TELO in serious crisis

(May 03, Zurich, Sri Lanka Guardian) Serious internal conflict has developed within the pro-LTTE outfit Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO).

Many senior members of TELO which is a registered political party in Sri Lanka are keeping away from the party activities due to serious discontents and are working against the party line with the independent Tamil democratic groups.

According to reliable sources, ‘four important members of TELO and their supporters are keeping away because they have been warned for acting against the pro LTTE policy of the party and for attending rival group meetings against the party leader’s advice’.

‘The party organizers within the Tamil Diaspora including Guru (France), Suresh (Swizterland) and Mogan, Algan ( Germany) have joined the anti-LTTE May Day rally in Zurich on 1st May with the organized by the anti LTTE Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE)’ said the sources to the Sri Lanka Guardian.

TELO currently has three members in the parliament. It is part of the Tamil National Alliance - an LTTE-backed coalition of Tamil parties which won 6.9% of the popular vote and 22 out of 225 seats at the 2004 general election in Sri Lanka.

The TELO was relatively inactive after 1983. On 25 July 1983, both TELO founders Thangathurai and Kuttimani were brutally tortured and killed in prison by Sinhalese prisoners. Sri Sabaratnam became its head. This group carried out daring guerilla warfare against the government forces until they were violently banished by the LTTE.

After LTTE killed Sri Sabaratnam; Selvam Adaikkalanathan became the leader of the TELO. Following the weakening of the situation after the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in 1990, Selvam decided that the TELO would never recover to its previous position and reconstituted the group as a political party.

The division in the TELO is expected to cause serious harm to the party and the breakaway group is expected to campaign against the leadership for its unchecked support for the LTTE.
- Sri Lanka Guardian