Sri Lanka

1
Sri Lanka

• The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

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Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka is a small island of the coast of
  India.
• It was originally called Ceylon until it gained
  its independence from England in 1948.

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General Info

• Sri Lankas population is around 19 million
  people and is divided into four different groups.
• The Sinhalese Buddhists 70
• The Tamil Hindus 17
• The Moor Muslims 7
• Other1

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What started the conflict.

• In 1946, the United National Party deprived one
  million Tamil plantation worker the right to
  vote.
• In 1956 the Sinhalese only act was passed. This
  act made it so the Tamils had little power in the
  government.

5
Conflict cont.

• The Tamils responded to these acts by carrying
  out non violent demonstrations.
• Many of these Tamil demonstrators are attacked by
  Sinhalese, while the police stand and watch.

6
Conflict

• In 1957, the Bandaranaike pact was passed to give
  more rights to the Tamils and to resolve the
  language issues.
• Buddhist monks pushed to get rid of the pact
  because they wanted to promote unity and
  Buddhism.

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Conflict

• In 1972 the protection for the minority was taken
  away by Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
• A new constitution was then drafted that favored
  the Buddhists.
• Limits where also mandated by the government on
  how many Tamil students could be accepted into
  universities.

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The new political party

• The Tamil United Front (TUF) was formed in 1972.
• The TUF was then formed into the Tamil United
  Liberation front.(TULF)
• The TULF wanted a separate nation formed just for
  the Tamils.

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The Tigers

• The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
  formed after the Tamil student movement.
• The LTTE is a militant group that is fighting for
  the equal rights of Tamils.

10
Leaders

• The first leader of the LTTE was Vellupillai
  Prabhakaran.
• He attended guerilla training India.
• He became famous by killing the mayor of Jaffna.
• The mayor got killed because the Tigers believed
  him to be a trader.

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Prabhakarans Goals

• Wanted Tamils to be recognized as their own
  separate nationality.
• He wanted the north and east sections of Sri
  Lanka turned into the Tamil homeland.
• Lastly he wanted Tamils to have the right to make
  their own decisions.

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The LTTES Military

• 8,000-10,000 armed members.
• Used guerrilla tactics.
• Carried cyanide tablets.

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Tactics

• Intimidation
• Assignations
• Suicide bombings.

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Tactics Examples

• Car Bombings
• The truck bombing in Central Bank, Colombo.
  (1996)
• Another large attack was the bombing of the
  Colombo World Trade Center.

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Assassinations

• They killed two influential leaders, the Indian
  prime minister, and the Sri Lankan President

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Intimidation

• The Tigers would Tax people that came through the
  areas of the country that they controlled.

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Black Tigers

• The Black Tigers are a highly trained group of
  militants.
• These militants carried out many bombings.

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Funding

• The LTTE is mainly funded by drug trafficking and
  heroin sales.

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Bibliography

• news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ world/south_asia/2713035.stm
• www.travelersdigest.com/ sri_lanka12.htm
• eelam.tamilpower.com/ tamiltigers.htm
• http//www.serif.com/community/tutorials/photoplus
  /ph7/images/sampleimages/Truck.jpg