Today the Tamil people can realise the extent of the popularity of the Liberation Tigers in foreign countries by the very fact that the Sri Lankan Government uses all its potential communications media in thwarting this popularity of the Tigers in the outside world. It is therefore possible to understand that the growth in the popularity of the Tigers has greatly impacted the Government. In this propaganda war, the Sri Lankan Government has a great advantage: the availability of immense Government funds; the service of specialists; the control of all internal communications media as well as advice and guidance from local and international military experts which give it an undeniable advantage over the Tigers in the war front. But the strength of the Liberation Tigers lies in the justness of their cause and the determination of the Tamil people, which undermines all the false propaganda of the Sri Lankan Government.

As far as the Sri Lankan Government is concerned, its propaganda reaches every nook and cranny in the island through its Television network, Rupavahini and the Lake House group of newspapers which it controls, while its access to the latest technology in the communications revolution, the Internet enables the Government to reach a sizable audience all over the world, irrespective of the truth or credibility of its propaganda. Not only do the newspapers published in Colombo come under Government censorship, they are also greatly influenced by its opinion so that the newspapers are obliged and sometimes even threatened to publish the Government's point of view.

Even foreign corespondents living in Colombo come under the direct influence of the Government's news conferences and press releases. They have no free access to the war-torn Tamil areas to determine for themselves independently the exact situation and the feelings of the people there. The Government's own propaganda and dissemination of news (which would otherwise not be available to them at all), obliges several foreign correspondents to fall in line with the Government's intentions and to avoid publishing any contradictory news. Several of these international organisations are manned by a large number of Sinhalese assistants who, because of their racial affinity, are unable to understand the justness of the Tamil cause.

Even some of the Sinhalese elite, intelligentsia and media who are convinced of the problems the Tamils are faced with, still consider the Liberation Tigers as terrorists. It is therefore clear that even these people do not view the war in its true perspective.

The Sri Lankan Government also continues to manipulate the Colombo-based leaders of the Tamil United Liberation Front, as well as other insignificant players who call themselves representatives of the Tamil people in the north and east. The recent defence by TULF leaders of certain remarks by President Chandrika concerning the Tamils bears testimony to their moral depravity. Even some Tamils living in Colombo who consider themselves the cream of intelligentsia have formed themselves into an informal organisation, called the Jaffna University Teachers for Human Rights, without even the knowledge of Jaffna University administration, to smear the image of the Liberation Tigers for the sake of position and money. Their services are utilised by the Sri Lankan Government for its own ulterior motives.

On the top of all these underhand dealings, President Chandrika makes use of the so-called Tamil, Lakshman Kadirgamar, who does not know or even understand Tamil, in her propaganda efforts to destroy the Tamil Eelam cause. Under Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry uses its Embassies and diplomatic Missions overseas in order to spread its scandalising propaganda concerning the image of the Liberation Tigers and the just cause of the Tamil people and their liberation struggle. The main task of Sri Lankan Foreign Missions is to make use of Sinhalese people, mainly Buddhists, living in foreign countries to organise activity against the Tamils. Instead of concentrating on their normal diplomatic duty of maintaining friendly relations with other countries, these diplomatic missions and their staff are charged by Lakshman Kadirgamar to be alert for any developments in favour of the Tamils in those countries and to take immediate measures to counter such developments. Whenever there is a sign of sympathy for the Tamil cause in foreign countries, Lakshman Kadirgamar does not hesitate to condemn it as a violation of Sri Lankan internal affairs.

In spite of all its comparative advantage, the Sri Lankan Government has failed to impress on the outside world and put a stop to the ever growing popularity of the Liberation Tigers, for the simple reason that all its propaganda does not have an iota of truth and does not reflect the real situation of the war in Sri Lanka. Faced with this deficiency, it is therefore obliged to spread unwholesome lies and half-truths and make improper use of its propaganda machine in order to counter the upsurge in the popularity of the Liberation Tigers in the outside world.



1. Are Liberation Tigers an organisation of terrorists?

The primary motive of the Sri Lankan Government's international propaganda is to portray the Liberation Tigers as a terrorist organisation and its war with the Sri Lankan armed forces as terrorist activities. Its principal objective is therefore to cause damage to the image of the Liberation Tigers in the outside world and thereby belittle the Eelam liberation cause. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is the national liberation movement of the Tamils. It is an organisation with a long history of the Tamil liberation struggle for the past 24 years. It is a national organisation with an infrastructure consisting of military, political, social, economic and legal institutions. It. has been forced to resort to armed struggle after all the democratic and non-violent struggle of the Tamil people to win their legitimate rights had ended in failure.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been recognised by both the Sri Lankan and Indian Governments at one time or another. And during the recent cease-fire, the Governments of Norway, Netherlands and Canada had recognised it as a national liberation movement and had volunteered their services as observers.

Under the Chandrika Government, economic embargoes, a ban on deep sea fishing, denial of freedom of movement, arrests, disappearances, sex violations, cold blooded murder and disposal of bodies in secret pits in areas under army control are premeditated and have become the order of the day. Aerial bombardment, artillery fire, attacks from gun-boats, and other destructive measures undertaken by the Chandrika administration, are intended to exterminate the entire Tamil people.

Government terrorism has reached its zenith under the Government of President Chandrika. Floating bodies in the Polgoda Lake, the inhuman aerial bombardment of the catholic church at Navaly and a school in Nagarkovil, the Kumarapuram massacre, bombardment in Nachchikuda, the excavations in Jaffna which reveal secret killings and disposal of bodies have all taken place during Chandrika's regime, which the whole civilised world saw with shame and horror.



2. Linking the Liberation Tigers with drug traffic

The policy of the Liberation Tigers is that drugs are dangerous to humanity and hence all sources of its traffic should be destroyed. Due to the untiring effort of the LTTE in the past, there were no sellers or users of drugs in the regions under its control. Even illicit arrack (liquour) and prostitution are banned [by the LTTE civil administration] because they are detrimental to the well-being of society. In contrast, the use of drugs and child prostitution are an everyday occurrence in Colombo and other Sinhalese areas in the south of the island. The child prostitution is carried out with the blessings of those with direct links in the higher echelons of the Sri Lankan Government.



3. Extortion of money under threat

The Liberation Tigers are burdened with the responsibility of assuring the security of the Tamil people from wanton attacks by the Sri Lankan forces, rehabilitating the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been forced out of their homelands, countering the Government's economic embargo in Tamil areas by undertaking development projects, maintaining social and economic growth among its people, safeguarding the cultural heritage, health, language, education and other human values of the Tamil people from destruction. They need a large fund to finance all these projects. The Liberation Tigers therefore levy taxes from the Tamil Eelam people, from commercial and industrial undertakings in their territory, and receive financial assistance from local and foreign well-wishers and benefactors.

It is important to note that what the Liberation Tigers receive as funds for maintaining the internal security of its people are also used for rehabilitation, development, linguistic, educational, and cultural purposes. But what the Sri Lankan Government does is the exact opposite - it diverts economic assistance it receives for rehabilitation, development, education and other social, economic and cultural projects either in its entirety or a good part of it for continuing its war effort. The whole world is now aware that the Government uses the development funds destined for the north and east for its military operations against the Tamil people. It is for this reason that donor countries now insist that they oversee the work undertaken by the aid receiving countries. Thus it can be concluded that the premeditated false propaganda of the Sri Lankan Government against the Liberation Tigers is a cover for its own mishandling of international aid.



4. Does the LTTE have links with international terrorist organisations?

The Liberation Tigers, as its name implies is a liberation organisation concerned with the struggle for the national self determination of the Tamil people. They are anxious to establish normal diplomatic relations with legally constituted countries in the world and continue their efforts in this direction by their political and diplomatic encounters.

Hence the LTTE is aware that it will be suicidal to establish links with international terrorist or criminal organisations such as the Mafia. The LTTE has no links whatsoever with such terrorist or criminal organisations. The Liberation Tigers, on the other hand, are concerned with maintaining friendly relations, even with countries that give military training and other logistic assistance to the Sri Lankan armed forces who are engaged in a genocidal war against the Tamil people; and to convince these countries the extent to which their assistance to Sri Lanka is causing misery for the Tamil people. The LTTE gives due consideration to cooperate with non governmental and volunteer organisations and to give them all their assistance to carry out their missions. The Liberation Tigers have clearly understood that it is the Sri Lankan Government and its governmental machinery who are the enemies of the liberation struggle.

In their 24 year history of leading the liberation struggle, the Liberation Tigers have never indulged in any kidnapping of foreigners, holding them as ransom, threatening them or even causing damage to their property.But the Sri Lankan Government has threatened the Secretary General of the United Nations for his condemnation of the Sri Lankan Government for the massive displacement of the Tamil people by its military operations, threatened the M.S.F. for its condemnation of the Nagarkovil aerial bombing, and boycotted the conference in Colombo of non governmental organisations.

Thus the Sri Lankan Government has not hesitated to take punitive measures against those countries and organisations which did not agree with the Government's genocidal policy against the Tamil people. The Government has enlisted the services of experts from the United States, United Kingdom and Israel for training its troops, and even used them in military operations. Unable to stand the growing influence of the Liberation Tigers in the international sphere and financial assistance given to them by Tamils living abroad, the Sri Lankan government has made established contacts with international terrorist organisations to hunt out and exterminate LTTE activists in foreign countries.

This is evidenced by the recent cold-blooded murder of Nathan and Kajan in France. Former President J.R.Jayawardena once said that he would even seek the assistance of the devil to defeat the Tamil Liberation struggle. Today Chandrika is fulfilling that wish. These heinous actions of the Sri Lankan Government are a direct threat to the balance of power in South East Asia, disrupt regional peace in the Indian Ocean and help in organising a stage for a World Power confrontation.



5. Passport frauds and illicit immigration

Unable to withstand the death and destruction caused by the Sri Lankan Government's uncontrolled war in Tamil regions, people are forced to leave their homelands and seek refuge elsewhere. Some of them are helped to leave the country by hundreds of travel agencies in Colombo and in other countries whose main motive is to make money. Some of these flourishing agencies and their agents are functioning in accordance with the law, while there are several others who engage in deception and fraud. Most of them function with the blessings of top level Government officers and institutions. It is clear that instead of controlling and overseeing the activities of these Agencies and Agents and maintaining law and order, the Sri Lankan Government accuses the Liberation Tigers to distract world attention on its incapacity.



6. Violation of human rights

Human rights are considered inviolable in the world order today. The Tamil people are one of the world's oldest. They spread their civilisation to other parts of the world. Human friendship, human understanding, human rights, human civilisation and human culture were brought to the forefront by the Tamils. It is therefore unnecessary that the Tamils be given a lesson on human rights. The Liberation Tigers who belong to this heritage do not hesitate to punish those who work against the liberation cause and engage in its betrayal. They also carry out raids against armed Sinhalese thugs who have been settled in Tamil areas by the Sri Lankan Government. Several thousand innocent Tamils have been killed or maimed by these traitors and thugs. Many more have lost their property and been driven out of their hereditary homeland. Hence the Liberation Tigers do not show mercy to those who inflict such losses on the Tamil community.
 

The Tamil Eelam national leader V.Prabakaran insists that all the international offices of the LTTE should function in accordance with the law of the individual country in which they find themselves. However, it has been unfortunate that representatives of the LTTE had been arrested in countries like Canada and Switzerland. Even though these actions are the direct result of the vicious propaganda of the Sri Lankan Government, the LTTE has taken all legal measures in this regard. It is on the basis of this legal action that the LTTE's Swiss representative was recently released. It is hoped that the Canadian representative will also be released in the near future.

The International Office of the Liberation Tigers is based in London. There are several branch offices and coordination centres in other countries of the world. There are more LTTE offices than Sri Lankan Embassies in different countries and cities for the dissemination of information. Tamil youths and intelligentsia who are devoted to the Tamil liberation cause and victims of Sinhalese racism form the backbone of this information network. They are devoid of self interest and sometimes even sacrifice family responsibilities. The LTTE volunteers are a set of devoted activists who disregard the cold and the heat, face the wrath of disease and fatigue, as well as all types of pressure and opposition, but continue on their inexorable path of dedicated and selfless service.

The Sri Lankan Government which had left no stone unturned to disrupt the popularity of the Liberation Tigers all over the world by its false propaganda and legal procedures has finally unleashed its tentacles of international terrorism.

State terrorism against the Tamils was hitherto confined to the national limits of Sri Lanka. But now it has been exported to foreign shores. There is no more security for the thousands of refugees who have been obliged to flee their country due to the war and seek refuge in foreign countries. Madam Chandrika who had received her higher education in Politics and Science, in France had resorted to international terrorism which even her diehard predecessors J.R.Jayawardena and R. Premadsa had never ventured to do. The Sri Lankan Tamils living in foreign countries are therefore faced with the situation of protecting themselves from this international Sinhala terrorism.

The whole world is now aware that preparations are under way for a major military operation and extermination of the Tamils from Sri Lankan soil, and that all talk about peace is an eye-wash to deceive and influence international public opinion. At the same time, the world has been awakened to the threat of international terrorism exported from Sri Lankan shores. Hence it will not be long before the international community recognises the inalienable rights of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka, and that the only solution for a permanent solution to the Tamil question and the establishment of peace lies in the granting of the right of self determination to the Tamils and the establishment of a separate state of Tamil Eelam comprising the northern and eastern provinces of the island of Sri Lanka.

by Manivannan
Head of LTTE International Coordinating Office
Tamil Eelam

Courtesy: 'Kalathil' (12-Feb-1997 & 26-Feb-1997) Official Tamil periodical of the LTTE International Secretariat.