Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

“ In order to achieve this end Mr Vaiko and his ilk have to create resentment, and they do this as relentlessly as in the past. His associate Mr Nedumaran claims that 'Lankan forces have killed more than one lakh Tamil Tigers and civilians, and thousands of civilians are dying for want of food, drinking water and medicine'. ”

“ It is wrong to say that ‘Almost 280 000 Tamil men, women, and children surrendered to the Sri Lankan military’ since these people arrived seeking refuge, having tried for months to flee the LTTE but being prevented from doing so, as they have testified again and again to the visitors who have spoken to them. Even advocacy groups with no sympathy for the government, such as the Jaffna University Teachers for Human Rights, acknowledge that the Tigers brutally held these people as hostages for months, driving them into ever shrinking spaces to use them as and when needed. ”

“ That restraint paid off handsomely yesterday in the rapid flight of the civilians whose rescue had been the main motivation behind government policy over the last few weeks. However it is unlikely that this will be followed by pleas from those who have been arguing the Tiger case to allow the rest to follow. Far from looking at the evidence and concluding that the Tigers should be told firmly to close up shop and give relief to the suffering Tamils they still hold, we will find more contortions to claim that the humanitarian option is to allow terror to continue. ”

“ It would be good if what calls itself a peak body could escape from the depths of wickedness and falsehood into which the Tigers plunged so many of our fellow citizens, and instead tried to make things better for them and for the country as a whole. ”

“ The Tamil Tigers have been one of the most notorious and brutal terrorist organizations over the past 20 years and a peaceful dialogue is what's called for in order to resolve the differences and the legitimate concerns of the Tamils. ”

“ We must, as previously, take all care possible to avoid civilian casualties, knowing now from what happened from January 26th onward, as indicated by the UN report of the shooting that day as coming from LTTE territory, that the Tigers will happily sacrifice civilians if there is the slightest chance of the blame falling on Sri Lankan forces. ”

“ This tribe will not, in Central India, destroy the animal. So, “no consideration will induce a Sumatran to catch or wound a tiger, except in self-defence, or immediately after the tiger has destroyed a friend or a relation. When a European has set traps for tigers, the people of the neighbourhood have been known to go by night to the spot and explain to the tiger that the traps were not set by them, nor with their consent.” ”

“ This Sri Lankan government has long known that discussions are the only way forward to find a political solution to political problems. Though it tried to negotiate with the Tigers, it realized soon enough, when the Tigers refused to talk but instead attacked, that the Tigers were not interested in negotiations, but only used them to build up their military strength. It has therefore continued discussions with Tamil parties that wish to discuss, and has promoted democratic elections in the East and will soon promote them in the North too. ”

“ Now, with the Tigers destroyed within Sri Lanka, the chances of those other parties playing a prominent role are high, and continuing attacks on the Sri Lankan government, with whom they are working, can only weaken them. ”

“ Elsewhere I will look at the factors they bring up, and show that they have no evidence at all for the moral superiority they affect, and that in the end all their complaints boil down to the fact that there are civilians still trapped by the Tigers in the small area under their control, and that these civilians will continue to suffer so long as the Tigers continue in action. ”

“ The fact is that, for many years, Tamil speaking doctors who were appointed to these areas were unwilling to serve, and indeed they were at greater risk from the Tigers than their colleagues in government service, since they were branded as traitors if they did not give full allegiance to the LTTE. The government has continued to post several doctors to the area, and in particular those who speak Tamil, while others work on a voluntary basis on programmes organized by several NGOs. ”

“ Such cases are, of course, exceptional, and generally refer to a period long past, but they explain and justify the superstitious awe with which the tiger is regarded by the natives. The favourite mode of shooting the tiger is from the back of elephants, or from elevated platforms (macháns) of boughs in the jungle. In Central India they are shot on foot. In Assam they are sometimes speared from boats, and in the Himalayas they are said to be ensnared by bird-lime. Rewards are given by government to native shikáris for the heads of tigers, varying in time and place according to the need. ”

“ On the 20th, when the Air Force launched several raids on LTTE defences as well as sea tigers whose movements were detected in Kilaly lagoon, TamilNet claimed that the bombers dropped eight bombs on fishing huts and boats. There were no claims of civilian casualties, though TNA now claims that ‘thousands of recently displaced civilians had established temporary shelters’ in the area the Air Force attacked. This grandiose claim had not been made earlier by TamilNet, but TNA obviously felt that they needed to spice up the story. ”

“ The saddest aspect of the war of attrition that some prospective donors are conducting against the Sri Lankan government is that its main victims will be the poor civilians who were rescued from the Tigers. ”

“ While some Europeans were busily cultivating Mr Pathmanathan, in spite of his being wanted by Interpol, and others were trying to collect signatures to put Sri Lanka into the dock before the Tigers were destroyed, the Sri Lankan forces destroyed the Tigers, or rather those who were not in safety amongst their European cash cows. ”

“ However there is little to show for these monies, and audited accounts are rarely available, leading to the inescapable conclusion that those funds, like many others intended for the Tamil people oppressed and conscripted by the LTTE were spent on the massive stockpiles of weapons that were discovered even after several months in which the Tigers used those weapons ruthlessly, including on those Tamils who tried to flee from them. ”

“ After a while, there comes sauntering past alone, a man or a woman who has lagged behind the company; yet not so far behind but that the friends ahead can hear the scream which tells of the tiger's leap, though too far for help to be of use. During four years 350 human beings and 24,000 head of cattle were killed by these animals in one district in Bombay, while many single tigers have been known to destroy over a hundred people before they were shot. One in the Mandla district caused the desertion of thirteen villages and threw out of cultivation two hundred and fifty square miles of country ”

“ Everything he says about the arrangements for those seeking refuge, despite his propaganda and that of the Tigers, is totally mistaken. He obviously does not know that Sri Lanka has welcomed over 60,000 such persons in the last couple of months, so of course there is overcrowding, but does he really expect us to turn these people away, and ask them to go back to the Tigers and come back when we have more spaces ready to receive them? ”

“ Surely the Globe should realise by now that India is grown up enough to look after its own safety, and if the Indian government has made it clear that Tiger terrorism must be destroyed, it is a bit much of the Globe to want to intervene on their behalf and give the Tigers the new lease of life that they were provided with nearly twenty years ago when Sri Lanka lost its head and thought, as the Globe seems to do now, that Tigers are really endearing pussy cats. ”

“ For the sake of humanity, of the children forced into Tiger ranks, of the poor Tamils driven to suicide for what ICG with superb understatement claims is a 'Tiger leadership, which has become as much a cult as a rational guerrilla force' it is time to put a stop to such ultimately destructive self-righteousness. ”

“ The tiger is very troublesome to the inhabitants of certain localities in India, as it attacks the herds, and makes off with many a fat bullock; and when unable to find other provender it will even attack the huts of the natives, sometimes tearing away the thatch, and springing in with a loud roar on a startled family. Instances are rare, however, of tigers attacking human beings, except when surprised and driven to self-defense. ”

“ How the beach graves they revealed amount to the figure they now only suggest is not explained. Instead that figure will simply become a statistic to lurk behind their latest lie, 1,400 deaths a week in the camps, amounting to over 15,000 now if they started counting from the time of the great exodus, when the Sri Lankan forces managed to rescue over 100,000 of those held by the Tigers.
No wonder then that one senior Sri Lankan journalist said, ‘I have serious doubts over the latest statements. ”

“ The destruction of cattle by tigers is really enormous, and, I believe, far exceeding that reported to Government, and it is so mainly because the tiger is only allowed to eat a fraction of what he kills, as the moment that news of a bullock being killed reaches the village, the low class natives at once proceed to the spot, drive away the tiger, and carry off the beef. And this is only prevented when an English sportsman is within reach, in which case the cattle owners prevent the people from touching the carcase. ”

“ In Bengal alone three hundred and forty-seven persons were reported killed by Tigers in a single year, and this in spite of the best efforts of the government and people to mitigate the evil by poisoning, hunting and trapping. ”

“ Thus a man on foot following the fresh tracks of a tiger up to his lair, and shooting him as he lies, or following him up on foot when wounded, incurs the maximum risk. In all cases, after being wounded, ungovernable fury and a fierce longing for revenge take the place of that instinctive fear or shyness of man which tigers share with all other wild animals. This instinctive dread of man is so well known to the tribes who inhabit the forests of India, that even solitary individuals will hail the prospect of suddenly encountering a tiger, provided, of course, that he is not a man-eater. ”

“ But the so called international community will continue to seek excuses for the Tigers, without standing by its original rationale as to the need for a pause, namely that it should be to ensure the release of the civilians. ”

“ But the tyranny of the Tigers encompassed everyone, white and black, rich and poor, even though a few pretended until the very end that things were not so bad, and that they themselves had not played ball along with the rest. ”

“ The purpose of the pause is to free the civilians, but it is possible that the Tigers will use such a pause to entrench their control more deeply, to build up higher walls, to launch a witch hunt against those seeking to escape, to recruit more indiscriminately. ”

“ Nothing will change, except that the UN at last, helped by genuine experts on such situations as the Special Representative on the Human Rights of the displaced, seems to be trying to move forward instead of allowing itself to be tied up in the bonds of Tigers and their apologists. ”

“ Tigers are shot in India, not as game is in England for hunting, to give amusement to men, horses and dogs, not as in pheasant or partridge shooting, with a remote reference to the demands of the table, but to save the lives of the natives and their cattle. If you don't kill the tiger he will kill you. ”

“ Every person wishes to secure a chance, therefore no opportunity is lost, and wherever the grass is seen to move, a bullet is directed at the spot. If only one gun is present, extreme caution and good management are necessary to ensure the death of a tiger, and the result of twenty-five days' shooting on the churs of the Brahmaputra was highly satisfactory, as during that period eight tigers and three leopards only were moved, and every one was bagged ”

“ HRW also goes on at length about restrictions, without any recognition that, with 35,000 people arriving suddenly and the Tiger practice of deathly infiltration, security precautions are essential, at least until the Tiger command structure is dismantled. HRW also ignores that restrictions on outside access were intended to prevent exploitation of those who had been previously exploited by the Tigers, and that aid agencies, once they had committed to particular acts of assistance, have been granted access. ”

“ When the whole plan collapsed, and the silly Indian voters did the wrong thing and produced a stable government contrary to all our predictions and predilections, and the Sri Lankan forces destroyed the Tigers, we realised that all would be lost if we did not act soon. ”

“ An Assam Adventure
Some years ago, an English baron came out to India to enjoy some tiger shooting. He received invitations to many Native States, and was having a right royal time. In the course of his wanderings he came to Assam. In those days, the jungles of Assam swarmed with tigers but a “man-eater” was very rarely known there.
Sir M. was in a small camp with just two or three other guns, and all were hopeful of “bagging” a tiger, for the roaring of the lords of the jungle could be heard almost every night. ”

“ Though there are many Hindus who will not kill any animal because of their caste rules, there are others who do, and some of them are very clever in catching and killing tigers.
The tiger is a very cruel creature that will kill even when he is not hungry, and if one begins to eat men as well as cattle the villagers live in terror of him. He watches warily by the roadways for any stray passer-by, and he will follow a bullock cart for miles in the hope that some one of those who walk by it will fall behind, and give him the chance of attacking him alone. ”