Summarize factors that led to the ultimate demise of the LTTE

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• In December 2001, the LTTE agreed to a cease-fire with the government of Sri Lanka. Although the Tigers still threatened violence, their resources may have been depleted.
• The Council on Foreign Relations (Zissis, 2006) believes that the international community's efforts to thwart terrorism after September 11 were responsible for this situation.
• Arms shipments were virtually eliminated, and expatriate Tamil communities in Australia, Canada, and the United States were forbidden to gather and ship resources to Sri Lanka.
• Draining economic resources accomplished what Sri Lankan security forces could not do. The Tamil Tigers lost their striking power.
• Facing a weakened LTTE, Sri Lankan security forces developed a new strategy for a final offensive. They created "no-fire zones" and moved into Tamil areas.
• People in the area could: stay and fight? stay and hope that they would not be killed or injured? flee, risking injury or death? or move into the no-fire zone.
• Police and military forces established order in the no-fire zones, interrogating and arresting suspects at will.
• The strategy worked. Every person who remained in the area was considered to be an enemy, and the army unleashed a conventional offensive.
• The LTTE had remained the aggressor through most of the campaign, and it had forced security forces onto the defensive.
• The role was now reversed, and the Tamil Tigers fought on the military's terms. Unable to use guerrilla or terrorist tactics, the Tamil Tigers fought a defensive battle against conventional assaults.
• With limited communications and no ability to resupply or use the airport, the LTTE lost ground in every encounter. Many of the commanders began blowing themselves up rather than surrender. Pirapaharan died in this manner. Fighting ended in May, with the remaining Tamil Tigers surrendering (Chamberlain and Tran, 2009).