Evolution Of The LTTE And International Networking

VIEWS (345514)

Evolution of LTTE Maj Gen (Retd) Kapila Hendawitharana VSV USP Chief of National intelligence

The origin of the LTTE can be traced back to 1972 when Velupillai Prabhakaran formed Tamil New Tigers (TNT). During this time many other Tamil youth groups also took to arms against the Government of Sri Lanka. Since then the LTTE was determined to become the sole representative of the Tamils, and stubbornly persisted with its terrorist tactics demanding the separate Tamil Eelam for a mono ethnic state for the Tamils that would cover 29 percent of the land mass and 60 percent of the coastal belt of Sri Lanka.

The nearly three decades long military conflict has claimed many lives and destroyed key infrastructure facilities bringing far-reaching consequences to the political, economic and social stability of the nation. Looking at LTTE activities since the early 80's it is apparent that the LTTE had been working on a set agenda. In which priority was given to expanding its control over the land and also on the population in the North and East while running a parallel administration to that of the Government.

LTTE sustained their so-called administrative system through the supplies grants sent by the Government to the affected areas. This was the only terrorist group that was fed by the Government. Medical facilities, food and other essential items that were sent by the Government for the general public were forcibly taken by the terrorists for their sustenance. Furthermore, Government sector doctors were taken to run LTTE hospitals and injured LTTE cadres were treated in Government hospitals in the North and East. The LTTE had their own police force and the judicial system. In pursuance of their aim the LTTE brought pressure on the Government through every possible means to accede its demands while strengthening its military capabilities and simultaneously eliminating those who were an obstacle to them fulfilling their objectives.

The Strategic Aim was to be achieved by any means either politically or militarily. This was made clear by the LTTE motto "the thirst of the Tamil Tigers was the Tamil Eelam". Despite the atrocities committed by the LTTE and its stated objectives the Sri Lankan Governments were willing to negotiate with the LTTE to end the suffering caused by the protracted conflict. Each attempt proved that the LTTE was insincere and inflexible; starting from the all-party conference in 1984 to the Norwegian facilitated peace process in 2002. The most significant moments were the signing of the peace accord in 1987, which brought in the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and the 2002 ceasefire agreement. 1987 was significant as Indo-Lanka peace accord was signed at a time when the Sri Lankan security forces were at the verge of capturing the LTTE strongholds in Jaffna peninsula, Vadamarachchi. This was the third time that Prabhakaran escaped. The Sri Lankan Government had to give in to the Indian pressure and discontinue operations.

During the Norwegian facilitated peace process there were five rounds of talks but the LTTE refused to attend the final round. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) itself had to fight with the LTTE thus sacrificing more than 1138 men and injuring nearly 2800 men as per IPKF records. On December 24, 2001 the LTTE declared a unilateral ceasefire with the intention of having a recess. At that time the security forces were engaged in continuous operations and the LTTE was suffering heavy losses. Due to various reasons the Army had to curtail its operations on a regular basis that gave the LTTE the chance to regroup, retrain and fight.

The LTTE was suffering heavy casualties and there were difficulties in treating the injured. Furthermore, reinforcements were difficult as there was no land route for the LTTE to transfer from the peninsular to the mainland. The LTTE realised that they could not fight the Army without the use of heavy weapons and they would require this capture Jaffna and achieve their objectives. Furthermore there were logistical issues and the LTTE were finding it difficult to provide meals to their cadres who were reluctant to fight and wanted to withdraw.

It is believed that there were secret discussions before that particular time with the Government that came into power in 2002. Post 9/11 curtailed the freedom of the LTTE to work in their international network. The 2001 unilateral ceasefire paved the way to a Norwegian facilitated MoU signed by Prime Minister and Prabhakaran. The MoU saw the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission coming to monitor the situation in Sri Lanka. Since 2002 the LTTE gradually created a war atmosphere in the North and East in the guise of Tamil rising to facilitate these military plans. Instead of peace and entering the political mainstream the LTTE focused on recruitment, training reconnaissance, procurement and enhancing its land, sea and air capabilities. This has been the practice of the LTTE during the entirety of the conflict particularly at the time of peace negotiations.

It is very significant that soon after the declaration of the unilateral ceasefire Prabakaran summoned the military leaders and said that he would give only five years to prepare to fight against the Sri Lankan Government. It was very clear what their objective was. It is important to note that the Directorate of Military Intelligence was able provide information about the ceasefire and the ISGA to the Government before it came officially. The LTTE continuously violated the CFA starting from Anton Balasingham arriving at Iranamadu tank by seaplane by passing the Sri Lankan international airport and violating the air space. This too was informed to the Government prior the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission or any other government channel.

The LTTE violated the agreement more than 3,830 times until the present Government was compelled to resume military action to free the civilians from the LTTE in July 2006. During the CFA, security forces were confined to barracks, there was LTTE intimidation such as throwing grenades, firing shots, harassment at checkpoints and neutralising intelligent networks and operations. The Sri Lankan security forces were ordered by the Government not to react. The event that triggered the resumption of military operations against the LTTE under the present Government was the suspension of the supply of irrigation water to farmers in the Eastern provice affecting nearly 22,000 households.

Within a duration of two and a half years, the Humanitarian Operations gradually liberated the LTTE controlled areas and ended with the death of the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran on May 19, 2009. The security forces succeeded in not only destroying the military infrastructure of the LTTE that had been existing for more than 30 years, but also destroyed or captured almost all LTTE leaders and recovered large amounts of arms, ammunition and explosives that were meant to bring destruction to the human lives and infrastructure in the country.

Since the commencement of Eelam War One, the LTTE made every effort to increase its manpower. The LTTE launched various propaganda campaigns in both Government and LTTE controlled areas in the North and East in order to absorb youth and elders into the LTTE regular and auxiliary forces respectively. The regional leaders were assigned with specific recruitment targets to be completed periodically in their respective areas.

The political cadres operating in the cleared areas of the North and East were tasked to promote recruitment of youth into the movement. Approximately 10,000 youth were recruited from both the North and East since the commencement of the ceasefire agreements in 2002, mostly underage. The LTTE also recruited large numbers of civilians to the Illapaddei force, as the auxiliary force reserve on a monthly salary of Rs 7,000. This allowed the LTTE to make use of a maximum number of regular cadres for its operational and training activities whilst employing the Illapaddei cadres for defensive operations and subsequently for offensive operations as well. In addition, thousands of children were forcibly recruited to the LTTE to strengthen their manpower. The LTTE had maintained a strength of approximately 30,000 cadres, which include both regular and volunteer cadres in the North and East areas prior to the commencement of the Humanitarian Operations in July 2006.

The LTTE had maintained a number of land fighting groups; infantry, support arms and special groups. The infantry and the support arms groups were formed in line with conventional armies and special groups were formed from time to time depending on operational and tactical requirements. The LTTE formed special reconnaissance and surveillance unit after 2002. The training that was given to the land fighting groups could be divided into three areas. Basic training for the civilians and newly recruited youth in the LTTE bases that were established in almost every village that was under its control, refresher training for the cadres who are in different fields of service and special training such as target oriented training including Black Tiger training. Since Eelam war I the LTTE has been enhancing its landfighting capabilities particularly through advanced training programmes, procuring sophisticated and technologically advanced military hardware/ equipment and the formation of new fighting and special groups.

As a terrorist organisation the LTTE was very dependent on the sea for its existence. The LTTE gave priority to strengthen Sea Tiger capabilities to continue their attacks against the Sri Lankan Navy by way of manufacturing and procuring fast craft and long range guided sophisticated weapons equipment such as communication equipment, torpedoes, radars and large number of suicide boats with the aim of having a highly trained navel force. A modern Sea Tiger force was a priority in order to maintain an improved sea supremacy over the Sri Lankan Navy. Thus preventing sea lines of communications between the South and North and vice a versa and also in international waters. They also enhanced suicide capabilities. The LTTE was in possession of sophisticated equipment such as unarmed surveillance boats, which could be used as mobile radar stations to monitor naval movements in order to take on targets.

The LTTE commenced its shipping operations mainly to transport cadres, arms and ammunition from South India to the North of Sri Lanka in the early 80's using small boats and fishing trawlers. Subsequently the LTTE expanded their shipping operations from South India to Asian countries and thereafter to Eastern Europe and Africa. The LTTE had approximately 20 vessels registered under different ranks and a considerable number of trawlers prior to 2005 and enhanced capabilities thereafter. The LTTE established a number of boatyard companies in countries such as Indonesia and Philippines. These vessels were used for the transportation of arms and ammunition under the pretext of cargo delivery. Most of the crew of LTTE members were carrying passports under false names. Although the source of the weapon supply varied there were established groups that were used by the LTTE to smuggle arms and ammunition from the Far East and Eastern European countries. The bulk of their military hardware had been purchased from North Korea. They purchased ships from Japan because in Japan, after every ten years the merchant vessels are sold to outsiders at a cheaper rate. Then the other bulk of military hardware was procured from Ukraine and Bulgaria. That is from Odessa Port in Ukraine through Bulgaria Varna. Those are the two ports that they used for transportation of shipment. Then coming to the Black Sea, in some instances they used the Suez Canal but they preferred to take the alternative route to avoid the unnecessary detection by the authorities in those countries. Most of their military hardware procured from overseas were transferred through shipping networks as normal cargo and tankers. It is also significant to note that there had been a number of arms shipments of which reached the eastern coast of Sri Lanka particularly in the period between 1990 and 2005, only a few had been detected, either destroyed or prevented. As a consequence of the post 2005 national strategy which clearly understood the importance of preventing the LTTE means of sustenance to their war effort these consignments were prevented and destroyed.

The LTTE was also engaged in sea piracy where a number of merchant vessels were hijacked and some destroyed. Thus posing a considerable threat to the maritime security in the region. The Air Tiger wing of the LTTE was established in the early 90's by Shankar, was the pioneer of the air wing. He was an aeronautical engineer and came from Canada. It is believed that the present leader of the LTTE is living in the Middle East.

Initially the aircraft was equipped with anti aircraft guns and missiles. A significant development of the Air Tiger wing was observed with the signing of the ceasefire agreement in 2002. The sophistication of Air Tigers could be discussed in terms of developing infrastructure procuring aircraft and related accessories and training. According to our intelligence they procured five aircrafts from Czechoslovakia. They transported to the coastal line from Czechoslovakia to Hamburg in Germany by land in 540 foot containers and then it was shipped to Singapore from which the consignment was taken to Indonesia via sea. In Indonesia the planes were stacked in a bonded warehouse to avoid detection by any Indonesian authorities. The LTTE maintained a total number of seven airstrips in Iranamadu, Mullaitivu and Killinochchi areas. Two of these airstrips were set up to a conventional configuration, with associated facilities such as hangars, clear ways and parking areas. Protective earth bunds too were constructed around the airstrips.

As far as the training of pilots was concerned, a considerable number of LTTE cadres underwent training in private flying schools in South Asia, East and West Europe and subsequently served in the LTTE air wing. During the last two decades the LTTE succeeded in shooting down and destroying more than 26 aircraft and helicopters including civilian aircraft using SA 40 missiles. The LTTE carried out air attacks against military bases and Government installations in North and East areas and particularly in Colombo using bomb carrying light air craft creating fear psychosis in the minds of the people from all walks of life of the entire nation.

The Sri Lankan Air Force succeeded in shooting down two LTTE aircraft that were on suicide missions in Colombo and Katunayake in February 2009. One fell into the Inland Revenue Department building, which actually came to attack the Air Force head quarters as it is about 100m distance from away. The other fell into the Katunayake air base. The target was the Kafir Squadron based there. Those were the last two aircraft that the LTTE had. Today the LTTE remains as the only terrorist organisationto own aircraft.

Of the many terrorist organisations, which had resorted to suicide attacks over the period of 30 years, the LTTE can be identified as the most efficient terrorist organisation in the world ever to utilise suicide terrorists for the advancement of its struggle. The LTTE carried out 116 suicide attacks both at sea and on land during the period between 1987 and 2009. The LTTE was the only organisationthat succeeded in assassinating two national leaders in two different countries. In May 1991 LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi former Prime Minister of India on Indian soil and in 1993 the LTTE assassinated President R Premadasa through suicide missions.

Furthermore, the LTTE was successful in carrying out assassination missions targeting VIPs such as Mr Ranjan Wijeratne, State Minister for Defence, Admiral Clancy Fernando, serving Commander of the Navy and Mr Lakshman Kadiragamar, Foreign Minister. The LTTE also made a negative attempt to take the life of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in December 1999 and the Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa in December 2006, who is the strategist behind the defeat of the LTTE. Other than these assassination missions a number of assassination attempts were made on the life of the present President His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa and had been prevented due to timing defects and interventions.

The LTTE also succeeded in utilising suicide bombs to destroy many religious, economic and military infrastructure facilities in the country with far-reaching consequences. Thus disturbing day-to-day life of people in Colombo and other areas. In addition the LTTE also carried out a number of assassinations targeting national and political leaders who opposed the LTTE and challenged the claim of the LTTE to be the sole representative of the Tamils. The LTTE has procured military hardware, explosives and other war related items from various parts of the world, most of these procurements had been done through agents using false end user certificates on the names of Governmentsand non-Government establishments of various countries. Money required had been hand carried and also transferred through a hoveller system. Gun running mafia personnel who were in connection with the LTTE have played the key role in these operations. These items were transferred to floating warehouses around Indonesia or directly transferred to the trawlers mid sea and then to the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Funds for these procurements were made by money collected from various countries. The LTTE ruthlessness and violence is unparalleled by any other terrorist organisationin the world. Since its inception it has left behind a trail of atrocities, which includes the assassination of many political leaders, Government officials and intellectuals belonging to all communities. In addition it carried out many indiscriminate acts such as massacres in threatened villages, placing bombs in public transport modes, claymore attacks, and suicide missions against innocent civilians to instigate fear and to give a clear message to the Government authorities and to the people that they should accede to its demands.

The defeat of LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka after 30 years of fighting is the greatest victory that the country has achieved after it regained independence in 1948. One of the main reasons why the preceding Governments of Sri Lanka failed to find a permanent solution to the problem was the absence of a buffer between the political hierarchy and military command and the unfamiliarity of the earlier Secretaries of Defence to war as a subject and their reluctance to give the real situation on ground to the political leadership greatly affected the war effort. The previous governments of Sri Lanka were not ready to accept realities of war since it could affect their vote base and the international pressure was too much for them to bear, since it challenges their terms in office.

The LTTE which could not sustain in the face of continuous security forces operations always made the maximum of the respite and used them for re-couping and re-arming themselves. While working with responsibility and experience with many Presidents, many Prime Ministers, Ministers of Defence Secretaries, the peace we enjoy today is the consequence of the unified national effort and the national strategy by His Excellency the President and executed through the Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He too is a war veteran and with his military knowledge correctly identified the requirement. Thus increased recruitment in the armed forces, coordination of the auxiliary and logistical support welfare of the military personnel, brought a centralised control to the intelligence mechanism, and headed the strategies and tactics that suit the Sri Lankan terrain while correctly identifying LTTE capabilities. Above all he created a sense of pride in soldiers, sailors and airmen that they were the only hope to create a popular culture where the soldiers were held in the highest esteem. The people of all communities of this country supported His Excellency the President and the armed forces throughout the Humanitarian Operation, which was instrumental in defeating the LTTE militarily in a short span of time. In the present context centering law enforcement and intelligence mechanism to monitor and prevent recurrence of such scenarios and closely working with foreign governments and counterparts on issues affecting integrity, sovereignty and national security of the country for mutual benefit are of utmost importance.

International Networking Lt Col T S Sallay psc

In the military context the LTTE leadership and the Tamil Diaspora were identified as two centres of gravity that drove the security forces to a three decade long conflict. The Tamil Diaspora provided them with the much needed propaganda, finance and logistics, for the LTTE and its leadership to survive, more than three decades. With the elimination of the LTTE in May 2009 the military might of the LTTE too was vanquished. However, the Diaspora factor and the LTTE international network remained largely intact posing potential threat not only to Sri Lanka and the region but also to the peace and stability of the world at large.

The LTTE network that existed prior to its military defeat from 2002 to 2009 was basically controlled by Prabakaran and the international secretariat was headed by Maniwanan, and his deputy was Nediyavan. The network could be broadly categorised in to four components; the country representative and the three fronts, were more or less the same, then the procurement wing, shipping wing and propaganda ,which comprises of TV, radio, print media and web.

The aftermath of the communal disturbances in 1983 led the Tamil people to seek political asylum in many Western European countries and they soon established themselves as Tamil Diaspora. It is estimated that over one million Diaspora are living outside Sri Lanka. More than half of them are from UK and Canada. In most countries the Tamil Diaspora has created a labour force and most importantly vote banks for local politicians. This situation has been clearly exploited by the LTTE and pro-LTTE elements thus creating a conducive political environment and a funding ways to strengthen their network. However it is only less than ten percent of the radicalised segment of the Tamil Diaspora that get actively involved in promoting LTTE interests and the majority of them remain silent.

Since the opening of the first LTTE front organisation in London in 1984 the LTTE expanded its international network through a number of offices in 48 countries. Initially the LTTE international secretariat office functioned from London and Paris, and subsequently it shifted to Vanni in year 2002. Since 2001 the LTTE international activities were coordinated by Maniwannan and Castro and it was under the direct supervision of the LTTE leader. Activities of the LTTE front organisation could be broadly categorised into, fund raising, propaganda, and logistics. These were managed by two key umbrella organisations that is the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) which they ran as a charitable organisation and the Tamil Coordination Committee (TCC), which operated under various names. It functioned under a social organisation that involved in the Tamil social and other networks. In addition it had other separate organisations. Though their tasks and responsibilities invariably overlapped there is a significant autonomy of operations in each. 90 percent of the money collected through the front organisation was directed to strengthen the LTTE work force.

In January 2009 - before Prabakarans death - having utilised his old option to rescue himself, as a last resort he appointed Kumaran Padmanadan (KP) as the coordinator, of LTTE international affairs, expecting a third party intervention. Following the death of the LTTE leader, KP took over the firm control of the international network, however Nediyavan who was earlier a firm follower of Castro, immediately challenged the KP leadership. That resulted in the formation of another organisation - TEPA - Tamil Eelam People's Assembly and the key difference between KP and Nediyavan is that KP declared that he wanted to continue the struggle through democratic means whilst Nediyavan opted to follow the Prabakaran ideology to achieve their aims and objectives. Accordingly the support of the media network and the financial network support was also divided though some of the organisations decided to remain neutral for different interests. In June KP declared the Government in exile concept, and in August he was arrested. Rudrakumaran continued with the LTTE concept. From December to February an emergence of two more extremists groups was seen, that is Combatant and Intelligence Group and the Global Tamil Forum which is led by Father Emmanuel. Against this backdrop, the present LTTE, and pro-LTTE international network could be broadly categorised into five main groups. TGTE, BTF, GTF, TEPA, and the Intelligence Ex Combatants Group. Though the role, task and policies of these groups, invariably overlapped, all these group are working towards a common agenda of establishing a separate state.

In addition they promote LTTE interest and ideology overseas, constant efforts are also being made, to have access to the Tamil population in Sri Lanka directly, as well as through ex combatants, Pro LTTE Tamil political parties and certain INGOs.

The man behid the TGTE is Rudrakumaran. He was closely associated with the LTTE leaders and other prominent leaders since 1990. He acted as one of the coordinators of the World Tamil Coordinating committee in the USA one of the key LTTE fronts that operated prior to the US ban in 1997. He also acted as a legal advisor in a number of LTTE related cases overseas, participated in LTTE organised events, represented LTTE in peace negotiations with GOSL in 2002, and 2003, worked as a link between LTTE leadership and interested groups outside Sri Lanka. And he is the architect of the Tansitional Government of Tamil Eelam. He has appointed four individuals as key advisor for the formation of TGTE. These advisors were those who had advised Prabakaran when he was alive and have been identified as long-time pro LTTE activists.

The PTGT (Provincial Trannational Government of Tamil Eelam) held election in May 2010, to appoint 135 members, and the Tamil Diaspora did not respond positively. 80 percent of the Tamil Diaspora out of the one million refrained from voting. After the election they appointed Rudrakumaran as the Prime Minister, in addition they appointed 20 MPs, and deputy MPs, for the so called PTGT plus a speaker and a deputy speaker.

The first session was held in Philadelphia, in USA between May 17 and 19, and the second session was held in New York in 2010. They held the sessions in New York having failed to have this meeting in one of other European countries, where the Diaspora is significant. Generally the educated Tamil support the TGTE. It maintains offices in 12 countries, attempts to establish links with foreign countries, have access to the Tamils in Sri Lanka, plans to open a permanent secretariat in New York, and closely work with the GTF and the British Tamil Forum. It distanced itself from the Nediyavan faction. The latest development of the TGTE process is that one third of the elected members of TGTE who are loyal to Nediyavan faction, have revolted against the policies of Rudrakumaran and wanted to remain as independant group. It would be interesting to see, how Rudrakumaran will proceed with the TGTE, when one third of his own elected members oppose him. At the beginning, he rejected the Prabakaran ideology to a certain extent and instead he followed the democratic path. Having observed during the last one year it is very clear that he has succumbed to the pressure of Nediyavan, now he too is following the same path.

Nediyavan Faction; Nediyavan joined the LTTE in 1993, and participated in a few military attacks. In 1996 he was sent to Russia by the LTTE leadership, for higher studies, he could not complete his studies and returned to Sri Lanka and worked with the LTTE leadership in the Military Operations division. That is the Division where all military strategies are planned in the LTTE organisation. He was appointed second in command in 2003 to Castro, he handled the Tamil Diaspora matters from Vanni . He was also responsible for illegal proceeds from Tamil Diaspora members, who opposed LTTE when they visited Vanni. and he maintained a database for Diaspora financing. He participated in peace talks in the 2002-2003 period and he was sent to Norway in 2005, to coordinate fund raising activities in Europe. He was appointed as the head of LTTE branch in TCC in Norway since 2006.  The aim is the same as the TGTE, his organisation wanted to be the sole representative of the Tamil, and establish a separate state in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

 Inaugurated in June 2009, he also had elections in ten countries, in support of separatism and Eelam cause. He coordinated all activities based on Norway. He controls most of the LTTE front organisations in Europe, majority of the LTTE assets, majority of the former LTTE media, that includes tamilnet, tamil24, TV1 and Voice of Tigers, closely worked with the GTF and BTF and other LTTE combatants, and intelligent groups.  He is in the process of revamping the LTTE network, and controls majority of the Tamil schools in Europe. This is dangerous as this is the third generation of Tamils. There are about 350 Tamil schools across Europe, and they are identified under different names - Tamil Cholai or Tamil Alagam. There are about 22,000 Tamil students studying in these schools. These schools are used to inculcate Tamil national sentiments and hatred towards the Sinhala in the minds of third generation Tamils. The schools function as a non profit organisations, and they receive funds from local governing bodies, in the respective countries, and they charge 15-20 euros from each student. The head of certain schools and the head of LTTE front organisation are one and the same in most schools therefore the head of the TRO or head of TCC is also the head of Tamil Cholai School. These children are also forced to participate in protest campaigns, and whenever the LTTE organises a propaganda event, they organise buses and they take these children to the event.

 Nediyavan's covert network; three key individuals, support Nediyavan - Jaychandran, the editor of tamilnet, Father Emmanuel, a long time supporter of the LTTE movement, and Jayanandamurthy, the former TNA MP now living in UK. LTTE offices such as TCC, TTF, TRO, ITRO, are being used by Nediyavan, to coordinate its intelligence and other activities, it is also identified as a coordinating cell, linked as financial, media and intelligence wing. The intelligence wing does not directly liaise with Nediyavan but it operates independently.

 As far as all five groups are concerned, the most extremist group is the GTF. Photographs show Father Emmanuel sitting with Castro, the person responsible for procurement and international network for ten years. The same Father Emmanuel is seen addressing an Anton Balasingham memorial event in Germany, behind an LTTE flag, in 2009, he addressed the heroes day event. He maintains close links with the LTTE hierarchy since the 90s, he is an extremist and strong spiritual leader who motivated educated Tamils on the liberation path.

 He has wide access to the Diaspora, with 12 organisations under him some co-manned by Nediyavan. He coordinates all groups; the British Tamil Forum, the British Tamil Conservatives, TGTT, TGTE and Nediyavan. The aim is the same as TGTE and the Nediyavan Faction. Inaugurated on February 24, 2010 in UK it was attended by the Foreign Secretary David Milliband at that time. The BTF is a live wire of the GTF, and maintained close links with the Nadevan Faction, the Secretariat in London headed by John Ryan, former labour MP with permanent staff and has closely worked with both labour and consecutive parties. Certain British politicians lobby for them in UK, USA and other countries. These politicians also play a facilitative role in organizing dialogue with government ministers, legistative administrative officers, both in UK and outside. He also travelled the world using his cassock and status as a catholic priest, to convince the world of their cause.

 The British Tamil Forum is the other key front organisation, established in 2006 with the prime aim of mustering the support of the Tamil community and local politicians for the Eelam cause, and has closely worked with the BTF, and other key front organisations, in UK, on a common agenda. Suren Surendran, the spokesperson for the British Tamil Forum, is also the spokesperson for the Father Emmanuel - GTF clearly indicating that they are interconnected. These are the organisations responsible for organizing mass propaganda campaigns, fund raising events and all other LTTE related events in UK since 2006. Previously carried out by the BTA, it maintained close  links with local politicians both from conservative and labour parties.

 Thus the GTF is the leading front organisation for the LTTE, it closely worked with the BTF, and in turn the BTF closely work with the British Tamil Conservatives (BTC). The BTC is an organisation which lobby the conservative votes. Then the Tamil for Labour Party (TLP), BTF, BTC, TLP lobby, and influence the representatives of the main political parties in UK capitalising the vote bank in the UK. In turn, all this influenced the political thinking of the government ministers, legislators, administrative officers, and human rights and media groups. They all influence and have an impact on the foreign government, international regional organisations, like UN, NAM, EU and also eminent persons. All the pro-elements had organise d a pro-LTTE meeting, in Brussels in EU parliament, which was organised by the former labour MP who is now an MP of the EU, Mr Murphy and he invited all the pro-LTTE activists, such as Vaiko from India and others, and they are planning to form an all party committee, of EU parliamentarian.

 Ex-combatants Group; this is the most dangerous group, as far as criminal activities are concerned and consists of ex-combatants, former criminal cadres, continue to operate underground and contribute considerable amount of LTTE assets in terms of ships, aircraft, real-estate and other investments. The LTTE engaged acts of sea piracy where the Sea Tigers hijack a number of vessels outside Sri Lanka, in the past. Drug trafficking is another source of income for the LTTE. Originally the LTTE concentrated its drug smuggling operation in Bombay and spread its tentacles all over Europe, and into the golden triangle having established international contacts with international drug dealers, and criminal syndicates. This network is still reported to be active. The latest case reported the involvement of LTTE human smuggling operation sending two vessels, Shanthi, and Ocean Lady from South East Asia to Canada along with refugees and ex-combatants, in year 2010 and year 2011. They have charged USD 15,000 - 30,000 from each refugee, and the first ship that went Shanthi, was earlier known as Princess Ishwari. After the death of Prabakaran the arms consignment was unloaded in Indonesia and the remnants of the LTTE and other people were taken to Canada and the ship was renamed as Sunsea.

 These are the key LTTE elements, and the most active is Vinayagam, who is presently operating from France and continue to operate the criminal elements; procurement wing, shipping wing, and LTTE investment. Father Emmanuel, TGTE and others are gathering the momentum and trying to revamp the network and are still working underground, running their businesses and maintaining contacts with all other criminal elements. With time they will emerge, from an intelligent perspective, this is very dangerous. 90 percent have been issued red notices, because of their criminal activities by Interpol. Unfortunately certain individuals still operate openly in some countries, even after being issued the red notices.

 Media is one of the main tools the LTTE utilised to propagate its ideology and raise funds from its Tamil Diaspora, throughout its military struggle and even today. It maintains a number of TV, radio stations, websites printing presses in most European capitals where the Tamil Diaspora is significant. Some of these establishments were also funded by outside parties for different reasons. They also maintained close links with international media establishments and journalists, and they have come under regular payments of LTTE front organisations. As of today they extensively use the social network, for their propaganda especially facebook, email, skype, internet and twitter. These have been specially used to organise signatory campaigns targeting head of states, international organisations and other influential personalities, and institutions to create public opinion against the Sri Lankan Government.

Furthermore they carry out signatory campaigns, public protests, media conferences, seminars, workshops and also create and distribute fake propaganda materials, to mislead the international community.

 The LTTE media network can be broadly divided into TV stations, radio stations, websites, and print media. When the LTTE and the TTN which was owned by the LTTE was closed down by the US and French authorities due to its links to LTTE and certain other legal issues they immediately tried to recommence the transmission from Singapore in 2007 using SAT link. Having failed they tried to commence from Italy, then to Serbia, Israel, then Hong Kong and having failed everything they settled down in the UK, and came in a different name called, GTV. TV1 and TVi are the two stations which have been operating from Canada for a long period of time.

 Money laundering was done from Europe and it changed hands in Switzerland, and from there to three countries, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, and from there it is deposited to individual bank accounts. The LTTE owned bank accounts and made direct payments to the LTTE agents.

 As a summary 85 percent of the military hardware was procured from East Asian countries, and 15 percent of the military hardware was procured from East European countries, and most technical equipment for military purposes were procured from Europe. The LTTE still maintains close contact with countries in East Asia and Horn of Africa. These are the countries that have not supported the LTTE front groups. Having said that the world was not blind. They took many actions starting from India, banning the LTTE, USA, UK, Canada, and so on.  

  It would not have been possible for LTTE to survive as a terrorist organisation if not for the uninhibited support received by the front organisation, and radicalized segment of the Tamil Diaspora both in the terms of procurement, propaganda and fund raising. Unfortunatley today the same front organisations with the pro LTTE elements, and less than ten percent of the radicalized segment of the Diaspora population who are largely responsible for destablising the island nation, help sustain the LTTE terror campaign for over 30 years and still engage in carrying out the same activities, as they did in the past.

Finally, the sophistication of the LTTE, and its impact on Sri Lanka and the outside world should serve as a lesson to all governments facing terrorism today. Including the countries, those who are wittingly or unwittingly permitting their soil to be used to nurture and condone terrorism. Thus leaving us a fearful challenge for tomorrow.