A quick introduction to the LTTE (contributed by Lee Yeu Hann)

After Sri Lanka gained its independence, a coalition government with Tamil representatives was formed. However, there was growing dissent among Tamils which led to the formation of insurgent groups. One of them was Tamil New Tigers (TNT), formed in 1972.

Tension eventually escalated and an armed insurgency spearheaded by the LTTE was started. This was sparked by the Policy of standardization that favoured Sinhalese for entry to university education. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were a union of four different insurgent groups and fought for a Tamil Eelam, an independent Tamil State in the north east province of Jaffna. They were later defeated in 2009 after a long bloody civil war. However, in order to finance these activities, the LTTE resorted to sea piracy, arms and people smuggling, drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering and credit card fraud. 

Disappointingly, it also carried out attacks on civilians, used women as suicide bombers, recruited children as soldiers, engaged in ethnic cleansing including innocent Muslims, executed fellow Tamils and prisoners of war (POWs) and violated international law. It is no surprise that they are classified as a terrorist group by the CIA.