International Activities

The Midweek Mirror of Wednesday 12th April 2000 carried the following report under the title RAND RESEARCH EXPOSES WESTERN BIAS TO LTTE.

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The West is tolerant towards the ruthless LTTE purely because of domestic political contingencies, a top researcher associated with the Washington-based think-tank Rand Corporation has said.

In a 14 page report prepared for the Canadian Security IntelligenceService (CSIS), Peter Chalk of the Queensland University in Australia, says that in countries such as Canada, Britain and Australia, the politicians who are wooing the ethnic Tamil votes are willing to tolerate LTTE extremists in their constituencies, thus allowing offshoots of the Tamil tigers to fund the war in Sri Lanka. Mr. Chalk says politicians in Canada and many western countries have become increasingly reluctant to support tougher actions against the LTTE for fear that it will affect their local electoral support base. Canadian politicians believe that it is the ethnic or the minority vote that makes the difference in an election. Chalk argues. As such, he says they tend to sympathize with the political aspirations and grievances of minorities and ethnic groups living in their constituencies. Around 200,000 Sri Lankan Tamils, many of whom have obtained refugee status live in Canada.
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The Island Midweek Review of Wednesday 12th April 2000 also carried another article written by W.P. Soysa which says as follows;

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Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) (a prestigious magazine published in USA and read by the US Intelligence Community) in it's issue of 21/1/2000 has published a devastating - revealing

memorandum to U.S. Secretary of State, urging the US government to put Britain on the list of states sponsoring terrorism. The memorandum from the editors of EIR has been copied to US Secretary of Defence, Attorney General, Director of CIA, Director FBI, Chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee and several other top ranking Congressman.

The formal requests of EIR to put Britain on the list of states sponsoring terrorism is strongly supported with irrefutable evidence of U.K. harbouring and supporting a multitude of international terrorists organizations besides LTTE. No fewer than a dozen victim countries attacked by the U.K. based terrorist organizations include Germany, France, Russia, Israel, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Yemen, Peru, Algeria and Sri Lanka.

EIR have given particulars, including dates of strong protests made to U.K. government by the governments of those countries. A notable exception is Sri Lanka and the mere absence of Sri Lanka in the list of governments which has protested, is clearly indicative of the back boneless governments we are blessed with. EIR however, has published a comprehensive account of LTTE activities in U.K. and adds that, ``most of the marching orders for terrorist operations in the Indian Sub Continent are delivered from London" Names of Anton Balasiingham, P. Ajith and Dr. Maheswaran who are based in London have also been mentioned.
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The Daily Mirror of Thursday April 27th 2000 made some further interesting revelations.

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On March 28th 2000, Thai Army Chief General Surayudh Chulanont told journalists that the LTTE was running front companies in Thailand as a smoke-screen for arms purchases and that " Thais and foreign nationals" were involved in the operations Intelligence sources in Bangkok say that the ammunitions come from the black market in Cambodia and are sold by Thai and Singaporean arms dealers. Phuket and Phang-nga are the most convenient places from where such shipments can be organized. " This is the shortest route from Thailand to Sri Lanka, " says an Asian diplomat. The distance between Phuket and Sri Lanka is only 2,200 km or a few days by boat past the Andamans.

The first LTTE operations in Phnom Penh were run out of Rani restaurant, whose upper story was a virtual arsenal. Downstairs, a secretary handled professionally forged passports and visas. The LTTE's primary arms buyer, Selvarajah Pathmanathan, aka T.S. Kumaran was first seen in Phnom Penh in mid-nineties. The Rane restaurant is gone, but similar establishments have sprung up along Sisovath Suay in Phnom Penh. It is believed that about 50 LTTE cadres are operating in Phnom Penh, smuggling arms through the Cambodian ports of Koh Kong and Sihanoukville.

Alarm bells rang in several foreign embassies in Bangkok when the Forth World Conference of the International Tamil Integration Society was held there last May. They suspected that the LTTE had a hand in the event. One of the subjects on the agenda was " the solution for today's pressures on the Tamils"
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Dr. Rohan Gunaratne can be quoted to summarize Sri Lanka's plight.

It is widely believed even by the informed public that countries outside the territorial jurisdiction of Sri Lanka is being used by the LTTE to disseminate propaganda, raise funds, procure weapons and ship them to Sri Lanka. Research reveals that 60% of the LTTE war budget is generated overseas.

This has been made possible by exploiting the laws of liberal democracies of the West and lawless or corrupt countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, South Africa, Bulgaria and Ukraine. LTTE propaganda had led to fund raising, and funds raised to military procurement and shipping. Therefore, without propaganda, procurement is not possible. As such, counter propaganda by the Sri Lankan state is paramount to discourage Sri Lankan Tamils from contributing to the LTTE. Counter propaganda will work only if the Sri Lankan state is willing to genuinely demonstrate to the Tamil public both in Sri Lanka and overseas that it is willing to treat all its citizens, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, caste, class, and geographic origin, equally. Upto now successive Sri Lankan governments have failed in this endeavor.

The resilience of the LTTE is demonstrated by its capability and capacity to operate amidst criminal justice measures to contain and disrupt LTTE operations in host-states. Despite designation of the LTTE as a terrorist group in October 1997, the LTTE continues to operate through its front organizations such as the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC) and through sympathetic organizations such as the Illankai Tamil Sangam (ITS) in the US. In the UK, despite enhanced anti-terrorist legislation in September 1998 and currently in progress, the LTTE continues to operate both as LTTE and through its front and sympathetic organizations.

The Sri Lankan government through its foreign missions and Sri Lankan organisations can constrain LTTE international procurement through a number of ways. In addition to engaging and attiring the LTTE, influential Sri Lankans lcan play a decisive role in reforming Sri Lankan national security and foreign policy. Towards the overall improvement of Sri Lankan efforts directed at attiring the LTTE, there are four aspects that deserves consideration:

First, Sri Lankan missions and Sri Lankan organizations should conduct anti-LTTE propaganda specifically directed at the audience the LTTE is targeting. The LTTE targets two groups - Tamil overseas community and the foreign policy and decision makers. The intention of the LTTE is (a) to politicize and radicalize theTamil overseas community and generate funds which is channeled for military procurement, and (b) to generate the sympathy of foreign politicians and bureaucrats with the hope that they could continue to operate in the West. Both the Sri Lankan missions and Sri Lankan organizations have succeeded to a large extent in neutralizing LTTE propaganda targeting international opinion makers. Where both the mission and organizations have failed is to conduct propaganda in Tamil weakening the image of the LTTE or exposing the true LTTE. The capability and capacity to conduct propaganda in Tamil - both to produce and deliver - is a high level decision. It requires both expertise to conceptualize the content and translate it and resources to print and deliver.

Considering the above, one can believe the revelations made in the Sunday Island Edition of March 26th 2000 which states as follows;
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LTTE's Anton Balasingham has claimed a British involvement in his arrival in London after leaving Mullaitivu secretly. Balasingham, in an interview with the London based Tamil Guardian International recently said that he and his wife had to embark on a hazardous voyage across the Indian Ocean and reach a South East Asian country from where they were able to reach London with the help of the British government. This is the first time the LTTE has admitted that London has been aware of the plan to move Balasinghams secretly out of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka defence sources said that Balasingham has confirmed what they believed happened when the LTTE spokesman suddenly turned up in London. The British High Commission in Colombo last year denied any prior knowledge of Balasinghams arrival in London. The High Commission said that a British passport holder Balasingham is free to enter the U.K. However, Balasingham has now admitted that the British had helped the LTTE in carrying out the operation which ensured his arrival in London.
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