By Ravinatha P. Aryasinha
Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the EU,
Belgium and Luxembourg
 

The Sri Lanka Government’s assessment of the LTTE is widely shared within the intelligence, law enforcement and criminal justice communities across the world. Even as Sri Lanka appears to be gaining the upper hand in its battle against the LTTE on the ground, there are many who continue to fear that the international tentacles and reach of the group does not augur well.
 

• The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its 10 January 2007 special report has described the LTTE as “among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world”.
  
  
• Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, Chief Scientist at the Centre for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College has described the LTTE as “probably the most sophisticated terrorist organization in the world”.
  
  
• Dr. Gerard Chaliand, Former Director, European Center for the Study of Conflicts reminds us that “no peace seems possible with V. Prabhakaran as we have seen from the peace process of 2002-2005 which was but a tactical truce”.
  
  
• Most recently, The US Pacific Joint Command (PACOM) Admiral Timothy Keating while commending Sri Lankan military for its recent successes against the LTTE, has told New York correspondents on 6 November 2008, “We are hopeful that the LTTE would be a decreasingly important factor of much less reach than they are and have been in the past”.