Liberation Tigers of (LTTE)

N Manoharan Research Officer, IPCS

History

Claimed to be the most powerful extra- from the Dravidian National Movement in parliamentary liberation movement in the in the 1950s and 1960 sit Tamil nation, the Liberation Tigers of the marked a revival of martial culture of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was founded by long suppressed military castes of South Vellupillai Pirabhakaran on 5 March 1976, , like Maravar. The cult of the day he conducted a successful bank martyrdom and the ideology of vengeance robbery in Puttur. However, its origin can are based on such appeals to a heroic past. be traced to many youth organisations like On the other hand, unlike other guerrilla Pulip Padai (the Army of Tigers), the organisations, its leader Pirabhakaran has Tamil Liberation Organisation, the Tamil a deep impact on the LTTE’s ideology the Students League, the Tamil Youth League character of deep suspicion, fanatic and, finally, the Tamil New Tigers, which braveness, relentless pursuit of vengeance emerged as a result of transformation and disregard for human life. from national consciousness to defensive nationalism. After a few years of Strategy militancy, the LTTE faced a split with the formation of the Peoples Liberation At the macro level, the Tigers strategy has Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) by four key components: ; thereafter many splinter groups emerged. At one time, 1. the use of times of peace to prepare for thirty-seven groups were existing; five war, in line with the Maoist doctrine of were prominent LTTE, TELO, EPRLF, retreat and recuperate. PLOT and EROS. In due course, LTTE emerged as the most powerful militant 2. an attempt to attain total control over organisation. the Tamil struggle to gain legitimacy as the sole representative of Sri Lankan Objectives Tamils. It is with this motive that the LTTE has eliminated almost all opposition An egalitarian ideology governs the to it; combatants. Their aim is to establish a casteless Tamil society by armed struggle. 3. a subordination of the political struggle Lenins conception of self-determination to the military one; hence it is not and the revolutionary vanguard forms the interested in a political solution through organisation’s basic ideology. Earlier, the dialogue; and, LTTE’s struggle was defined in Marxist terms, but as Pirbhakaran rose to 4. a mixture of guerrilla and conventional prominence, Marx withered away. The warfare tactics in battle. class war got transformed into a race war. The Tiger symbol, an allusion to the In addition, the Tigers make use of suicide military character of the South Indian bombers as a tactic. Though many militant Chola Empire, used by the LTTE, groups follow this technique, the LTTE is highlights its links of Tamilness. The one of the few organisations to adopt it as ideology of violence in Tigers is drawn an article of faith. A separate unit known IPCS Database on Armed Groups in South Asia as the exists to organise attacks on civilian and military targets External Linkages and eliminate key leaders by these means. The paws of the Tigers extend from Dialogue with Government Canada and the United States in the West to Australia in the east. The linkages are The underlying point to emphasise is that due to the presence of Tamil refugees in the LTTE has never been sincere about a those countries who fled from the ethnic dialogue. If it was willing at times, it was conflict in . Of late, due to a tactical ploy, either to buy time to crackdowns on the Tigers by the United regroup or to coalesce against a common States, Canada, India and South Africa, enemy or gain legitimacy from the the support base of the LTTE has international community. Looked at in dwindled. Their links are more confined this perspective, starting with the 1984 to some West European countries like Thimpu talks and coming to the last Britain and Germany, Nordic countries, dialogue in 1995, have been failures due to besides Australia, Thailand, Myanmar, the LTTE’s intransigence by placing Cambodia, and South Africa, but not at unreasonable demands on the Sri Lankan the governmental level. India, which was state. Efforts by third parties like India, once highly sympathetic towards the Norway, Britain and the United States LTTE outlawed the organisation soon have been fruitless. However, in the initial after the assassination of by stages (early 1980s) the Sri Lankan the Tigers. As of now only a tenuous Government missed the opportunity for a linkage continues in Tamil Nadu for constructive dialogue with the militant political purposes. groups due to their deep mistrust of the Tamils. But, with the assumption of UNP Popular Support government in December 2001 under Ranil Wickremasinge, serious process of The popular support to the LTTE comes peace was initiated with the LTTE. A MoU from three: intra-Sri Lankan Tamil was signed in February 2002 and direct constituency, Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, talks with Norwegian facilitationbegan in and other Tamils including those in India. September 2002. Intense international However, the Tigers are slowly losing pressure is believed to be the main reason their support among the masses at all behind theongoing talks. levels. Within Sri Lanka people are slowly shifting their loyalties, due to the Tigers Structure extortion, conscription and displacement. In addition, the reconstruction The LTTE differs from other classical programmes and confidence building guerilla organisations, which do not efforts by the Government through its promote the cult of leader. For the Tigers, peace packages acts against the LTTE. The Pirabhakaran is supreme. At the helm is Sri Lankan Tamil refugees abroad have the military wing. It reflects classical become, of late, tired of the extortion Maoist doctrine by emphasising discipline racket by the LTTE. Moreover, the and the absence of a formal ranking crackdowns on them by United States, system. The Central Committee is the Canada and India is preventing Tamil highest decisionmaking body with refugees from actively supporting the Pirabhakaran as its Chairman. The rebels. The combination of all these factors structure has both political and military have reduced the support base of the wings. Area commanders are responsible Tigers. However, the LTTE still enjoys for tactical decisionmaking. They are men considerable mass support either due to with many years of fighting experience.

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fear or the absence of a credible alternative.

Funds

The funds for the LTTE come from three major sources: 1. Diaspora contribution: The major source of funding is by the Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates living in developed countries.

2. Extortion: The LTTE also collects money from the people living in areas controlled by it in Sri Lanka as taxation.

3. Narcotics: The Tigers are also earning huge amounts of money through the drugs trade, as Sri Lanka is strategically located between the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle.

It is this large funding which has enabled the LTTE to increase its firepower by acquiring sophisticated weapons and weapon systems including surface-to-air missiles. The Tigers are also using weapons captured from the Lankan Army.

Leaders

The entire organisation revolves around Pirabhakaran. Though most of the second rung leaders are no more, some of the notable remaining personalities are , the LTTE ideologue; Lawrance Thilagar, Secretary of the International Secretariat of the LTTE; Tamil Selvam, leader of the political wing; Pottu Amman, intelligence; Pararajasingham, judicial matters; Javan, Voice of Tigers; , ; Ranjith Appa, finance; , ; and Radi, Women’s wing.

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