Tamil Tigers name new leader

Meet the new head of the LTTE, or at least what’s left of it: Selvarasa Pathmanathan was the rebels’ chief of international relations and allegedly ran an international weapons smuggling ring. The Sri Lankan government has appealed to foreign governments to find and arrest him. […] Pathmanathan said earlier the Tigers would abandon their armed ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Meet the new head of the LTTE, or at least what's left of it:

Meet the new head of the LTTE, or at least what’s left of it:

Selvarasa Pathmanathan was the rebels’ chief of international relations and allegedly ran an international weapons smuggling ring. The Sri Lankan government has appealed to foreign governments to find and arrest him. […]

Pathmanathan said earlier the Tigers would abandon their armed struggle and use nonviolence to achieve their goals, and he promised the group would reorganize itself based on democratic principles – a major change from Prabhakaran’s dictatorial leadership style.

A former weapons smuggler certainly makes an unlikley candidate for the Tamil Gandhi. Peru’s Sendero Luminoso — which has largely made the transition from Marxist guerrilla movement to cocaine cartel — might be an instructive model though.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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