The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) commonly called the “Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka” is one of the brutal terrorist groups all over the world. The LTTE originated in Sri Lanka and became a full-blown terrorist organization. The group joined its forces with their contacts that came from Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. LTTE made use of standard guerrilla tactics and also created uniformed units to launch terrorism. Decades passed before the Sri Lankan government ended the war with the Tamil Tigers. It was only in May of 2009 when the authorities of Sri Lanka declared their victory after a declaration was made by the television network that the leader of the group, Vellupillai Prabhakaran was killed during the last combat with the rebels (McDonald and Cowell, 2009). The group takes great pride in formulating their biggest invention which including the suicide vest, grenade launchers, rockets and other deadly weapons The group caused the bombings inside public buildings, Buddhist temples and transportation centers, and other public places. The LTTE group used female suicide bombers to accomplish their missions and implemented the recruitment of children soldiers (Pickert, 2009). Other vicious tactics shall include the wearing of cyanide capsules by LTTE fighters around their necks that they will swallow following their arrest by the authorities.
The group received donations from legally-operating religious schools or the assistance of financial institutions to transport the funds to a cash courier who shall use the money to purchase the weaponry and to support other activities. The purchase of the weaponry will be done through informal sphere operations by procuring illegal weapons by using funds received from activities such as kidnapping, drug smuggling or other similar activities. The Tamil Tigers used formal sphere operations by the creating “front” entities such as charitable or relief organizations or other spurious corporations to make it appear that they derive funding from legitimate sources or donations for a good cause.
According to Maras (2012), the goal of terrorist groups is to gain the sympathy of the general public by making it appear that the true evildoers and terrorists are the governments. This has made it easier for terrorists to gain the compassion of the people by claiming that they are the victims of the government injustices. In this manner again, the terrorists will use the overreaction of the government to help them accomplish their goals.
As a recommendation to the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), one of the ways to combat terrorism is through “panopticism”, which can be accomplished by gathering, surveillance and registration of citizens. Panopticism is a description of surveillance in a contemporary society through the installation of CCTV cameras in critical areas. Based on the study of Maras (2012), the efficacy of these measures in combating terrorism has been proven. It has been stated that intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials keep the records of identities of terrorists, drug lords, gang members and organized crime groups, by giving out information about these dangerous individuals to the public.
Another technology that is being used is the “Radio Frequency Identification” or RFID which make it possible for the law enforcement agencies to make use of facial recognition technology to track down terrorists. The facial recognition software targets persons whose information are stored in the database has identified any potential connection with terrorists. The use of this software has been done globally to avoid similar incidents such as the 9/11 attacks. Therefore, it can be concluded that technology plays a significant role in fighting terrorism.
References:
Falksohn, R. and Rao, P. (2008). “Tamil Tigers Exploit Exiles Abroad to Fund Insurgency”.
Web. May 9, 2013. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/extorting-the-diaspora-tamil-tigers-exploit-exiles-abroad-to-fund-insurgency-a-535316.html.
Guiora, A. N. (2012). Due Process and Counter-Terrorism. Emory Law.edu. Web. May 9, 2013,
Retrieved from http://www.law.emory.edu/fileadmin/journals/eilr/26/26.1/Guiora.pdf.
Kiger, P. J. (2011). 9/11: Six Tech Advances to Prevent Future Attacks. National Geographic.
Web. May 9, 2013. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110907-9-11-september-11-anniversary.
Maras, M. H. (2012). CounterTerrorism. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
McDonald, M. and Cowell, A. (2009). Sri Lanka Says Leader of Rebels Has Died. Web.
May 9, 2013. New York Times.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/world/asia/19lanka.html?ref=liberationtigersoftamileelam&_r=0.
Pickert, K. (2009). ‘The Tamil Tigers’. New York Times.com. Viewed on May 9, 2013,
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1869501,00.html.
