Internal fissures widen in LTTE as Forces gain ground in North

Global crackdown continues to batter Tigers:

The pre-dawn attack on the Cheerathivu islet located between Jaffna and Mandathivu island was one of the signals given by the LTTE regarding the deepening internal rift in the LTTE to secure a top level leadership.

The attack on Cheerathivu islet came just one week after the funeral of LTTE's top Military Wing leader Balraj who died under mysterious circumstances in the Wanni.

The vacuum created within the LTTE hierarchy with the death of Balraj who acted as the joint operations commander of the Tiger Military Wing kickstarted the internal rift among the top level leaders of the Tiger outfit.

Theepan, now commanding the Tiger cadres operating in Jaffna sector entered the fray for this position. Theepan joined the LTTE with Balraj in the ninth batch but Balraj reached the top position surpassing other seniors in the Military Wing.

But one disgruntled leader who had been out of the scene after sustaining injuries in an explosion in Nanthikadal lagoon in Mullaitivu last year and later recovered from his injuries was also eying for this position. Soosai who is now commanding the Sea Tiger Wing had been forgotten by many of the top level Tiger leaders due to his inefficiency in sea operations.

Another reason contributed for the loss of his position in the top level leadership is the appointment of Cheliyan as the Commander of the Sea Tiger Wing during the period Soosai was undergoing treatment at a hospital in the Wanni.

Soosai was sidelined as Pottu Amman is strongly backing Cheliyan to command the Sea Tiger Wing as Cheliyan was a strong supporter of him. Though, Soosai was reinstated in his position after he recovered from his injuries he could not come out with any major successes in sea battles.

The incident that the took place in Cheerathivu islet was a part of the game the LTTE Sea Tiger Wing leader Soosai's desperate attempt to enter the fray for top military position in the LTTE Military Wing.

But Pottu Amman who is now acting as the second in command of the LTTE is favouring Theepan rather than appointing Soosai as the Military Wing leader. He is also of the opinion that a ground commander should be appointed for the vacant position after the death of Balraj as he commands the most senior ground commanders in the calibre of Theepan, Bhanu, Jeyam and Swarnam who are now commanding the ground cadres in the Wanni and Jaffna fronts.

Considering all these facts the Tiger leadership is favouring Theepan due to his performance on the battlefront.

The crisis is now deepening as the death of Balraj has also become suspicious due to the events unfolding inside the Wanni.

The internal rifts in the LTTE are now deepening in the same way they are facing a huge downfall in the ground battles in the Wanni and also due to losing their ground internationally.

Switzerland has become the hub of the LTTE activities with many LTTE front organisations operating in Europe shifting their headquarters from France to Switzerland.

The liberal policies adopted by the Swiss Government on the flow of foreign exchange and fund raising activities was the main reason for the LTTE to choose Switzerland for their fund raising activities.

The complete crackdown on Tiger activities in France was the basic factor for the LTTE's decision to shift their activities from France to Switzerland.

The latest arrest of LTTE cadres in France was reported on May 13, with the French Police arresting two leading LTTE activist Subramanium Muhundan and Yogarasa Sivarasan in Paris after extensive investigations for several months.

According to French Police Muhundan and Sivarasan were engaged in fund raising activities and money laundering for the LTTE since the arrest of 19 LTTE cadres including top most leaders of all the divisions of the terrorist organization April 01, 2007.

The French Police began its crackdown on LTTE activities in April last year with the arrest of 14 LTTE activists. LTTE's French leader Nadaraja Mathinatharan alias Parithi and the Political Leader Aravindan Thuraiswamy alias Metha were among the 14 Tiger cadres arrested in France in April last year.

By the time the French Police was arrested the 14 cadres, several LTTE cadres including Muhundan and Sivarasan who were arrested on May 13, this year had crossed over to neighbouring countries.

After the first arrest of LTTE activists in April 01, 2007, the French Police arrested another five LTTE leaders on September 25, 2007.

At present 21 Tiger cadres are under French Police arrest and they continue their investigations without releasing them on bail.

The latest blow to the LTTE in France was exposed recently with one of the books published in France under the title 'International Criminal/Mafia groups operating in France' categorising the LTTE as one of the criminal organisation operating in France.

The book published by Jerome Pierrat and sold at Euro 22, indicates that LTTE is engage in various criminal acts and covert operations for their fund raising activities.

Under these circumstances the LTTE had to shift their activities to Switzerland mainly for fund raising as they face no legal barriers to engage in fund raising activities there.

Therefore, fund raising activities in Europe are going on without hindrance with many LTTE front organisations like the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation continuing their fund raising activities in many other countries despite the fact the nexus between the LTTE and TRO has been proved beyond any doubt.

However, the latest crackdown on the Tigers in Canada has contributed immensely for the LTTE to lose their bases for their international operations with Counterterrorism police in Quebec and Ontario in Canada reportedly shutting down the World Tamil Movement (WTM) office in Montreal, alleging that the organization has been raising money to finance terrorist activities.

At the same time many of the radio stations and satellite TV channels broadcasting and telecasting pro-LTTE programmes have been proscribed by respective countries with the intervention of the Sri Lankan Government except for the Tharshinam satellite TV channel based in Israel.

The LTTE continues to harass the Tamil Diaspora amounting to 750,000 in various countries posing a false image of the LTTE to the Tamil community despite their setbacks in the Wanni and Northern fronts.

The requirement of the day is to enlighten the true position of the LTTE and to highlight the unreported Human Right violations taking place in the Wanni keeping the civilian population in Wanni as a shield to defend their military bases.

Even many of the UN agencies still operating in uncleared areas in the Wanni keep mum on the HR violations and the harassment of civilians by the LTTE despite being vociferous in their criticism against the anti-terror operations launched in the South.

The main aim of the LTTE through these activities is to exert pressure on the Government to stop the military thrust on the Wanni as they fear they will lose all their grounds in the Wanni if the military thrusts continue for another few months.

That is why they are now issuing statements highlighting the importance of the having peace talks with the facilitation of the Norwegian Government as they are fast losing local and international support to continue the warfare against the Sri Lankan Government to achieve the imaginary Tamil Eelam.