A Struggle For Justice

Introduction
Why did the Tamils take up arms?
Armed struggle for self-determination
International Recognition
LTTE as a freedom movement
Hidden motives behind Sri Lanka's approach

Published by:
International Secretariat, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
211, Katherine Road, London E6 IBU, United Kingdom.
Tel/Fax: + 44 181 470 8593

Introduction
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.

The Sri Lanka government attempts to present the complexity of the problem with
simplistic logic. The magnitude of the conflict is reduced to a simple phenomenon of
terrorism. In the perspective of the Sinhala Government, the LTTE is a small band of
bloodthirsty terrorists bent on anarchism. The answer to the problem on the
government's side is also simplistic. The elimination of the LTTE by sustained war, it is
argued, will automatically resolve the Tamil conflict.

A well orchestrated international propaganda campaign has been launched by Sri Lanka
to convince the world community that the Tamil struggle is nothing other than a spectre
of terrorism. Playing on the sensibilities and anxieties of Western nations about global
terrorism, Sri Lanka has been propagating a view that she is also a victim of a similar
phenomenon. Under the guidance of a Machiavellian Tamil minister, Sri Lankan
diplomatic missions abroad have been working overtime in transposing an internal
interracial conflict into a global terror. This disinformation campaign is intended to
discredit the Tamil armed struggle and to seek sympathy and support for a massive war
effort in the Tamil homeland. In the diplomatic language of Sri Lanka, this war is an
exercise for peace and has noble intentions of 'liberating Tamils from the scourge of
terrorism'. Such false propaganda has created a great deal of confusion and
misconception in the international political and diplomatic arena about the Tamil struggle
in general and the armed struggle in particular. Furthermore, the ongoing violence and
counter-violence that characterize the Tamil conflict have given rise to various
misrepresentations about the aims and objectives of the Tamil armed freedom
movement.

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. 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

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. 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.

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 .

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.

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. 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. 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