Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers Were Powerful

By Henry Srebrnik, [Ssummerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer 

 

Until their final defeat a decade ago, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), popularly known as the Tamil Tigers, were one of the more successful nationalist movements in the world.

They held off the army of the Sinhalese-majority Sri Lankan state for almost three decades. They also had overwhelming support from the Tamil diaspora, in Canada and elsewhere.

Despite the LTTE’s reliance on coercion to induce compliance, civilians in the Tamil-majority areas in he north and east of the country also supported the LTTE and their imagined state of Tamil Eelam voluntarily. 

After all, the costs for a rebel group of relying only on coercion are usually high and its effects last only as long as the coercion is effectively applied, while an element of legitimacy may provide sustainability.

Civilian support is the essential element of successful protracted guerilla operations since civilians can provide food, information and be a source of new recruits.

Hence the leadership of rebel groups will attempt to consolidate support among its constituents. A rebel leader without followers or civilian support will probably not get far in achieving political and military goals.

Different LTTE strategies helped create legitimacy in its quasi-state. Effective forms of legitimation were rooted in Hindu Tamil nationalism, tradition, charismatic leadership, and sacrifices made by LTTE cadres on behalf of the Tamil community’s need for protection. 

By making itself the sole representative of the Tamil people, the LTTE silenced competing Tamil voices, which were based on internal caste differences.

The Tamil Tigers in particular recruited younger Tamils who were upset by the economic dominance of Jaffna-based upper-caste Vellalar Tamils.

Initially, the LTTE comprised both Tamils and Muslims, but later they started to exclude Muslims and even forcefully expelled them from the Northern Province in 1990.

The LTTE called itself the national liberation movement of the Eelam Tamils, as articulated in their political program:

“We have a homeland, a historically constituted habitation with a well-defined territory embracing the Northern and Eastern Provinces, a distinct language, a rich culture and tradition, a unique economic life and a lengthy history extending to over three thousand years. As a nation we have the inalienable right to self-determination.”

How did those living under Tiger rule perceive the LTTE’s emblems? At meetings, they sang the Eelam national anthem. A national flag, bird, tree and flower also symbolised the separate nation.

The very name and logo of the insurgency, the “Tigers,” referred to the Tamil Chola dynasty in India who conquered the island in the 11^th century, under whom Tamil culture and power flourished.

Between the 1980s and the end of the war, the military wing of the LTTE transformed from a guerrilla organisation to a type of regular army with a conventional fighting force – it even had a navy and air force. 

It had a disciplined structure with the charismatic Velupillai Prabhakaran, who possessed an almost-mythical status, as its supreme leader. There were even suicide commandos, known as the Black Tigers, who were suicide commandos.

In its base areas the LTTE set up its own administrative structures, such as the police, the judiciary 

and tax collection. Though finally defeated, their legacy remains alive in the Tamil community.