Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
“LTTE abbreviation for Liberation of Tamil Tigers, it is a guerrilla organization, that wants to establish an independent Tamil state, Eelam. But they are deadly extremist who uses illegal weapons and terrorist tactics to fight with Sri Lankan Government”.
According to Stanford University, LTTE was a militant separatist group fighting for an independent homeland for Hindu Tamil in Northeastern Sri Lanka.
History Of LTTE
When?
It formed on May 22, 1972
The first name that was given by his founder Prabhakaran, is “Tamil New Tiger”.
On May 5, 1976, Prabhakaran give this group a new name “Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam”.
The first major attack was recorded on 23 July 1983.
It emerged as the dominant group of Tamil Militants.
How?
In 1970, the first group was formed by the students was called the ‘Tamil Student Movement’. LTTE is the successor of this group.
They became the most disciplined group and also it marks the rise of terrorism.
To fund this group, they engaged in illegal activities – kidnapping, smuggling, robberies and they also get financial support from the Tamils, who live abroad.
Why?
After the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948, the first Prime Minister- Solomon Bandaranayake, made Sinhala, the official language of Sri Lanka.
From here Tamil began to fight for an independent homeland for Sri Lankan Tamils.
In 1972, LTTE became one of the groups that came into existence for Tamil rights.
After eliminating the various Tamil groups, LTTE becomes the authoritative group.
In 1975, this group pledge to form a new state called Tamil Eelam.
Organizational Structure Of LTTE
LTTE made a fully operational military that includes-
A Military Wing and Subordinate Political Wing:
These are the following subsets:-
- An intelligence wing
- An airborne unit as Air Force called Air Tigers
- The naval group called Sea Tigers
- The special suicide unit is known as Black Tigers
- Women and children are part of the combat just like men.
- The LTTE organizational structure is headed by Prabhakaran and he is also commander-in-chief of its army.
- A political office headed by B. Nadesan.
- A suicide commando unit and intelligence wing headed by Pottu Amman.
- Air tiger is headed by Prabhakaran’s son, Charles Anthony.
- They build a pyramidal leadership structure and work together to smooth the functioning of the group.
LTTE Beliefs
LTTE is the most disciplined and organized group that includes some rules:-
- No smoking.
- No drinking
- No womanizing
- No embezzlement
Recruiting young Children and women and taking the same training as men.
Rigorously Trained by LTTE heads, and proved their loyalty to the commander in chief, Prabhakaran.
They give cyanide tablets to every person as a gift, because they believe in killing themselves instead of dying at the hands of the enemy.
Founders of LTTE
1. Velupillai Prabhakaran (1972-2009):-
Founder and leader of the LTTE.
Initially, he was part of the student group, the Tamil youth front, and later, he founded the group, Tamil New Tigers.
He was always infuriated by the discrimination of the Sri Lankan Government towards the Tamil minority.
His First assassination was marked by killing Alfred Duraiappah, the mayor of Jaffna. It is called “First Military Action”.
On 5 May 1976, he changed the group name to Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam. He made this group an organized and disciplined revolutionary group.
He oversaw all the activities of the LTTE both political and military.
- He has been called by various names by Tamil people and his cadets-
- ThesiyathThalarien(National Leader)
- Thampi (younger brother)
- Anna/Annai (elder brother)
- Karikalan (for his bravery and his administration)
His only goal was a separate homeland for Tamil people.
On May 19, 2009, Prabhakaran died after the furious war with Sri Lankan Government.
For Tamil people, he is a martyr; Sri Lankan Govt. See him as a terrorist.
2. Shangmugalingam Sivashankar
Commonly known as Pottu Amman.
A leading figure of LTTE.
He joined the LTTE in 1981.
He also served as V. Prabhakaran’s bodyguard.
He also supervises the flows of supplies from India to Tamil Nadu during the war between LTTE and IPKF (Indian peacekeeping force).
Then, he became the head of LTTE’s intelligence wing in 1988.
He was killed by Sri Lankan Military on 19 May 2009.
3. Thillayiampalam Sivanesan:-
Commonly known as Colonel Soossai.
Head of LTTE’s naval division called Sea Tigers.
He was also killed by Sri Lankan’s military on 19 May 2009.
4. Balasingham Nadesan:-
The political chief of LTTE.
Responsible for all the political activities of the group.
Killed by Sri Lankan military on 18 May, 2009 in “White Flag Incident”.
Because of their deadly assassination, the group got disbanded in 2009.
Major Attacks
1. First attack- July 23, 1983:-
LTTE ambush on the army killed 15 soldiers. It is carried out as revenge for Seelan’s death.
(Charles Lucas Anthony, one of the founding members of LTTE, commonly known as lieutenant Seelan. On July 6, 1983, he chooses to kill one of the cadets as he was struggling to fight with the Sri Lankan army due to injuries).
2. 14 May 1985:- Anuradhapura Massacre: LTTE gunfire attack killed 146 Sinhalese civilians.
3. 11 June 1990:- Massacre of Sri Lankan Police Officer in Eastern Sri Lanka, 144 killed. (Some other sources claimed over 600 people were killed).
4. 3 Aug 1990:- Kattankudy Mosque Massacre: 147 Muslim men were shot dead.
5. 21 May 1991:- Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India. A suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Killed 15-18 other people.
6. 1 May 1993:- Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Killed by a suicide bomber along with 23 people, during a May Day rally in Colombo.
7. 24 Oct 1994:- Assassination of GaminiDissanayke, Leader of the opposition and United National party, candidate for the presidential election. Killed by a suicide bomber during a Colombo Election Rally.
8. 20 Oct 1995:- Explosion in Orugodwatte crude oil company by a suicide unit. Killed 23 soldiers and 2 civilians, 14 storage tanks destroyed resulted in $61 Million damaged.
9. 31 January 1996:- A suicide bomber blast and explosive loaded truck in Central Bank, Colombo that killed 91 and 1400 people injured.
10. 18 July 1996:- Battle of Mullaitivu: Attack on Sri Lankan army camp, Mullaitivu. Codenamed “Operation Unceasing Waves”. Killed 1200 soldiers.
11. 30 Sept, 1998:- LTTE attack at Killinochchi, former LTTE base. Sri Lankan army major elephant pass base, killed over 600-900 soldiers.
12. 18 Sept 1999:- Gonagala Massacre, over 50 people that including men, women, and Children’s were hacked to death in the middle of the night.
13. 7 June 2000:- Assassination of C.V. Gooneratne, Sri Lanka’s cabinet minister. Killed 22 others by a suicide bomber.
14. 25 Oct 2005:- Assassination of LakshmanKardirgamar, foreign minister of Sri Lanka. Suicide attack at his home in Colombo.
15. 16 Oct 2006:- Digampathana bombing: suicide bomber in truck kills 103 Navy sailors.
16. 9 May 2009:- Attack on civilians in Mullaitivu, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. 9 killed and 19 injured.
- These are some major terrorist attacks by LTTE that killed thousands of Sri Lankan civilians and Soldiers and made LTTE, a deadly group.
How Sri Lankan Exploit The Minority Tamil?
Sinhalese became the official language, after the independence in 1948.
In 1956, Anti-Tamil Program was also known as the Gal Oya riots. First organized program against Sri Lankan Tamils in the dominion of Ceylon.
In 1958, Anti-Tamil Program in Ceylon was also known as 58 Riots.
In 1977, Anti-Tamil Program followed the 1977 general election in Sri Lanka.
1981- Anti – Tamil Program, occurred in Sri Lanka during the months of June, July, August 1981. Organized Sinhala mobs looted and burnt Tamil shops and houses in Jaffna, Ratnapura, Balangoda, Khawatte, and Colombo.
The burning of the Jaffna Public Library took place on the night of June 1, 1981, by the Sinhalese Government that destroyed over 97,000 volumes of books with numerous Holy Scriptures of Tamil culture.
Black July Incident in July 1983 commonly used for Anti-Tamil Program, that in Sri Lanka triggered by a deadly ambush of 23 July 1983. Swiss NGO called this incident Genocide.
On 19 May 2009, Sri Lankan Govt. declared the 26 years (1983-2009) long battle terminated.
Financial Support Of LTTE
- Diaspora funding- the major sources are Canada, United States, UK, France, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and India.
Donations from Tamil Committee and Tamil Supporters.
Criminal Activities: It includes extortion money from others, Human and drug trafficking, Kidnapping, smuggling arms, and other petty crimes.
Smuggling of Tamil people to Western countries; costs between $10,000 – $40,000. For Sri Lankan Tamil to get Canada illegally.
India Supporting The LTTE?
Poomalai Operation – Codenamed as “Eagle Mission 4”. India forces dropped 25 Tonnes of food and medicines; later Sri Lanka govt. claimed that it includes weapons also. It was visible support towards LTTE.
Indo- Sri Lanka Peace Accord- Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Jayewardene signed an agreement. It is a peace agreement that incorporates the following points-
- Sri Lankan troops were to withdraw their barracks in the north.
- Tamil rebels were to Disarm.
- Colombo devolution of power.
- Official status for the Tamil language.
- But it became the fall out of India after Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa joined hands with LTTE to vanish the Indian troops out of Sri Lanka. In this trap, India lost its 1200 soldiers.
- The Assassination of Ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide bomber. Because they thought when he comes into power, he will reinforce IPKF back to Sri Lanka.
- After, all this India dropped all its support and became an outside observer.
Some Entertaining Films Based On LTTE
- Madras Café
- Ceylon
- The road from elephant pass
- RavanaDesam
- Prabhakaran
- No fire zone: the killing fields of Sri Lanka
- My daughter: the terrorist
- Dheepan
- The Family Man
It includes all kinds of films and series from Indian, Tamil, and English languages. It gives a picture of the attacks, the survivors, and the background of the Sri Lankan civil war. It is entertaining yet we get to know the struggle of people during those times.
Decline Of LTTE
- On 19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan army declared the complete defeat of LTTE.
- It is considered a rebel terrorist group and banned by 33 countries including Canada, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and 27-member nation of European Union.
- It is designated as ‘Proscribed Terrorist group’ by the UK government under the Terrorism Act of 2000.
- In 1992, LTTE has been included in a list of Terrorist Organization by the India government under the unlawful act (prevention) act, 1967.
Even after a complete Military defeat in May 2009, LTTE had not abandoned the concept of Eelam (separate land for Tamils). The survived LTTE leaders or cadres have also initiated efforts to regroup the scattered rebellions.
Top 13 Interesting Facts About LTTE
1. LTTE is based on the concept of the first Chola Empire, whose symbol is also the Tiger.
2. India is the first country to ban LTTE.
3. Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948, discriminate against the Tamil, so they could not prove their citizenship and that causes 7000 Indian Tamils to become homeless.
4. Sinhala Only Bill, became the barrier for Sri Lankan Tamil to apply for Civil Services.
5. 13th Amendment, the constitution of Sri Lanka passed in 1987, which created Provincial Council in Sri Lanka.
6. Anton Barasingha, a British employee also started to participate in LTTE activities, later became the chief theoretician of LTTE.
7. In 1972, the Sinhalese declared Buddhism as Sri Lankan’s National Religion.
8. LTTE has also links with a number of Islamist groups, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
9. Annual budget of around $200 – $300 million from Global Diaspora to LTTE.
10. RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) provide training to LTTE:
- the first batch of training in Chakrata, Uttarakhand,
- Second batch including Chief Pottu Amman, trained in Himachal Pradesh.
- 8 other batches of LTTE were trained in Tamil Nadu.
11. Tamils could not be able to get admissions in their desired university as Sinhalese were the privileged ones.
12. White Flag Incident, massacre of surrendering leaders of the LTTE and their Families by the Sri Lankan army on 18 May, 2009. Carrying white flags but they all shot dead by the Sri Lankan Army.
13. According to UN’s Children Fund (UNICEF), 6903 Children’s known to have been recruited by the LTTE between 2002 and 2007.
Neha Lachhwani
Writer
13angle
