The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) is an
Eelam Tamil
The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil or commonly in Tamil language Eelam Tamil () are a group of Tamil dialects used in Sri Lanka by its native Tamil people and Eastern Moors, and Coast Veddas that is distinct from the dialects of Tamil s ...
organisation which campaigned for the establishment of an independent
Tamil Eelam in the northeast of
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
during 1972-1987 which later accepted the December 19th proposals. The TELO was originally created as a militant group, and functioned as such until 1986, when most of its membership was killed in a conflict with the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
(LTTE). Its surviving members reorganised themselves as a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
, and it continues to function as such today.
The TELO currently has two Members of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. It is part of the
Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...
, a coalition of Tamil parties which won 2.9% of the popular vote and 14 out of 225 seats at the
2010 parliamentary election in Sri Lanka.
Early history
The TELO evolved out of the group of Tamil
student radicals formed by
Nadarajah Thangathurai
Nadarajah Thangavelu ( ta, நடராசா தங்கவேல்; died 25 July 1983; commonly known by the nom-de-guerre Thangadurai) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and one of the founders of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization, a separ ...
and
Selvarajah Yogachandran
Selvarajah Yogachandran, ( ta, செல்வராஜா யோகசந்திரன்) (died 25 July 1983) also known as Kuttimani was one of the leaders of the former Tamil militant organization TELO from Sri Lanka. He was arrested and ...
(better known by his
nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
''Kuttimani'') in the late 1960s. The group formally constituted itself into an organisation in 1979, inspired in part by the LTTE and the
Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). Soon, it had become the most effective of the Tamil militant groups.
Both Thangathurai and Kuttimani were captured by the
Sri Lankan Army
ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம்
, image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png
, image_size = 180px
, caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army
, start_date ...
in 1981 while they were in the process of escaping to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. For a while after their arrest, the TELO was led by
Sri Sabaratnam
Sundaram Sri Sabaratnam ( ta, சிறி சபாரத்தினம்; 28 August 1952 – 6 May 1986) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), a separatist Tamil militant organisation ...
as the de facto leader.
India and the
Eelam National Liberation Front
The Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF) was a short-lived (1984-1986) umbrella organisation for leading Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups.
Formation
In April 1984 M. Karunanidhi invited the leaders of the five leading Tamil militant groups, ...
The TELO was thereafter relatively dormant until 1983. On 25 July 1983, both Thangathurai and Kuttimani were brutally tortured and killed in a
prison riot
A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners.
Prison riots have not been the subject of many academic studies or research inquir ...
by Sinhalese prisoners. Sri Sabaratnam then became its head. The trained cadre would be supplied with weaponry, and sent to
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
to wage a guerrilla war against the army.
In February 1984, the TELO together with the EROS and the
Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front
The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group.
Militant separatists
The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, Su ...
(EPRLF) set up a common militant front for the Eelam struggle, which was called the
Eelam National Liberation Front
The Eelam National Liberation Front (ENLF) was a short-lived (1984-1986) umbrella organisation for leading Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups.
Formation
In April 1984 M. Karunanidhi invited the leaders of the five leading Tamil militant groups, ...
, or ENLF. The LTTE joined the ENLF in April that year. In co-ordination, the groups began carrying out attacks against government positions in
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...
. The TELO used its arms to destroy the main police station in Jaffna, and attack military convoys. The combined assaults led to the near-total disappearance of government authority in Jaffna.
Internal dissension and the conflict with the LTTE
As a leader, however, Sri Sabaratnam lacked the charisma which the likes of
Prabhakaran had, and he was unable to convey the sense of vision to the TELO which the LTTE had. As a result, the TELO's rapid growth was not backed up by a strong ideology like the LTTE's had been, and a number of its cadre were seen as bullies. Sri Sabaratnam, relying heavily on his association with and support by India, had not acquired the sort of advanced modern weaponry that the LTTE had, and the group therefore began losing its effectiveness. A number of TELO members became unhappy with Sri Sabaratnam's leadership, and dissension grew in the ranks. By 1985, a number of factions had emerged in the TELO. The rivalry between the factions led to the murder of Dass, one of the factional leaders, in April 1986. This led to a split in the organisation, with several dozen members leaving.
In the meantime, differences with the LTTE were also growing. The LTTE was unhappy with the pro-India stance of the TELO. They also were upset that the TELO was getting by far the largest share of contributions from Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates, even though the TELO was not as active or successful as the LTTE. Prabhakaran also feared that India would use the TELO to have him killed.
Matters came to a head with the assassination of two prominent Tamil politicians in Jaffna,
M. Alalasundaram
Arumugam Murugesu Alalasundaram ( ta, முருகேசு ஆலாலசுந்தரம்) was a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.
Early life
Alalasundaram was from Nayanmarkaddu near Nallur in northern ...
and
V. Dharmalingam
Visvanathan Dharmalingam ( ta, விஸ்வநாதர் தர்மலிங்கம்; 5 February 1918 – 2 September 1985) was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament.
Early life and family
Dharmalingam was born o ...
, in September 1985. The TELO and the LTTE blamed each other for the killings. In February 1986, the LTTE pulled out of the ENLF. On 29 April that year, they launched an all-out assault on the TELO. TELO bases across Jaffna were shelled with mortars. TELO cadres, whether armed or unarmed, came under rifle attack and were shot dead. No quarter was given, according to eyewitnesses. Those who surrendered were shot dead as they laid down their weapons, and those who attempted to flee were shot as they ran. Civilians were warned not to shelter fugitives. The few TELO cadres who managed to find refuge with other armed groups such as the EPRLF or the EROS were nearly the only ones who survived. On 5 May, the TELO's leader Sri Sabaratnam was shot dead by
Kittu
''Kittu'' ( te, కిట్టు) is a 2006 traditionally animated Indian feature film. It is the first animated film to be made in the Telugu language. It won the National Film Award and is also credited with AP state award (Nandi Award) as ...
(Sathasivam Krishnakumar) of the LTTE. In all, over one hundred and twenty five men had been killed, and the TELO had been virtually wiped out.
The LTTE at the time justified its actions as necessary, arguing that the TELO was being used by India to infiltrate the Eelam struggle and reshape it to its own ends. Several years later, however, in 1990, Kittu, who had directed and led the massacres, admitted that it had been a mistake to kill the cadres of the TELO, although the assassination of the top leaders was justified.
Some attempts were made during the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) period to revive the TELO as a militant group, and to avenge those killed by the LTTE. They were assisted by the
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
, which armed them and used them to try to contain the LTTE, who opposed the IPKF presence. However, they came under constant LTTE attack and suffered heavy casualties, losing as many as 70 in a single attack in September 1987. Once the IPKF withdrew, the military strength of these groups melted away, with most of their members surrendering to the LTTE in fear of reprisals. Since then, the TELO has never revived as an effective militant group.
The TELO as a political party
After the killing of Sri Sabaratnam,
Selvam Adaikalanathan
Amirthanathan Adaikalanathan ( ta, அமிர்தநாதன் அடைக்கலநாதன், translit=Amirtanātaṉ Aṭaikkalanātaṉ; born 10 June 1962), commonly known as Selvam Adaikalanathan, is a Sri Lankan Tamil militant tu ...
became the leader of the TELO. Following the melting away of its cadre after the IPKF's withdrawal, he decided that the TELO would never recover and therefore eventually reconstituted it as a political party.
TELO formed an alliance with the
Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front
The Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) is a former Indian backed Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1987 as an amalgamation of splinter groups from other militant groups (Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Fr ...
, EPRLF and
Tamil United Liberation Front
The Tamil United Liberation Front ( ta, தமிழர் ஐக்கிய விடுதலை முன்னணி, translit=Tamil Onrupattatu Viduthulai Munnai, si, ද්රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති ප ...
to contest the
1989 parliamentary elections. The alliance won 188,593 votes (3.40%), securing 10 of the 225 seats in Parliament. 2 of the 10 alliance MPs were from TELO.
TELO formed an alliance with EROS and
People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) is a former Tamil militant group that had become a pro-government paramilitary group and political party. PLOTE's political wing is known as the Democratic People's Liberation Front.
Ori ...
to contest the
1994 parliamentary elections. The alliance won 38,028 votes (0.48%), securing 3 of the 225 seats in Parliament. None of the 3 alliance MPs were from TELO.
At the
2000 parliamentary elections TELO contested on its own and won 26,112 votes (0.30%), securing 3 of the 225 seats in Parliament.
The TELO maintained an ambivalent position with relation to the LTTE for some years, but starting from the mid-1990s, it began to take an increasingly pro-LTTE stand. In 2001, it joined the
Tamil National Alliance
The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...
, a coalition of pro-independence Tamil parties, which supported, and was supported by, the LTTE. In an interview, Adaikkalanathan explained the contradiction behind the TELO supporting a group to which it was once opposed. While the TELO does not accept internecine killing and can never forget what the LTTE has done, he says it would be betraying the Tamil people to oppose the LTTE, because victory could only be achieved if all Tamil groups set aside their differences and present a united front.
2001 Parliamentary General Election
2004 Parliamentary General Election
2010 Parliamentary General Election
References
* Hellmann-Rajanayagam, D. (1994) "The Groups and the rise of Militant Secessions". in Manogaram, C. and Pfaffenberger, B. (editors). The Sri Lankan Tamils. Oxford University Press.
* Narayan Swamy, M. R. (2002) Tigers of Lanka: from Boys to Guerrillas, Konark Publishers; 3rd ed.
External links
The TELO's website
{{Sri Lankan Tamil people
1979 establishments in Sri Lanka
Organizations established in 1979
Political parties established in 1987
Political parties in Sri Lanka
Indian Peace Keeping Force