LTTE back to old demand, re-starts war for Independent state

Once again, the fear of more violence has encircled Sri Lanka. In the year 2002, the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE agreed on a cease-fire, but since last year both sides couldn't help breaking it.

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LTTE chief V Prabhakaran said on Monday :

It has been crystal clear that the Sinhala leaders would never put forward any promise to the Tamil national question. Their adamant posture and prejudice has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam.

It has created fear of more violence in the region. Prabhakaran has made it clear that the peace process was over with the Sinhalese nationalist-led government elected a year ago.

Sri Lanka, earlier known as Ceylon, became independent from British rule in 1948. It was the time when the Tamil minority in the country faced discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.

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There are two categories of Tamils in the country, 'Ceylon Tamils or Jafna Tamils' (four million) and 'Indian Tamils (one million).'

Ceylon Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka as long as the Sinhalese majority community itself has. Both migrated from India thousands of years back.

On the other hand, Indian Tamils migrated from Tamil Nadu since the end of the 19th century. The Indian Tamils were mostly tea plantation workers in the highlands of Sri Lanka during the British colonial period.

Since its start, the Tamils asked for local autonomy but their struggle did not yield any results. Then it took the shape of demands for a 'Tamil homeland' created by merging the Jaffna peninsula and the three eastern districts of Sri Lanka.

The LTTE was formed in 1975. Most of its members come from among the Ceylon Tamils. Until 1983, the violent actions of the LTTE were infrequent.

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But, in the year 1983, dozens of Tamil political prisoners were killed in Welikada prison and since then the LTTE's struggle became a full-scale armed conflict.

The LTTE has developed into a formidable fighting force since 1970s, involved in guerrilla attacks against the Sri Lankan armed forces and political targets.

It has been also blamed for ethnically cleansing Jaffna, when they asked all non-Tamils to leave the so-called Tamil state in 1990.

LTTE is ideologically linked to the revolutionary theory and practice of Marxism and Leninism.

Until the 1970s, the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka had largely taken the form of a demand for autonomy for the Tamil-speaking regions under an overall federal framework.

However, the failure of negotiations led to a significant section of young Tamils, particularly in Jaffna, adopting a more radical position.

In a further development in 2001, the LTTE suddenly dropped its demand for a separate state. They said that a form of regional autonomy would meet their demands.

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Norway, on the invitation of Sri Lankan government, brokered a ceasefire agreement, which remained precariously in effect as both sides were quite busy in blaming each other for not working for suitable alternatives.

The LTTE also has a political wing, but despite the ceasefire it has not tried to formally create a political party.

The LTTE has long been accused of carrying assassinations of political rivals and opponents. At least 29 countries have listed the LTTE as a terrorist organization.

And now again, Tamil Tiger rebels started bombing military bases in the restive east Tuesday, a day after calling for their own independent state.

The LTTE guerrillas fired at security forces in the district of Batticaloa, killing at least one soldier and wounding several others.

LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran declared on Monday: 'the movement had no option but to press for an independent state for the island's Tamil minority concentrated in the northern and eastern regions.'

Now, this South Asian nation is running through a great danger of other violent attacks from both the sides and innocent people will face the heat.