http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10443184
Here's an interesting article from The Economist about the Tamil Tigers and the official end of the ceasefire in Sri Lanka. In class we've been talking about the requirement of political motivation in some definitions of terrorism (Hoffman and Pillar). The Tamil Tigers fit that requirement; the article addresses their desire for an autonomous section of Sri Lanka (the Tamils are a minority). This article also discusses the breach of the ceasefire agreement by both the state and the Tigers. The government has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands in Sri Lanka, which sparks the question of whether state actions can be considered terrorism. It seems like a state could engage in terrorism when it violates the ceasefire agreement, just like the "terrorist" group...but I agree with Pillar that if a state is openly involved in terrorist acts, then those are acts of war and not terrorism.
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well...the link didn't work, but you can look it up on the economist's website. the article is entitled "truce and fiction" and came out in the Jan 5-11 edition.
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