The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka

by LTTE

The following advertisment was placed in two local newspapers called "News" distributed free of charge to homes in the London suburbs.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE ) are presently waging a terrorist campaign in the island of Sri Lanka. They claim that theirs is a crusade for the freedom of a " homeland". However all their activities to date have shown them to be a minority group of terrorists whose sole aim has been the accumulation of power and the victimisation of the local population. These murderous acts have culminated in the recent explosion of a bomb that blasted the central bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo early this year. In its wake the bomb killed and injured over a thousand innocent civilians. The boast of such a horrendous act as an ability to destroy economic targets at will, dispels the myth of the LTTE being an organisation of lofty ideals. These masters of terror and deception raise funds in western countries often by dissemination of false propaganda that arouse sympathy. Not only in areas under their influence in Sri Lanka but also in a country like Canada independent Tamil opinion and publications are not tolerated by the Tamil Tigers, but bullied and terrorised into silence.

Through the medium of the internet they instruct Tamil terrorist sympathisers how to respond to questions from westerners and the adoption of devious methods to raise funds for their terrorist activities in the guise of helping poor refugees or adopting orphaned children. The LTTE which has been involved in promoting international terrorism ( supplying arms to other terrorist groups for cash ), narcotic trafficking, defrauding the DSS in the UK, the smuggling of illegal immigrants and money laundering is being investigated by several western governments. The sympathisers of this terrorist group have approached UK local authorities and other bodies attempting to gain funding, claiming such funds to be in aid of refugees, housing associations, children's homes, religious and educational activities and various community related causes. To deal with some of the false claims made by Tamil terrorist sympathisers and to help clarify the situation we present the following comments made by respected Independent sources.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR BREAKING THE CEASE-FIRE

"I think international reaction to the LTTE breakdown of the negotiations was explicit and must have given an unmistakable message to the LTTE leadership and to the Tamil community in the North and indeed overseas Tamils who perhaps are a little romantically inclined when it comes to supporting some of the excesses of the LTTE. I think the message should have been very usefully given that this sort of behaviour must expect to get a very sharp international reaction. They can't expect to have any kind of international support, when they obviously sat on a so potentially viable peace process." -Former Australian foreign Minister Gareth Evans to the international press in Colombo, 22nd May 1995

CONSCRIPTION OF CHILDREN

"The LTTE recruits boys and girls from the ages of 10 upwards. Their dependence on child combatants is increasing rapidly" -Statement to the press by UNICEF Representative in Sri Lanka Ms. Brita Ostberg, 11 December 1995

"The LTTE was also reported to be recruiting children into its military forces. Dead LTTE insurgents recovered by the Government following a major battle at Weli Oya in July 1995 were found to be as young as 14." -US State Department Human Rights report on Sri Lanka- March 1996

USING CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHEILDS

"The LTTE used excessive force. killing an undetermined number of civilians. It was accused of using church and temple compounds ( where civilians are instructed to congregate in the event of hostilities) as shields for the storage of munitions...LTTE forced civilians to return to places abandoned by Government troops before the areas were adequately .cleared of land mines. In August it seized a civilian ferry carrying over 140 passengers, including children and pregnant women, using it as a decoy to lure Navy patrol boats... During the October-December Government offensive in the Jaffna peninsula, LTTE cadre forced some civilians to abandon their homes and retreat with them, allegedly as human shields, in the face of advancing government troops. " US State Department Human Rights report on Sri Lanka- March 1996

TERRORISTS IN THE GUISE OF LIBERATORS

"The trouble with Sri Lanka is that the would be splitters (secessionists), The Tamil Tigers, have failed to establish that even their own people, let alone a majority of Sri Lankans want to see the country broken up. Instead, the Tigers are trying to achieve their end by violence. The Government, by contrast, has done its best to satisfy the reasonable demands of both Sri Lanka's main ethnic groups, The Sinhalese and the Tamils. It is time that this was more widely recognised, and the Tigers were seen for what they are: TERRORISTS.Peace is not the Tigers aim unless it comes with secession. It is certainly not the aim of their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Time and again, most recently in December, he has rejected it when it was on offer. The evidence is that he much prefers killing to democracy and has no wish to test the opinion of the people in whose name he commits so much murder. " -The Economist (UK), 10th to 16th February 1996.

THE MAFIA CONNECTION

"We have reason to believe that the Tamil Tigers have established connections with certain Mafia groups in Europe" -Mrs. Henrich, EU Ambassador, South Asia, February 1996

CRACKDOWN ON LTTE ACTIVITIES ABROAD

" A suspected leader and Canadian fund-raiser for the terrorist Tamil Tigers has been arrested on terrorist related charges. The funds were transferred to Sri Lanka for use by the group to purchase weapons and equipment in their fight against the government." -Toronto Star (Canada), 20 October 1995

"Calls on European Union member states to monitor the LTTE offices operating on the territory of the EU and to ensure that their agents respect the law and take no part in terrorist or intimidatory activities." -from Resolution adopted unanimously by the European Parliament on 16 November 1995

HUMAN RIGHTS

"Commends the Sri Lankan people and the Government of Sri Lanka for the significant improvements in Sri Lanka in the area of human rights... applauds the commitment to democracy demonstrated by the Sri Lankan people, in defiance of the brutal acts of wanton terrorism...calls on the LTTE to desist in its resort to arms and to return to the negotiating table" -from the Resolution passed by the US House of Representatives on 18 September 1995

"The LTTE regularly committed extra judicial killings (including civilian massacres and assassinations) ..LTTE members use rape as a weapon of terror.the LTTE denied the people under its authority the right to change their government, routinely violated their civil liberties and severely discriminated against ethnic and religious minorities. the LTTE has killed university professors, members of non violent Tamil opposition parties, and human rights monitors." - US State Department Human Rights report on Sri Lanka- March 1996

ETHNIC CLEANSING

"In the northern part of the island LTTE insurgents expelled some 46,000 Muslim inhabitants from their homes in 1990.virtually the entire Muslim population.expropriated Muslim homes, lands and businesses and threatened Muslim families with death if they attempt to return.In October over 120 Sinhalese civilians were massacred by LTTE forces in an attempt to inflame communal violence.many of the victims were hacked to death with swords and axes." - US State Department Human Rights report on Sri Lanka- March 1996

DISPLACEMENT OF CIVILIANS FROM JAFFNA

"Tamil refugees reaching government controlled areas have confirmed earlier government assertions that the rebels forced them at gun point from their homes in Jaffna" -New York Times, 6 December 1995

"Jaffna is a ghost town. Most of the 250,000 inhabitants have left. Some have doubtless gone in fear of the advancing army. But the majority were ordered out by the Tigers." -The Economist (UK) , 18 November 1995

INTOLERANCE OF INDEPENDENT TAMIL OPINION

"The `Muncharie' has been penalised by the Canadian World Tamil movement (WTM) (a branch/front organisation of LTTE).I received several abusive telephone calls.37 abusive calls on a single day.they ranged from death threats, threats that my other leg would be broken.after the violent campaign many shops refused to sell the `Muncharie' through fear. We have no choice.but to suspend publication of the `Muncharie' .we lay the blame squarely on the WTM " -D.B.S.Jeyaraj, editor, Muncharie, Canadian based Tamil magazine, April 1996

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION OF THE LTTE

"Mr. Prabhakaran (Leader of the LTTE) has established a rule of terror in the city of Jaffna... many of his own lieutenants have been murdered; Tamils who have criticised him, even mildly or in jest, have been picked up, tortured and executed; others have been held in dungeons, half starved, hauled out periodically for a battering by the guards.. He ( Prabhakaran) has shown a bloodthirstiness in dealing with opponents that has compared with some of the cruelest figures in Asian history, including Pol Pot of Cambodia." -New York Times, 28 May 1995

"We condemn the recent brutal massacres of civilians which have taken place, especially those in the North and the East of Sri Lanka. These outrages bear all the hallmarks of operations carried out by the LTTE and deserve the condemnation of the entire international community" -Statement by UK Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jeremy Hanley, 6 November 1995

DEFRAUDING THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE UK

"UK taxpayers bankroll international terrorism....According to a top fraud investigator a recent entrant in the fraud business has been the Tamil Tigers: `They are a significant problem'.....Rajiv Gandhi's assassin was a member of Tamil Tigers, who siphon benefit funds from the DSS...Tamil Tigers account for part of the œ5 bn of computer related benefit losses." -COMPUTING, The IT Newspaper published in the UK, 11 January 1996