LTTE Vs. Sri Lankan Government

"On the night of 9 January my family was among a group of 58 people trying to cross over to army-controlled area. It was night-time when we were going and I think that we ran into some army people who were lying there. Suddenly there were reports of gun fire and suddenly we all fell down."

Kantharubi Sivanathan, 28, mother-of-two, Paranthan

If you didn’t already know there has been a civil war going on in Sri Lanka for the past 25 years. It has tore apart a country that was never firmly built. Since it became independent in 1948 Ceylon, now Sri Lanka has always had disputes between its inhabitants, especially between Sinhalese and Tamils. Since the beginning many Tamils have felt like they were being treated second rate by the majority of the population which is Sinhalese.

According to the political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE), the Tamil homeland is suffering one of the worst human tragedies of the 21^st century. One thousand civilians have been killed in the fighting and nearly four thousand are suffering from injuries amidst the fighting.

The Tamil tigers have been fighting the Sri Lankan government in a civil war for the past 25 years.

Though there is question, the Tamil rebels insist Velupillai Prabhakaran is still leading their fight.

1948: Sri Lankan independence

1949: Ceylon citizen act was passed disenfranchising Indian Tamil plantation workers

1956: Official Language act/Sinhala only act made Sinhala the sole language of Sri Lanka

1976: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam form in the north-east

1987: India deploys peace-keepers to Tamil areas but they leave in 1990

1993: President Premadasa killed by Tiger bomb

2001: Attack on airport destroys half Sri Lankan Airlines fleet

2002: Government and rebels agree ceasefire

2005: Mahinda Rajapaksa becomes president

2006: Heavy fighting resumes

2009: Army takes main rebel bases of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu

Suffering Families;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7828883.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7521197.stm

Audio;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/meta/dps/2009/02/nb/090202_rajapaksa_nh_sl_au_nb.asx

Corrupt Government;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7823729.stm

Media Can get in the way

http://www.realclearworld.com/video_log/2009/02/sri_lanka_media_caught_in_the.html