LTTE's image eroding in Sri Lanka

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is finding it increasingly difficult to assert its credibility in in Sri Lanka , following a drastic change in the international perception about its 'liberation struggle'.

The LTTE has reacted to this development in its typical fashion: They hold foreign diplomats, observers and international relief agencies responsible, and has lambasted them for their 'indifference' to the 'plight of Tamil civilians in the rebel-controlled areas'.

Informed sources say the LTTE's ire at the international relief agencies, particularly the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Committee of Red Cross, is due to the agencies's refusal to tow the rebel line. Apparently, the agencies refused to shift operations from the Mankulam and Omanthai areas in the LTTE-controlled north to Pudukudiyiruppu, as the rebels wanted them to.

The rebels had recently shifted members of their 'fighter's families' to Pudukudiyiruppu, in the wake of impending military operations along the Mankulam and Omanthai areas.

The civilians who had been left behind look on this act as desertion. The rebels, they claim, are bothered only about the safety of own families.