The most common myth about LTTE run de-facto state is how it is run and funded.Most assume that Sri Lanka has cut off the LTTE controlled area and it is all out war against each other like two separate countries.
commentor context wanted me to provide the proof that government infrastructure is functioning inside Tiger controlled areas and the civil servants report both to LTTE and GOSL .In fact it is the GOSL government money that is running the essential services in those areas and it is Sri Lankan tax payer who will be paying the loans taken for rebuilding going on in the LTTE controlled area.
How the Sri Lankan Government is run.
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This is a primer for the non-Sri Lankans.
GOSL consists of three branches .The executive (President and the cabinet),Legislative parliament and judiciary .Then there are 8 Provincial councils out of which the most importent one the merged North and East council is not functioning .
The Civil administration falls under the government ministries headed by a minister.For instance all the funds for education is channeled through Ministry of Education (duh!).They share the money with provincial council education departments as well as spending on the central government institution(some schools,teacher salaries,technical collages, universities etc..)
Civil administration is handled via Government Agents called GAs or Divisional secretariat (Ministry of home affairs) agents for each districts(24 districts) which has an elaborate bureaucracy.
What Areas are the under LTTE control?
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2002 ceasefire agreement depends on the fact that there are LTTE controlled areas.(from LTTE )
Please check the map in Wikipedia
Districts in LTTE control are Killinochchi and Mullaithiv.
Then they control a big part of Vavuniya and Mannar as well as some small areas in Trincomalle,Batticolo and Ampara
How the LTTE administration is run.
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LTTE is running a their own administration in the areas under their control.It includes police,courts,education and other civil functions.Of course the government doesn't pay salaries to LTTE judges and policeman but what about the others?
Let's take a simple example of paying a salary to a teacher in Kilinochchi.Government money ends up in the hand of the teacher via education director/principal appointed by the Govevrnment.Education director might report to both LTTE representative(LTTE education head) and his boss in Colombo.Same goes for other functioning things such as hospitals,social welfare (food stamps for the poor and displaced).
This article is from The Hindu . They are quoting SCOPP.It is a government agency but I wanted it to be the first quote since it shows enormity of the issue.Their deputy director who happnens to be a Tamil was killed recently.(check DBS Jeyaraj )
Then check the others.......................
Instead the visiting NDTV team was taken on a guided tour that only exposed the charade of a separate country, with Tamil Eelam district court, the Eelam police station and finally the Bank of Tamil Eelam.
On the surface, the bank seemed normal with customers busy taking loans and withdrawing cash, except that the bank used Sri Lankan currency and had only one other branch in the LTTE-held town of Mulativu.
From NDTV
UTHR(J) is an human rights organization which is critical of Government,LTTE and other paramilitaries. Here are several quotes.
quote1
Take some of its ramifications. At a regular meeting of principals in one district, a matter came up under any other business. It was reported that several principals had already received letters from the LTTE to collect 8% of the salaries paid to the staff to be handed over to them. The question put to the chairman was what should they do. The chairman who had a family to think about was being asked to decide for everyone. After a pause the chairman blurted out, “This situation may not last for more than a few months. Don’t add to your troubles needlessly.” Everywhere, the principals decided to surrender.
quote2 (This when LTTE controlled Jaffna 1990-95)
In fact, the LTTE has already vastly expanded its control. In Jaffna it virtually controls the Sri Lankan Police, administrators, local councils and educational officers. It controls schools and through the education department in Batticaloa has distributed portraits of Prabhakaran to be hung up in schools in lieu of the Head of State. The LTTE already has an army, navy, police, courts, administrative structures and prisons.
quote3
The distortions regarding VeerasingamÂ’s case in the LTTE media should alert us to something deeper. According to local sources Veerasingam had approached the Vavuniya Kacheri trying to defer a transfer order to an LTTE controlled area and had been severely warned by them. From our sources the murder has much to do with the LTTEÂ’s programme to appropriate the government administration. There being government controlled areas and LTTE controlled areas in the North, the LTTE by using its virtual control of the District Administrations or Kacheris could dictate transfers and get the lower level officials moved around, monitored and ensure they work the way they want them to work.
quote4
Controlling village headmen (GSs) is also to control the people. The government’s social welfare measures, ration cards, identity cards and voters’ lists are all routed through the headman. From the 1990s the LTTE has used the headmen under its control to police the people, force them to attend demonstrations, perform compulsory military service as auxiliaries, impose punitive cuts of rations, fiddle government aid and report on those coming in and going out. Veerasingam had no political connections. The LTTE evidently would not allow him to set a precedent to headmen who disliked taking instructions from them. The Sri Lanka government may pay them, but whoever wished to live must understand that there is only one ‘who must be obeyed’. The stakes are too high.
This is from Sangam (US tamil association pro LTTE) quoting Sunday Leader which is pro UNP and pro LTTE newpaper in south )SundayLeader from 2003
It mentions how the government agancies were run in 2003.Also note the 900 million A9 road rehabilitation project which is ADB funded.The money is a loan which needs to be payed back by the government (not LTTE).
This how the health infrastruture work work under LTTE
India donated money to Sri Lankan government which is running Killinochhi hospital.It's the government who pays the salaries and bears the cost .
This about the same hospital
Here is how LTTE opened the hospital with pomp and pagentry.
Check the news from LTTE's Tamil net to get the idea of the infrastructure.
Dr. K Nandakumar said the decision to build a hospital in Kilinochchi was made by a previous Kilinochchi district health services officer, Dr. Sathiamoorthy and the Government Agent (GA) Mr. Rasanayagam with a proposal for funding from ADB.
He requested the GA to make arrangements for medical specialists to make regular visits to the facility. Without the needed doctors patients have to suffer the inconvenience of travelling to the Jaffna General Hospital or to the Vavuniya Hospital. Ambulances are forced to make five to six trips a day, he said.
So who funded whole project ?
Who is paying back the money?
Please check the screen shot on the top or read the whole document.
LTTE administration is running the Sri Lankan government administration by the gun.Government has to bear costs ,pay salaries and pay back loans .LTTE gets to cut the ribbons.
I'm not trying paint a rosy picture here .Areas under LTTE is the least developed in sri lanka and has been neglected for decades.What I'm trying to say is all the money LTTE collects goes to buying arms while government has to prop up the LTTE administration with their money.
