Rajiv Gandhi minutes before he was killed by the human bomb Subha, seen with her back to the camera and flowers in her hair (also inset).
Training the Tigers
Two Tigers stand guard outside an LTTE office
Most international media releases continue to carry the following, which is based on LTTE propaganda:
a. "the rebels have been fighting to create a homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority".
b. "successive Sinhala-dominated governments have been discriminating against the Tamils since independence".
c. "Analysts say that unless the legitimate grievances of the Tamil minority are dealt with, there will be no peace in the country".
All of this is incorrect, but continues to be recycled as the "background to the conflict" in many news articles even today, using old boilerplate text. These are what the LTTE propaganda is based on. In fact, their entire existence is based on this propaganda.
The article shows that the LTTE, rather than being the representatives of the Tamils, actually has the Tamils intimidated and afraid to come out against them under pain of death (summary punishments have been carried out on many Tamils during the past twenty years, both in Sri Lanka and overseas). The Tamil Diaspora is not supporting them because they want the LTTE to fight for a Tamil homeland, but because they too are in its grasp.
The article also shows that the LTTE is not trying to create a homeland for the Tamils, but is trying to create a mini-state where the LTTE leadership can escape from International law enforcement authorities and which will also serve as a base for their international criminal enterprises.
The so-called "atrocities", discrimination and "genocide’ are false-propaganda by the LTTE on a massive scale to hoodwink the World’s population, and particularly those Tamils who have been born after the events of July 1983 when the LTTE first came into International attention.
The following describes how the present conflict actually began, in chronological sequence.
a. Prior to 1976, the Tamil politicians made use of the call for a Federal State in the North and East as an election issue to gain Tamil votes. The ordinary Tamil public was neither for it nor against it as they were quite content with their lot.
b. The LTTE and 32 other quasi-political groups were raised overnight in 1976, mainly from the criminal underworld and smuggling rings of Jaffna as a result of the Vadukkodai Resolution of the Tamil politicians to introduce sabotage to pressure the government to accede to their demand for a federal state.
c. Differences arose between the Tamil politicians and these groups causing disturbances such as lamppost killing of Tamil politicians, resulting in law enforcement activities that forced the groups to take refuge in Tamil Nadu.
d. At the time (1979) the Indian government, which was pro-USSR, was not favourably disposed towards Sri Lanka, which was pro-USA, and therefore India, using the RAW, provided training in military operations and terrorism to these groups, converting them from mere criminal and smugglers into trained and equipped terrorists.
e. Meanwhile the 1978 Sri Lanka government had granted all the demands of the Tamil people (other than a federal state which was impossible), and the Tamil people had no cause for political agitation. The leading Tamil politician was even the leader of the Parliamentary opposition.
f. The groups returned to Jaffna in 1982 to find that the Tamil people rejected them because they had murdered the old well-loved politicians. They were therefore at a loose end, with no cause to fight for. Lacking a cause to fight for, the groups fell back on the old political demand for a federal state, but found that there was no longer a cause for such a demand. They therefore decided to invent (or create) a cause and use terrorism as the means to attain their demands. Terrorism also permitted them to subjugate the reluctant Tamil people into supporting them.
g. They arranged with certain Tamil Nadu newspapers to spread the incidents they would create and record as propaganda to gain the sympathy of the Tamil people.
h. The first two incidents, the murder of an off duty soldier in Jaffna town and the murder of two soldiers, were unsuccessful as the expected reaction did not take place. The third attempt was the killing of 13 soldiers travelling to the Jaffna on leave after performing anti illicit immigration duties. This attempt was completely successful as they had arranged, through their old smuggling contacts in Colombo, to set fire to Tamil shops when the bodies were brought to Colombo for burial. The ensuing riots in which non-Tamil hooligans joined, were filmed and photographed and sent to Tamil Nadu for publication in newspapers.
i. The Tamil Nadu journalist not only published them, but also put the material on the Newswire service, which was picked up by all international media organisations. Coming so soon after the events in Bosnia, Central America and Africa (particularly Sierra Leone), the news became an immediate sensation.
j. The world governments took notice, opening their borders to Tamil refugees. Although the riots lasted only a couple of days, Tamils used the opportunity this presented to bring up their families in a First World country and emigrated in droves. Even though few of these families had been affected by the riots, once they had given "refugee" as the reason for emigration, they had to continue with this lie until they received permanent residency.
k. Realising the value of this type of propaganda, the LTTE, which had by then become the leading group, orchestrated similar incidents to obtain more footage and photos to be used in their propaganda. This continued throughout the entire 25 years of the insurrection. They even used photos of their own ethnic cleansing of Sinhala and Muslim villages, displaying them as Tamils killed by the security forces.
l. With the forced involvement of the Tamils in the Diasporas, the propaganda arm has now become very strong. The funds they collect have made the LTTE one of the richest terrorists organisations in the World. They use these funds to buy influence in all first world governments and in all international media organisations. They have infiltrated into, or own through bribery and blackmail, representatives of all world organisations. The propaganda is now psychologically filtered and aimed to force the Sri lanka government to cave into international pressure to grant a separate state for the LTTE.
m. Between 1983 and 1987 the LTTE became the absolute leader of the terrorist groups by killing the leaders of the other groups. They also found that the Tamil Diaspora they had created was a source of unlimited funds, which they collected by using the old "protection" rackets they had used in Jaffna as criminals. They also branched off into other lucrative criminal activities such as electronic fraud. The funds they collected enabled them to purchase weapons and ammunition, and ships to transport them, which they also used for drug running and human trafficking. The "Sea Tigers" they raised enabled them to carry out high seas piracy, hijacking merchant vessels, selling the goods and using the ships after re-naming them as their own ships.
n. In 1991 the LTTE assassinated the Indian PM, Rajiv Ghandi using a suicide bomber, causing India and Interpol to issue a warrant for the arrest of the leader of the LTTE and several sub-leaders. Because of this, the need for a separate Tamil State became even more important as such an independent State would be the only place where the LTTE leadership would be able to escape Interpol. This is why, when the peace talks were being held, the LTTE rejected all offers of a federal state, Interim Administration and devolution, as none of these would provide immunity against Interpol.
o. Since about 2000, they began to conscript youth into their ever-diminishing ranks. Later they began kidnapping children and forcing parents to give up children as young as 10 years old. By doing this, they completely alienated the ordinary Tamil people, who now hate the LTTE with a hatred that only a parent can have for someone who takes their children away from them.
p. Today, therefore, the LTTE has to have a separate mini-state for themselves, or perish. The LTTE is not fighting for a Tamil Homeland for the Tamils, as no ordinary Tamil will, of their own free will, wish to live under their autocratic and terrifying rule. The LTTE is trying their best to create a mini state as a base for their criminal activities and as a refuge for themselves.
One only has to go into any city in Sri Lanka and look around at the number of Tamil shops and boutiques, at the number of Tamils who are government employees (in 1983, percentage-wise, there were more Tamils in government and professional employment such as doctors, lawyers teachers and academics than Sinhalese) to realise that what the LTTE has been saying, what the Western media, influenced by the LTTE has been saying, is all absolutely false.
A terrible injustice has been caused to Sri Lanka by the international media by mindlessly propagating the propaganda that the LTTE has been manufacturing. It is hoped that this media will now research these points and inform the world’s public of the truth.