Introduction of the freedom movement
For the last two decades Sri Lanka has been a cauldron of political violence. The racial antagonism that surfaced
between the Tamil and Sinhala nations since the independence of the island has evolved into a fully-fledged armed
conflict. The parties in the conflict are the Sri Lankan state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Both the
parties command standing armies and are embroiled in a bloody war.
The consequences of the war are devastating. The Tamil civilians face the brunt of the conflict because the war is waged
in the Tamil homeland. Already 50,000 Tamils have perished and hundreds of thousands have either fled the country or are
internally displaced. Yet the war continues with unabating ferocity, destroying life and property with every passing
day.
This political document attempts to clarify some of the misconceptions surrounding the armed struggle of the Tamils.
While examining the historical conditions that gave rise to the armed resistance movement, we argue that the Tamils
reserve the right to armed defence against the military repression and genocide. Countering Sri Lanka's false propaganda
that the Tamil struggle is a mode of terrorism, we explain that the armed campaign is a form of legitimate political
struggle for self-determination. In brief, the document Sets out the position of the Tamils based on their quest for
political independence and self-government.
Why did the Tamils take up arms?
The birth and growth of the armed resistance movement should be analysed within the historical development of the Tamil
struggle for self-determination. The Tamil struggle for self-determination has an evolutionary history of nearly half a
century. It is a history characterized by state repression and resistance by the Tamils. The political struggles in the
early periods were peaceful, democratic and non-violent but later assumed the form of armed resistance as the military
repression of the state intensified into genocidal proportions.
Sinhala state repression against the Tamils began to manifest in concrete forms following the independence of the island
in 1948, when the British colonial masters transferred the state's power to the Sinhala dominated parliamentary system.
By discriminatory legislation and by other measures, successive Sinhala majority governments unleashed a systematic form
of oppression that deprived the Tamils of their linguistic, educational and employment rights. Gradually and
systematically, the thrust of state oppression affected the sphere of economic and social life of the Tamils. In the
meantime, the state-aided aggressive colonization in the Tamil areas not only deprived them of their rights over their
historical lands but also altered the ethnic composition of the population rendering the Tamils a minority in certain
traditional Tamil regions. The features of Sinhala state oppression clearly indicated a devious plan calculated to
destroy the national identity of the Tamil people.
As the Sinhala state oppression and discrimination unfolded in its ugly forms threatening the national identity, the
Tamil parliamentary political leadership responded with mass political agitations. Adopting Gandhi's concept of
'ahimsa', the Tamil leadership organized non-violent campaigns demanding justice and fair play from Sinhala rulers. In
the early sixties, the 'satyagraha' (peaceful picketing) campaigns attracted huge masses of people in massive
demonstrations symbolizing a national uprising against the state. The Sinhala Government reacted with military violence
and terror, brutally crushing the non-violent peaceful campaigns of the Tamils.
Instead of looking into the genuine grievances of an aggrieved people, Colombo Governments adopted a harsh policy of
military repression. Such high-handed tactics of terror made the people realise the futility of the non-violent
campaigns.They realized that a repressive racist state adopting the methods of brutal violence attached no respect to
the moral and spiritual values underlying non violent struggles. The Tamil people became frustrated and lost hope in
both the parliamentary system which functioned under the tyranny of the majority and the non-violent struggles which
were systematically crushed by the tyranny of the military. In desperation, the Tamil leadership sought political
negotiations to resolve the conflict. Sinhala leaders entered into agreements but soon abrogated the pacts when Sinhala
chauvinistic forces opposed reconciliation with the Tamils. The event that climaxed the state oppression against the
Tamils was the new Republican constitution of 1972 which was a blatant attempt to legalize and institutionalize Sinhala
chauvinism at the cost of alienating the Tamil nation from unitary constitutional politics. This event brought about
radical transformation in the nature and structure of the Tamil political struggle.
It was during this specific historical juncture, that the armed resistance movement was born on Tamil soil with the
determination to fight for political independence from alien domination. The armed struggle emerged as a historical
development of the Tamil struggle in response to the determined efforts of the Sinhala Government to subjugate the
Tamils. <>http://www.eelam.com/pic_docs/riots83_01.html>The Tamils took up arms when they were presented with no alternative other than to defend themselves against a savage
form of genocidal oppression, when peaceful forms of democratic political agitations were violently repressed, when
constitutional paths and parliamentary doors were effectively closed, when Sinhala ruling elites callously rejected the
demands for justice and equality. Therefore, the Tamil armed struggle for political independence and self-government is
the historical product of decades of racist oppression and injustice. Armed struggle for self-determination
<http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_pbsp3.html>With the formation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1972 by its present leader, Mr.Velupillai
Pirabakaran, the mode of the Tamil political struggle underwent a radical change. For the first time in the political
history of the Tamils an armed guerrilla movement emerged to fight for the political rights of the Tamil nation and to
confront the state's violence with armed resistance. With the birth and growth of the Tamil Tigers, the armed struggle
became effectively institutionalized as the political struggle of the Tamil people.
The LTTE's armed struggle is based on a clearly defined political programme. This political project aims at securing the
right to self-determination of the Tamil people. The right to self determination is the cardinal principle upon which
the Tamil struggle for political independence is based. <http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_lttedf1.html> The LTTE is committed to the position that the Tamils constitute themselves as a people or a nation and have a
homeland, the historically constituted habitation of the Tamils, a well defined contiguous territory embracing the
Northern and Eastern Provinces. Since the Tamils have a homeland, a distinct language and culture, a unique economic
life and a lengthy history extending to over three thousand years, they possess all the characteristics of a nation or a
people. As a people they have the inalienable right to self determination. This right entailed the freedom of a people
to determine their own political status. The LTTE holds the view that the Tamil people had invoked the right to
self-determination at the 1977 general elections and opted to fight for political independence and statehood. The
national liberation project of the LTTE is based on the people's mandate for self-determination.
<http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_lttedf2.html>The LTTE's objective in fighting for political independence of the Tamil nation is not an arbitrary decision on the
part of the organization but rather the expression and articulation of the collective will and aspiration of the Tamil
people. Decades of alien domination and oppression prompted the Tamil people to exercise their right to
self-determination through a democratic process. This right to self-determination is a basic universal human right,
recognized by the international community. The International Covenants of the UN Charter enunciates the principle of
self determination in the following term; 'All people have the right to self-determination. By the virtue of that right
they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development'. In the
general elections of 1977 which assumed the character of a referendum on the question of self-determination, the Tamil
nation chose to determine their political status by seceding and establishing its sovereignty in its homeland. The Tamil
parliamentary political party, the T.U.L.F, which obtained a clear mandate from the people and pledged to fight for the
creation of an independent state 'either by peaceful means or by direct action or struggle' betrayed the cause of the
Tamils. But the LTTE, endorsing the national aspiration and the will of the Tamil people, is determined to carry on the
struggle for self-determination .
<http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_lttedf3.html>Sri Lanka has consistently denied the right to self determination of the Tamils and refused to recognize the Tamils
as a people. Reducing the Tamils to the category of a minority group and promoting the concepts of multi-ethnicity and
pluralism, it has out rightly rejected the Tamil claim of nationhood and homeland. By constitutional amendment, Sri
Lanka has prohibited the Tamil demand for self-determination as unlawful. Furthermore, it has unleashed a fully-fledged
war against the Tamils to suppress their struggle for political independence. It has condemned and accused the LTTE of
communalism, separatism and terrorism for engaging in an armed struggle to assert the right of the Tamils to freely
choose their political destiny.
International Recognition
Against the background of a powerful Sri lankan diplomatic lobby, reinforced by misrepresentation of facts and
falsehood, the Tamils have been making every effort in the international arena to seek legitimacy for the claim of
self-determination and the right to armed defence against genocidal oppression. The international campaign for the
recognition and realization of the Tamil right to self-determination was raised at the United Nations Human Rights
Commission. International NGOs sympathetic to the Tamil cause have been pleading with the UN Commission to recognize the
legitimate claim of the Tamil people for self-determination. A joint statement by several international NGOs at the 49th
session of the UN Human Right Commission held on February 1993 under the theme 'The right of peoples to
self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien domination or foreign occupation' called for
the recognition of Tamils as a people with the right to self-determination. The joint statement observed that:
"The Tamil population in the North and East, who have lived for many centuries within relatively well defined
geographical boundaries, share an ancient heritage, a vibrant culture, and a living language which traces its origins to
more than 2500 years ago. A social group, which shares objective elements such as a common language and which has
acquired a subjective consciousness of togetherness by its life within a relatively well defined territory, and its
struggle against alien domination, clearly constitutes a "people" with the right to self-determination. Today, there is
an urgent need for the international community to recognize that the Tamil population in the North and East of the
Island of Sri Lanka are such a "people" with the right to freely choose their political status".
This joint statement, by the international NGO's with U.N consultative status, calling for the recognition of the
north-eastern region of Sri Lanka as the Tamil homeland and the Tamils as a people with the right to self-determination,
was a significant development in the campaign to win international support for the Tamil liberation struggle.
Though, so far, the U.N Commission on Human Rights has not taken any serious action with regard to the Tamil national
question, it has been under constant pressure over the last decade to initiate steps to satisfy the legitimate
aspirations of the Tamils within the framework of human rights and the right to self-determination. Every year, as the
situation in the Tamil homeland becomes more grave and dangerous with the aggravation of the war of aggression and
occupation unleashed against the Tamils by Sri Lanka, the Tamil claim is gaining momentum in this UN forum.
<http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_pbsp3.html> Originally, the principle of self-determination was applied specifically to people under colonial domination
fighting a liberation struggle for political independence and statehood. In contemporary historical times the principle
has broader application that includes people facing various modes of oppression. Particularly it applies to people
oppressed by racist regimes or subjected to alien domination or foreign occupation. Alien domination entails subjugation
of one nation by another nation.
The Tamil people are oppressed by the Sinhala racist state. They are subjected to military domination and occupation by
the alien Sinhala nation. It is a well documented fact that Sinhala Governments have been making determined effort by
the use of military force to subjugate and assimilate the Tamil people within the Sinhala dominated state. <http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_pbsp4.html> This is a clear case of alien domination and subjugation. Therefore, the Tamils satisfy the necessary conditions in
international law to exercise their right to self-determination. On the basis of their entitlement to exercise
self-determination, they have the right to armed struggle. In other words, the armed struggle of the Tamils is a
legitimate political struggle in international law.
LTTE as a freedom movement
In defence of the inalienable rights of the Tamil people, the LTTE has been fighting an armed struggle against the alien
domination of the Sinhala state. As an organization committed to the principle of self-determination and engaged in a
politico-military struggle over a lengthy period, the LTTE has earned the status of a national liberation movement.
Having emerged in the early seventies and having struggled for over two decades to win the political rights of the Tamil
people, the LTTE enjoys widespread popular support in Tamil Eelam and among the international Tamil community. It is an
undeniable fact that the LTTE 's liberation struggle to assert the right to self-determination of the Tamil people has
been instrumental for the internationalization of the Tamil problem .
Sri lanka's often repeated thesis that the Tamil Tigers are a small band of armed rebels engaging in terrorism and are
alienated from the people is baseless propaganda. The very fact that the LTTE has a military and political history
extending over a period of 25 years provides ample evidence that the organization enjoys mass support. History has noted
that guerrilla movements committed to armed liberation struggles could not have survived without the support and
sustenance of the people. The longevity of its existence, its ability to conduct a consistent and sustained armed
struggle against formidable military forces (including the Indian army), its capacity to mobilize and organize popular
masses for political action, demonstrate the fact that the LTTE enjoys the status of a national freedom movement, with
massive popular backing. The LTTE has a standing army, a national liberation force consisting of several thousands of
freedom fighters, a capable and responsible command structure, military training facilities, modern weapon systems, vast
territories under its administrative control and has the potential and efficiency to engage the Sri lanka armed forces
in conventional mode of warfare. The LTTE has a political section with social, economic, educational and cultural
organizations and civil administrative units and a law and order system. The structure of the LTTE is complex and
multi-faceted and orientated towards conducting an effective armed resistance and political struggle and at the
sametime, maintaining a well organized administrative system. Furthermore, the LTTE has a massive international networks
operating in several world capitals.
Sri Lanka has consistently refused to recognize the fact that the LTTE is a liberation movement involved in the freedom
struggle of the Tamils. Such a recognition would entail the acceptance of the Tamil struggle as a national liberation
struggle. One cannot expect an admission of truth from a racist state which has for decades continued to violate, abuse,
and prevent the course of justice to the Tamils; a repressive state that has always used its powerful propaganda
machinery to distort, misrepresent and belittle the Tamil freedom movement. In the racist perception of Sri lanka, the
LTTE has always been a terrorist organization and the liberation war of the Tamils a terrorist war.
Though Sri Lanka has taken such an extremist stand and condemned the LTTE in unholy terms, there have been several
occasions when the Sinhala leadership had no choice but to enter into a negotiations process with the Tamil Tigers
recognizing the fact that the LTTE is the dominant politico-military force of the Tamils. Sri Lanka entered into
negotiations with the LTTE in Thimphu, Delhi, Bangalore, Colombo and more recently in Jaffna. Entering into negotiations
with the LTTE entails implicit recognition that the Tamil Tigers constituted a representative organization of the
Tamils. <http://www.eelam.com/gallery/gal_admin1.html>Though this status was accorded to the LTTE during political dialogues, it was abruptly negated when the talks broke
down and the LTTE was branded as a terrorist organization. The international community should take note of this rather
strange and bizarre attitude of Sri Lanka which can shift its policy to conflicting positions in considering the LTTE as
a people's organization during the times of peace and a terrorist organization during the times of war.
Hidden motives behind Sri Lanka's approach
Ever since the violent racial holocaust of 1983, in which thousands of Tamils perished as a consequence of communal
massacres, the Tamil struggle assumed international importance.
The international community showed deep concern over the gross violations of human rights by Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the
massive influx of Tamil refugees into Western Europe, North America and Australia following the riots compelled the
industrialized countries to take serious note about the political developments in the Island. Some of the concerned
European nations attempted to relate developmental aid with improvements in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
<http://www.eelam.com/pic_docs/amnesty.html>But such aid-related 'pressures' failed to produce any radical change in the system of state repression. The present
Sri Lankan Government has made a few cosmetic reforms by appointing a human rights task force and commissions of inquiry
to hoodwink the international community. But the country continues to be governed by Emergency laws, anti-terrorism acts
and military and police tyranny. In the South, the Political opposition faces police harassment, intimidation, arrest,
detention and assault and other forms of state repression with the aim to stifle the freedom of expression and opinion.
In the Northeast, a series of war crimes of grave nature are committed against the Tamils under the camouflage of
offensive military operations. The military occupied areas in the Northeast have turned into massive concentration camps
where Tamils are being subjected to arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, rape, torture and murder. There is
documentary evidence to substantiate over 500 cases of disappearances in Jaffna.
Though Sri Lanka is beset by the turbulence of war and civil unrest and the human right situation has worsened, the
developmental aid from donor countries continues to pour into the country in a big way and a substantial portion of it
is drained by the so-called 'war for peace'. The reluctance to exert aid-related pressure by the affluent countries has
encouraged the Kumaratunga government to persist on a policy of repression and tyranny. Impervious to humanitarian
concerns and insensitive to the monumental human tragedy caused by the war, some international countries continue to
supply lethal weapons to Sri Lanka. The assured supply of unrestricted funds and unrestrained supply of arms have
encouraged Sri Lanka to close the doors for peace and to embark on the ruthless policy of military domination against
the Tamil people.
Nevertheless some foreign nations are concerned over the escalation of the war and the intensification of the Tamil
conflict and have proposed negotiated political settlement between the parties in conflict, i.e. Sri Lanka and the LTTE.
Because of the mutual distrust and hostility between the combatants and the continuous failure of direct negotiations,
some of these countries have volunteered to offer mediation or facilitation. Norway, Sweden, Canada, Switzerland,
Australia and Britain have expressed their willingness either to mediate or to facilitate for peace talks between the
LTTE and the Sri Lanka government. Though the LTTE leadership has responded positively to offers of international
mediation, Sri Lanka has persistently rejected such offers of third party mediation claiming that the Tamil problem is
an internal conflict.
Sri Lanka has spurned international mediation for specific reasons. Firstly, the Kumaratunga Government does not want
the Tamil national question to be raised in the global arena as an international conflict. Secondly, it does not want
the LTTE to be accorded the status of main player in the Tamil struggle or rather the party in conflict. Thirdly, Sri
Lanka fears that the Tamil aspiration for autonomy and self-government may receive a sympathetic hearing as a reasonable
demand in the civilized political world. Fourthly, Sri Lanka wants to continue with the military option in favour of a
peace process because the conquest and domination of the Tamil homeland is a strategy that would appease the passions of
Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism.
It is true that the armed liberation struggle with the history of more than two decades has created mutual animosity,
mistrust and a great deal of misunderstanding between the LTTE and the Sinhala state. <http://www.eelam.com/pic_docs/mass_ex.html> This mutual hostility and mistrust have been the causal factors for the continuous break-down of peace talks
between both the parties. It is on this basis that the LTTE has realized that future peace negotiations can only be
meaningful and constructive if they are held under international mediation. But Sri Lanka is reluctant to seek
international assistance for the reasons we have already outlined. There are other reasons too for Sri Lanka to refuse
to negotiate with the Tamil Tigers. For the Sri Lankan ruling elites, the LTTE represents the militant stand of the
Tamils; it symbolizes the collective Tamil aspirations for identity, homeland and nationhood. While the other Tamil
groups have abandoned the basic principles underlying the Tamil struggle and are prepared to compromise on anything, the
LTTE continues to articulate those principles.
Sri Lanka is not prepared even to discuss these issues that form the very basis of the Tamil national conflict. Contrary
to Tamil perceptions and aspirations, Sri Lanka has postulated the problem in a different ideological universe,
situating the Tamils as a minor ethnic group in a multi-ethnic social formation and denying their right to a homeland
and national identity. It is precisely because of this approach, that the Sinhala regime refuses to enter into any
meaningful dialogue with the LTTE, either directly or with the facilitation or mediation of the international community.
The current military campaign is primarily aimed at the political marginalisation to the LTTE. The military occupation
and subjugation of the historical homeland of the Tamils, the Sinhala rulers assume, will bring an end to the Tamil
aspirations for autonomy and homeland and to the political struggle of the LTTE based on those aspirations.
These are the real intentions behind the current political and military approach of the Kumaratunga Government. But the
Sri Lankan propaganda machinery tells a different story to the world, a concocted story that camouflages the hidden
agenda; The international community should not be misled by the misrepresentations made by Sri Lankan propaganda but
carefully examine the real story behind the just cause of the Tamil people and their struggle for freedom and dignity.