LTTE

Introduction On the late evening of 20 February 2009, two diminutive aircrafts swiftly approached Sri Lanka’s capital with the intention of launching an attack against the military’s defense base in Colombo. The Zlin Z-143 airplanes were flown by ferocious Air Tigers; the air-wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fueled with determination to […]

Image: LTTE child soldier, 1987. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/APRIL 12, 2019/BERLIN. German authorities have indicted a Sri Lankan man suspected of involvement in killing 15 captured government soldiers while fighting for the Tamil Tigers rebel group. Federal prosecutors said Friday that 37-year-old Sivatheeban B. is accused of membership in a foreign terrorist organization, war crimes, two […]

Image: Fallen “LTTE  war heroes ” cemetery in 2004. The Sri Lankan State’s erasure of the complex history and experiences of the war manifest in varying ways across the country; military monuments that showcase a single victory narrative, the construction of Buddhist statues in Tamil-majority areas and the blatantly incorrect signboards at several of these locations. Then, there is […]

  Image: One time HR and peace activist Mano Ranjan plays a lead role in ‘Demons in Paradise’. Jaffna International Film Festival that began last week has removed Jude Ratnam’s internationally acclaimed ‘Demons in Paradise’ from screening. The decision to remove the film – that depicts the gradual but predictable degeneration of Tamil militancy into one […]

Image: LTTE trained civilians including children as civil defense forces. BERLIN (AP) — German authorities have arrested a Sri Lankan man suspected of involvement in killing captured government soldiers as a member of the Tamil Tigers rebel group a decade ago. Federal prosecutors said a judge ordered Thursday the 36-year-old, identified only as Sivatheeban B. […]

Image: Vijayakala Maheswaran (Indian Express) (08 July 2018/ST) Tiger lover resigns after expressing longings for the LTTE to romance the north with the kiss of death enforced through the barrel of the gunView(s): 364 Like some of their Sinhale brethren down south of the border who, within three short years, seem to have forgotten the recent […]

One fascinating dimension of the current political developments in Sri Lanka is the maturing power struggle between three groups of the Sinhalese political class. They are led by three prominent political personalities, President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Politics heading for interesting times The last local government election, held a […]

Thirteen financiers accused of funnelling more than CH15 million ($15.3 million) to the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) will stand trial before the Swiss Federal Criminal Court on Monday. The accused are from Switzerland, Germany and Sri Lanka. Some are former members of the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC), […]

J.N. Dixit in his book, Assignment Colombo, had recalled the lengthy exchange he had with Prabakaran on all the details of the agreement in the presence of MGR and Panruti S. Ramachandran. “But Prabakaran remained indecisive and demanded that he be sent back to Jaffna. “MGR told him to be patient and stay back in […]

Army Commander Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake says that tagging the ‘LTTE label’ on every incident happening in the north is “completely misplaced” as sporadic activity by “subversive groups” do not constitute a threat to national security. “You mentioned the word ‘LTTE’, I didn’t. I don’t like people saying ‘LTTE’ for every incident. My point is […]

Image: Chairman of the NPC C.V.K. Sivagnanam, Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) C.V.K. Sivagnanam has told Ceylon Today that generalization and coming to the conclusion that a revival of the LTTE is taking place in the country especially in the North is false. He  has stressed that connecting the entire lot of rehabilitated LTTE militants […]

Issuing a statement on the judgement by the European Court of Justice annulling measures against the LTTE , the European Union says that it continues to consider the LTTE as a terrorist organisation and the EU’s restrictive measures against the LTTE remain in force. The full text of the statement follows: Statement of the European […]

The United States had “a detailed coordinated plan” with the Indian and Sri Lanka Governments for its Navy to rescue trapped displaced persons in Puthukudiyiruppu during the final stages of the separatist war, according to Ambassador Robert Blake, then Washington’s envoy in Colombo. However, the Sri Lankan Government killed the idea for fear that Erik […]

Demons in Paradise, which is premiering at the Cannes film festival, tells of the bloodbath that drove some Tamils to take up arms in the three decade-long insurgency that tore the island apart. Jude Ratnam is worried how his film might go down with his fellow Sri Lankan Tamils. And he has a point. Demons […]

By Avani Dias.  Women and girls whose male relatives were killed in Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war are now helping the country recover, taking on roles formerly reserved for men and heading to schools and universities to complete their education. The so-called “Border Girls” mostly come from towns and villages which formed a human buffer […]

by Vishwamithra. Rohana Wijeweera was a remarkable man. At the height of the cold war in the international arena, when the United States of America (USA) was in constant confrontation with the then Soviet Union (USSR) in every possible global forum, Wijeweera played his logical role as the leader of the first revolutionary political party […]

Image: Rehabilitated ex-LTTE carders. Speaking at press conference organized by  the joint opposition today (2 March) former Parliamentarian, Sarath Weerasekara has said that separatist groups have gathered information regarding 11, 000 rehabilitated and released Tamils and yet another 4,000 Tamils who did not surrender to the army, and have sufficient hidden arms and ammunition, enabling […]

Image:  Ezhuka Tamil in Batticaloa @shalin. Ezhuka Tamil – ‘Rise Tamil’ rally  which was held in Batticaloa 10th February  was attended by huge crowds carrying   flags of red and yellow the colors of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The offcial colour of the Ezhuka Tamil  is same as the LTTE. The rally was held in […]

Image: Neelan, Rajini and Amirthalingam all killed by the LTTE for being moderate. By Manekshaw. Plans to assassinate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Mathiaparanam Abraham Sumanthiran, who is a confidant of TNA Leader and Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan, have been unearthed by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) with the arrest of five suspects. […]

Press Trust of India  |  Colombo  February 1, 2017. Former Lanka strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa has blamed Sirisena Government for letting the guard down on LTTE by downsizing “intelligence operations” on the group’s erstwhile strongholds in the Tamil-dominated northern regions. Rajapaksa, two term former President who oversaw the ending of country’s two-and-a-half decade-old separatist war led […]

Image: A diaspora group march carrying LTTE flags. Jathika Hela Urumaya national organiser, Media Spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe has said that the the alleged plot to assassinate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran that was uncovered recently signals the regrouping of the LTTE and the possibility of terrorism raising its ugly head once again in […]

Image: Pro- LTTE diaspora demonstration in Europe. “Nallavan” (not his real name) is a Tamil youth living in a Northern village. He was a former member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization who had surrendered to the armed forces in May 2009. He was incarcerated for a period of time and released […]

Image: MP Sumanthiran. By P K Balachandran  |  Express News Service  | KILINOCHCHI: The Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) of the Sri Lankan police  has so far arrested four former cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for allegedly plotting to assassinate the moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, M.A.Sumanthiran, in Marudankeni in Jaffna […]

( Ex- LTTE cadres during the  rehabilitation) Medical examinations conducted on former LTTE cadre were negative for any traces of poison, the Northern Province Health Ministry said yesterday. A total of 146 rehabilitated former LTTE members have undergone the test conducted by the provincial health authorities. So far none of the medical tests conducted detected […]

(LTTE flag) The EU may have to remove Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and the Sri Lankan separatist Tamil Tigers from its list of terrorist organisations, a top European Court adviser has said. The Court ruled in 2014 they should be taken off the list on technical grounds, not as a reassessment of their classification as […]

(In his letter, the LTTE leader accuses the IPKF of committing atrocities against Tamils) B. Kolappan. MDMK general secretary Vaiko has released a letter written by LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran to DMK leader M. Karunanidhi in 1989 in which he had asked the latter to bring to the attention of opposition parties the “atrocities” committed […]

( Rajapaksa and Ranatunga ) Parliamentarian  and leading member of the former president Rajapaksa led so-called Joint Opposition Prasanna Ranatunga has warned the government  that LTTE being strengthened locally and internationally . He has said that in letter addressed to President Maithripala Sirisena says government controlled  Daily News. To prove his point, Ranatunge has cited the […]

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran had made a request for it in a conversation with US Ambassador Atul Keshap in Jaffna. Colombo, August 17 (NIA): The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, has said that US Air Force’s medical team, currently in the province on a goodwill visit, will examine former Tamil […]

Rathika Pathmanathan (Photo Courtesy: PK Balachandran) COLOMBO: Rathika Pathmanathan, a former combatant of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), urges fellow Sri Lankans divided by a 30 year ethnic conflict, to stop “accusing and punishing each other, and begin addressing the root causes of the conflict” so that Sinhalese and Tamils may live together […]

(Ranjini Sudhan, disabled ex-LTTE fighting cadre at Kilinochchi) By P.K.Balachandran. KILINOCHCHI: Former cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who had surrendered to the Sri Lankan army and undergone a year’s  ‘rehabilitation’ in special camps, are manifestly eager to get back to normal life, forgetting their past. But lack of active interest on […]