London 19 December (Asiantribune.com): The son of a former leader of EROS, now living in London, is claiming that he had been abducted and tortured by members of the LTTE right here in London.
The 25-year old Nesan Thirunesan who is the son of the late Shankar Rajee, a key member of the Eelam Revolutionary Students Association, says that he was subjected to inhuman treatment after being abducted by LTTE cadres two of whom he says he recognized.
The incident is said to have happened about two weeks ago when Thirunesan claims he was held for ransom.
While the abduction and detention of Rajasingham Jayadevan and his friend A.Vivekananthan during a visit to Kilinochchi last year made widespread media news, this claim is causing some waves in the Tamil street, coming shortly after the roadside killing of Douglas Yogarasa in Kingsbury a week ago.
Thurnesan has written to some anti-LTTE Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka drawing their attention to his plight and asking that the international community be alerted to these happenings in London.
Meanwhile there is also talk that Anton Balasingham, the one time chief negotiator of the LTTE, has been admitted to hospital.
Attempts to confirm these stories failed.
Thirunesan's letter addressed to members of the TULF appears below.
Message : I was abducted, tortured by LTTE thugs for ransom - EROS Sankar Raji's son (The Letter to The TULF Website)
Dear TULFers,
I would be sincerely grateful if you would convey this message to Mr Anandasangaree, leader of the TULF party and members of his political alliance on my behalf.
My name is Nesan Thirunesan. I am 25 years of age and the son of the late Shankar Rajee, a.k.a Nesadurai Thirunesan, Leader Co-Founder of EROS (Eelam Revolutionary Organisation). I was educated in India and visited Sri Lanka frequently.
The reason I am writing to you is that I was recently abducted by Tamil thugs claiming to be representing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Southall, Middlesex a few weeks ago. I recognized two of the individuals who happened to be employed in a called 'Tamilini Cash & Carry' on the Broadway in Southall, Middlesex, where I shop from time to time to purchase my groceries.
It was around 10.00pm in the evening and I had just come out of McDonald’s in Southall after meeting a friend. I proceeded to meet an uncle of mine who had parked his vehicle on a road on the opposite side of McDonalds, called Woodlands Road and had been waiting there for me after dropping me at the restaurant 15 minutes earlier.
When I saw my uncle’s vehicle which is a BMW 325ci, Blue convertible, someone else was at the driver seat, and my uncle was nowhere to be seen. All of a sudden from behind me a guy tapped my shoulder and asked me whether I was called ‘Nesan’ and whether my father was Shankar Rajee? I hesitantly replied, ‘No’ and proceeded to walk towards another shop speaking to my friend on my mobile to fend off these men that were following me. I had a feeling that I was in trouble, and so was my uncle.
I walked into a shop and asked the shopkeeper who happened to be Sri Lankan Tamil to call the police explaining to him that I was being followed by these thugs. The next thing I know the men that were following me came into the shop and started asking the shopkeeper as to what I had been speaking to him about and looking at me in a menacing manner simultaneously. The shopkeeper probably knew who they were and told them in Tamil that I had asked him to call the Police. At that moment they went for me. I couldn’t defend myself because 2 of the thugs grabbed my arms and one guy grabbed my mobile phone off my hand. A chubby guy in their group kicked me between my legs to disable me and they dragged me out of the shop and took me inside their shop called Tamilini. I was warned along the way that if I screamed they would kill me. One of the guys was sticking a knife behind my back along the way.
I was taken to their basement and marched into a room where their store their frozen foods and sitting on a chair with his socks removed along with his shoes was my uncle, who happens to be my fathers first cousin. I was in shock because he had been badly beaten up. These thugs had taken his wallet and seen an article about my father published in a Sri Lankan newspaper after my father’s funeral whereby Minister Douglas Devananda M.P of EPDP (Eelam Peoples Democratic Party) was mentioned. My uncle had been carrying this article in his wallet since my father’s demise in January this year. I immediately knew that both of us were in trouble because they had seen an article about my father.
They out on latex gloves and started emptying my pockets. They went through my wallet, and studied every business card that I had and asked me question after question. The thugs also went through each telephone number on my mobile reciting the named contact and inquisitively asking me questions about the contacts on my mobile phone.
They asked me questions about my father, my family, if I had any political connections in Sri Lanka etc etc… They further said that my father was a disgrace to the Tamil movement and that the Tamil Tiger movement hated him.
They beat me up in front of my uncle who was helpless as he was being constantly hit. They made it a point to show no external injuries, fearing that we may get the police involved, I suppose. They knew almost everything about my father and my family to my shock. They asked me a lot of questions, and demanded that I speak to the truth. I was asked to pay Sterling Pounds 7,000 towards the LTTE fund.
They wanted this money to be given in Sri Lankan currency by anyone that we knew in Colombo. They refused to accept the money in UK sterling, and refused to let us contact anyone in the UK who would give us the funds to pass onto them.
I was told that if I did not arrange the money, they would kill me and that my body would be dumped somewhere along with my uncle. They gave us an international phone card and asked us to make phone calls to our relations and contacts in Sri Lanka to arrange the money they were demanding. Our conversations, over the phone was limited to only requesting the funds and saying nothing else about being abducted, beaten up or anything. Both me, and my uncle frantically tried our best to arrange this money, however to our dismay no one had that kind of money readily available.
When the LTTE thugs knew that they were not getting anywhere we were beaten again, and threatened with death. After several hours of beatings, threats, and intimidation, I negotiated with that the funds could only be arranged in this country, and that I needed 10 days to do this. They flatly refused my request and continued to beat both me and my uncle.
It was the early hours of the morning, and one of the thugs agreed to my request of giving the money in cash within 10 days. I was warned that if I spoke about this to anyone, I would be killed, and they would harm my family here in the UK. This is the reason why me and my uncle did not go to the authorities.
Being Shankar Rajee’s son, I do not fear death, especially from the LTTE. I am aware of what my father stood for. He was a man of principles and never feared the LTTE. If they had a problem with him, they would have finished him off a long time ago, just like Padhmanaban of EPRLF and group who were assassinated in Kodambakkam, Chennai in 1990.
Whatever the reasons, I feel that I have been subjected to inhumane torture for no reason. I feel that I need to make a stand and fight for my democratic right to fear no one that is going to use threats to extort money for their own political benefit, especially the LTTE and their cronies who use their name unnecessarily.
I hope that Mr Anandasangaree will speak to members of the TNA (Tamil National Alliance), my father’s ex-comrades and state that I Shankar Rajee's son was subjected to this kind of intimidation and torture in London for no reason whatsoever. In a way God has shown me a way, by putting me through this. I realise now what my fellow Sri lankan Tamil community are going through on a daily basis fearing the LTTE.
I would like to finish what my father worked so hard for and devoted his entire adult life towards creating a federal democratic assembly that represents the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka irrespective of religion, caste or regional descent.
I would also like to join the TULF party as a member and voice my concerns over the LTTE and the problems that the Tamil community are facing from them extorting money from innocent members of the Tamil community here in London I would like to be actively involved in promoting peace, democracy and harmony within our community in Sri Lanka and abroad.
My opinions regarding the LTTE
The Oslo agreement signed by the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government had been initially accepted by the LTTE, but is trying to wriggle out from. A solution within the framework of federalism in any form, and genuine will on the part of the government to implement such a formula will have to be the way forward.
The LTTE’rs are incapable of participating in any peace process or abiding to the rules of an official cease fire agreement. I feel that the LTTE leadership is buying time to procure further arsenal, and recruit more soldiers and ultimately wage another freedom war against the Sri Lankan armed forces.
It is clear that the Indian establishment will never allow an Independent Tamil Eelam state to materialise.
The one big problem we face today is the LTTE trying to claim the status of being the sole representative of the Tamil community of Sri Lanka through political assassinations and elimination of other groups and parties, which is conducted on a regular basis despite signing a cease fire agreement. The LTTE are incapable of following rules...
Karuna's set of grievances of discrimination is a serious political problem and nothing new to Tamil nationalism. Even during the days of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (Federal Party), these feelings of regional inequality existed. I regard it as a genuine concern of the people of the east. This would have to be addressed, discussed and democratic solutions found. It is not to be regarded as - as the LTTE says - `a one-man problem' or as one that can be solved by eliminating a few of Karuna's lieutenants etc or by killing his supporters in the eastern province. I doubt if the LTTE, in its present form, has the means to address this problem in a democratic manner.
Prabhakaran’s personality would never allow him to compromise with Colombo, Norway or no Norway. This is a fact that the Tamil community, Sri Lankan government and international mediators need to accept and work out ways of preventing the LTTE from intimidating other Tamil democratic parties from being actively involved in representing the Tamil community of Sri Lanka.
The International community must get involved now and send out military peace monitors and a UN Peace Keeping Force to disarm the LTTE. The, LTTE must be forced to disarm themselves, and their movement needs to be dissolved once and for all. Senior leaders and commanders within the LTTE should be banned from entering into politics.
My father once quoted "The LTTE network is still effective but influence on and support from Tamil communities is less than it was"
I hope that my wishes will be fulfilled by Mr Anandasangaree, and look forward to hearing from you in due course.
With kind regards,
Nesan Thirunesan
Son of the Late Shankar Rajee, A.K.A Nesadurai Thirunesan, of EROS (Eelam Revolutionary Organisation) and Ex- Consulatant of Sri lankan Cashew Corporation under the ministry of Rt. Hon Minister Douglas Devananda of EPDP (Eelam Peoples Democratic Party)
- Asian Tribune -
(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16490)
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