Tamil National Retrieval Troops

Last updated

Tamil Nadu National Retrieval Troops (TNNRT) was a short lived Tamil nationalist militant group who had fought to gain independence from India in the 1980s. [1] The group wanted to unite a greater Tamil Nadu nation for their people. [1] Tamil Nadu National Retrieval Troops fought the majority of their conflicts in the 1990s. [1] This organization was considered to be part of a larger nationalist Tamil Nadu movement. However, the Tamil Nadu Retrieval Troops were never that large; their membership often hovered around 30. [1] The young men fighting in the Tamil National Retrieval Troops were mostly from the Vanniyar community. [1] The Tamil Nadu National Retrieval Troops are also known as Tamil Nadu Nadu Retrieval Troops* - this is not another branch but rather another name used by the group. [2]

Contents

History

The group was also interested in creating their own area in Tamil Nadu. [1] The group was founded by P. Ravichandran in the late 1980s. [1] After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, support for Tamil liberation groups decreased steadily. This remained true for years before new Tamil pro-liberation movements, emerged. This was quickly shut down by the then Chief Minister Jayalalitha. This eventually led to the banning of the TNRT. [2] In the 1990s its leader Ravichandran was an accused of the murder of Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) general secretary and the 1991 Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. [3]

Major events

On July 2, 2002, The Tamil National Retrieval Troops (TNRT) are included in the Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA), 2002. The group is officially considered a terrorist organization by the Indian government. [1] [4]

The Tamil National Retrieval Troops aided Veerappan in the kidnapping of Rajkumar. The TNRT, along with the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army and Veerappan requested that numerous political demands must be met in order for the hostage to be released. [5] The group held Rajkumar for 108 days before finally letting him go unharmed. [1]

Linkage

Veerappan- Was a coconspirator in the kidnapping of Rajkumar. [5]

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - a group supported by the Tamil National Retrieval troop that was based in Sri Lanka. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam established the National retrieval troop as a small militant group. [1] According to Ravichandran, members of the Tamil National Retrieval Troops were instructed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to annihilate anyone who opposes their objective for a separate nation for the Tamils. [6] The Tamil Tigers provided training and supplies for the Tamil National retrieval movement in Sri Lanka before sending them into India.

Tamil National Liberation Army- Some members possibly belonged to this group as well due to the fact that factions were constantly broken up and disbanded so the soldiers of various Tamil Nadu groups moved from group to group varying based on their beliefs and preferred location. Both groups believe that Tamil Nadu should be free and sovereign, and the land should be set aside for those who reside there. [6]

[7] Global terrorism database for the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam</span> Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1976–2009)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velupillai Prabhakaran</span> Leader of militant Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1954–2009)

Velupillai Prabhakaran was a Tamil revolutionary. Prabhakaran was a major figure of Tamil nationalism, and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government. Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act of 1987. Under the terms of the agreement, Colombo agreed to a devolution of power to the provinces, the Sri Lankan troops were to be withdrawn to their barracks in the north and the Tamil rebels were to surrender their arms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anton Balasingham</span> Sri Lankan journalist

Anton Balasingham Stanislaus was a Sri Lankan Tamil journalist, rebel and chief political strategist and chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese for educational opportunities and government jobs. By the end of 1987, the militants had fought not only the Sri Lankan security forces but also the Indian Peace Keeping Force. They also fought among each other briefly, with the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group dominating the others. The militants represented inter-generational tensions, as well as the caste and ideological differences. Except for the LTTE, many of the remaining organizations have morphed into minor political parties within the Tamil National Alliance, or as standalone political parties. Some Tamil militant groups also functioned as paramilitaries within the Sri Lankan military against separatist militants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi</span> Indian political party

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, formerly known as the Dalit Panthers of India or the Dalit Panthers Iyyakkam, is an Indian social movement and political party that seeks to combat caste based discrimination, active in the state of Tamil Nadu. The party also has a strong emphasis on Tamil nationalism. Its chairman is Thol. Thirumavalavan, a lawyer from Chennai, and its general secretary is the writer Ravikumar.

Gopalaswamy Mahendraraja, also known as Mahattaya was a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who was killed for leaking secrets to India's RAW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pottu Amman (Tamil militant)</span> LTTE Rebel

Shanmugalingam Sivashankar was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and leading member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Poomalai</span> Indian air drop in Sri Lankan Civil War

Operation Poomalai, also known as Eagle Mission 4, was the codename assigned to a mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force for airdropping supplies over the besieged city of Jaffna in Sri Lanka on 4 June 1987 to support the Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi</span> 1991 massacre in Sriperumbudur, India

The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to Gandhi and the assassin, were killed. It was carried out by 22-year-old Kalaivani Rajaratnam, a member of the banned Sri Lankan Tamil separatist rebel organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). At the time, India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamil nationalism</span> Ideology based on a Tamil nation

Tamil nationalism is the ideology which asserts that the Tamil people constitute a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Tamil people. Tamil nationalism is primarily a secular nationalism, that focus on language and homeland. It expresses itself in the form of linguistic purism, linguistic nationalism, Social equality and Tamil Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pazha Nedumara</span> Indian politician

Pazha NedumaranKrishnan Pillai Pazhaniyappan is an Indian politician from the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He is an ex-national Congressman, a writer and Tamil nationalist, who has authored many books in Tamil and English.

Kumar Muthukumar was an Indian journalist and activist based in the state of Tamil Nadu, who came into prominence when he self-immolated protesting against the brutal atrocities against the Sri Lankan Tamil people at the peak of civil war in the country. His death instantly triggered widespread strikes, demonstrations and public unrest in the state, most notably the manifestation of popular defiance of the Government of India ban against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which the people demonstrated carrying flags of Tamil Eelam, placards and images of the LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran in the funeral procession of Muthukumar. Subsequently, 6 more Tamils committed self-immolation in various parts of the globe including India, Malaysia and Switzerland.

The Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war was the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka intended to perform a peacekeeping role. The deployment followed the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord between India and Sri Lanka of 1987 which was intended to end the Sri Lankan civil war between separatist Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists, principally the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the Sri Lankan Military.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka, had various organizations affiliated to it. These include charitable organizations, political parties, state intelligence organizations and even governments of Sri Lanka and other countries. Although the LTTE was militarily defeated in 2009, the Sri Lankan government alleges that a number of foreign-based organizations are still promoting its ideology.

Padmanabha murder case was a sensational case during the earlier part of 1990 in Madras in Tamil Nadu, (India) and Sri Lanka. Padmanabha was the leader of EPRLF and he was murdered with 12 of his party men and two commoners in Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu on 19 June 1990. The incident marked the first occasion when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eezham (LTTE), a militant organization, targeted an attack outside Sri Lanka.

Contributions to popular culture involving direct reference to the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Indian cinema are listed below. All communities that speak Tamil and originally came from Sri Lanka are included. Tamils of Sri Lanka today are a trans-national minority and are found across the globe. While most films on the topic are made in Tamil cinema, there has also been Malayalam and Hindi content on the area.

Kalaivani Rajaratnam was a prominent Sri Lankan Tamil militant associated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Born in Kaithady Nunavil in the Jaffna Peninsula, she is notably recognized for her role as a suicide bomber in the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Known also by her aliases Dhanu, Thenmozhi, Gayatri and Anbu. Rajaratnam's involvement in this high-profile act of violence marked her as a significant and controversial figure in the Tamil separatist movement and South Asian political history.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Tamil National Retrieval Troops (TNRT)". www.satp.org. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 "TN bans pro-LTTE Tamil National Movement". The Times of India. PTI. 13 August 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "Tamil National Retrieval Troops (TNRT)". www.trackingterrorism.org.
  4. ↑ "MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS". 12 August 2007. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  5. 1 2 VAASANTHI (21 August 2000). "Fringe ultra groups in north Tamil Nadu tutor Veerappan". India Today. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  6. 1 2 Directorate of Printing, Government of India (16 December 1998). Extraordinary Gazette of India, 1998, No. 1595.
  7. ↑ "GTD Search Results". www.start.umd.edu. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.