The war in Sri Lanka may be characterized as either a civil war or a war of national liberation in the exercise of the right of self- determination.A civil war exists if there is armed conflict inside one country between government armed forces and at least one other force having an identifiable command and having sufficient control over territory to carry out "sustained" and "concerted" military action and the practical capacity to fulfil humanitarian law obligations."The LTTE has clearly met this test for more than ten years."A war of national liberation exists if armed conflict exists between the armed forces of a government against the armed forces of a people that has the right to self-determination. In my view, the war in Sri Lanka is a war of national liberation because the Thamil people have the right to self-determination.This is because the Thamil people, the original in habitants of the north and east of the island of Ceylon, had their own state complete and separate from...