and killed a further 13 laborers on May 30.[82] In one of the deadliest attacks against civilians, a claymore antipersonnel mine attack by the LTTE on June 15, 2006 on a bus carrying 140 civilians killed 68 people including 15 children, and injured 60 others.[83]

Assassinations

Main article: Notable assassinations of the Sri Lankan Civil War

The LTTE has been condemned by various groups for assassination of political and military opponents. The victims include Tamil moderates, Tamil paramilitary groups and Sinhalese people. Most notably the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and Ranasinghe Premadasa, who were the heads of India and Sri Lanka respectively, were attributed to LTTE.

LTTE sympathizers justify some of the assassinations by arguing that the people attacked were combatants or persons closely associated with Sri Lankan military intelligence. Specifically in relation to the TELO, the LTTE has said that it had to perform preemptive self-defence because the TELO was in effect functioning as a proxy for India. [84]

Child soldiers

Main article: Military use of children in Sri Lanka

The LTTE has recruited and used child soldiers to fight against Sri Lankan government forces.[85][86][87] The LTTE was accused of having up to 5,794 child soldiers in its ranks since 2001.[88][89]

Amid international pressure, the LTTE announced in July 2003 that it would stop conscripting child soldiers, but both UNICEF[90][91] and Human Rights Watch[92] have accused it of reneging on its promises, and of conscripting Tamil children orphaned by the tsunami.[93] However, since 2007, the LTTE has claimed that it will release all of the recruits under the age of 18 before the end of the year. On 18 June 2007, the LTTE released 135 children under the age of 18. UNICEF claims that 506 child recruits remain under the LTTE and notes, along with the United States, that there has been a significant drop in LTTE recruitment of children.[94] A report released by the LTTE's Child Protection Authority (CPA) in 2008 reported that less than 40 soldiers under the age of 18 remained in their forces.[95]

The LTTE argues that instances of child recruitment occurred mostly in the east, under the purview of former LTTE regional commander Colonel Karuna. After leaving the LTTE and forming the TMVP, it is alleged that Karuna continued to forcibly kidnap and induct child soldiers.[96] Its official position is that earlier, some of its cadres erroneously recruited volunteers in their late teens.[citation needed] It says that its official policy is now that it will not accept child soldiers. It also says that some underage youths lie about their age and are therefore allowed to join, but are sent back home to their parents as soon as they are discovered to be underage.[citation needed]

Suicide bombing

Main article: Black Tigers

The LTTE has frequently used suicide bombers as a tactic. They pioneered the use of concealed suicide bomb vests,[97]. The tactic of deploying suicide bombers was used to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed in 1991 using a prototype suicide vest, and Ranasinghe Premadasa, assassinated in 1993.[79]

According to Jane's Information Group, between 1980 and 2000, the LTTE carried out a total of 168 suicide attacks on civilians and military targets.[79]

Allegation of Ethnic cleansing

Main article: Expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna

The LTTE has been blamed for forcibly removing (or "ethnically cleansing")[98][99] Sinhalese and Muslim inhabitants from areas under its control, including the use of violence against those who refuse to leave. Most notably, the LTTE forcibly expelled the entire Muslim population of Jaffna with two hours notice in 1990.[100] The LTTE are also accused of organising massacres of Sinhala villagers who settled in the Northeast under the dry lands policy.[101][102][103]

In 2002, the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran had formally apologized for the expulsion of Muslims from the North and asked the Muslims to return. Some families have returned and the re-opened Osmaniya College and two Mosque are functioning now. According to a Jaffna Muslim source there is a floating population of about 2000 Muslims in Jaffna at any given time. [104]

Proscription as a terrorist group

30 countries have listed the LTTE as a terrorist organization.[105][106] As of May 2007, these include:

Australia[110] and other countries have listed the LTTE as a terrorist group in accordance with Resolution 1373. Canada does not grant residency to LTTE members on the grounds that they have participated in crimes against humanity.[111]

The first country to ban the LTTE was its early ally, India. The Indian change of policy came gradually, starting with the IPKF-LTTE conflict, and culminating with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Sri Lanka itself lifted the ban on the LTTE before signing the ceasefire agreement in 2002. This was a prerequisite set by the LTTE for signing of the agreement.[112][citation needed]

The European Union banned LTTE as a terrorist organization on May 17 2006. In a statement, the European Parliament said that the LTTE did not represent all the Tamils and called on it to "allow for political pluralism and alternate democratic voices in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka". [113]

Relationship with foreign states & International organizations

Even though LTTE is proscribed as a terrorist organization, many states like Canada, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Norway have continued contact with the LTTE. International organization like Asian Development Bank, World Bank and many UN Agencies also established contact with the LTTE after the 2002 ceasefire. [50] Notably the Asian Development Bank president held a direct meeting with the LTTE in 2003. [114]. LTTE also held a direct meeting with Danny K. Davis, a United States Representative, Kofi Annan's Special envoy and António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).[115] [116] They also have held direct meetings with Norwegian government representatives and officials of other Scandinavian countries.

Criminal activities

On the 10th of January, 2008, the FBI stated that the Tigers (LTTE) have raised funds under a variety of cover organizations, often by posing as charities. A great deal of money, for example, was raised for the Tigers following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka and many other countries.[117].

One factor that has benefited the LTTE greatly has been its sophisticated international support network. While some of the funding obtained by the LTTE is from legitimate fund raising and extortion among the Tamil diaspora,[118][119] a significant portion is obtained through criminal activities, involving sea piracy[citation needed], human smuggling[citation needed], drug trafficking[citation needed] and gunrunning[citation needed].[120][121][122][65]

Two Tamils in Australia are facing charges for allegedly raising thousands of dollars in Australia under the pretense of being for charities and aid for those affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami but instead using the money to fund the LTTE. The case is still in process at a Australian court.[123]

Credit card fraud

The LTTE has also been accused of committing credit card fraud in a number of countries including India, Kenya and the United Kingdom.[1] [65] In April 2007, the Sri Lankan High Commission in London also accused the LTTE of being behind a credit card scam, however a police spokesman said there was no definite link to the LTTE or Sri Lankan gangs.[124][125][126][127] Williams, a writer at US Institute of Peace Press, alleged the LTTE of crimes such as organized crime, social security fraud, counterfeit currency trading,[124][128].

Three Sri Lankan men arrested in 2007 were convicted in September 2008 for using stolen credit card information to steal $250,000. The prosecutors claim that they were also planning to steal tens of millions more from ATMs worldwide. The men had bought a large number of petrol stations and used sophisticated devices to skim credit card data from customers who paid for their fuel. One of the men a British passport holder was jailed for four and a half years and the other two men were jailed for three years each and deportation was reccommended. The prosecutors further alleged that these individuals had LTTE links. However, the defense lawyers deny these claim and insist that they were local criminals. [65]

Sea piracy

Main article: Sea Tigers § Human_Rights_Abuses

The LTTE has been accused of hijacking several vessels in waters outside Sri Lanka including the Irish Mona (in August 1995), Princess Wave (in August 1996), Athena (in May 1997), Misen (in July 1997), Morong Bong (in July 1997), MV Cordiality (in Sept 1997), Princess Kash (in August 1998) and MV Farah III (December 2006). The MV Sik Yang, a 2,818-ton Malaysian-flag cargo ship which sailed from Tuticorin, India on May 25, 1999 was reported missing in waters near Sri Lanka. The ship with a cargo of bagged salt was due at the Malaysian port of Malacca on May 31. The fate of the ship's crew of 15 is unknown. It is suspected that the vessel was hijacked by the LTTE and is now being used as a phantom vessel. Likewise the crew of a Jordanian ship, MV Farah III , that ran aground near rebel-controlled territory off the island's coast, accused the Tamil Tigers of risking their lives and forcing them to abandon the vessel which was carrying 14,000 tonnes of Indian rice. [129]

Arms smuggling

The Mackenzie Institute discovered that another one of LTTE's most secretive international operations is the smuggling of weapons, explosives, and "dual use" technologies to keep up with the military operations. The part of the LTTE responsible for these activities is given the nickname "KP Branch", taking the initials of its highest level operative, Kumaran Padmanathan (KP). The workers for the KP Branch are from outside the fighting wing of the LTTE, since the identities of those fighters are recorded and available to law enforcement and counter-intelligence agencies by India's RAW, who had helped train many Tiger cadres in the early 1980s. The KP Branch operates extremely secretively by having the minimum connection possible with the LTTE's other sections for further security. It finally hands over the arms shipments to a highly trusted team of Sea Tigers to deliver them to the LTTE-dominated areas.[130]

The Mackenzie Institute further demonstrated that in order to carry out the activities of international arms trafficking, the LTTE operates its own fleet of ocean-going vessels. These vessels only operate a certain period of time for the LTTE and in the remaining time they transport legitimate goods and raise hard cash for the purchase of weapons. The LTTE initially operated a shipping base in Myanmar, but they were forced to leave due to diplomatic pressure. To overcome the loss of this, a new base has been set up on Phuket Island, in Thailand.[130]

Furthermore, The Mackenzie Institute claimed that the most expertly executed operation of the KP Branch was the theft of 32,400 rounds of 81mm mortar ammunition purchased from Tanzania for the Sri Lanka Army. Being aware of the purchase of 35,000 mortar bombs, the LTTE made a bid to the manufacturer through a numbered company and arranged a vessel of their own to pick up the load. Once the bombs were loaded into the ship, the LTTE changed the name and registration of their ship. The vessel was taken to Tiger-held territory in Sri Lanka's north instead of transporting it to its intended destination.[130]

Western countries are the main territory for fund raising activities of the LTTE. The money raised from donations and criminal enterprises are transferred into bank accounts of the Tigers and from there to the accounts of a weapons broker, or the money is taken by KP operatives themselves. LTTE's need for resources is mostly fulfilled by the Tamils who reside outside Sri Lanka. In 1995, when the LTTE lost Jaffna, their international operatives were ordered to increase, by a massive 50%, the amount raised from Tamils outside of the island.[130]

See also

References

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Further reading

  • Balasingham, Adele. (2003) The Will to Freedom - An Inside View of Tamil Resistance, Fairmax Publishing Ltd, 2nd ed. ISBN 1-903679-03-6
  • Balasingham, Anton. (2004) War and Peace - Armed Struggle and Peace Efforts of Liberation Tigers, Fairmax Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-903679-05-2
  • de Votta, Neil. (2004) Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-4924-8
  • Gamage, Siri and I.B. Watson (Editors). (1999) Conflict and Community in Contemporary Sri Lanka - 'Pearl of the East' or 'Island of Tears'?, Sage Publications Ltd, ISBN 0-7619-9393-2
  • Hansard Australia (2006), Senate Transcript for 16 June 2006[2]
  • Hellmann-Rajanayagam, D. (1994) "The Groups and the rise of Militant Secessions". in Manogaram, C. and Pfaffenberger, B. (editors). The Sri Lankan Tamils. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-8133-8845-7
  • Human Rights Watch (2003) Child Soldier Use 2003: A Briefing for the 4th UN Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict[3]
  • La, J.. 2004. "Forced remittances in Canada's Tamil enclaves". Peace Review 16:3. September 2004. pp. 379-385.
  • Narayan Swamy, M. R. (2002) Tigers of Lanka: from Boys to Guerrillas, Konark Publishers; 3rd ed. ISBN 81-220-0631-0
  • Pratap, Anita. (2001) Island of Blood: Frontline Reports From Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Other South Asian Flashpoints
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