Our New Tiger Problem

By Zachary Abuza

With the confirmation of the death of LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, as well as the deaths of nearly all of its leadership, the Sri Lankan government has declared victory. The Tamil Tigers have ceased to be a conventional force. The living embodiment of the movement is no more, and it is hard to fathom the LTTE operating without their charismatic leader. There are still two reasons for concern:

First, the Sri Lankan government has not addressed the lingering grievances of the Tamil minority and has done little to alleviate the systemic and institutional racism in the country. In the Tamil regions that have been under there control for over a year, there has been little done to win hearts and minds by fostering development. Many Tamils believe that the defeat of the LTTE will lead to further violations of their rights. That was a conceit that Prabhakaran always espoused: the LTTE was the vanguard and only defender of Tamil interests. There are many Tamil politicians and leaders who have sought to promote Tamil rights and interests through the ballot box, not suicide bombings. The government must avoid the temptation of triumphalism and work with the Tamil leaders. They have won the war, but are fully capable of losing the peace. They must quickly come to the assistance of the tens of thousands of displaced Tamils.

There are still LTTE remnants that will attack government forces, especially those who are reaching out to the Tamil community. Low-level terrorist tactics should be expected for no other reason than to lead to heavy-handed government responses that will alienate the Tamil community.

But the second cause of concern is the man you have not heard of, Selvarasa Pathmanathan often referred as Kumaran Padmanadan (KP). Pathmanathan continues to head the Tiger’s global operations and is often described in the media as the LTTE spokesman. But he was more importantly the Tiger's chief arms procurement agent. While the LTTE political and military organization in Sri Lankan has been decimated, the international network of the LTTE remains fully in tact. And to be clear, what set the LTTE apart from other terrorist organizations, was the sophistication and breadth of its international operations. Pathmanathan was known to have procured weapons from Bulgaria, China, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic, to name but a few. Pathmanathan also oversaw the organizations international fundraising, which included the notorious “Tamil Tax” as well as a plethora of legal businesses and criminal enterprises, including large human smuggling operations. In short, Pathmanathan oversaw a multi-million dollar a year operation, whose network of agents spanned the globe.

One should not expect Pathmanathan to fade quietly into retirement, and gently accept the Sri Lankan rout of the LTTE. He was Prabhakaran's closest lieutenant. He will remain committed to the Tamil cause. It will take time to rebuild even a small organization. But, in the mean time, there is a new gun (merchant) for hire.