Tamil Eelam - a De Facto State
2001 - 2009

["LTTE has set up a Separate State" -
Sri Lanka President Kumaratunga, 11 April 2003]

"வாழ்க ஈழத் தமிழகம், வாழ்க இனிது வாழ்கவே,
என்றும் தலை நிமிர்ந்து வாழ்கவே..."

"Sri Lanka’s third Eelam War created a political-territorial division of the island with a resultant dual state structure in the North-East. In the context of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement and based on earlier institutional experiments, the LTTE is currently engaged in a comprehensive process of state building within the areas they control."...

 

..."Sometimes when I have felt a little depressed I would go to Parliament to sit in the public gallery and look down at all those ‘terrorists’ now occupying the government benches. It is something to lift the heaviest heart to behold those who were regarded by the previous apartheid government as the most dangerous terrorists, and who now, in the new democratic dispensation, are the Hon. Minister of this or that. I would recall that some of them were fellow marchers in rallies against the awfulness of apartheid, and with some we were targets for tear gassing, and now here they are, members of a democratically elected National Assembly." (Tutu 2000: vii)...

 

 The quote from the South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu points to the discursive contestation over nationalist struggles – where a militant movement may be alternatively described as ‘freedom fighters’ or ‘terrorists’ – but also to the political transformation of such movements during transitions to peace and democracy.

 

Although Tutu’s statement refers specifically to the transformation of the African National Congress during South Africa’s transition to liberal democracy, his observations resonate with the politics of naming and transforming the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. .. more

"...There's very little of Sri Lanka in Kilinochchi. At first glance, the dusty town of about 150,000 looks like most others on the Indian Ocean island, with shops, small houses and government buildings lining the main street. But buses and trucks maintain a steady, slow pace through Kilinochchi, instead of tearing down the highway and changing lanes at will. Young policewomen who stand by the road are notorious for handing out heavy fines on the spot. And there's no arguing or a quick bribe. Coming in from Colombo in the South, visitors to the area need to pass customs and get an entry pass, in effect a visa. Kilinochchi has the LTTE's own bank, court, hospital and taxi service and is in a separate time zone -- half an hour off Sri Lanka time..." more

"...The guards at the checkpoint into Tamil rebel-held territory in northern Sri Lanka do not ask to see your passport, but they might just as well. It is here that Tamil Eelam, the homeland that rebels have fought for decades and so bloodily, is taking reality..." more

"The Tamils are a resilient people. I observed that in a remarkable three year period the Tamils developed a virtual state within the north and north-east of Sri Lanka. I visited their judiciary and court, school of law, police station, police academy, medical and technical colleges and small industries, a community bank plus a children's home housing 278 children left orphaned by the war and the recent tsunami. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) runs a variety of development, relief and reconstruction projects as well as assisting several non-government organisations with their projects. All this is a tribute to the spirit and resilience of the Tamil people. "

"...When I reached Vavuniya town I experienced a strange feeling. It was evident that I was at a border town and I’m quite literally going to enter another country. I hailed an autorickshaw to go up to Mugamalai checkpoint. Here the Sri Lankan army checked me in. They spoke to me in broken Tamil: ‘Father, Happy New Year!’ they greeted. [April Sinhala / Tamil New Year]. I smiled, and responded in Sinhalese: ‘Subey Aluth Avurudey vewa’. Very quickly they security cleared my luggage... As I got closer to the other end of the border, I read the sign in Tamil: "Thamil Eelam warmly greets you". I made sure that I wasn’t hallucinating.  The Thamil Eelam officials greeted me: Vannakam. They checked my credentials swiftly. My luggage was thoroughly checked. I jokingly said to the Tamil official: "Thamby, I don’t have any weapons." He politely chuckled and gestured to the packet of ballpoint pens and the Reporter’s Notebook I was carrying in the hand luggage. "Father, shall I get you an Auto that would take you to Kilinochchi?" he asked. As I boarded the auto I noticed that the vehicles in Eelam had Thamil number plates. I was moved when I recollected the State violence against the Gandhian style "Sri protest"… Look! I convinced myself that I’m standing on Tamil soil. .."

" Tamil Eelam, the LTTE’s long-standing demand, is today a de facto reality. The Tigers run their own courts, police and generate funds for their economy. Can anyone write the lines of my unwritten poem? In a land where fantasies of freedom outnumber bloody memories, even two decades of war have failed to answer Captain Malathi’s poetic query. She was 20, the first woman fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to die in combat. Thousands of young men and women laid down their lives to give meaning to her lines..."

Tamil Eelam Legal System - E.Pararajasingham, Head of Judicial Division of LTTE, 30 October 2003

"...The manner in which the PTA was used to humiliate and oppress the Tamil people is a good example of the total failure and insensitiveness of the Sri Lankan judiciary in upholding the principle of the Rule of Law.

Therefore our people had neither political nor practical reasons for reposing any faith in the Sri Lankan judicial system. Incidentally, one should note here that these very instruments designed to subvert the Rule of Law in the northeast were eventually turned on the Sinhala people too. So much so that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) quite rightly stated recently: “the serious degeneration of Sri Lanka's judiciary is now a matter of public record, both within the country and internationally."

Therefore we as a liberation movement had to come up with an expeditious solution to prevent the collapse of the social order in the northeast while creating structures that would reflect the Sovereign Will of our people. So in the beginning we established mediation boards (Inakka Saphai) at the village level. These functioned from 1984 to 1992. But the mediation board system was a failure mainly because there was no legal code as basis for adjudication and because many of those who sat on the mediation boards weren’t educated and trained in law. It created a lot of problems for the Liberation Movement and led to frictions with society. .."

"..The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has said that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has established a "de facto separate State" in the north of her country and in parts of the east since entering into peace talks with the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government..."

"..I spent a total of 18 months in the northern province of Sri Lanka since early 1994, as a volunteer working with farmers and educators. During this period I came to know the LTTE administrators and their administration of the Northern Province areas under their control. My observations below are based on that experience..."

 (This is ) a personal web site created to share an ad hoc collection of pictures taken on a recent trip I made to the city of Jaffna. This web site is also a place to discuss insights and opinions about this great city. My place of birth. My home. I think it is important that my visitors understand the rationale behind the collection of these pictures. It's, really quite simple. THERE IS NO RATIONALE!, NO PURPOSE, NO AGENDA, NOTHING!. The photographs you see, are simply a novice and completely informal collection of pictures taken during a recent trip to Jaffna. We took these pictures so that we could, capture and share with others, some of the many sights the great city has to offer. I am proud that this site enjoys over 100 hits a day from well wishers around the world. Why? because these visitors have enjoyed viewing these pictures as much as my friends and I have enjoyed taking them".

In Navatkuli - Jaffna on A9,
Jaffna-Kandy highway