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TIMES OF INDIA REPORTS OMINOUS SIGNS FOR TAMIL TIGERSBy Walter JayawardhanaIndias leading newspaper Times of India said that the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is cornered into a tight enclave
in the Northern Province of the Sri Lankan island nation in a failing
war is desperate for fighters. Indicating ominous signs for the Tamil Tigers the Times said, Less
than three years after it took on Colombo with aggressive war mongering,
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is desperate for fighters,
say Tamil activists and diplomatic sources. Citing unnamed Tamil sources in the island's troubled north and east,
the Times said LTTE is appealing to Tamil families to contribute at
least one member each, irrespective of age and gender, to take on the
advancing military. But the newspaper pointed out that the LTTE has now lost the sprawling
Eastern province it once occupied and that supplied the human resources
for its once unbeatable land army and seagoing forces. Though the newspaper warned that the LTTE will not give up come
what may it in no uncertain terms said , the LTTE appears
to be on the retreat in the north. The Times of India in its front page story added, The LTTE now
controls about 4,000 sq km - or just six percent of Sri Lanka's land
territory. And the population under its control is said to be about
250,000 - a mere 1.25 percent of the country's total. This is a far
cry from 2005 when it controlled a vast area in Sri Lanka's north and
east. However, soon after President Mahinda Rajapaksa took power in
November that year, the LTTE took the offensive, stoking a war that
rages to this day. Sri Lanka knows it needs to keep India on its side. For the first time in a long time, India, however, does not seem to be making any bones about being neutral in Sri Lanka. Despite pro-LTTE noises in Tamil Nadu, India refuses to publicly criticise anything it feels is going wrong on the Sri Lankan war front.
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