There is a problem here because apart from the Tiger cadres in uniform, the LTTE has openly conducted weapons training and tactical warfare for men, women and children who are under their control. The LTTE has admitted that the claymore mine attacks and the killing of police and servicemen on duty in the north are by the people, meaning the civilians.

It follows that the LTTE cadres, the trained men, women and students together with the ‘people’, as the LTTE would have them known, are a strong conglomerate which is confronting the Sri Lankan armed forces. The question arises, who are the ‘civilians’?

It is clear that the LTTE does not consider the 600 unarmed servicemen who were on board Pearl Cruise II as civilians. Nether does the Prime Minister of India.

The unpalatable truth is that there are no Tamil civilians in the area controlled by the LTTE because the entirety of their human resources has been press-ganged to serve them. Also there is the possibility that there are thousands of LTTE moles in the south.