Sri Lankan expats protest
fund raiser by TRO partner
"Operation USA"
PODINILAME D
At a long winding-street- location of Culver City California, in
a ghostly building hidden amongst creepers, reminiscent of the stone
cave in the grand old fable “Ali Baba and the forty thieves”,
was conducted a silent auction for a supposedly public charitable
cause in Sri Lanka for destitute children, mostly affected by Tsunami.
The ‘silent fundraiser’ was organized and conducted by “Operation
USA” (OUSA) a charitable organization in the US and the location
was its head quarters at 3617 Hayden Avenue .
Outside the building was a group of men, women and monks who had gathered
to protest the silent auction, labeling it as an attempt to collect
funds for the TRO (Tamil Rehabilitation Organization), a front organization
aiding and abetting one of world’s deadliest terrorist organization,
the LTTE, popularly known as Tamil Tigers. The Tigers thrive on moneys
collected from extortions, drug peddling, carrying out illegal business
dealings and forced donations.
A spokesperson for the fund raiser who introduced herself as “Nimmi”
appealed to the gathering to refrain from carrying out the protest
declaring that the organizers and “Operation USA” had nothing
to do with the TRO. A while later the President of “Operation
USA”, Richard Walden walked out looking for the organizer of
the protest and declared that he was an attorney, to which a protestor
muttered “Good for you. My house maid is also one”!
A spokesman who surfaced from a sea of placards of slogans (“Operation
scam USA”,” TRO terror operations”, Down with LTTE
terrorism etc.) mentioned that the TRO was removed from the list of
charitable organizations in UK by the British Charitable Commission,
the country’s regulatory body for charitable institutions, for
failure to provide any explanations as to the provenance of some of
the funds received from US & Canada. “Operation USA has named
TRO as one of their partners in Sri Lanka and their own accounting
statements reveal substantial amounts being donated to TRO,”
the spokesman added.
“The LTTE has a child brigade of 5,000 children according to
Human Rights Watch and the UNICEF. The under aged children have been
recruited by forced conscription through raiding schools and homes.
The kids are at the front lines and are forced to form the cannon
fodder to guard the aging terror maniacs. These people are shrewd
liars, they have hoodwinked the westerners into believe that there
is discrimination when they cannot prove or list the alleged discriminations
they face. Majority of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka live among
the Sinhalese in peace. Thousands upon thousands of Tamils flee the
LTTE dominated areas for fear of life, to those controlled by the
government. The TRO and their collaborators shrewdly manipulate the
westerners for funds to oil the terrorist activities.”
‘While the government has committed itself to abide by all human
rights regulations, the terror group LTTE indulges in the most inhumane
and animalistic acts of terror. The donor dollars obtained in the
pretext of running orphanages are channeled through TRO to the LTTE.”
The spokesman added.
While the protestors silently exhibited their placards to the public
and those attending the fund raiser, there were others who were distributing
a pamphlet titled “Operation USA – The tale of the trail
with TRO” which carried an account of the shady activities of
the TRO and Operation USA’s proclamation of partnership with
them.
Potential donors who came to the event and passers- by who expressed
interest were provided details about the TRO and its connections to
the Tigers.
Some of the organizers of the fundraiser tried to dissuade and even
intimidate the protesters by making various remarks while a few Tamil
expatriates tried to ‘butter up’ the protesters by inviting
them in and declaring that they too were against the LTTE.
“We have come here to prove a point and not to be dissuaded by
the sweet talk of the organizers who now attempt to put on a human
face to their misdeeds,” said a lady who was passionately involved
with the protest.
Passions had calmed towards the concluding stages around 8PM, when
small pockets of discussions between the two factions were seen and
the Tamil expatriates expressed their desire to hold further discussions
with the protesters in the future.
It may take more than ‘sweet talk.’
Currently, Operation USA is carrying on a campaign on its website
calling for the United Nations to send a monitoring mission to Sri
Lankan separate from and in addition to the present Commission of
Inquiry and the IIGEP. In a letter to the UN Secretary Gen., the organization
states: As you are well aware, the situation in the north and east
of Sri Lanka is disastrous, and the Sri Lankan Tamils who populate
this region are suffering untold horrors. Since land-based entry to
Jaffna was cut off in August 2006 with the closure of the main highway,
500,000 civilians in the peninsula have not had access to basic food,
fuel, medicines and other essential commodities. In recent weeks,
a reported 20,000 people have fled Vaharai due to a surge in violence;
15,000 people remain trapped in this region and are on the verge of
death due to starvation. Conservative estimates put the death of civilians
since August 2006 at 3,000. Two decades of conflict has resulted in
the death of close to 70,000.”
The letter does not make any mention of LTTE atrocities.
It is to be seen if Sri Lankans are going to believe that the overtures
of friendship by the Tamils associated with Operation USA are genuine
or if they will ignore them as just an attempt to prevent embarrassing
and damaging protests in the future.
