LTTE adjusts under int’l pressure by S. Wickramasinghe

Why hasn’t Prabhakaran endorsed either presidential candidates?

Soon after the assassination, President Kumaratunga demanded an urgent meeting with the LTTE through facilitation by the Norwegian government to review the CFA. The scenario prevalent at that time forced the LTTE to change its hitherto adamant stand. It agreed to review the CFA immediately. It agreed to a meeting with the government to review the CFA. This can be considered as the second occasion when the LTTE was compelled to change its rigid stand.

The co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference especially the US, Japan and now the European Union have made statements or expressed strong views regarding terrorism and terrorism financing.
“The US has extensive laws about terrorism financing. We are closely monitoring the charity organizations operating on US soil…We are constantly looking into organizations to see if they abide by the law…If the organizations do not abide by the law then we will take action…” US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead was quoted as saying.
It has been reported that the co-chairs of the Tokyo donor conference (Norway, Japan, European Union, US) have decided to demand that the LTTE desist from terrorism.
It is common knowledge that it was Norway that was strategically postponing the EU from taking a firm decision on banning the LTTE in EU countries.
“Southern politicians and diplomats are used to give a deceitful picture to the international community regarding the problems affecting the Tamils in Sri Lanka,” observed LTTE’s political wing leader S.P.Thamilselvan.
But now the LTTE is utilizing the presidential call for course correction to get involved in talks with the government to paint a better picture to the international community especially the EU to prevent the organization from being banned in the EU. There should be some sort of a plausible reason for Norway to fight for time. The most plausible way out for the LTTE would be to get involved in some sort of discussion with the government. That is why Thamilselvan is ready to talk even in the next minute.
It is clear that the international community has targeted the LTTE over its political killings and child recruitment.
Before the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar the LTTE vehemently opposed any discussion on reviewing the Ceasefire Agreement despite a call by the government. This was the time that the LTTE was ruling the roost.
The international community was in a way listening to the LTTE version as the ‘oppressed’ party. It was the late Mr. Kadirgamar who changed such attitudes. His assassination at the hands of LTTE created a stir in the international community.
Soon after the assassination, President Kumaratunga demanded an urgent meeting with the LTTE through facilitation by the Norwegian government to review the CFA. The scenario prevalent at that time forced the LTTE to change its hitherto adamant stand. It agreed to review the CFA immediately. It agreed to a meeting with the government to review the CFA.
This can be considered as the second occasion when the LTTE was compelled to change its rigid stand. The first occasion was the willingness shown to review the ISGA proposals in the face of a massive protest campaign.
So it can be safely assumed that the irreparable damage caused to the LTTE internationally has forced them to show a human face to the community. The LTTE is an organization that is quite adept at changing the face to get out of a difficult situation with the idea of getting back to terror business when the situation is ripe for that.
Hence, the LTTE would have expected, with the passage of time, to regain lost ground in the killing fields and to continue its terror acts unabashedly. But, with the banning of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in UK and the threat for TRO in US and EU countries together with harsh EU statement on the LTTE on Tuesday the organization has been shaken to the roots. It is the flow of unlimited funds from the Tamil expatriates the world over that keeps the movement going.
In particular, the UK, US, Canada and the EU countries replenish the Tiger coffers. Hence any damage to their “reputation” would affect the flow of funds. These countries in Europe are now hell bent to curtail any type of terror acts on their soil after 9/11 and the recent 7/7 London bombings and other attacks in Europe. The LTTE automatically falls into this category of terrorism financing under various pretexts.
It was in this context that the US Ambassador was discussing TRO. The TRO of course is functioning as a non-governmental organization helping to rehabilitate Tamils. But that is just a front organization for the LTTE. What happens under cover is what matters most to the LTTE as well as the US, UK and Europe.
That is what prompted Thamilselvan to explain their stand in the Tamilnet website. “Southern politicians and diplomats are used to giving a deceitful picture to the international community.” This shows how much the LTTE is concerned about maintaining a good name and rapport with the international community to run their clandestine financial operations in other countries for their own survival.
In the local scene, the LTTE seems to be a bit worried. That is why the LTTE keeps on repeating that they are not interested in polls and instead call for immediate talks. The funniest part is that about a couple of weeks ago the very same Thamilselvan was reported to have said there will be no talks of any kind till the presidential election is over. 0They are so desperate to have talks to review the CFA to maintain the ceasefire agreement. What an unbelievable change of course. In fact it is not a course correction they are seeking now. It was the President who first wanted to review the CFA to have a course correction.
But now the LTTE is utilizing the presidential call for course correction to get involved in talks with the government to paint a better picture to the international community especially the EU to prevent the organization from being banned in the EU.
There should be some sort of a plausible reason for Norway to fight for time. The most plausible way out for the LTTE would be to get involved in some sort of discussion with the government. That is why Thamilselvan is ready to talk even in the next minute.
It appears that some other type of local influence too has prompted the LTTE to seek urgent talks. It was the normal practice for the TNA MPs to make the “pilgrimage” to Wanni to get briefed for their next action. This time the TNA members returned from Wanni without any directives as to how they should cast their votes at the presidential election. This is a very important decision because the Tamil votes from the North and the East would be a deciding factor at a national election. It is believed that the Tamil vote in such areas is more favourable to the UNP.
At a time when both presidential contenders are neck and neck what prompted the LTTE to postpone or negate the North East Tamil factor is questionable. When the TNA returned empty handed from Kilinochchi it was reported that the LTTE has postponed their decision. However Thamilselvan says, “the LTTE, which will not participate in the voting, does not plan to rally the minority Tamil community for or against either candidate”. Hence according to him this was not a postponement but a direct rejection.
Thamilselvan further says, “Both have victory as their objective and want to use the conflict of the Tamil people for their advantage – one wants to bash Tamils and get the majority Sinhala vote while the other wants to be seen as a moderate and win the minority vote.”
One can say that at last Thamilselvan has discovered the truth in the divisive party politics to make such a comment. In a way it gives the impression that the LTTE too has learnt the art of utilizing their vote bank for bargaining purposes. As a result this time the LTTE does not want to follow the traditional path and vote for the UNP blindly but lure both the contenders by dangling their 650,000 vote bank to get what they want.
Thamilselvan’s dictator boss who has never allowed democratic rights to his fellow beings seems to be utilizing the best carrot to manipulate the two presidential contenders.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/09/30/opinion/1.asp)