Tamil Chauvinism - at whose Cost?

It’s very sad to see that some regional chauvinists raising their ugly heads again in support of a terrorist organization which has been banned in countries across the world, in the pretext of "Saving Tamils" in Sri lanka.
All of these mindless people seem to live in a country of their own, rather they have a hidden dream of having a country of their own. We are not far from the days when these same very people would want to be isolated from India and want a nation of their own. Listening to the speeches of a noted Tamil Film Director, who says “It is a shame that the one of oldest languages on earth does not have a country of its own", this statement clearly shows the mindset of the individual who refuses to accept India as his nation and is bold enough to reveal it on a public addressing in the same very nation. He further goes on to state that "LTTE are not terrorists" and that they are freedom fighters of Tamil culture, he further quoted that he feels extremely proud of the fact that the LTTE have revolted against the government and have transformed themselves as a powerful (read dangerous) outfit in the face of the world. These kind of statements makes one feel that the real issue is not to support LTTE, but to detach tamils from India and have a country of their own. This cannot be and will not be advertised at this point in time as the majority of Tamil still have not been able to relate to the LTTE and don't find them as one amongst us.

There has always been discomfort in accepting Hindi in TamilNadu relative to English, reason for the same is anybody’s guess. It is strongly believed that being a Tamil, English is the next important language after Tamil and Hindi is considered a "not required" - which will also be strongly advocated by many as the reason for Tamils growth across the globe. There has always been a well minded isolation of tamils from Hindi ever since 1965 (Which is the year from when Hindi was supposed to be the only official language of the nation , changing the status of English and Hindi as official languages of the nation). How can we be against a language which is being spoken by more than 50 % of the nation, for no real logical reason? Learning a foreign language is accepted, but learning a language which is deemed as the national language is considered a threat to Tamil language. India is a nation which has been stitched together by some broad minded leaders, it’s a shame really to fight for the supremacy of a language/religion/region within our country. There are a group of people who find pride in advocating on the non existing Anti-Tamil agenda in India, whose ultimate motive is to isolate and form a country for Tamils.

It’s so painful to know that we have our own people supporting a Terrorist organization which has been banned in our nation for killing one of our very own Prime Ministers amongst many prominent world leaders. All of us need to understand that LTTE is by no means a representative of Srilankan Tamils, it’s a group of terrorists who happen to speak the same language as we do.

Just do a search on LTTE and the following is what one would get to read to the credit of the world’s most dreadful terrorist group.
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Human rights violations
Main article: List of attacks attributed to the LTTE
The US state department claims that its reason for banning LTTE as a proscribed terrorist group is based on allegations that it does not have respect for human rights and that it does not adhere to the standards of conduct expected of a resistance movement or what might be called "freedom fighters".[75] [76] [77] [78] Other countries have also proscribed LTTE under the same rationale. Some countries cite that LTTE attacks civilians and recruit children.[79] The FBI has described the LTTE as "amongst the most dangerous and deadly extremist outfit in the world".[80]

Attacks on civilians
The LTTE has attacked non-military targets including commuter trains and buses, farming villages, temples and mosques, resulting in civilian deaths.
Some of the attacks resulting in civilian deaths include the Kebithigollewa massacre, the Gonagala massacre (54 dead), the Anuradhapura massacre (146 dead), the Dehiwala train bombing (56 dead),[81] the Palliyagodella massacre (109 dead) and the bombing of Sri Lanka's Central Bank (102 dead). The LTTE claims that some of these attacks on civilian targets are collateral damage.
The anti-rebel South Asian Terrorism Portal claims that even after the signing of the Ceasefire agreement in 2002, the LTTE has continued to carry out attacks against civilians. They murdered 6 Sinhalese farmers on April 23, 2006 and killed a further 13 laborers on May 30.[82] In one of the deadliest attacks against civilians, a claymore antipersonnel mine attack by the LTTE on June 15, 2006 on a bus carrying 140 civilians killed 68 people including 15 children, and injured 60 others.[83]

Assassinations
Main article: Notable assassinations of the Sri Lankan Civil War
The LTTE has been condemned by various groups for assassination of political and military opponents. The victims include Tamil moderates, Tamil paramilitary groups and Sinhalese people. Most notably the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and Ranasinghe Premadasa, who were the heads of India and Sri Lanka respectively, were attributed to LTTE.
LTTE sympathizers justify some of the assassinations by arguing that the people attacked were combatants or persons closely associated with Sri Lankan military intelligence. Specifically in relation to the TELO, the LTTE has said that it had to perform preemptive self-defence because the TELO was in effect functioning as a proxy for India. [84]

Child soldiers
Main article: Military use of children in Sri Lanka
The LTTE has recruited and used child soldiers to fight against Sri Lankan government forces.[85][86][87] The LTTE was accused of having up to 5,794 child soldiers in its ranks since 2001.[88][89]
Amid international pressure, the LTTE announced in July 2003 that it would stop conscripting child soldiers, but both UNICEF[90][91] and Human Rights Watch[92] have accused it of reneging on its promises, and of conscripting Tamil children orphaned by the tsunami.[93] However, since 2007, the LTTE has claimed that it will release all of the recruits under the age of 18 before the end of the year. On 18 June 2007, the LTTE released 135 children under the age of 18. UNICEF claims that 506 child recruits remain under the LTTE and notes, along with the United States, that there has been a significant drop in LTTE recruitment of children.[94] A report released by the LTTE's Child Protection Authority (CPA) in 2008 reported that less than 40 soldiers under the age of 18 remained in their forces.[95]
The LTTE argues that instances of child recruitment occurred mostly in the east, under the purview of former LTTE regional commander Colonel Karuna. After leaving the LTTE and forming the TMVP, it is alleged that Karuna continued to forcibly kidnap and induct child soldiers.[96] Its official position is that earlier, some of its cadres erroneously recruited volunteers in their late teens.[citation needed] It says that its official policy is now that it will not accept child soldiers. It also says that some underage youths lie about their age and are therefore allowed to join, but are sent back home to their parents as soon as they are discovered to be underage.[citation needed]

Suicide bombing
Main article: Black Tigers
The LTTE has frequently used suicide bombers as a tactic. They pioneered the use of concealed suicide bomb vests,[97]. The tactic of deploying suicide bombers was used to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed in 1991 using a prototype suicide vest, and Ranasinghe Premadasa, assassinated in 1993.[79]
According to Jane's Information Group, between 1980 and 2000, the LTTE carried out a total of 168 suicide attacks on civilians and military targets.[79]
Allegation of Ethnic cleansing
Main article: Expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna
The LTTE has been blamed for forcibly removing (or "ethnically cleansing")[98][99] Sinhalese and Muslim inhabitants from areas under its control, including the use of violence against those who refuse to leave. Most notably, the LTTE forcibly expelled the entire Muslim population of Jaffna with two hours notice in 1990.[100] The LTTE are also accused of organising massacres of Sinhala villagers who settled in the Northeast under the dry lands policy.[101][102][103]
In 2002, the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran had formally apologized for the expulsion of Muslims from the North and asked the Muslims to return. Some families have returned and the re-opened Osmaniya College and two Mosque are functioning now. According to a Jaffna Muslim source there is a floating population of about 2000 Muslims in Jaffna at any given time. [104]

Proscription as a terrorist group
30 countries have listed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.[105][106] As of May 2007, these include:
India (since 1992)
United States (designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the Department of State since 1997)[107]
United Kingdom (designated as Proscribed Terrorist Group under the Terrorism Act 2000 by the Home Secretary since 2000)[108]
European Union (since 2006; 27 countries)
Canada (since 2006)[109]
Australia[110] and other countries have listed the LTTE as a terrorist group in accordance with Resolution 1373. Canada does not grant residency to LTTE members on the grounds that they have participated in crimes against humanity.[111]
The first country to ban the LTTE was its early ally, India. The Indian change of policy came gradually, starting with the IPKF-LTTE conflict, and culminating with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. Sri Lanka itself lifted the ban on the LTTE before signing the ceasefire agreement in 2002. This was a prerequisite set by the LTTE for signing of the agreement.[112][citation needed]
The European Union banned LTTE as a terrorist organization on May 17 2006. In a statement, the European Parliament said that the LTTE did not represent all the Tamils and called on it to "allow for political pluralism and alternate democratic voices in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka". [113]
Relationship with foreign states & International organizations
Even though LTTE is proscribed as a terrorist organization, many states like Canada, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Norway have continued contact with the LTTE. International organization like Asian Development Bank, World Bank and many UN Agencies also established contact with the LTTE after the 2002 ceasefire. [50] Notably the Asian Development Bank president held a direct meeting with the LTTE in 2003. [114]. LTTE also held a direct meeting with Danny K. Davis, a United States Representative, Kofi Annan's Special envoy and António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).[115] [116] They also have held direct meetings with Norwegian government representatives and officials of other Scandinavian countries.

Criminal activities
On the 10th of January, 2008, the FBI stated that the Tigers (LTTE) have raised funds under a variety of cover organizations, often by posing as charities. A great deal of money, for example, was raised for the Tigers following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka and many other countries.[117].
One factor that has benefited the LTTE greatly has been its sophisticated international support network. While some of the funding obtained by the LTTE is from legitimate fund raising and extortion among the Tamil diaspora,[118][119] a significant portion is obtained through criminal activities, involving sea piracy[citation needed], human smuggling[citation needed], drug trafficking[citation needed] and gunrunning[citation needed].[120][121][122][65]

Credit card fraud
The LTTE has also been accused of committing credit card fraud in a number of countries including India, Kenya and the United Kingdom.[1] [65] In April 2007, the Sri Lankan High Commission in London also accused the LTTE of being behind a credit card scam, however a police spokesman said there was no definite link to the LTTE or Sri Lankan gangs.[123][124][125][126] Williams, a writer at US Institute of Peace Press, alleged the LTTE of crimes such as organized crime, social security fraud, counterfeit currency trading,[123][127].

Sea piracy
Main article: Sea Tigers#Human_Rights_Abuses
The LTTE has been accused of hijacking several vessels in waters outside Sri Lanka including the Irish Mona (in August 1995), Princess Wave (in August 1996), Athena (in May 1997), Misen (in July 1997), Morong Bong (in July 1997), MV Cordiality (in Sept 1997), Princess Kash (in August 1998) and MV Farah III (December 2006). The MV Sik Yang, a 2,818-ton Malaysian-flag cargo ship which sailed from Tuticorin, India on May 25, 1999 was reported missing in waters near Sri Lanka. The ship with a cargo of bagged salt was due at the Malaysian port of Malacca on May 31. The fate of the ship's crew of 15 is unknown. It is suspected that the vessel was hijacked by the LTTE and is now being used as a phantom vessel. Likewise the crew of a Jordanian ship, MV Farah III , that ran aground near rebel-controlled territory off the island's coast, accused the Tamil Tigers of risking their lives and forcing them to abandon the vessel which was carrying 14,000 tonnes of Indian rice. [128]
[Arms smuggling

The Mackenzie Institute discovered that another one of LTTE's most secretive international operations is the smuggling of weapons, explosives, and "dual use" technologies to keep up with the military operations. The part of the LTTE responsible for these activities is given the nickname "KP Branch", taking the initials of its highest level operative, Kumaran Padmanathan (KP). The workers for the KP Branch are from outside the fighting wing of the LTTE, since the identities of those fighters are recorded and available to law enforcement and counter-intelligence agencies by India's RAW, who had helped train many Tiger cadres in the early 1980s. The KP Branch operates extremely secretively by having the minimum connection possible with the LTTE's other sections for further security. It finally hands over the arms shipments to a highly trusted team of Sea Tigers to deliver them to the LTTE-dominated areas.[129]
The Mackenzie Institute further demonstrated that in order to carry out the activities of international arms trafficking, the LTTE operates its own fleet of ocean-going vessels. These vessels only operate a certain period of time for the LTTE and in the remaining time they transport legitimate goods and raise hard cash for the purchase of weapons. The LTTE initially operated a shipping base in Myanmar, but they were forced to leave due to diplomatic pressure. To overcome the loss of this, a new base has been set up on Phuket Island, in Thailand.[129]
Furthermore, The Mackenzie Institute claimed that the most expertly executed operation of the KP Branch was the theft of 32,400 rounds of 81mm mortar ammunition purchased from Tanzania for the Sri Lanka Army. Being aware of the purchase of 35,000 mortar bombs, the LTTE made a bid to the manufacturer through a numbered company and arranged a vessel of their own to pick up the load. Once the bombs were loaded into the ship, the LTTE changed the name and registration of their ship. The vessel was taken to Tiger-held territory in Sri Lanka's north instead of transporting it to its intended destination.[129]
Western countries are the main territory for fund raising activities of the LTTE. The money raised from donations and criminal enterprises are transferred into bank accounts of the Tigers and from there to the accounts of a weapons broker, or the money is taken by KP operatives themselves. LTTE's need for resources is mostly fulfilled by the Tamils who reside outside Sri Lanka. In 1995, when the LTTE lost Jaffna, their international operatives were ordered to increase, by a massive 50%, the amount raised from Tamils outside of the island.[129]
Wikipedia quote ends **

The Question to be asked is "Is the LTTE the face of Srilankan Tamils?" and the answer to the same in all probability is a "BIG NO", LTTE have stepped into their final resort of spreading false propoganda in Tamil Nadu and gaining support which they feel might help them delay the inevitable as deep inside evryone knows the militant organisation has almost been nailed off and its just a matter of days.

Being a Tamil, I do not find any reason to spare a thought for their ideology – Thanks to their dreadful ways of killing humanity. We all know, it’s so close for the LTTE to become a thing of the past and amongst many other True Tamilians, I am waiting for that day.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/14/stories/2008101454490800.htm