The city police in Chennai arrested a Sea Tiger along with his accomplices when they were allegedly in the process of sending a boat to Sri Lanka to be used to smuggle essential commodities from India.
According to a press release issued by the State police on Sunday, Chennai city Q Branch, Crime wing police were engaged in routine surveillance on Saturday at the Chennai international airport. By 8 pm, three men were spotted moving around suspiciously in the car parking lot.
They were taken into custody and and investigation revealed that one of them was a sea tiger, other was a Lankan Tamil and another person was a Chennaite.
The Tiger cadre was identified as Jayakumar (34) of Velvettithurai, Jaffna and his accomplices as James alias Raja (46) belonging to Mannar Chinnakadai in Srilanka and Ravikumar (42) a resident of Subbarayan Nagar, Choolaimedu.
Jayakumar alias Gowri Shankar was on the rolls of LTTE’s naval wing Sea Tigers and had fought the lankan government from 1995 to 2006 and had come to India in February last. He was assigned by Soosai his tiger boss in lanka to procure a trawler for use at home shores.
Accordingly, Jayakumar landed in Tamilnadu and camped in Thanjavur and bought a boat with the help of Rs 4,80,000 sent by Soosai and Karuppaih — another LTTE man based at London. The purchased boat was parked at Mallipattinam in Thanjavur district.
The arrested LTTE man revealed that he had planned to send the boat to Srilanka with the help of James, also in custody now.
James had travelled to India three times in this year alone on valid papers. When he was here in October he had procured computer spare parts, swimming accessories and GPS devices and smuggled it to the war torn nation.
A sum of Rs 4,78,290 Indian currency and Rs 4140 Srilankan rupees and four mobile phones were confiscated. James said they had planned to give this to one Raji towards the cost of the boat.
The Chennai man is said to have helped the lankan Tamil to buy a boat. Police said further investigations are on to apprehend others who had helped the trio in their operation.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Why they support the LTTE?
Keith Vas MP – He claims he represents his constituents when address in support of the LTTE. Leicester East constituency is his electorate in the middle England. A constituency with reasonable count of Indians is not one like in London where there is sizeable Tamil population. If Keith Vas could prove there are more than twenty five Tamils living in his constituency to make his hue and cry in support the LTTE and that all of them are LTTE supporters, some sympathy could be shown for him. His contact point is the LTTE is its dihard activist Kandia Senthilkumar of the British Tamil Forum- only buddy who gives input to his LTTE support. Rumors are ripe that LTTE’s dirty money is playing its due role in Senthils work.
Joan Marie Ryan MP- A Labour Party MP from a marginal seat of Enfield North. Her constituent Dr Vinayagamoorthy known as Dr Moorthy who is currently held by the FBI in the USA for his involvement in the purchase of arms for the LTTE. He was arrested with others in a FBI sting operation. It is now known Dr Moorthy actively worked during the last General Election for the victory of Joan Marie Ryan MP.
Virendra Sharma MP- Former Councillor and Mayor of London Borough of Ealing. He was elected to replace the long serving Pierre Khabra MP who passed away few months ago. During the by-election, LTTE activists were tirelessly working for his election. The LTTE support was spearheaded by its regional finance head Vasanthan who lives in Southall. Vasanthan worked closely with Late P Khabra MP, but the late MP who was a regular soldier in the Indian army maintained a distance from the LTTE.
Simon Hughes MP- A Member of Parliament from Southwark and Burmondsey (London) constituency. Hardly any Tamils are living in his constituency. His constituency was where one time LTTE head quarters Ealam House was located. Well known as LTTE’s Cllr Miss Mann’s man, he has been cultivated to support the LTTE cause by her for many years now. He gave a message of support for the Hero’s Day celebrations at the ExCell Centre.
Joan Marie Ryan MP- A Labour Party MP from a marginal seat of Enfield North. Her constituent Dr Vinayagamoorthy known as Dr Moorthy who is currently held by the FBI in the USA for his involvement in the purchase of arms for the LTTE. He was arrested with others in a FBI sting operation. It is now known Dr Moorthy actively worked during the last General Election for the victory of Joan Marie Ryan MP.
Virendra Sharma MP- Former Councillor and Mayor of London Borough of Ealing. He was elected to replace the long serving Pierre Khabra MP who passed away few months ago. During the by-election, LTTE activists were tirelessly working for his election. The LTTE support was spearheaded by its regional finance head Vasanthan who lives in Southall. Vasanthan worked closely with Late P Khabra MP, but the late MP who was a regular soldier in the Indian army maintained a distance from the LTTE.
Simon Hughes MP- A Member of Parliament from Southwark and Burmondsey (London) constituency. Hardly any Tamils are living in his constituency. His constituency was where one time LTTE head quarters Ealam House was located. Well known as LTTE’s Cllr Miss Mann’s man, he has been cultivated to support the LTTE cause by her for many years now. He gave a message of support for the Hero’s Day celebrations at the ExCell Centre.
Vaiko flays Naval officer’s remarks
Pro- LTTE Tamil political party in Tamil Nadu, the MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Sunday said the remark of Naval officer in-charge of Tamilnadu Commodore P E Van Halteren that Sri Lankan Navy had never deliberately fired at Indian fishermen in Palk Straits was ‘unwarranted and unjustified’ comment.
Flaying the statement of the Naval officer that Indian fishermen fell prey to the crossfire between the Lankan Navy and LTTE in the international waters, Vaiko charged in his letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that since 1970's there were more than 900 attacks on fishermen who were killed, their boats and fishing nets destroyed by the Lankan Navy.
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Vaiko accused the Naval officer Van Halteren of defending and supporting the Lankan Navy.
Though the Indian government has admitted in Parliament that Tamil fishermen were killed by the Lankan Navy, ‘I am pained to point out there is a nefarious nexus between Lankan and Indian Navies,’ Vaiko said in the letter to the Prime Minister.
Moreover, it was a proven fact that the Lankan Navy had entered into Indian waters and attacked Tamil fishermen many times without number, he stressed.
He said the ‘arrogant utterances’ of Indian Navy officers reflected a ‘clandestine assistance of Indian government to the racist Sri Lanka in their military attacks against the Tamils.’
Vaiko further charged that Indian Navy had never attempted to protect Tamilnadu fishermen by warding-off attacks of the Lankan Navy all these years.
In the letter, Vaiko requested the Prime Minister to stop forthwith the supply of arms to Sri Lanka and give instructions to the Naval officers not to pursue their ‘nefarious game’.
Flaying the statement of the Naval officer that Indian fishermen fell prey to the crossfire between the Lankan Navy and LTTE in the international waters, Vaiko charged in his letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that since 1970's there were more than 900 attacks on fishermen who were killed, their boats and fishing nets destroyed by the Lankan Navy.
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Vaiko accused the Naval officer Van Halteren of defending and supporting the Lankan Navy.
Though the Indian government has admitted in Parliament that Tamil fishermen were killed by the Lankan Navy, ‘I am pained to point out there is a nefarious nexus between Lankan and Indian Navies,’ Vaiko said in the letter to the Prime Minister.
Moreover, it was a proven fact that the Lankan Navy had entered into Indian waters and attacked Tamil fishermen many times without number, he stressed.
He said the ‘arrogant utterances’ of Indian Navy officers reflected a ‘clandestine assistance of Indian government to the racist Sri Lanka in their military attacks against the Tamils.’
Vaiko further charged that Indian Navy had never attempted to protect Tamilnadu fishermen by warding-off attacks of the Lankan Navy all these years.
In the letter, Vaiko requested the Prime Minister to stop forthwith the supply of arms to Sri Lanka and give instructions to the Naval officers not to pursue their ‘nefarious game’.
MP Sharma criticised over Tigers charge
Newly elected MP Verendra Sharma has been forced to defend himself after sharing a stage with the leader of banned terrorist group the Tamil Tigers.
The Ealing Southall MP has provoked outrage by speaking at the Tamil Remembrance Day event held at the Excel Centre in Docklands last on Tuesday last week to pay tribute to the thousands who have died in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.
But on the same stage the annual Heroes Day address from Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan was broadcast to the crowd of thousands, angering critics who say politicians should not align themselves with a group banned as a terrorist organisation in Britain.
Mr Sharma, who was joined by MPs Keith Vaz and Joan Marie Ryan, denied knowing that the separatist military leader's analysis of events in war torn Sri Lanka would be shown at the event, but organisers have rubbished this claim.
Mr Sharma told the Gazette: "Along with my many colleagues from Parliament we went along to pay tribute to all these people who died, irrespective of their creed or colour.
"It's not a question of support for the Tamil Tigers. It was just a straight forward tribute meeting.
"That is my interest and that is what I said. I have a large number of Tamil people in my constituency and they expect their MP to be there."
But Vijay Jeyan, of the British Tamils Forum, which represents around 88 Tamil organisations in the UK, said not having Pirapaharan's speech broadcast would be like Remembrance Day without the Queen.
But he insisted the event was not linked to the Tigers, also known as the LTTE.
He said: "A lot of local Tamils went down on the streets and helped him in his election campaign. I think he felt obliged."
Southall resident and labour supporter Tony Whittle said Mr Sharma had been 'silly' to speak at the event.
But some Southall residents who were scared to be named for fear of reprisals went further and accused Mr Sharma of supporting the Tamil Tigers, which they say has a sinister presence in Southall Letters have been written to Labour chiefs including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, complaining.
Nesan Shankar Raji of the Campaign for Peace and Unity in Sri Lanka, slammed the event as propaganda and said: "If any banned Islamic group did this it would not be allowed and the police were just there watching."
The Ealing Southall MP has provoked outrage by speaking at the Tamil Remembrance Day event held at the Excel Centre in Docklands last on Tuesday last week to pay tribute to the thousands who have died in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.
But on the same stage the annual Heroes Day address from Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan was broadcast to the crowd of thousands, angering critics who say politicians should not align themselves with a group banned as a terrorist organisation in Britain.
Mr Sharma, who was joined by MPs Keith Vaz and Joan Marie Ryan, denied knowing that the separatist military leader's analysis of events in war torn Sri Lanka would be shown at the event, but organisers have rubbished this claim.
Mr Sharma told the Gazette: "Along with my many colleagues from Parliament we went along to pay tribute to all these people who died, irrespective of their creed or colour.
"It's not a question of support for the Tamil Tigers. It was just a straight forward tribute meeting.
"That is my interest and that is what I said. I have a large number of Tamil people in my constituency and they expect their MP to be there."
But Vijay Jeyan, of the British Tamils Forum, which represents around 88 Tamil organisations in the UK, said not having Pirapaharan's speech broadcast would be like Remembrance Day without the Queen.
But he insisted the event was not linked to the Tigers, also known as the LTTE.
He said: "A lot of local Tamils went down on the streets and helped him in his election campaign. I think he felt obliged."
Southall resident and labour supporter Tony Whittle said Mr Sharma had been 'silly' to speak at the event.
But some Southall residents who were scared to be named for fear of reprisals went further and accused Mr Sharma of supporting the Tamil Tigers, which they say has a sinister presence in Southall Letters have been written to Labour chiefs including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, complaining.
Nesan Shankar Raji of the Campaign for Peace and Unity in Sri Lanka, slammed the event as propaganda and said: "If any banned Islamic group did this it would not be allowed and the police were just there watching."
Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka
On December 5, 29 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in fighting in Sri Lanka. The country is fast sliding into a civil war as fierce clashes between Tamil rebels and the military have escalated in the wake of a Tamil chief’s death. On November 2, the Tamil Tiger’s political wing leader Thamilselvan was killed in an air force raid. It has been estimated that the sea clashes, ambush and other military attacks have killed about 5,000 people since last year. The deadly ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has hit the country over a long period of time.
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural polity. The main conflict is between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. The Sinhalese, about 74 percent of the population, are the largest ethnic group and are concentrated in the central, western and southern provinces. They consider themselves to be the original inhabitants of the island. They belong to the Aryan stock and speak the Sinhala language. Sinhalese are mostly Buddhist and follow a culture rooted in Buddhism. The Sri Lankan Tamils who constitute 12.6 percent of the population primarily inhabit the northern and eastern parts of the island and are in large numbers in Colombo.
The factors that have widened the Sinhalese-Tamil rift are complex. Broadly speaking, there have been five major and often interconnected areas of contention between the two parties. These are: language rights, employment, university admission policy, irrigation policy and access to state land and devolution of power to the regional centres. The conflict on language between the Tamils and the Sinhalese became a springboard of ethnic conflict. Up to 1955, it was the policy of the major Sinhalese political parties to provide for the recognition of the Sinhalese and Tamil languages as the official languages of the island. However, in 1955-56 the two major Sinhalese political parties — the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) — reversed their position to supporting the Sinhalese language as the only official language. Thus, the linguistic nationalism of the Sinhalese deepened Tamil nationalism and, in the long run, gave an extra boost to the forces of Tamil separatism.
The Bandaranaike (1956-59) and Dudley Senanayke (1965-70) governments entered into agreements with the Federal Party leader Chelvanayakam to accord limited status to the Tamil language. Intense political competition and pressure from Sangha (Buddhist clergy) frustrated such attempts. In 1965, another pact was signed between PM Senanayke and Chelvanaykam promising that measures would be taken under the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act (No. 28 of 1958) to make provision for the Tamil language to be the language of administration and record in the northern and eastern provinces. The agreement, however, fell through due to the opposition from Sinhala-Buddhist forces. The 1972 Constitution unequivocally consolidated the "Sinhala only" policy and emphasised the essentially subordinate role of the Tamil language.
Likewise, the economic grievances of the Tamils greatly sharpened the ethnic conflict. Tamils and Sinhalese competed over employment in the state sector and over equitable distribution of the benefits of development. Before independence, and until about 1960, Tamils enjoyed a share considerably higher than their population ratio. But after that the discriminatory "Sinhala only" policy led to a sharp decline of Tamils in public sector employment. The proportion of Tamils in the state sector further declined in the post-1984 period. By the mid-1980s, Sri Lankan Tamils accounted for about 12 percent of those employed in the government corporations.
The economic alienation of Tamils was further deepened by the fact that all mega economic projects were located in the Sinhalese-dominated areas and benefited mainly the Sinhalese population.
The question of state land, involving the official settlement of Sinhalese families in areas claimed as "the traditional Tamil homelands" in the north and in the east, has been highly controversial. The Tamils argue that since independence, state-aided colonisation has contributed towards the changing of demographic composition of the homeland of Tamil-speaking people. It was unquestionably true that in the 1950s and 1960s, a great many Sinhalese have been settled in the eastern province through irrigation schemes.
The land settlement policy of Colombo led to a significant change in the ethnic composition in Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the eastern province. The problem was aggravated by a multi-purpose river development project called the Mahaweli Development scheme, which opened up new lands for the Sinhalese settlers. The Tamils oppose land colonisation on several grounds.
First, they feel that they have a prior claim to land in their homeland areas. Second, they fear that they would be swamped by the Sinhalese. Third, they apprehend that it would alter the electoral balance in these areas against them. And fourth, they believe that a homeland in which the Tamils predominated would give them security from ethnic violence. Colombo’s land alienation policy continues to be at the heart of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
This ethnic conflict has taken a heavy death toll in the preceding decades and its cost is mounting day by day. The protracted ethnic strife has led to an increase in the defence expenditure and decrease in social expenditures. This had a negative impact on the human and social development indicators of Sri Lanka. This conflict has weakened Sri Lanka’s commitment to civil liberties and freedom. Today, Sri Lanka’s society is marked by low tolerance, desensitisation to violence, high crime rate and draconian laws. The credibility of the government has taken a dip due to its failure to curb violence, protect minorities and deliver social goods. Further, ever since the intensification of the conflict, the Sri Lankan government and the militants have been found responsible for human rights abuses, disappearances and curbing of the local media.
The continuing conflict has created thousands of internally-displaced people who have been driven out from the war zones of the north and east. In this context, children have become the worst victims of the ethnic strife both as combatants and orphans. The LTTE is one of the first insurgent groups to use children as combatants and suicide bombers from 1983 until now. Assessments of the LTTE soldiers killed in combat during the 1990s found that between 40-60 percent of the dead combatants were children under the age of 17. In addition, there are large numbers of children who have lost one or both parents. As of today, more than 10,000 children live in orphanages.
The past attempts at an acceptable accommodation of the demands of the Tamil minority for equality and identity have remained unsuccessful. On February 22, 2002, Norwegian facilitators brokered a ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE. But this third ceasefire agreement too could not ensure peace in this region and the inhabitants of the island continued to suffer. Nowadays, India is playing a hands-off policy because of having a bad experience of the killing of Rajiv Gandhi at the hands of the Tamils. It is high time for the international community, especially the UN, to play a key role in restraining the parties and coercing them into surrendering to serious discussion for a political settlement that can help in bringing the country back from the brink of disaster.
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural polity. The main conflict is between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. The Sinhalese, about 74 percent of the population, are the largest ethnic group and are concentrated in the central, western and southern provinces. They consider themselves to be the original inhabitants of the island. They belong to the Aryan stock and speak the Sinhala language. Sinhalese are mostly Buddhist and follow a culture rooted in Buddhism. The Sri Lankan Tamils who constitute 12.6 percent of the population primarily inhabit the northern and eastern parts of the island and are in large numbers in Colombo.
The factors that have widened the Sinhalese-Tamil rift are complex. Broadly speaking, there have been five major and often interconnected areas of contention between the two parties. These are: language rights, employment, university admission policy, irrigation policy and access to state land and devolution of power to the regional centres. The conflict on language between the Tamils and the Sinhalese became a springboard of ethnic conflict. Up to 1955, it was the policy of the major Sinhalese political parties to provide for the recognition of the Sinhalese and Tamil languages as the official languages of the island. However, in 1955-56 the two major Sinhalese political parties — the Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) — reversed their position to supporting the Sinhalese language as the only official language. Thus, the linguistic nationalism of the Sinhalese deepened Tamil nationalism and, in the long run, gave an extra boost to the forces of Tamil separatism.
The Bandaranaike (1956-59) and Dudley Senanayke (1965-70) governments entered into agreements with the Federal Party leader Chelvanayakam to accord limited status to the Tamil language. Intense political competition and pressure from Sangha (Buddhist clergy) frustrated such attempts. In 1965, another pact was signed between PM Senanayke and Chelvanaykam promising that measures would be taken under the Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act (No. 28 of 1958) to make provision for the Tamil language to be the language of administration and record in the northern and eastern provinces. The agreement, however, fell through due to the opposition from Sinhala-Buddhist forces. The 1972 Constitution unequivocally consolidated the "Sinhala only" policy and emphasised the essentially subordinate role of the Tamil language.
Likewise, the economic grievances of the Tamils greatly sharpened the ethnic conflict. Tamils and Sinhalese competed over employment in the state sector and over equitable distribution of the benefits of development. Before independence, and until about 1960, Tamils enjoyed a share considerably higher than their population ratio. But after that the discriminatory "Sinhala only" policy led to a sharp decline of Tamils in public sector employment. The proportion of Tamils in the state sector further declined in the post-1984 period. By the mid-1980s, Sri Lankan Tamils accounted for about 12 percent of those employed in the government corporations.
The economic alienation of Tamils was further deepened by the fact that all mega economic projects were located in the Sinhalese-dominated areas and benefited mainly the Sinhalese population.
The question of state land, involving the official settlement of Sinhalese families in areas claimed as "the traditional Tamil homelands" in the north and in the east, has been highly controversial. The Tamils argue that since independence, state-aided colonisation has contributed towards the changing of demographic composition of the homeland of Tamil-speaking people. It was unquestionably true that in the 1950s and 1960s, a great many Sinhalese have been settled in the eastern province through irrigation schemes.
The land settlement policy of Colombo led to a significant change in the ethnic composition in Trincomalee and Ampara districts in the eastern province. The problem was aggravated by a multi-purpose river development project called the Mahaweli Development scheme, which opened up new lands for the Sinhalese settlers. The Tamils oppose land colonisation on several grounds.
First, they feel that they have a prior claim to land in their homeland areas. Second, they fear that they would be swamped by the Sinhalese. Third, they apprehend that it would alter the electoral balance in these areas against them. And fourth, they believe that a homeland in which the Tamils predominated would give them security from ethnic violence. Colombo’s land alienation policy continues to be at the heart of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
This ethnic conflict has taken a heavy death toll in the preceding decades and its cost is mounting day by day. The protracted ethnic strife has led to an increase in the defence expenditure and decrease in social expenditures. This had a negative impact on the human and social development indicators of Sri Lanka. This conflict has weakened Sri Lanka’s commitment to civil liberties and freedom. Today, Sri Lanka’s society is marked by low tolerance, desensitisation to violence, high crime rate and draconian laws. The credibility of the government has taken a dip due to its failure to curb violence, protect minorities and deliver social goods. Further, ever since the intensification of the conflict, the Sri Lankan government and the militants have been found responsible for human rights abuses, disappearances and curbing of the local media.
The continuing conflict has created thousands of internally-displaced people who have been driven out from the war zones of the north and east. In this context, children have become the worst victims of the ethnic strife both as combatants and orphans. The LTTE is one of the first insurgent groups to use children as combatants and suicide bombers from 1983 until now. Assessments of the LTTE soldiers killed in combat during the 1990s found that between 40-60 percent of the dead combatants were children under the age of 17. In addition, there are large numbers of children who have lost one or both parents. As of today, more than 10,000 children live in orphanages.
The past attempts at an acceptable accommodation of the demands of the Tamil minority for equality and identity have remained unsuccessful. On February 22, 2002, Norwegian facilitators brokered a ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE. But this third ceasefire agreement too could not ensure peace in this region and the inhabitants of the island continued to suffer. Nowadays, India is playing a hands-off policy because of having a bad experience of the killing of Rajiv Gandhi at the hands of the Tamils. It is high time for the international community, especially the UN, to play a key role in restraining the parties and coercing them into surrendering to serious discussion for a political settlement that can help in bringing the country back from the brink of disaster.
MP in charge of anti-terrorism scrutiny speaks at event linked to Tamil tiger suicide bombers
The MP who heads the parliamentary body scrutinising Britain’s counter-terrorism laws addressed a rally at which a plea for support for suicide bombers was broadcast, The Times has learnt.
Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, addressed the annual Tamil rally in the ExCel centre in East London.
He spoke after partipants watched a televised address by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation banned by the Home Office.
Mr Vaz, the MP for Leicester East, was joined by a fellow Labour MP, Joan Ryan. Their presence drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan High Commission, which released a statement claiming that the event was a “clear violation of the UK terrorism laws”.
The rally was organised by British-based Tamils on the birthday of the Tamil Tiger leader. In his address, Mr Vaz told an audience of more than 10,000 people: “I understand the demands made by some for an independent Tamil state. They will grow, unless there is justice.”
Ms Ryan, the MP for Enfield North, told the rally: “I am sorry to have to remember the 70,000 innocent Tamils who lost their lives in the struggle. We must pursue the aims and values for which they lost their lives.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Prabhakaran, in full military dress and in front of the LTTE flag, appeared on six giant screens calling for “the entire Tamil-speaking world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam”.
In a reference to the LTTE’s use of suicide bombers, he said: “The immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes is delivering a message to the Sinhala nation.”
The Sri Lankan High Commission accused Mr Vaz yesterday of being “partisan to a proscribed terrorist group” and claimed that the event was organised by apologists for terrorists. “This event was organised by a front organisation of a terrorist group for fundraising and propaganda purposes,” a spokesman said.
When told of the contents of the LTTE leader’s speech and of the criticisms of the Sri Lankan Government, Mr Vaz, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, responded: “I’m not really interested in [the contents of Mr Prabhakaran's speech].
“I was there to deliver a message from the all-party group, which is what I do. I was there to deliver a message from my constituents. I have many Tamil people in my constituency.” Mr Vaz said he was unaware that the Tamil leader was going to speak.
Under the UK Terrorism Act, the Tigers are banned from raising funds, holding property or operating in any form. It is an offence to glorify their activities, or incite others to support them.
Ms Ryan also said that she did not realise that Mr Prabhakaran had spoken. “I told the meeting that we need to find peace through peaceful means and, as is the case in all such conflicts, a negotiated settlement needs to be found urgently,” she said.
As well as watching a speech by the Tamil Tiger leader, people at the event displayed LTTE symbols, and remembered LTTE suicide bombers.
The Sri Lankan High Commission alleged that the rally served as a fundraising event for the group. On arrival all guests, including a reporter from this newspaper, were approached and asked to purchase a single glorylily (the LTTE “national” flower) for £5.
A Times investigation earlier this year discovered that Tamil shopkeepers were being asked to contribute up to £50,000 towards the cost of “the final war”, with threats made against relatives in the country if they failed to comply.
The date of the rally, November 27, Heroes Day, is linked with the LTTE. It falls on the birthday of Mr Prabhakaran, and it is marked by Tamil Tiger sympathisers around the world. Mr Prabhakaran’s speech from the Sri Lankan jungle has been televised at every previous UK Heroes Day.
The British Tamil Forum, which helped to organise the event, says that the funds went towards covering the costs of hiring the venue, and says it is the victim of a smear campaign by the Sri Lankan Government.
Mr Vaz, 51, has been vocal in his desire that UK restrictions on the Tamil Tigers should be lifted.
Mr Vaz, the former minister for Europe, was suspended from Parliament for a month in 2002 for obstructing an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting a separatist war for an ethnic Tamil homeland in the north of Sri Lanka for 25 years.
Since then, the LTTE has formed its own de facto one-party state in the north of the country, becoming one of the best-organised rebel groups in the world.
Its “Black Tiger” brigades pioneered the art of suicide bombing, and were linked to the 1991 assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
In 2004, Amnesty International said that LTTE fighters were beating up parents who refused to give up their children as child soldiers.
The police, who recorded the gathering, told The Times that they were “assessing material from the event to ascertain if there is any evidence of criminal offences being committed”.
Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, addressed the annual Tamil rally in the ExCel centre in East London.
He spoke after partipants watched a televised address by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation banned by the Home Office.
Mr Vaz, the MP for Leicester East, was joined by a fellow Labour MP, Joan Ryan. Their presence drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan High Commission, which released a statement claiming that the event was a “clear violation of the UK terrorism laws”.
The rally was organised by British-based Tamils on the birthday of the Tamil Tiger leader. In his address, Mr Vaz told an audience of more than 10,000 people: “I understand the demands made by some for an independent Tamil state. They will grow, unless there is justice.”
Ms Ryan, the MP for Enfield North, told the rally: “I am sorry to have to remember the 70,000 innocent Tamils who lost their lives in the struggle. We must pursue the aims and values for which they lost their lives.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Prabhakaran, in full military dress and in front of the LTTE flag, appeared on six giant screens calling for “the entire Tamil-speaking world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam”.
In a reference to the LTTE’s use of suicide bombers, he said: “The immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes is delivering a message to the Sinhala nation.”
The Sri Lankan High Commission accused Mr Vaz yesterday of being “partisan to a proscribed terrorist group” and claimed that the event was organised by apologists for terrorists. “This event was organised by a front organisation of a terrorist group for fundraising and propaganda purposes,” a spokesman said.
When told of the contents of the LTTE leader’s speech and of the criticisms of the Sri Lankan Government, Mr Vaz, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, responded: “I’m not really interested in [the contents of Mr Prabhakaran's speech].
“I was there to deliver a message from the all-party group, which is what I do. I was there to deliver a message from my constituents. I have many Tamil people in my constituency.” Mr Vaz said he was unaware that the Tamil leader was going to speak.
Under the UK Terrorism Act, the Tigers are banned from raising funds, holding property or operating in any form. It is an offence to glorify their activities, or incite others to support them.
Ms Ryan also said that she did not realise that Mr Prabhakaran had spoken. “I told the meeting that we need to find peace through peaceful means and, as is the case in all such conflicts, a negotiated settlement needs to be found urgently,” she said.
As well as watching a speech by the Tamil Tiger leader, people at the event displayed LTTE symbols, and remembered LTTE suicide bombers.
The Sri Lankan High Commission alleged that the rally served as a fundraising event for the group. On arrival all guests, including a reporter from this newspaper, were approached and asked to purchase a single glorylily (the LTTE “national” flower) for £5.
A Times investigation earlier this year discovered that Tamil shopkeepers were being asked to contribute up to £50,000 towards the cost of “the final war”, with threats made against relatives in the country if they failed to comply.
The date of the rally, November 27, Heroes Day, is linked with the LTTE. It falls on the birthday of Mr Prabhakaran, and it is marked by Tamil Tiger sympathisers around the world. Mr Prabhakaran’s speech from the Sri Lankan jungle has been televised at every previous UK Heroes Day.
The British Tamil Forum, which helped to organise the event, says that the funds went towards covering the costs of hiring the venue, and says it is the victim of a smear campaign by the Sri Lankan Government.
Mr Vaz, 51, has been vocal in his desire that UK restrictions on the Tamil Tigers should be lifted.
Mr Vaz, the former minister for Europe, was suspended from Parliament for a month in 2002 for obstructing an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting a separatist war for an ethnic Tamil homeland in the north of Sri Lanka for 25 years.
Since then, the LTTE has formed its own de facto one-party state in the north of the country, becoming one of the best-organised rebel groups in the world.
Its “Black Tiger” brigades pioneered the art of suicide bombing, and were linked to the 1991 assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
In 2004, Amnesty International said that LTTE fighters were beating up parents who refused to give up their children as child soldiers.
The police, who recorded the gathering, told The Times that they were “assessing material from the event to ascertain if there is any evidence of criminal offences being committed”.
New Axis of Democracy in Eastern Sri Lanka
People in East joining with mass protest against the LTTE Terrorism and it's Teddies organised by TMVP.
Thousands of Tamils and Muslims are flocking to weber Stadium in Batticaloa town today (December 10) with slogans and banners condemning alleged LTTE, TNA coalition's obstruction of resettlement and development work, in a demonstration organized by the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP).
Latest reports said that an estimated crowd over 10,000 people participated in the event to stage their strong protest against the self-claimed Tamil representatives.
People were seen coming in from all parts of the recently liberated Eastern Province including Chenkallady ,Valachena, Oddamawadi, Welikanda, Ampara , Wakare , Thoppigala to stage a mass protest against the LTTE - TNA axis.
"TNA has no right to bellow on the grievances of us Tamils. They are neither our representatives nor democrats. They dwell under the sympathy of the LTTE and only fiddles its tribal ideologies”, were according to people who are participated with the demonstration.
"We urge all parties including the international community to reject the TNA's duplicity and force them to renounce pampering LTTE's separatist cause. TNA is just a mouth piece of the LTTE. It is astonishing that they have never raised issues concerning in accelerating the development and resettlement in east. We need education for our children, a future free of violence as once we stood along with the Sinhala and Muslim communities", they added.
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More than 10,000 people joining with TMVP's demonstration in Batticaloa
The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulighal (TMVP) is expected to stage a demonstration against the LTTE's terrorism in Batticaloa on Monday, December 10 with the support of the government which would be providing police protection for the event, while several state and private media from Colombo have also been invited to provide extensive coverage.
According to spokesman Azad Maulana , "Mass demonstration against the LTTE and their puppets started in the morning at the Feber Stadium in Batticaloa."
"More than 10, 000 people were participated with the mass protest also more people are joining with us ", he told.
Meanwhile the TMVP's cadres were seen this morning loading civilians on buses to take part in a mass demonstration in Batticaloa, source in the area said.
Thousands of Tamils and Muslims are flocking to weber Stadium in Batticaloa town today (December 10) with slogans and banners condemning alleged LTTE, TNA coalition's obstruction of resettlement and development work, in a demonstration organized by the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP).
Latest reports said that an estimated crowd over 10,000 people participated in the event to stage their strong protest against the self-claimed Tamil representatives.
People were seen coming in from all parts of the recently liberated Eastern Province including Chenkallady ,Valachena, Oddamawadi, Welikanda, Ampara , Wakare , Thoppigala to stage a mass protest against the LTTE - TNA axis.
"TNA has no right to bellow on the grievances of us Tamils. They are neither our representatives nor democrats. They dwell under the sympathy of the LTTE and only fiddles its tribal ideologies”, were according to people who are participated with the demonstration.
"We urge all parties including the international community to reject the TNA's duplicity and force them to renounce pampering LTTE's separatist cause. TNA is just a mouth piece of the LTTE. It is astonishing that they have never raised issues concerning in accelerating the development and resettlement in east. We need education for our children, a future free of violence as once we stood along with the Sinhala and Muslim communities", they added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More than 10,000 people joining with TMVP's demonstration in Batticaloa
The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulighal (TMVP) is expected to stage a demonstration against the LTTE's terrorism in Batticaloa on Monday, December 10 with the support of the government which would be providing police protection for the event, while several state and private media from Colombo have also been invited to provide extensive coverage.
According to spokesman Azad Maulana , "Mass demonstration against the LTTE and their puppets started in the morning at the Feber Stadium in Batticaloa."
"More than 10, 000 people were participated with the mass protest also more people are joining with us ", he told.
Meanwhile the TMVP's cadres were seen this morning loading civilians on buses to take part in a mass demonstration in Batticaloa, source in the area said.
“Tamilchelvan killed by Prabhakaran”, Indian Congressman Confirms
"TN Congress functionary SR Balasubramanian says it was LTTE chief Prabhakaran who was responsible for the elimination of Tamilchelvan. Tamilchelvan had led bilateral and multilateral peace talks that successive Sri Lanka governments have held with LTTE."
Tamil Nadu Congress functionary SR Balasubramanian says, “According to the information I have, it was LTTE chief Prabhakaran who was responsible for the elimination of Tamilchelvan.” Tamilchelvan had led bilateral and multilateral peace talks that successive Sri Lanka governments have held with LTTE in 1985, 1987, 1989/90, 1994, 2002 and 2006. The talks, facilitated by Thailand, Germany and Japan and coordinated by Norway, can fructify anytime.
“India should keep this in mind that it is only the Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka who can be truly friendly with neighbouring India,” said MK Sivajilingam on November 29, urging New Delhi to play an active role in solving the ongoing ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka.
Going by the fact that India’s ‘buffer’ countries to the North, West and East (and South) are none too friendly with New Delhi, this is a perspective worth looking into. But tragically, there are indications that the IFS (Indian Foreign Service) babus are not yet ready to come out a time warp.
This call was not from one of the small-time Tamil Nadu politicians, shedding tears for the Tamil-speaking population in Sri Lanka, only to cajole New Delhi into currying out favours to a business associate.
(The practice – negotiating quid pro quo in return for keeping quiet after once creating a din – is a common occurrence is even used by rival TN politicians to settle scores with each other.)
MK Sivajilingam is a member of Sri Lankan Parliament belonging to TNA (Tamil National Alliance), who is considered pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).
Around the same time that the MP was appealing for good senses, a member of a political non-entity of Tamil Nadu, came out with a startling discovery, “According to the information I have, it was Prabhakaran who was responsible for the elimination of Tamilchelvan.” TN Congress functionary SR Balasubramanian did not clarify if he had established reliable communication channels to have such information.
Apparently keen to gain some personal publicity to get his faction one up on the numerous factions of the party in the state, he told the media, “It was the LTTE chief who let the (Sri Lankan) army know about the whereabouts of Tamilchelvan.” He reasoned that there was no other way the Sri Lankan Air Force could have known where he was!
Thamilchelvan lost his life in an SLAF (Sri Lankan Air Force) raid on November 2. He was considered the right hand of LTTE’s chief commander Vellupillai Prabhakaran, who conferred him the rank of Brigadier even as he was the head of its political wing. He led bilateral and multilateral peace talks that successive Sri Lanka governments have held with it in 1985, 1987, 1989/90, 1994, 2002 and 2006. The talks, facilitated by Thailand, Germany and Japan and coordinated by Norway, can fructify anytime. They aim at ending the longest civil war in Asia between displaced Tamil-speaking rebels and the rampaging armed forces of the government at Colombo.
The dispute has its origins to a pact in 1964 between former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, a Congress leader from the Hindi heartland, and Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Bandaranayke.
Inhuman oppression was let loose on Tamil-speaking people, with 700,000 having to flee after the army massacring over 1000 Tamils in 1983, abusing the pact. LTTE took up the cause of the people robbed of home and hearth, its cadres, sporting cyanide capsules as pendants and ready to commit suicide if caught alive, could not be silenced till date.
Upon failure to work out a political settlement, the outfit is pursuing the goal of Tamil Eelam, an independent homeland. It is branded as a terrorist organisation in many countries, including India. But, LTTE already commands de-facto recognition. The massive international funds for Tsunami relief are being administered by the organisation in areas it holds.
This is not the first time that the Congress party, with little following in the state ever since CN Annadorai-led DMK wiped it out of the state legislature in 1966, is pouring out vitriol against the organisation. Historically, politicians from North India’s cow-belt region, dominating ‘national’ parties, have been apprehensive of any advancement by Tamil people anywhere.
The erroneous notion that assertive, economically strong, regional ethnic identities may undermine pan-India identity still prevails at New Delhi and Balasubramanian is an appointee with a brief to blunt ‘Provincial’ sentiments. There are any number of selfish elements within TN, who have been exploiting this folly to their own benefit.
His death was grieved over by most people and political parties of Tamil Nadu. Union Health minister Anbumani’s father and the chief of PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi) S Ramdoss said that Tamilchelvan’s killing exposed the hollow nature of Sri Lankan enthusiasm to end the civil war going on there.
He described the government’s handling of LTTE’s struggle as “ongoing genocide” of Tamils on the island. MDMK’s Vaiko said that the air attack showed that the Sri Lanka government had no faith in resolving the ethnic issue through negotiations. Actor Vijaykant, who has recently established yet another very popular Dravidian party, also condemned the attack and condoled the death of Thamilchelvan.
D Pandian, state secretary of the Communist Party of India, said in an official message that the party categorically condemned the Sri Lanka government, claiming that it was trying to annihilate the Tamil race. He wanted the Indian Government to help find a solution to the ethnic issue through negotiations with the Sri Lankan government.
Chief minister Karunanidhi, a talented Tamil scholar, wrote an ode by way of an obituary in honour of the departed leader. His poem describes Tamilchelvan’s sterling qualities as “A man with an ever-smiling face, but also with a fearless heart that could annihilate the opposition. His supreme sacrifice has etched his name in the hearts of all Tamils, living anywhere in the world.”
The only discordant note on the solemn mood of tragedy was struck by former TN CM, Jayalalithaa, controlling AIDMK. Hers is the only TN regional party to have any truck with the BJP, which advocates a barbaric brand of Hindutva and wants to establish an Akhand Bharat Hindu Rashtra (Greater Hindustan) lording over the region as a nuke-armed superpower. She criticised Karunanidhi for penning the poem of tribute, saying that the act went against Indian constitution.
Writing in praise of a person belonging to a banned organisation was condemnable, and the LTTE is a banned organisation in India, she said. As TN’s CM in the past, she had charged the most vociferous advocate of LTTE in Tamil Nadu, Vaiko of inciting India’s Tamils against the New Delhi.
She made him cool his heels in jail for sedition despite being a Union minister. Vaiko has somehow been converted into becoming her strange bedfellow at the moment. Local leaders of the Congress party at that time preferred to keep a stoic silence over the obituary politics. The “national” party hardly has any followers in TN and everyone joining it is a leader. These leaders, including Union Finance minister Chidambaram, know only too well that they have ride piggyback, after shelling out a fortune, on one of the Dravidian parties to retain their deposit in elections.
Balasubramanian has only now found it appropriate to criticise DMK and said Karunanidhi’s ode to the slain leader was “wrong and unacceptable.” He told mediapersons, “We (Congress Party) have our own ideology, just as the DMK has its own. Though we work with them, we will oppose ideologically unacceptable things!”
The TN Congress chief’s disapproval of Tamil peoples’ eulogy for the LTTE stalwart and his ‘revelation’ about Prabhakaran eliminating his deputy have come two days after his Hero’s’ Day speech on Nov 27. The day is observed to remember slain victims in the civil war and happens to be Prabhakaran’s birthday. According to LTTE sources, over the past 24 years till August 31, 2007, 19,538 young men and women were killed in the conflict or had to bite their cyanide capsules.
Prabhakaran declared in his annual Hero’s Day speech on his 53rd birthday, “Thousands of our fighters are standing ready to fight with determination for our just goal of freedom and we will overcome the hurdles before us and liberate our motherland.” It cannot however be denied that the outfit has been experiencing its worst setbacks lately.
SLAF has been incessantly bombing LTTE-held areas leading to huge civilian casualties. In August 2006, SLAF even raided an orphanage Sencholai Children’s Home in Mullaitivu in the Northern Province and killed over 100 schoolgirls. Following the morale-shattering attack, it has lost several bases to advancing Sri Lankan forces supported by ruthless bombing of civilian areas. Just before the Hero’s Day, the Army’s Deep Penetration Unit mounted a Claymore attack to kill 13, including 11 school children, in Wanni. Voice of Tigers, a radio station in the North was bombed, killing 10 people, to coincide with the Hero’s Day.
UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura condemned the attack, saying, “Regardless of the content of the broadcasts aired by the VoT, there can be no excuse for military strikes on civilian media.” But, Colombo maintained that the radio served as a propaganda organ of the LTTE and was a legitimate target for attack.
Some 2500 Tamil-speaking people residing out of the war zone in Colombo were picked up following a bomb blast in the city on November 28 and the authorities took two days to check identity papers and release 2300. More than 200 have been held back under emergency regulations “on arbitrary or discriminatory grounds using sweeping powers” not complying with international human rights law, according to Amnesty International.
Although Sri Lanka itself has refused to ban LTTE, New Delhi has banned the outfit in India as it holds its chief Prabhakaran responsible for the death of its former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in a suicide bomb attack.
A judicial commission headed by Justice Jain, in its interim report, allegedly fixed, even accused Karunanidhi of treason and the Tamils of a role in his assassination. It cannot be denied that the Rajiv Gandhi trial under the draconian TADA provisions was a hush-hush affair. It relied on extracted confessions that cannot stand judicial scrutiny according to civilised procedures. It had gaping holes and perhaps the only crime of those convicted (and hanged) was that they had come to the country illegally.
Rajiv Gandhi had many enemies among Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans, who bore the brunt of military intervention by 100,000 - strong IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) that he had ordered. It is likely that the killers were also LTTE members and murdered him on their own accord. LTTE has only said on its part that it was “great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret.”
The theory that LTTE is too punctilious and calculative an organisation to be interested in and waste resources on an assassination unlikely to bring it closer to its goal cannot be easily dismissed. Rajiv was also hated by the kin of IPKF soldiers who were pushed into the obviously suicidal operation against a determined militia whose cyanide-capsule carrying fighters had nothing to lose.
The impulsive, possibly immature, Indian politician forced the most humiliating defeat for the mighty Indian military machine, resulting in heavy casualties. Unconfirmed rumours have also linked Rajiv’s successors to the assassination, as well as his close relatives, who arguably derived immense benefit from the sympathy wave it generated. Be that as it may, the whole assassination plot is bogged down in mystery.
It is not clear why the TN Congress Chief has chosen to come out with revelation demonizing LTTE at this time. Is it a ploy to exhume the ghost of Rajiv Gandhi and settle scores with rivals who kept all the benefits to themselves?
Is it a part of larger international conspiracy that includes a vociferous PR exercise drawing Malaysia to the conflict in Sri Lanka?
India’s Hindutva zealots, as well as the government, have come to the aid of HINDRAF in Malaysia, which has issued oblique threats to turn to LTTE. This has ominous portents as the outfit may be attempting to destabilise Malaysia. It must be realised that a crowd control exercise, using tear gas and water canons, cannot be equated to the Black July massacre of more than 1000 Tamils in Sri Lanka that resulted in an exodus of 700,000 people.
Tamil Nadu Congress functionary SR Balasubramanian says, “According to the information I have, it was LTTE chief Prabhakaran who was responsible for the elimination of Tamilchelvan.” Tamilchelvan had led bilateral and multilateral peace talks that successive Sri Lanka governments have held with LTTE in 1985, 1987, 1989/90, 1994, 2002 and 2006. The talks, facilitated by Thailand, Germany and Japan and coordinated by Norway, can fructify anytime.
“India should keep this in mind that it is only the Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka who can be truly friendly with neighbouring India,” said MK Sivajilingam on November 29, urging New Delhi to play an active role in solving the ongoing ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka.
Going by the fact that India’s ‘buffer’ countries to the North, West and East (and South) are none too friendly with New Delhi, this is a perspective worth looking into. But tragically, there are indications that the IFS (Indian Foreign Service) babus are not yet ready to come out a time warp.
This call was not from one of the small-time Tamil Nadu politicians, shedding tears for the Tamil-speaking population in Sri Lanka, only to cajole New Delhi into currying out favours to a business associate.
(The practice – negotiating quid pro quo in return for keeping quiet after once creating a din – is a common occurrence is even used by rival TN politicians to settle scores with each other.)
MK Sivajilingam is a member of Sri Lankan Parliament belonging to TNA (Tamil National Alliance), who is considered pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).
Around the same time that the MP was appealing for good senses, a member of a political non-entity of Tamil Nadu, came out with a startling discovery, “According to the information I have, it was Prabhakaran who was responsible for the elimination of Tamilchelvan.” TN Congress functionary SR Balasubramanian did not clarify if he had established reliable communication channels to have such information.
Apparently keen to gain some personal publicity to get his faction one up on the numerous factions of the party in the state, he told the media, “It was the LTTE chief who let the (Sri Lankan) army know about the whereabouts of Tamilchelvan.” He reasoned that there was no other way the Sri Lankan Air Force could have known where he was!
Thamilchelvan lost his life in an SLAF (Sri Lankan Air Force) raid on November 2. He was considered the right hand of LTTE’s chief commander Vellupillai Prabhakaran, who conferred him the rank of Brigadier even as he was the head of its political wing. He led bilateral and multilateral peace talks that successive Sri Lanka governments have held with it in 1985, 1987, 1989/90, 1994, 2002 and 2006. The talks, facilitated by Thailand, Germany and Japan and coordinated by Norway, can fructify anytime. They aim at ending the longest civil war in Asia between displaced Tamil-speaking rebels and the rampaging armed forces of the government at Colombo.
The dispute has its origins to a pact in 1964 between former Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, a Congress leader from the Hindi heartland, and Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Bandaranayke.
Inhuman oppression was let loose on Tamil-speaking people, with 700,000 having to flee after the army massacring over 1000 Tamils in 1983, abusing the pact. LTTE took up the cause of the people robbed of home and hearth, its cadres, sporting cyanide capsules as pendants and ready to commit suicide if caught alive, could not be silenced till date.
Upon failure to work out a political settlement, the outfit is pursuing the goal of Tamil Eelam, an independent homeland. It is branded as a terrorist organisation in many countries, including India. But, LTTE already commands de-facto recognition. The massive international funds for Tsunami relief are being administered by the organisation in areas it holds.
This is not the first time that the Congress party, with little following in the state ever since CN Annadorai-led DMK wiped it out of the state legislature in 1966, is pouring out vitriol against the organisation. Historically, politicians from North India’s cow-belt region, dominating ‘national’ parties, have been apprehensive of any advancement by Tamil people anywhere.
The erroneous notion that assertive, economically strong, regional ethnic identities may undermine pan-India identity still prevails at New Delhi and Balasubramanian is an appointee with a brief to blunt ‘Provincial’ sentiments. There are any number of selfish elements within TN, who have been exploiting this folly to their own benefit.
His death was grieved over by most people and political parties of Tamil Nadu. Union Health minister Anbumani’s father and the chief of PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi) S Ramdoss said that Tamilchelvan’s killing exposed the hollow nature of Sri Lankan enthusiasm to end the civil war going on there.
He described the government’s handling of LTTE’s struggle as “ongoing genocide” of Tamils on the island. MDMK’s Vaiko said that the air attack showed that the Sri Lanka government had no faith in resolving the ethnic issue through negotiations. Actor Vijaykant, who has recently established yet another very popular Dravidian party, also condemned the attack and condoled the death of Thamilchelvan.
D Pandian, state secretary of the Communist Party of India, said in an official message that the party categorically condemned the Sri Lanka government, claiming that it was trying to annihilate the Tamil race. He wanted the Indian Government to help find a solution to the ethnic issue through negotiations with the Sri Lankan government.
Chief minister Karunanidhi, a talented Tamil scholar, wrote an ode by way of an obituary in honour of the departed leader. His poem describes Tamilchelvan’s sterling qualities as “A man with an ever-smiling face, but also with a fearless heart that could annihilate the opposition. His supreme sacrifice has etched his name in the hearts of all Tamils, living anywhere in the world.”
The only discordant note on the solemn mood of tragedy was struck by former TN CM, Jayalalithaa, controlling AIDMK. Hers is the only TN regional party to have any truck with the BJP, which advocates a barbaric brand of Hindutva and wants to establish an Akhand Bharat Hindu Rashtra (Greater Hindustan) lording over the region as a nuke-armed superpower. She criticised Karunanidhi for penning the poem of tribute, saying that the act went against Indian constitution.
Writing in praise of a person belonging to a banned organisation was condemnable, and the LTTE is a banned organisation in India, she said. As TN’s CM in the past, she had charged the most vociferous advocate of LTTE in Tamil Nadu, Vaiko of inciting India’s Tamils against the New Delhi.
She made him cool his heels in jail for sedition despite being a Union minister. Vaiko has somehow been converted into becoming her strange bedfellow at the moment. Local leaders of the Congress party at that time preferred to keep a stoic silence over the obituary politics. The “national” party hardly has any followers in TN and everyone joining it is a leader. These leaders, including Union Finance minister Chidambaram, know only too well that they have ride piggyback, after shelling out a fortune, on one of the Dravidian parties to retain their deposit in elections.
Balasubramanian has only now found it appropriate to criticise DMK and said Karunanidhi’s ode to the slain leader was “wrong and unacceptable.” He told mediapersons, “We (Congress Party) have our own ideology, just as the DMK has its own. Though we work with them, we will oppose ideologically unacceptable things!”
The TN Congress chief’s disapproval of Tamil peoples’ eulogy for the LTTE stalwart and his ‘revelation’ about Prabhakaran eliminating his deputy have come two days after his Hero’s’ Day speech on Nov 27. The day is observed to remember slain victims in the civil war and happens to be Prabhakaran’s birthday. According to LTTE sources, over the past 24 years till August 31, 2007, 19,538 young men and women were killed in the conflict or had to bite their cyanide capsules.
Prabhakaran declared in his annual Hero’s Day speech on his 53rd birthday, “Thousands of our fighters are standing ready to fight with determination for our just goal of freedom and we will overcome the hurdles before us and liberate our motherland.” It cannot however be denied that the outfit has been experiencing its worst setbacks lately.
SLAF has been incessantly bombing LTTE-held areas leading to huge civilian casualties. In August 2006, SLAF even raided an orphanage Sencholai Children’s Home in Mullaitivu in the Northern Province and killed over 100 schoolgirls. Following the morale-shattering attack, it has lost several bases to advancing Sri Lankan forces supported by ruthless bombing of civilian areas. Just before the Hero’s Day, the Army’s Deep Penetration Unit mounted a Claymore attack to kill 13, including 11 school children, in Wanni. Voice of Tigers, a radio station in the North was bombed, killing 10 people, to coincide with the Hero’s Day.
UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura condemned the attack, saying, “Regardless of the content of the broadcasts aired by the VoT, there can be no excuse for military strikes on civilian media.” But, Colombo maintained that the radio served as a propaganda organ of the LTTE and was a legitimate target for attack.
Some 2500 Tamil-speaking people residing out of the war zone in Colombo were picked up following a bomb blast in the city on November 28 and the authorities took two days to check identity papers and release 2300. More than 200 have been held back under emergency regulations “on arbitrary or discriminatory grounds using sweeping powers” not complying with international human rights law, according to Amnesty International.
Although Sri Lanka itself has refused to ban LTTE, New Delhi has banned the outfit in India as it holds its chief Prabhakaran responsible for the death of its former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in a suicide bomb attack.
A judicial commission headed by Justice Jain, in its interim report, allegedly fixed, even accused Karunanidhi of treason and the Tamils of a role in his assassination. It cannot be denied that the Rajiv Gandhi trial under the draconian TADA provisions was a hush-hush affair. It relied on extracted confessions that cannot stand judicial scrutiny according to civilised procedures. It had gaping holes and perhaps the only crime of those convicted (and hanged) was that they had come to the country illegally.
Rajiv Gandhi had many enemies among Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans, who bore the brunt of military intervention by 100,000 - strong IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) that he had ordered. It is likely that the killers were also LTTE members and murdered him on their own accord. LTTE has only said on its part that it was “great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret.”
The theory that LTTE is too punctilious and calculative an organisation to be interested in and waste resources on an assassination unlikely to bring it closer to its goal cannot be easily dismissed. Rajiv was also hated by the kin of IPKF soldiers who were pushed into the obviously suicidal operation against a determined militia whose cyanide-capsule carrying fighters had nothing to lose.
The impulsive, possibly immature, Indian politician forced the most humiliating defeat for the mighty Indian military machine, resulting in heavy casualties. Unconfirmed rumours have also linked Rajiv’s successors to the assassination, as well as his close relatives, who arguably derived immense benefit from the sympathy wave it generated. Be that as it may, the whole assassination plot is bogged down in mystery.
It is not clear why the TN Congress Chief has chosen to come out with revelation demonizing LTTE at this time. Is it a ploy to exhume the ghost of Rajiv Gandhi and settle scores with rivals who kept all the benefits to themselves?
Is it a part of larger international conspiracy that includes a vociferous PR exercise drawing Malaysia to the conflict in Sri Lanka?
India’s Hindutva zealots, as well as the government, have come to the aid of HINDRAF in Malaysia, which has issued oblique threats to turn to LTTE. This has ominous portents as the outfit may be attempting to destabilise Malaysia. It must be realised that a crowd control exercise, using tear gas and water canons, cannot be equated to the Black July massacre of more than 1000 Tamils in Sri Lanka that resulted in an exodus of 700,000 people.
Detonators from Kerala finding way into the LTTE?
State Police in Kerala probing the recovery of a large quantity of detonators at a bus stand here suspect that the explosives were to be smuggled into LTTE controlled area in northern of Sri Lanka.
A gunny bag containing 10,000 detonators, placed in 100 boxes, was found at a bus stand on Sep 06. Two people were arrested in connection with the incident soon after.
It was the investigation into the dealings of Najeeb, one of those arrested, that helped police in unraveling the LTTE connection. Kerala police conducted the probe along with the Tamil Nadu police.
'Najeeb used to take the detonators to Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu and hand it over to a person called Biji. From the description we got from Najeeb, we presume that this person, a Sri Lankan refugee, is a notorious criminal who has many criminal charges against him,' Circle Inspector T.C. Venugopal of Thrissur East police station said Monday. Thrissur is 70 km north of Kochi.
Venugopal said Najeeb had been transporting detonators to Meenakshipuram for 10 months before being arrested.
'He had delivered around 150,000 detonators to Biji. These detonators are usually used in quarries but Najeeb says that these were purchased for fishing purposes. But we have reasons to suspect that the detonators were smuggled into Sri Lanka.'
'We can't tell for sure who the end user is. For this we have to get Biji,' said Venugopal.
Kerala police have also arrested another person, Hafiz, a license holder for dealing in detonators, who supplied detonators to Najeeb.
A gunny bag containing 10,000 detonators, placed in 100 boxes, was found at a bus stand on Sep 06. Two people were arrested in connection with the incident soon after.
It was the investigation into the dealings of Najeeb, one of those arrested, that helped police in unraveling the LTTE connection. Kerala police conducted the probe along with the Tamil Nadu police.
'Najeeb used to take the detonators to Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu and hand it over to a person called Biji. From the description we got from Najeeb, we presume that this person, a Sri Lankan refugee, is a notorious criminal who has many criminal charges against him,' Circle Inspector T.C. Venugopal of Thrissur East police station said Monday. Thrissur is 70 km north of Kochi.
Venugopal said Najeeb had been transporting detonators to Meenakshipuram for 10 months before being arrested.
'He had delivered around 150,000 detonators to Biji. These detonators are usually used in quarries but Najeeb says that these were purchased for fishing purposes. But we have reasons to suspect that the detonators were smuggled into Sri Lanka.'
'We can't tell for sure who the end user is. For this we have to get Biji,' said Venugopal.
Kerala police have also arrested another person, Hafiz, a license holder for dealing in detonators, who supplied detonators to Najeeb.
Indu – Malay Relations
A summit of the Group of 15 nations of the Non-Aligned Conference, which discusses economic issues, was to be held in New Delhi in 1993 when Shri Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. The administration of Mr.Bill Clinton, then in office, mounted an exercise through President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to sabotage this summit. Some leaders of member-countries, including Mr.Mubarak, informed Shri Rao that they would not be able to attend the summit due to domestic preoccupation. The real reason was the US pressure not to attend. The summit had to be postponed since it would not have had the minimum quorum of 12. It was held next year after reducing the quorum requirement to five heads of State or Government and three deputy heads. This came to be known as the five plus three formula.
"How many of us remember the campaign carried on by the Clinton Administration against Malaysia and Dr.Mahatir Mohamad? Dr.Mahatir became a persona non grata with the Clinton Administration because of his independent political and economic policies. He was one of the very few Asian leaders not invited to the US so long as Mr.Clinton was the President. He followed independent policies not only vis-a-vis the US, but also against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other US-dominated international financial institutions."
The postponement of the 1993 summit due to US machinations and the collusion of Mr.Mubarak with the US caused considerable embarrassment for Shri Rao and India. Despite the postponement, Dr.Mahatir Mohamad, the then Malaysian Prime Minister, and President Suharto of Indonesia visited Delhi to express their solidarity with the Government of India at the time of its discomfiture. Policy-makers in Delhi even now remember the role played by Mr.Mubarak in sabotaging the proposed New Delhi summit of 1993. That was one of the reasons why, when a subsequent summit of the Group was held in Cairo, Shri A.B.Vajpayee, the then Indian Prime Minister, did not attend it.
How many of us remember the campaign carried on by the Clinton Administration against Malaysia and Dr.Mahatir Mohamad? Dr.Mahatir became a persona non grata with the Clinton Administration because of his independent political and economic policies. He was one of the very few Asian leaders not invited to the US so long as Mr.Clinton was the President. He followed independent policies not only vis-a-vis the US, but also against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other US-dominated international financial institutions. When the economies of South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines collapsed in 1997, the Malaysian economy remained largely unaffected, thanks to the vision of Dr.Mahatir.Even after the crisis broke out causing panic and demoralisation across South-East and East Asia, he maintained his independent line and resisted many of the ideas emanating from US-dominated financial institutions.
After having realised that Malaysia and its leaders could not be bullied, the US administration changed its policies after Mr.George Bush took over as the President in 2001. Dr. Mahatir was invited to Washington DC after 9/11. The relations have since improved, but even now the Malaysian political leadership resists US-inspired ideas, which it fears could be detrimental to its national interests. A good example is its opposition to US-inspired ideas for strengthening maritime security in the Malacca Strait.
What I had stated above would illustrate two things. Firstly, it is not correct that Malaysia as a State has been ill-disposed towards India. Secondly, it has a proud political leadership, which has not hesitated even to defy the world's sole super-power when it felt it was necessary to do so in its national interests.
It is important to remember this because in the wake of the recent demonstrations by a large number of Malaysian citizens of Indian origin in Kuala Lumpur and the visit to India of an important leader of the Hindu Rights Action Front (HINDRAF), a coalition of Indian-origin organisations in Malaysia, all sorts of bizarre ideas have been floating around for being tough with Malaysia in order to protect the interests of the Indian-origin Malaysians. Any idea of using the big stick against Malaysia---- even the very talk of it--- could not only damage the State-to-State relations between the countries, but prove detrimental to the relations of the Indian-origin Malaysian citizens with the Muslim Malay majority. If we think we can cow down Malaysia through such strong talk, we are mistaken---- as the US and China learnt in the past.Let us not hurt the sentiments of the proud leadership in Malaysia by indulging in such talk, even if we don't follow this up.
India has four main interests with regard to the Indian-origin Malaysian citizens: Firstly, that they progress economically and get their due share of the national cake; secondly, that the Malaysian authorities refrain from actions such as the demolition of Hindu temples and idols, which hurt the sentiments of Hindus not only in Malaysia, but also all over the world; and thirdly, that the Indian-origin Malaysians maintain harmonious relations with the Malay Bhumiputras and the Chinese-origin Malaysians. These interests should be taken up informally through back channels anbd not through public statements.
India should not give any impression that it has been showing belated interest in these issues--- after having remained oblivious of them for years--- because of the agitation of the HINDRAF. The HINDRAF is not the only representative of the Indian-origin Malaysians. One does not even know the background of its leaders and the extent of following they have in the Indian-origin community. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), which is part of the ruling coalition, and some non-political opinion-makers of the Indian-origin Malaysians have shown signs of discomfort and concern over the manner in which the leaders of the HINDRAF have been agitating and projecting India as the mother country, which should come to their help.
A group of Malaysian Tamil writers, which had recently visited Tamil Nadu, had disagreed with the kind of picture being painted by the HINDRAF leaders. It would be unwise for India to let itself be influenced by the rhetoric of the HINDRAF leaders. The Malaysian Government has been unwise in trying to project the HINDRAF leaders as sympathisers of the LTTE and as acting at the behest of Hindutva elements in India. We will be equally unwise if we treat them as the sole and genuine representatives of the Indian-origin people and let ourselves be influenced by their rhetoric.
Hindus all over the world have genuine reasons for anger over some of the policies of successive Malaysian Governments as pointed out by me in my previous article titled "Root Causes of Hindu Anger in Malaysia". As good friends and well-wishers of Malaysia, we have a right to expect that Kuala Lumpur will address these causes. But we have no right under international law to act as the de jure protector of the interests of the Indian-origin Malaysians.
During the Cultural Revolution in China under Mao-Zedong, the Chinese authorities assumed aggressive postures as protectors of the interests of the overseas Chinese all over the world. The ultimate result: The overseas Chinese population was viewed in many countries as having extra-territorial loyalties to China. By our words and statements, we should not unwittingly create similar suspicions about the Indian-origin communities abroad.
When Mr.Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, many felt concerned over the high-profile interest taken by his Government in cultivating the Indian-origin diaspora abroad and over its implications for India's relations with countries where these people live and for the future well-being of the Indian-origin communities themselves. A well-argued article on this subject was written in 2003 by the late Shri J.N.Dixit, former Foreign Secretary, who subsequently became the National Security Adviser to Dr.Manmohan Singh. A copy of his article is annexed.
"How many of us remember the campaign carried on by the Clinton Administration against Malaysia and Dr.Mahatir Mohamad? Dr.Mahatir became a persona non grata with the Clinton Administration because of his independent political and economic policies. He was one of the very few Asian leaders not invited to the US so long as Mr.Clinton was the President. He followed independent policies not only vis-a-vis the US, but also against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other US-dominated international financial institutions."
The postponement of the 1993 summit due to US machinations and the collusion of Mr.Mubarak with the US caused considerable embarrassment for Shri Rao and India. Despite the postponement, Dr.Mahatir Mohamad, the then Malaysian Prime Minister, and President Suharto of Indonesia visited Delhi to express their solidarity with the Government of India at the time of its discomfiture. Policy-makers in Delhi even now remember the role played by Mr.Mubarak in sabotaging the proposed New Delhi summit of 1993. That was one of the reasons why, when a subsequent summit of the Group was held in Cairo, Shri A.B.Vajpayee, the then Indian Prime Minister, did not attend it.
How many of us remember the campaign carried on by the Clinton Administration against Malaysia and Dr.Mahatir Mohamad? Dr.Mahatir became a persona non grata with the Clinton Administration because of his independent political and economic policies. He was one of the very few Asian leaders not invited to the US so long as Mr.Clinton was the President. He followed independent policies not only vis-a-vis the US, but also against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other US-dominated international financial institutions. When the economies of South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines collapsed in 1997, the Malaysian economy remained largely unaffected, thanks to the vision of Dr.Mahatir.Even after the crisis broke out causing panic and demoralisation across South-East and East Asia, he maintained his independent line and resisted many of the ideas emanating from US-dominated financial institutions.
After having realised that Malaysia and its leaders could not be bullied, the US administration changed its policies after Mr.George Bush took over as the President in 2001. Dr. Mahatir was invited to Washington DC after 9/11. The relations have since improved, but even now the Malaysian political leadership resists US-inspired ideas, which it fears could be detrimental to its national interests. A good example is its opposition to US-inspired ideas for strengthening maritime security in the Malacca Strait.
What I had stated above would illustrate two things. Firstly, it is not correct that Malaysia as a State has been ill-disposed towards India. Secondly, it has a proud political leadership, which has not hesitated even to defy the world's sole super-power when it felt it was necessary to do so in its national interests.
It is important to remember this because in the wake of the recent demonstrations by a large number of Malaysian citizens of Indian origin in Kuala Lumpur and the visit to India of an important leader of the Hindu Rights Action Front (HINDRAF), a coalition of Indian-origin organisations in Malaysia, all sorts of bizarre ideas have been floating around for being tough with Malaysia in order to protect the interests of the Indian-origin Malaysians. Any idea of using the big stick against Malaysia---- even the very talk of it--- could not only damage the State-to-State relations between the countries, but prove detrimental to the relations of the Indian-origin Malaysian citizens with the Muslim Malay majority. If we think we can cow down Malaysia through such strong talk, we are mistaken---- as the US and China learnt in the past.Let us not hurt the sentiments of the proud leadership in Malaysia by indulging in such talk, even if we don't follow this up.
India has four main interests with regard to the Indian-origin Malaysian citizens: Firstly, that they progress economically and get their due share of the national cake; secondly, that the Malaysian authorities refrain from actions such as the demolition of Hindu temples and idols, which hurt the sentiments of Hindus not only in Malaysia, but also all over the world; and thirdly, that the Indian-origin Malaysians maintain harmonious relations with the Malay Bhumiputras and the Chinese-origin Malaysians. These interests should be taken up informally through back channels anbd not through public statements.
India should not give any impression that it has been showing belated interest in these issues--- after having remained oblivious of them for years--- because of the agitation of the HINDRAF. The HINDRAF is not the only representative of the Indian-origin Malaysians. One does not even know the background of its leaders and the extent of following they have in the Indian-origin community. The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), which is part of the ruling coalition, and some non-political opinion-makers of the Indian-origin Malaysians have shown signs of discomfort and concern over the manner in which the leaders of the HINDRAF have been agitating and projecting India as the mother country, which should come to their help.
A group of Malaysian Tamil writers, which had recently visited Tamil Nadu, had disagreed with the kind of picture being painted by the HINDRAF leaders. It would be unwise for India to let itself be influenced by the rhetoric of the HINDRAF leaders. The Malaysian Government has been unwise in trying to project the HINDRAF leaders as sympathisers of the LTTE and as acting at the behest of Hindutva elements in India. We will be equally unwise if we treat them as the sole and genuine representatives of the Indian-origin people and let ourselves be influenced by their rhetoric.
Hindus all over the world have genuine reasons for anger over some of the policies of successive Malaysian Governments as pointed out by me in my previous article titled "Root Causes of Hindu Anger in Malaysia". As good friends and well-wishers of Malaysia, we have a right to expect that Kuala Lumpur will address these causes. But we have no right under international law to act as the de jure protector of the interests of the Indian-origin Malaysians.
During the Cultural Revolution in China under Mao-Zedong, the Chinese authorities assumed aggressive postures as protectors of the interests of the overseas Chinese all over the world. The ultimate result: The overseas Chinese population was viewed in many countries as having extra-territorial loyalties to China. By our words and statements, we should not unwittingly create similar suspicions about the Indian-origin communities abroad.
When Mr.Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, many felt concerned over the high-profile interest taken by his Government in cultivating the Indian-origin diaspora abroad and over its implications for India's relations with countries where these people live and for the future well-being of the Indian-origin communities themselves. A well-argued article on this subject was written in 2003 by the late Shri J.N.Dixit, former Foreign Secretary, who subsequently became the National Security Adviser to Dr.Manmohan Singh. A copy of his article is annexed.
Link is with Tamil Tigers and India’s RSS, says Nazri
The Government has identified the overseas groups linked to Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said the groups are Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the RSS, a militant organisation in India.
Speaking to reporters yesterday after presenting gifts to UPSR excellent students at Kati, near here, Mohamed Nazri said this was from statements of Hindraf leaders who went overseas to garner support that they would meet LTTE leaders.
“As we know, the LTTE has been declared a terrorist group by the United Nations and the United States.
“If it is true that Hindraf leaders have links with them, Hindraf is also a terrorist group,” he said yesterday, adding that the Government was closely monitoring the activities of Hindraf leaders.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan was reported to have said yesterday that there were signs lately that Hindraf was trying to garner support from terrorist groups.
He said Hindraf had also set up a fund by misleading the public into believing that the money was to finance its activities.
On accusations by Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran that the A-G was pressuring the judiciary by leading the prosecution team charging Hindraf supporters, Mohamed Nazri said being the country’s top lawyer, the A-G could act for the Government in any court in the country.
“The A-G’s job is to prosecute. The fact that the A-G is involved shows the seriousness of the matter as it can affect the country’s peace,” he added.
On calls by the Pertubuhan Pembela Islam (Pembela) that Hindraf be banned, Mohamed Nazri said the Government would do so if the group was linked with the LTTE.
In Shah Alam, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patil said detailed investigations would be carried out to determine the alleged link between Hindu Rights Action Force and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam.
He told reporters that a police report had been lodged that Hindraf members were going out to contact the LTTE.
“These are serious allegations and we believe that investigations have to be done,” added Abdul Gani.
In Penang, DAP national chairman Karpal Singh said the leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force should be given the opportunity to explain the reasons behind the demonstration.
He added that the presence of thousands of Indians at the demonstration was cause for concern and reason enough to assume that the problems of the community ought to be addressed.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said the groups are Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the RSS, a militant organisation in India.
Speaking to reporters yesterday after presenting gifts to UPSR excellent students at Kati, near here, Mohamed Nazri said this was from statements of Hindraf leaders who went overseas to garner support that they would meet LTTE leaders.
“As we know, the LTTE has been declared a terrorist group by the United Nations and the United States.
“If it is true that Hindraf leaders have links with them, Hindraf is also a terrorist group,” he said yesterday, adding that the Government was closely monitoring the activities of Hindraf leaders.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan was reported to have said yesterday that there were signs lately that Hindraf was trying to garner support from terrorist groups.
He said Hindraf had also set up a fund by misleading the public into believing that the money was to finance its activities.
On accusations by Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran that the A-G was pressuring the judiciary by leading the prosecution team charging Hindraf supporters, Mohamed Nazri said being the country’s top lawyer, the A-G could act for the Government in any court in the country.
“The A-G’s job is to prosecute. The fact that the A-G is involved shows the seriousness of the matter as it can affect the country’s peace,” he added.
On calls by the Pertubuhan Pembela Islam (Pembela) that Hindraf be banned, Mohamed Nazri said the Government would do so if the group was linked with the LTTE.
In Shah Alam, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patil said detailed investigations would be carried out to determine the alleged link between Hindu Rights Action Force and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam.
He told reporters that a police report had been lodged that Hindraf members were going out to contact the LTTE.
“These are serious allegations and we believe that investigations have to be done,” added Abdul Gani.
In Penang, DAP national chairman Karpal Singh said the leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force should be given the opportunity to explain the reasons behind the demonstration.
He added that the presence of thousands of Indians at the demonstration was cause for concern and reason enough to assume that the problems of the community ought to be addressed.
Hindraf 'has links with Tigers'
SHAH ALAM: Hindu Rights Action Force leaders may face criminal charges over their links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said police had started their investigation following a report lodged by a member of the public.
"The danger is that this group has been officially declared a terrorist organisation," he said outside the Shah Alam High Court yesterday.
Abdul Gani said the LTTE had been declared a terrorist group even in the United States, the United Kingdom and India.
"There is a United Nations resolution that no one should provide any form of support, including financial assistance to this group."
The A-G had on Wednesday told the court that he had reports Hindraf members had connections with the LTTE.
"It is a cause for concern. I believe the matter must be probed thoroughly."
Abdul Gani said anyone, including himself, would be in a state of apprehension about Hindraf's links with the LTTE.
"I think everybody in the world will be worried about such connection."
He said he would wait for the police to complete their investigation before deciding on the next course of action.
Hindraf leader P. Waytha Moorthy, in an interview with the Indian Express last Saturday, warned that Malaysia could become another Sri Lanka.
Waytha Moorthy's brother, Uthayakumar had also told The New Paper in Singapore that he could not rule out violence if the demands of the Indian community were not met.
The LTTE, fighting for a separate state, had been engaged in violent activities with government security forces for several decades.
Meanwhile, the High Court adjourned to Monday a criminal revision application made by the public prosecutor following a discharge given to Uthayakumar, Waytha Moorthy and T. Ganabathirau for allegedly making seditious remarks in public.
Judicial commissioner Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim said he was allowing the application only on grounds that the counsel representing the three needed more time to prepare its submission.
"I am only allowing the adjournment because one of the counsel had raised an important legal issue of whether a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by a lower court could be reviewed by a High Court."
Earlier, counsel M. Mano-haran, who is appearing for the three, told the court that he had sent a letter to Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad yesterday, seeking direction that the application be heard by another judge.
Manoharan said this was because Abang Iskandar was once a subordinate of Abdul Gani in the Attorney-General's Chambers.
Abdul Gani said the counsel's submission was a ploy to seek an adjournment pending a reply from Abdul Hamid.
On Nov 26, Sessions Court judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris, who gave a discharge, had ruled that the charge against the three was defective as the original speech made in Tamil was not attached to the charge sheet.
That decision is now being contested by the prosecution led by Abdul Gani who, on Wednesday, had submitted that the charge was valid although the Tamil text was not attached with the translated Bahasa Malaysia copy.
In Kuala Kangsar, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the LTTE and Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh in India were supporting Hindraf.
He said the government had information which linked Hindraf to these foreign groups.
"We are monitoring Hindraf and if the links are confirmed, then it is clear that Hindraf is a terrorist organisation."
Earlier, Nazri, who is Padang Rengas MP, presented bicycles sponsored by Putera Umno Malaysia to 100 pupils from 16 schools in Kati who scored 5As in the recent Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah examinations.
He said Hindraf had collected RM70,000 to fight its cause, including travel expenses.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said police had started their investigation following a report lodged by a member of the public.
"The danger is that this group has been officially declared a terrorist organisation," he said outside the Shah Alam High Court yesterday.
Abdul Gani said the LTTE had been declared a terrorist group even in the United States, the United Kingdom and India.
"There is a United Nations resolution that no one should provide any form of support, including financial assistance to this group."
The A-G had on Wednesday told the court that he had reports Hindraf members had connections with the LTTE.
"It is a cause for concern. I believe the matter must be probed thoroughly."
Abdul Gani said anyone, including himself, would be in a state of apprehension about Hindraf's links with the LTTE.
"I think everybody in the world will be worried about such connection."
He said he would wait for the police to complete their investigation before deciding on the next course of action.
Hindraf leader P. Waytha Moorthy, in an interview with the Indian Express last Saturday, warned that Malaysia could become another Sri Lanka.
Waytha Moorthy's brother, Uthayakumar had also told The New Paper in Singapore that he could not rule out violence if the demands of the Indian community were not met.
The LTTE, fighting for a separate state, had been engaged in violent activities with government security forces for several decades.
Meanwhile, the High Court adjourned to Monday a criminal revision application made by the public prosecutor following a discharge given to Uthayakumar, Waytha Moorthy and T. Ganabathirau for allegedly making seditious remarks in public.
Judicial commissioner Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim said he was allowing the application only on grounds that the counsel representing the three needed more time to prepare its submission.
"I am only allowing the adjournment because one of the counsel had raised an important legal issue of whether a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by a lower court could be reviewed by a High Court."
Earlier, counsel M. Mano-haran, who is appearing for the three, told the court that he had sent a letter to Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad yesterday, seeking direction that the application be heard by another judge.
Manoharan said this was because Abang Iskandar was once a subordinate of Abdul Gani in the Attorney-General's Chambers.
Abdul Gani said the counsel's submission was a ploy to seek an adjournment pending a reply from Abdul Hamid.
On Nov 26, Sessions Court judge Zunaidah Mohd Idris, who gave a discharge, had ruled that the charge against the three was defective as the original speech made in Tamil was not attached to the charge sheet.
That decision is now being contested by the prosecution led by Abdul Gani who, on Wednesday, had submitted that the charge was valid although the Tamil text was not attached with the translated Bahasa Malaysia copy.
In Kuala Kangsar, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the LTTE and Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh in India were supporting Hindraf.
He said the government had information which linked Hindraf to these foreign groups.
"We are monitoring Hindraf and if the links are confirmed, then it is clear that Hindraf is a terrorist organisation."
Earlier, Nazri, who is Padang Rengas MP, presented bicycles sponsored by Putera Umno Malaysia to 100 pupils from 16 schools in Kati who scored 5As in the recent Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah examinations.
He said Hindraf had collected RM70,000 to fight its cause, including travel expenses.
Hindraf fails to make headway
India has cold-shouldered the Hindu Rights Action Force by refusing to meet its leader P. Waytha Moorthy.
Indo-Asian News Service said Waytha Moorthy had to leave India without meeting any minister or official.
“There was no meeting with anybody from the External Affairs Ministry or anybody from the government,” an official source said.
Waytha Moorthy was in India before he headed to Geneva and Washington to drum up support from the international community on his claims that Indians in Malaysia were being ill-treated.
He only met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, who promised to lobby the Indian government to take up the issue.
The report said the Indian government has become more cautious after accusations by Malaysian authorities that Hindraf was linked to Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation that is banned in India and other countries.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, when asked by journalists whether the Indian government was planning to take up the issue of the alleged link with LTTE, said on Friday: “A terrorist is a terrorist. He has no religion and his origins do not matter.”
Mukherjee said there were international conventions that governed how the issue of terrorism was tackled, and every government was committed to supporting it.
Mukherjee told the Indian Parliament last week: “We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter.”
The minister stressed that the people of Indian origin in Malaysia are citizens of that country.
Waytha Moorthy had told the Times of India that the Indian bureaucracy made it difficult to meet the leadership.
He said he was looking for Indian support and India to pressure Malaysia to give them a better deal.
The newspaper said India was not going to give the protesting Malaysians more traction.
“This is clear from the recent actions of the government that they consider the protests to be part of an internal matter of Malaysia, because these were all Malaysian citizens.
“India will not place its relations with Malaysia on the line for them. This is a clear message. So even though there will be expressions of support for the protesters, the government will not be seen to be backing any group that might have sympathies with the LTTE.
“This will complicate its relations, not merely with Malaysia and Sri Lanka, but could prove to be a legal hot potato because LTTE is banned in India,” the newspaper said.
Indo-Asian News Service said Waytha Moorthy had to leave India without meeting any minister or official.
“There was no meeting with anybody from the External Affairs Ministry or anybody from the government,” an official source said.
Waytha Moorthy was in India before he headed to Geneva and Washington to drum up support from the international community on his claims that Indians in Malaysia were being ill-treated.
He only met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, who promised to lobby the Indian government to take up the issue.
The report said the Indian government has become more cautious after accusations by Malaysian authorities that Hindraf was linked to Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist organisation that is banned in India and other countries.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, when asked by journalists whether the Indian government was planning to take up the issue of the alleged link with LTTE, said on Friday: “A terrorist is a terrorist. He has no religion and his origins do not matter.”
Mukherjee said there were international conventions that governed how the issue of terrorism was tackled, and every government was committed to supporting it.
Mukherjee told the Indian Parliament last week: “We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter.”
The minister stressed that the people of Indian origin in Malaysia are citizens of that country.
Waytha Moorthy had told the Times of India that the Indian bureaucracy made it difficult to meet the leadership.
He said he was looking for Indian support and India to pressure Malaysia to give them a better deal.
The newspaper said India was not going to give the protesting Malaysians more traction.
“This is clear from the recent actions of the government that they consider the protests to be part of an internal matter of Malaysia, because these were all Malaysian citizens.
“India will not place its relations with Malaysia on the line for them. This is a clear message. So even though there will be expressions of support for the protesters, the government will not be seen to be backing any group that might have sympathies with the LTTE.
“This will complicate its relations, not merely with Malaysia and Sri Lanka, but could prove to be a legal hot potato because LTTE is banned in India,” the newspaper said.
Be tough with Hindraf, newspaper urges Malaysian government
The Malaysian government should invoke the stringent Internal Security Act against a body of ethnic Indian immigrants for spreading "lies" abroad on "ethnic cleansing" against the community and for seeking "global sanctions against their own country", an influential daily newspaper said Saturday.
The "restraint" shown by the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been "flagrantly violated" and it was time to act against the leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), The New Straits Times said in a hard-hitting editorial.
It noted that the Hindraf's "unconscionable allegations won the sympathetic ear of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who conveyed them to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who expressed his concern to the Malaysian government".
The reference was to the visit to India by Hindraf leader M. Vaithya Murthy, who urged India to impose sanctions on Malaysia.
"While in Chennai, Hindraf also met with leaders of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and in Delhi with L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh, leaders of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party," it said.
However, while Murthy received a hearing from Karunanidhi and BJP leaders, the Singh government not only kept away, but External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismissed any notion of support to Hindraf saying that it was Malaysia's "internal matter".
In a hard-hitting editorial titled "Enough!", the newspaper accused Hindraf leaders of spreading the "vile contagion with which they have already infected India: that their homeland, Malaysia, is committing 'ethnic cleansing' against Indians, who are a community subjected to systematic state repression'."
It was time to act now that Hindraf was carrying its "smear campaign" further to Europe, Britain and the US, the paper said.
It quoted Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar as having "brazenly declared to a Singapore newspaper that he "can't rule out violence".
"Rising out of this cauldron of lies, distortions and blatant political opportunism, the volatile vapours of speculation go so far as to threaten a militant insurgency," it warned.
The oft-cited "underlying grievances" of the nation's Indians have been recognised, as have those of the Malays, Chinese and other races, and slowly but surely attended to for the past 50 years, the newspaper said.
"But that means nothing at all to Hindraf's prime movers, who now want global sanctions against their own country, even as their campaign drives wedges between Malaysian communities with deeply hurtful racial and religious rhetoric," said the edit.
Advocating a tough line by the government, it said: "No matter how regrettable, these subversives need to be reminded why all Malaysians have to live with the prospect of detention for those few who revel in attempting to destroy the national concord that millions have spent decades trying to build."
Claiming to speak for Indian immigrants who form eight percent of Malaysia's 27 million population, Hindraf has become controversial after a massive rally it held on Nov 25 was declared illegal and forcibly dispersed by the police.
Other organisations, including Malaysian Indian Congress, the main political party that speaks for the Indian community, have distanced themselves from Hindraf's campaign.
The "restraint" shown by the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had been "flagrantly violated" and it was time to act against the leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), The New Straits Times said in a hard-hitting editorial.
It noted that the Hindraf's "unconscionable allegations won the sympathetic ear of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who conveyed them to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who expressed his concern to the Malaysian government".
The reference was to the visit to India by Hindraf leader M. Vaithya Murthy, who urged India to impose sanctions on Malaysia.
"While in Chennai, Hindraf also met with leaders of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and in Delhi with L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh, leaders of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party," it said.
However, while Murthy received a hearing from Karunanidhi and BJP leaders, the Singh government not only kept away, but External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismissed any notion of support to Hindraf saying that it was Malaysia's "internal matter".
In a hard-hitting editorial titled "Enough!", the newspaper accused Hindraf leaders of spreading the "vile contagion with which they have already infected India: that their homeland, Malaysia, is committing 'ethnic cleansing' against Indians, who are a community subjected to systematic state repression'."
It was time to act now that Hindraf was carrying its "smear campaign" further to Europe, Britain and the US, the paper said.
It quoted Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar as having "brazenly declared to a Singapore newspaper that he "can't rule out violence".
"Rising out of this cauldron of lies, distortions and blatant political opportunism, the volatile vapours of speculation go so far as to threaten a militant insurgency," it warned.
The oft-cited "underlying grievances" of the nation's Indians have been recognised, as have those of the Malays, Chinese and other races, and slowly but surely attended to for the past 50 years, the newspaper said.
"But that means nothing at all to Hindraf's prime movers, who now want global sanctions against their own country, even as their campaign drives wedges between Malaysian communities with deeply hurtful racial and religious rhetoric," said the edit.
Advocating a tough line by the government, it said: "No matter how regrettable, these subversives need to be reminded why all Malaysians have to live with the prospect of detention for those few who revel in attempting to destroy the national concord that millions have spent decades trying to build."
Claiming to speak for Indian immigrants who form eight percent of Malaysia's 27 million population, Hindraf has become controversial after a massive rally it held on Nov 25 was declared illegal and forcibly dispersed by the police.
Other organisations, including Malaysian Indian Congress, the main political party that speaks for the Indian community, have distanced themselves from Hindraf's campaign.
Hindraf faces ban: has 'links with India's RSS, Lanka's LTTE'
The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), a Malaysian rights group, has "links" with India's "militant organisation" Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a Malaysian minister has alleged.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Aziz said "the groups are Sri Lanka's LTTE and the RSS, a militant organisation in India", The Star newspaper said Saturday.
Nazri said this was from statements of Hindraf leaders "who went overseas to garner support that they would meet LTTE leaders".
The supposed links with the LTTE, declared a terrorist group in the US, Britain,India and other countries, could lead to a ban on Hindraf, which spearheaded a massive protest by ethnic Indians last Sunday, a media report said Saturday quoting Attorney General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail.
However, Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar has denied that his organization has established any contact with the LTTE and has termed the government charge "baseless" and part of a campaign.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Friday asked the country's police chief Musa Hasan to "keep a watch" on Hindraf, a group claiming to represent Indian immigrants, whose 10,000-strong protest rally on Nov 25 was declared illegal.
Badawi said should their action threaten national security, the Internal Security Act (ISA) could be used. He said he was aware of Hindraf canvassing for support and help from terrorist groups and local gangsters.
"I was informed. My instructions to the police is that the group should be monitored. ISA is an option. I will decide when the time is right. If they are deemed (as a threat to national security) we will know what to do."
The police had started their investigation following a report lodged by a member of the public, Patail said outside the Shah Alam High Court here Friday.
"The danger is that this group (LTTE) has been officially declared a terrorist organisation," The New Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying.
"I think everybody in the world will be worried about such connection," Patail said, adding that he would wait for the police to complete their investigation before deciding on the next course of action.
"Links To Terrorists", The Sun newspaper said in its front-page report Saturday.
Hindraf claims to speak for the Indian community that roughly forms eight percent of Malaysia's 27 million population, that also has a large Chinese component. Its claim is contested by other Indian organizations.
Thirtyone persons, denied bail, are being prosecuted in a court for their participation in the Nov 25 rally.
The prosecution has cited interviews given by Uthayakumar and his brother P. Waytha Murthy, to newspapers in Singapore and India. Murthy is currently in India trying to garner support among political leaders.
Meanwhile, the high court adjourned to Monday a criminal revision application made by the public prosecutor following a discharge given to Uthayakumar, Waytha Moorthy and T. Ganabathirau for allegedly making seditious remarks in public.
Judicial commissioner Hashim said he was allowing the application only on grounds that the counsel representing the three needed more time to prepare its submission.
"I am only allowing the adjournment because one of the counsel had raised an important legal issue of whether a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by a lower court could be reviewed by a high court," Hashim said.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Aziz said "the groups are Sri Lanka's LTTE and the RSS, a militant organisation in India", The Star newspaper said Saturday.
Nazri said this was from statements of Hindraf leaders "who went overseas to garner support that they would meet LTTE leaders".
The supposed links with the LTTE, declared a terrorist group in the US, Britain,India and other countries, could lead to a ban on Hindraf, which spearheaded a massive protest by ethnic Indians last Sunday, a media report said Saturday quoting Attorney General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail.
However, Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar has denied that his organization has established any contact with the LTTE and has termed the government charge "baseless" and part of a campaign.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Friday asked the country's police chief Musa Hasan to "keep a watch" on Hindraf, a group claiming to represent Indian immigrants, whose 10,000-strong protest rally on Nov 25 was declared illegal.
Badawi said should their action threaten national security, the Internal Security Act (ISA) could be used. He said he was aware of Hindraf canvassing for support and help from terrorist groups and local gangsters.
"I was informed. My instructions to the police is that the group should be monitored. ISA is an option. I will decide when the time is right. If they are deemed (as a threat to national security) we will know what to do."
The police had started their investigation following a report lodged by a member of the public, Patail said outside the Shah Alam High Court here Friday.
"The danger is that this group (LTTE) has been officially declared a terrorist organisation," The New Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying.
"I think everybody in the world will be worried about such connection," Patail said, adding that he would wait for the police to complete their investigation before deciding on the next course of action.
"Links To Terrorists", The Sun newspaper said in its front-page report Saturday.
Hindraf claims to speak for the Indian community that roughly forms eight percent of Malaysia's 27 million population, that also has a large Chinese component. Its claim is contested by other Indian organizations.
Thirtyone persons, denied bail, are being prosecuted in a court for their participation in the Nov 25 rally.
The prosecution has cited interviews given by Uthayakumar and his brother P. Waytha Murthy, to newspapers in Singapore and India. Murthy is currently in India trying to garner support among political leaders.
Meanwhile, the high court adjourned to Monday a criminal revision application made by the public prosecutor following a discharge given to Uthayakumar, Waytha Moorthy and T. Ganabathirau for allegedly making seditious remarks in public.
Judicial commissioner Hashim said he was allowing the application only on grounds that the counsel representing the three needed more time to prepare its submission.
"I am only allowing the adjournment because one of the counsel had raised an important legal issue of whether a discharge not amounting to an acquittal by a lower court could be reviewed by a high court," Hashim said.
NGOs told to adopt good corporate practices to retain public trust
Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been urged to adopt good corporate practices to retain public trust and increase funding.
Billions of rupees flow to NGOs from local and foreign sources and business professionals point out that NGOs are now increasingly held accountable for such money donated in trust.
“You are accountable to your stakeholders and you need to deliver optimum results to your stakeholders, so there is no difference between Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and corporates. For this, you need to ingrain some values starting with transparency, accountability, good governance and improved quality of service,” said former Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Chandra Jayaratne, speaking at the 2007 South Asian Regional Conference for NGOs organised by the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilisation (CARM), last week.
Good business
Given the changing operating environment, NGOs were advised to become more professional and follow good business practices.
“Not only are NGOs hampered by economic and social pressures but also by political and other forces. Inflation puts limitations on resources and trained staff are being poached by others. Tax relief to NGOs is limited from next year and certain interpretations of rules and regulations are restricting your movements. There is also harassment of staff. Meanwhile the greater public eye is now on you,” said Jayaratne.
“Nevertheless, you have to be able to raise funds for your work. This is vital. So you need to have good values and communicate them to the public,” said Jayaratne.
Although Sri Lanka has separate accounting standards for NGOs, accounting practices of many, particularly smaller local NGOs, are seen as inadequate. This unprofessional approach to social service, starting with poor book keeping, makes it difficult to counter allegations of dishonest practices.
“The first step is to be transparent. You must adopt the best international auditing standards. In Sri Lanka, we already have separate standards for NGOs. You must be able to provide regular statements of accounts in agreed formats to validate that resources are used for the purposes intended and not misused,” said Jayaratne.
Concepts such as Donor Relations Policies and Service Agreements with donors are suggested to improve accountability. “Be open about your overheads. After all, you need money for your operations. So be open about it. But for that money, you must be accountable. Have a Donor Relations Policy. Every donor giving you money should know what he will get, his rights and what you will get and your obligations. Enter into comprehensive service level agreements with defined outcomes and delivery standards,” said Jayaratne.
To increase transparency NGOs are advised to set up Trusts to manage funds. “Use Trust agreements and employ external Trustees and specialist managers. The Trustee will verify that money is spent for its intended purposes. So there is independent verification of your activities and trustworthiness. Then who will fear to give you money?,” said Jayaratne
Keeping with good business practices NGOs are advised to avoid conflict of interest and, “If there is a conflict of interest, declare it upfront. Then no one can accuse you of anything later,” said Jayaratne.
Given the crowding community service space, NGO are also advised to avoid competing with each other.
“You must have some policy on competition. You must not compete with each other and try to bring each other down. That is not your purpose. You are providing a social service. So you should be able to pool your resources and not get into competition with each other,” said Jayaratne.
Poor national policies
Although NGOs are accused of various irregularities, experts in the field of social services point out that poor standard of operations are not entirely the fault of NGOs. It is mainly due to lack of national policies and inadequate regulatory structures.
Even at this point there is no clear number of how many NGOs operate in the country. The National Secretariat for NGO’s says there are 1,210 “national level” registered NGOs but only around 250 “reporting NGOs.” That is, out of 1,210 registered national NGOs, only around 250 submit annual reports.
The low level of reporting by national NGOs, says the NGO Secretariat could be because many NGOs are no longer active. Although Sri Lanka has NGO registration mechanisms, there is no de-registration mechanism. So once registered, the NGOs remain in the list, even when they are no longer operational.
On top of this confusion, the NGO Secretariat estimates that about 20,000 Community Based Organisations, or small NGOs, are operational throughout the country, registered under Divisional and District Secretaries. In addition, NGOs are also set up under the Companies Act and through Acts of Parliament.
Experts in the social service sector say Sri Lanka needs a national policy on NGOs and better monitoring and regulatory mechanisms.
“The main problem is, we don’t have a broad based system to cover all NGOs in the country. There is also no national policy. A national policy sets out the government- NGO relationship and sets guidelines. Some countries, like the Philippines and Kenya, have tripartite bodies overlooking NGOs. Then it is not as bureaucratic as in the case of only the government monitoring. The tripartite committees set codes of conduct and codes of ethics for NGOs to operate,” said Jonathan Thambar, deputy chairman of the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilisation (CARM), and a former deputy director of Social Services. Outside the actual number of NGOs operating in the country, the total amount of money coming into the NGO sector and what it is used for, is anybody’s guess at this point because again, comprehensive data is not available. This poor tracking of large mounts of money spells trouble, starting with money laundering.
“NGOs, unknowingly to them, can be used for money laundering and there have been some attempts already running into millions of dollars,” said Jayaratne.
Still on the way
A number of committees have already sat their way through the NGO topic and produced many reports and recommendations. The NGO Secretariat says these recommendations will soon be put to use, starting with one central registration point for all NGOs.
“There will be a very clear picture in the future. There will be only one central point for NGOs to register. We are discussing with the Colombo University to develop a database for the sector, funded by the Asia Foundation Institute. All the NGOs will be listed here.
They will also be required to upload action plans and progress reports. Issuing of visa and work permits will also be done online. So there will be very close monitoring of NGO activities,” said the Director of the NGO Secretariat, Douglas Nanayakkara. The database is expected to be operational by March 2008.
Billions of rupees flow to NGOs from local and foreign sources and business professionals point out that NGOs are now increasingly held accountable for such money donated in trust.
“You are accountable to your stakeholders and you need to deliver optimum results to your stakeholders, so there is no difference between Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and corporates. For this, you need to ingrain some values starting with transparency, accountability, good governance and improved quality of service,” said former Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Chandra Jayaratne, speaking at the 2007 South Asian Regional Conference for NGOs organised by the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilisation (CARM), last week.
Good business
Given the changing operating environment, NGOs were advised to become more professional and follow good business practices.
“Not only are NGOs hampered by economic and social pressures but also by political and other forces. Inflation puts limitations on resources and trained staff are being poached by others. Tax relief to NGOs is limited from next year and certain interpretations of rules and regulations are restricting your movements. There is also harassment of staff. Meanwhile the greater public eye is now on you,” said Jayaratne.
“Nevertheless, you have to be able to raise funds for your work. This is vital. So you need to have good values and communicate them to the public,” said Jayaratne.
Although Sri Lanka has separate accounting standards for NGOs, accounting practices of many, particularly smaller local NGOs, are seen as inadequate. This unprofessional approach to social service, starting with poor book keeping, makes it difficult to counter allegations of dishonest practices.
“The first step is to be transparent. You must adopt the best international auditing standards. In Sri Lanka, we already have separate standards for NGOs. You must be able to provide regular statements of accounts in agreed formats to validate that resources are used for the purposes intended and not misused,” said Jayaratne.
Concepts such as Donor Relations Policies and Service Agreements with donors are suggested to improve accountability. “Be open about your overheads. After all, you need money for your operations. So be open about it. But for that money, you must be accountable. Have a Donor Relations Policy. Every donor giving you money should know what he will get, his rights and what you will get and your obligations. Enter into comprehensive service level agreements with defined outcomes and delivery standards,” said Jayaratne.
To increase transparency NGOs are advised to set up Trusts to manage funds. “Use Trust agreements and employ external Trustees and specialist managers. The Trustee will verify that money is spent for its intended purposes. So there is independent verification of your activities and trustworthiness. Then who will fear to give you money?,” said Jayaratne
Keeping with good business practices NGOs are advised to avoid conflict of interest and, “If there is a conflict of interest, declare it upfront. Then no one can accuse you of anything later,” said Jayaratne.
Given the crowding community service space, NGO are also advised to avoid competing with each other.
“You must have some policy on competition. You must not compete with each other and try to bring each other down. That is not your purpose. You are providing a social service. So you should be able to pool your resources and not get into competition with each other,” said Jayaratne.
Poor national policies
Although NGOs are accused of various irregularities, experts in the field of social services point out that poor standard of operations are not entirely the fault of NGOs. It is mainly due to lack of national policies and inadequate regulatory structures.
Even at this point there is no clear number of how many NGOs operate in the country. The National Secretariat for NGO’s says there are 1,210 “national level” registered NGOs but only around 250 “reporting NGOs.” That is, out of 1,210 registered national NGOs, only around 250 submit annual reports.
The low level of reporting by national NGOs, says the NGO Secretariat could be because many NGOs are no longer active. Although Sri Lanka has NGO registration mechanisms, there is no de-registration mechanism. So once registered, the NGOs remain in the list, even when they are no longer operational.
On top of this confusion, the NGO Secretariat estimates that about 20,000 Community Based Organisations, or small NGOs, are operational throughout the country, registered under Divisional and District Secretaries. In addition, NGOs are also set up under the Companies Act and through Acts of Parliament.
Experts in the social service sector say Sri Lanka needs a national policy on NGOs and better monitoring and regulatory mechanisms.
“The main problem is, we don’t have a broad based system to cover all NGOs in the country. There is also no national policy. A national policy sets out the government- NGO relationship and sets guidelines. Some countries, like the Philippines and Kenya, have tripartite bodies overlooking NGOs. Then it is not as bureaucratic as in the case of only the government monitoring. The tripartite committees set codes of conduct and codes of ethics for NGOs to operate,” said Jonathan Thambar, deputy chairman of the Centre for Advancement of Resource Mobilisation (CARM), and a former deputy director of Social Services. Outside the actual number of NGOs operating in the country, the total amount of money coming into the NGO sector and what it is used for, is anybody’s guess at this point because again, comprehensive data is not available. This poor tracking of large mounts of money spells trouble, starting with money laundering.
“NGOs, unknowingly to them, can be used for money laundering and there have been some attempts already running into millions of dollars,” said Jayaratne.
Still on the way
A number of committees have already sat their way through the NGO topic and produced many reports and recommendations. The NGO Secretariat says these recommendations will soon be put to use, starting with one central registration point for all NGOs.
“There will be a very clear picture in the future. There will be only one central point for NGOs to register. We are discussing with the Colombo University to develop a database for the sector, funded by the Asia Foundation Institute. All the NGOs will be listed here.
They will also be required to upload action plans and progress reports. Issuing of visa and work permits will also be done online. So there will be very close monitoring of NGO activities,” said the Director of the NGO Secretariat, Douglas Nanayakkara. The database is expected to be operational by March 2008.
Kebethigollewa - Bombs on the battered track
Tigers repeat their cowardly act; authorities beef up security
Abimanapura, Kebithigollewa: S. Podinona’s husband died in the Anuradhapura hospital in the morning. After attending to formalities in the hospital, she rushed to the main bus stand in the city centre to catch the last bus to Janakapura via Kebethigollewa. The time was 5.45 p.m. As she approached the bus stand, she could see the bus leaving.
The poor woman acted fast. She got into a three-wheeler and overtook the bus. Satisfied she had managed to catch the bus, she reminisced about the days she had spent with her husband and planned the funeral arrangements as the bus moved along.
Thick jungles on both sides of the road and the darkness outside did not evoke any eerie feeling among the 70-odd passengers or driver J. Ratnaweera, a veteran on this 123 km long route. They hoped to reach Janakapura by 9 p.m.
Tea before terror
At 7.25 p.m., the bus stopped at Kebethigollewa. Some 20 passengers got off the bus while others had a cup of tea from the wayside boutique. After the short tea break, the bus resumed the journey unaware of the danger that lay ahead. Thirty minutes later, two big blasts hit the bus, killing and wounding passengers. The wounded were screaming both in pain and in fear. Before they could realize that they had become the latest victims of heartless terror, there was gunfire. LTTE gunmen sprayed bullets at the bus, which had come to a halt, before they fled the scene. The final toll stood at 16 killed and 23 injured.
Podinona survived with injuries to relate the horror. “The bus was hit by two blasts. I heard sounds of gunfire following the explosions. I managed to get out of the bus, creep into a culvert and remain there. I heard people screaming and crying for help,” said Podinona who is receiving treatment at the Anuradhapura hospital.
Premalal Sumanathillaka, another wounded passenger, said he knew it was a bomb attack and saw people crying in pain and some profusely bleeding. He said he managed to creep under a seat and stayed there till soldiers arrived at the scene. Among the dead were two soldiers who were returning to their camp at Welioya after their leave.
Travelling with them was 18-year-old soldier Sugath Bandara who got into the bus at Kebethigollewa. He was seriously wounded in the leg and transferred to Colombo National Hosptal. This young soldier said he saw some ten to 15 LTTE cadres firing at the bus following the explosions. He said he dragged himself to the jungle and remained there till soldiers arrived at the scene.
Homeguards not to be seen
An angry Bandara asked why there was no immediate assistance from the homeguards who were at scores of bunkers that dotted the boundaries of Kebethigollewa. Among those who were killed was provincial journalist, W. Gunasinghe, 62 who had highlighted the security problems the Kebethigollewa village and its residents were facing after a deadly bus explosion in June last year.
Some 64 passengers died in that blast after which hundreds of villagers fled Kebethigollewa and remained in schools and temples in safe areas as refugees for months. They returned to their vulnerably situated village south of rebel-infested Vavuniya, only after the government took several measures to ensure the security of the village. But despite these security measures, which included a series of bunkers manned by homeguards, most villagers lived in fear.
Confirming their worst fears, the Tigers struck on Wednesday. Investigations have revealed that the guerrillas had infiltrated through a gap between two guard posts. Each of these guard posts was manned by three homeguards. The Tigers had planted the claymore mines facing the road. One hit the bus while the impact of the second mine was largely directed towards the ground where now remains a crater.
New measures
In the aftermath of the second bus attack in as many years in the same village, the authorities are to adopt fresh measures to beef up security of the village.
Among these measures are:
* Using armour plates for civilian buses to minimise harm if they are hit by roadside bombs.
* Increasing the number of bunkers on the main road.
* Recruiting more homeguards
* Suspending all night buses from Kebithigollewa to Janakapura.
* Allowing vehicular movements in the morning only after the route is cleared.
(www.sundaytimes.lk)
Keith Vaz in trouble after attending pro-LTTE event
NRI Labour MP Keith Vaz has been criticised by the Sri Lankan High Commission for attending an event here in which LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, through a televised address, called for supporting their demand for a separate Tamil state.
Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, addressed the annual Tamil rally in East London after a televised address by Prabhakaran, the commander of the LTTE, a terrorist organisation banned by the British Government.
The rally was organised by UK-based Sri Lankan Tamils on the birthday of the LTTE leader.
The presence of Vaz, MP from Indian-dominated Leicester East, and a fellow Labour MP, Joan Ryan, drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan High Commission which released a statement claiming that the event was a "clear violation of the UK terrorism laws".
The police, who recorded the gathering, said they were "assessing material from the event" to ascertain if there is any evidence of criminal offences being committed.
The High Commission also accused 51-year-old Vaz of being "partisan to a proscribed terrorist group" and claimed that the event was organised by a front organisation of the LTTE.
Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, addressed the annual Tamil rally in East London after a televised address by Prabhakaran, the commander of the LTTE, a terrorist organisation banned by the British Government.
The rally was organised by UK-based Sri Lankan Tamils on the birthday of the LTTE leader.
The presence of Vaz, MP from Indian-dominated Leicester East, and a fellow Labour MP, Joan Ryan, drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan High Commission which released a statement claiming that the event was a "clear violation of the UK terrorism laws".
The police, who recorded the gathering, said they were "assessing material from the event" to ascertain if there is any evidence of criminal offences being committed.
The High Commission also accused 51-year-old Vaz of being "partisan to a proscribed terrorist group" and claimed that the event was organised by a front organisation of the LTTE.
Row over UK's Labour Party MPs support to LTTE
A row has broken out over the attendance of three of Britain's governing Labour Party MPs, including the high-profile Goan-origin Keith Vaz and Ealing Southall's new representative Virendra Sharma, at a several-thousand-strong expatriate Tamil event to pay their respects to those who died in the "Tamil liberation struggle".
The Sri Lankan High Commission here has protested at Vaz's attendance, describing it as an act that shows he is "partisan to a proscribed terrorist group". Vaz currently chairs the influential parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee, which has oversight of Britain's counter-terrorism laws. The LTTE, referred to by the Sri Lankan authorities, is proscribed in Britain. Under the UK Terrorism Act, the Tigers are banned from raising funds, holding property or operating in any form and it is an offence to glorify their activities, or incite others to support them.
The Sri Lankan High Commission claimed the event was organised by apologists for terrorists, and more particularly, by "a front organisation of a terrorist group for fundraising and propaganda purposes".
But according to Tamilnet, which describes itself as "a news and feature service that focuses on providing reliable and accurate information on issues concerning the Tamil people in Sri Lanka", the "over 25,000 expatriate Tamils in Britain...gathered to mark 'Tamil Remembrance Day' to pay their respects to those who had died in the Tamil liberation struggle. The event (was) organised by Tamil National Remembrance Foundation, an association of families of Tamils who had fallen in the Tamil struggle".
Tamilnet said the annual event, which saw its largest attendance ever, was particularly relevant in the context of the "resumed conflict in Sri Lanka".
The gathering row over the attendance of high-profile British Asian MPs came after it became clear LTTE leader V Prabhakaran's so-called 'Heroes Day' address was broadcast live on large screens across the south-east London venue, with Vaz, Sharma and another Labour MP Joan Ryan in the audience.
The Sri Lankan authorities are understood to object to the MPs' presence at an event used by Prabhakaran to call for "the entire Tamil-speaking world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam" and praise the LTTE's use of suicide bombers with the words: "The immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes is delivering a message to the Sinhala nation."
But Vaz, who jointly chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils with Liberal Democarat MP Simon Hughes, who sent a message to the rally, insisted he was "not really interested in (the contents of Mr Prabhakaran's speech). I was there to deliver a message from the all-party group, which is what I do. I was there to deliver a message from my constituents. I have many Tamil people in my constituency."
He and his party colleague Ryan said they had been unaware Prabhakaran was due to speak, a defence described as ludicrous by observers who said the LTTE hierarchy's rallying calls are standard procedure for a rally such as this. At every previous 'Heroes Day' commemorated in the UK, Prabhakaran's speech has been televised to rapt audiences.
The Sri Lankan High Commission here has protested at Vaz's attendance, describing it as an act that shows he is "partisan to a proscribed terrorist group". Vaz currently chairs the influential parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee, which has oversight of Britain's counter-terrorism laws. The LTTE, referred to by the Sri Lankan authorities, is proscribed in Britain. Under the UK Terrorism Act, the Tigers are banned from raising funds, holding property or operating in any form and it is an offence to glorify their activities, or incite others to support them.
The Sri Lankan High Commission claimed the event was organised by apologists for terrorists, and more particularly, by "a front organisation of a terrorist group for fundraising and propaganda purposes".
But according to Tamilnet, which describes itself as "a news and feature service that focuses on providing reliable and accurate information on issues concerning the Tamil people in Sri Lanka", the "over 25,000 expatriate Tamils in Britain...gathered to mark 'Tamil Remembrance Day' to pay their respects to those who had died in the Tamil liberation struggle. The event (was) organised by Tamil National Remembrance Foundation, an association of families of Tamils who had fallen in the Tamil struggle".
Tamilnet said the annual event, which saw its largest attendance ever, was particularly relevant in the context of the "resumed conflict in Sri Lanka".
The gathering row over the attendance of high-profile British Asian MPs came after it became clear LTTE leader V Prabhakaran's so-called 'Heroes Day' address was broadcast live on large screens across the south-east London venue, with Vaz, Sharma and another Labour MP Joan Ryan in the audience.
The Sri Lankan authorities are understood to object to the MPs' presence at an event used by Prabhakaran to call for "the entire Tamil-speaking world to rise up for the liberation of Tamil Eelam" and praise the LTTE's use of suicide bombers with the words: "The immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes is delivering a message to the Sinhala nation."
But Vaz, who jointly chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils with Liberal Democarat MP Simon Hughes, who sent a message to the rally, insisted he was "not really interested in (the contents of Mr Prabhakaran's speech). I was there to deliver a message from the all-party group, which is what I do. I was there to deliver a message from my constituents. I have many Tamil people in my constituency."
He and his party colleague Ryan said they had been unaware Prabhakaran was due to speak, a defence described as ludicrous by observers who said the LTTE hierarchy's rallying calls are standard procedure for a rally such as this. At every previous 'Heroes Day' commemorated in the UK, Prabhakaran's speech has been televised to rapt audiences.
Checkpoints checkmated
Security forces adopt new strategy in wake of Supreme Court ruling
Permanent security checkpoints in and around Colombo have been abandoned and security forces manning them have shifted their positions in keeping with a Supreme Court ruling last week. The Supreme Court in a fundamental rights case judgment ruled that the permanent security checkpoints were illegal. Petitioner, V. I. S. Rodrigo, had said he was harassed and unlawfully detained on trumped-up charges by police officers manning a permanent check post at Kirullapone in Colombo.
Subsequent to the judgment, troops manning permanent checkpoints, some of which were highly fortified, abandoned them and resorted to sudden checks. In Colombo and suburbs, security forces were seen carrying out checks as usual a few metres away from the now-abandoned checkpoints.
Military Spokesperson Udaya Nanayakara told The Sunday Times that the new system had its pros and cons."The advantage is it enables us to change positions on the road. There is unpredictability and an element of surprise when we shift places. “But the disadvantage is that troops will not be protected by sandbags in case of an attack," Brigadier Nanayakkara said.
As a result of last week’s court ruling, the Defence Ministry’s move to equip key checkpoints in the city with CCTV cameras has come to a halt, The Sunday Times learns. Questions are now being asked whether the government will cancel the tender for the supply of CCTV cameras.
Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva with Justices (Ms) Shiranee Thilakawardena and Jagath Balapatabendi agreeing observed that guidelines specified in the documents to officers of checkpoints could not possibly serve any purpose from the perspective of national security.
Permanent security checkpoints in and around Colombo have been abandoned and security forces manning them have shifted their positions in keeping with a Supreme Court ruling last week. The Supreme Court in a fundamental rights case judgment ruled that the permanent security checkpoints were illegal. Petitioner, V. I. S. Rodrigo, had said he was harassed and unlawfully detained on trumped-up charges by police officers manning a permanent check post at Kirullapone in Colombo.
Subsequent to the judgment, troops manning permanent checkpoints, some of which were highly fortified, abandoned them and resorted to sudden checks. In Colombo and suburbs, security forces were seen carrying out checks as usual a few metres away from the now-abandoned checkpoints.
Military Spokesperson Udaya Nanayakara told The Sunday Times that the new system had its pros and cons."The advantage is it enables us to change positions on the road. There is unpredictability and an element of surprise when we shift places. “But the disadvantage is that troops will not be protected by sandbags in case of an attack," Brigadier Nanayakkara said.
As a result of last week’s court ruling, the Defence Ministry’s move to equip key checkpoints in the city with CCTV cameras has come to a halt, The Sunday Times learns. Questions are now being asked whether the government will cancel the tender for the supply of CCTV cameras.
Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva with Justices (Ms) Shiranee Thilakawardena and Jagath Balapatabendi agreeing observed that guidelines specified in the documents to officers of checkpoints could not possibly serve any purpose from the perspective of national security.
Are Tamils also not citizens of Sri Lanka?
In the year 1998, Joubert Gnanamuttu an engineer by profession (a slightly built, soft spoken and self effacing gentleman who had lived for more than twenty nine years in Colombo and who spoke with a slight stammer), was travelling in the bus to Borella when it was stopped at an Army check-point at Stanley Wijesundera Mawatha. Asked to show his identity, he produced his national identity card and a driving licence as well as a student identity card issued to him by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies.
Despite this proof of identification, he was asked to show a 'police registration form' to which request, Gnanamuttu replied that he did not have one and was not aware that the law required him to possess one. This sufficed for him to be rudely abused and detained while the rest of the passengers were allowed to proceed on their way. Gnamuttu was then taken to the Cinnamon Gardens police station where all his belongings, including his money, were taken from him and thence to the Bambalapitiya police station to be photographed. In a bizarre scenario thereafter, Gnanamuttu had been 'misplaced' by the police officer escorting the party of detainees, resulting in this mild mannered man having to, (since all his money and identification documents were at the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station), walk back by himself all the way from Bambalapitiya to the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station, whereupon he was greeted with consternation by the police officers and immediately detained. He was then produced before the Magistrate's Court, Hulftsdorp on a "B" Report which stated that he was suspected of "terrorist activities."
A further shock then awaited him in the form of a lawyer who had informed Gnanamuttu that his identity card was in his possession and therefore that he had to appear for him for which fees would need to be paid. Gnanamuttu had refused stating that he had no money whereupon the lawyer had turned hostile. Gnanamuttu was then brought before the magistrate, allowed to sign a personal bond and asked to appear in court on a later date a week hence on which subsequent date, he was discharged.
Kafkan scenario
This Kafkan scenario was not conceived as a figment of my imagination but instead is an incident that was brought before the Supreme Court shortly thereafter, fully probed into and decided in favour of this unfortunate man who had undergone public humiliation and personal trauma, all due to the fact that he was Tamil, coupled with perhaps the fact that he stammered when he spoke. In 1999, the Supreme Court, examining this incident, declared a violation of the right to be free from unlawful arrest and detention declaring, in the judgment of Shiranee A. Bandaranayake J (with the then Chief Justice G.P.S. de Silva and Wijetunge J agreeing) that 'If the purpose at the security check-point was to ascertain the identity of the person travelling in that bus, these documents in my view, were more than sufficient."
Eight years later, the impact of this judgment appears to have been minimal. Ironically, V.I.S. Rodrigo, the petitioner in whose favour the Court decided this week and who had undergone a similar harrowing experience, this time at the Polhengoda checkpoint and at the hands of a female sub-inspector, had also been arrested and detained because (in the words of the respondent police officer as disclosed to court) "he had stammered and appeared to be excited." One is constrained to question whether there is, therefore some highly confidential and secretive directive or departmental order nestling in the desks of the police stations that define stammering as a justifiable ground on which arrests may be made? Perhaps this is a moot question that the Inspector General of Police may be called upon by the public to answer.
In this week's judgment, Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva (with Shiranee Tillekewardene and Balapatabendi JJ agreeing) passed severe strictures on the arrest and later detention of V.I.S. Rodrigo by the Officer in Charge of the Traffic Branch of the Kirulapona police station purportedly on the suspicion that his driving licence was forged. The Court referred to a 'vicious scheme' of the police as well as the 'abuse of power, rampant dishonesty and corruption and also misuse of the process of law that take place at 'check points' that have sprouted up."
In the Gnanamuttu case, the Registrar of the Supreme Court was directed to send a copy of the judgment to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for appropriate action but to all intents and purposes, nothing was done. In the judgment relating to the complaint brought by V.I.S. Rodrigo, the non-implementation of previous orders by Court, particularly regarding another recent instance where a person who was transporting furniture for personal use was wrongfully arrested, detained and tortured because he refused to give a bribe that was demanded, was specifically adverted to. It is in the context of this non -implementation that the Court, this week, issued directions in terms of Article 126(4) of the Constitution ordering the dismantling of permanent 'checkpoints' and proper regulation of the total prohibition of parking vehicles on principal roads. Further, IGP and Secretary, Defence was directed to ensure that minimum inconvenience be caused to the public as a result of movements of politicians on these roads.
Highhanded, insensitive and discriminatory action
It is unfortunate that judicial intervention is required in order to drive home the thinking that while interests of national security may be paramount, ordinary citizens of any ethnicity cannot be harassed and threatened by law enforcement officers who besmirch the good name of the entire service in so doing.
This rule applies not only to behaviour on the roads but also to all other procedures that are being put into place in the name of national security. What befell V.I.S. Rodrigo, (which is surely a plight common to many other roadusers), demonstrates that arbitrary police abuse is not limited to members of one particular ethnicity alone. But there is no doubt that it is citizens of this ethnicity who bear the very brunt of such attacks. The manner in which the mass arrests of Tamils took place early this week, ostensibly as a security measure is another instance of highhanded, insensitive and overtly discriminatory action. Each and every action of this nature only alienates the ordinary Tamil community, many of whom do not support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In many instances, none of these measures have a rational justification besides possessing racist undertones. Why, for example, are civilians in Jaffna required to have a special identification card issued by the Army in which moreover, it is required to be stated as to what the political opinion of the applicant is? Where is the rational justification between this requirement and national security? Why should passengers, when traveling on the bus be separated by ethnicity and one lot of passengers detained without proper checking of their identification but solely because they are Tamil? Such occurrences make me ashamed to say that I am Sri Lankan and that I live in a country where such incidents are commonplace. These are issues that we should be putting to the Government of Sri Lanka sans any particular political persuasion and as citizens of Sri Lanka, not as Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others.
Despite this proof of identification, he was asked to show a 'police registration form' to which request, Gnanamuttu replied that he did not have one and was not aware that the law required him to possess one. This sufficed for him to be rudely abused and detained while the rest of the passengers were allowed to proceed on their way. Gnamuttu was then taken to the Cinnamon Gardens police station where all his belongings, including his money, were taken from him and thence to the Bambalapitiya police station to be photographed. In a bizarre scenario thereafter, Gnanamuttu had been 'misplaced' by the police officer escorting the party of detainees, resulting in this mild mannered man having to, (since all his money and identification documents were at the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station), walk back by himself all the way from Bambalapitiya to the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station, whereupon he was greeted with consternation by the police officers and immediately detained. He was then produced before the Magistrate's Court, Hulftsdorp on a "B" Report which stated that he was suspected of "terrorist activities."
A further shock then awaited him in the form of a lawyer who had informed Gnanamuttu that his identity card was in his possession and therefore that he had to appear for him for which fees would need to be paid. Gnanamuttu had refused stating that he had no money whereupon the lawyer had turned hostile. Gnanamuttu was then brought before the magistrate, allowed to sign a personal bond and asked to appear in court on a later date a week hence on which subsequent date, he was discharged.
Kafkan scenario
This Kafkan scenario was not conceived as a figment of my imagination but instead is an incident that was brought before the Supreme Court shortly thereafter, fully probed into and decided in favour of this unfortunate man who had undergone public humiliation and personal trauma, all due to the fact that he was Tamil, coupled with perhaps the fact that he stammered when he spoke. In 1999, the Supreme Court, examining this incident, declared a violation of the right to be free from unlawful arrest and detention declaring, in the judgment of Shiranee A. Bandaranayake J (with the then Chief Justice G.P.S. de Silva and Wijetunge J agreeing) that 'If the purpose at the security check-point was to ascertain the identity of the person travelling in that bus, these documents in my view, were more than sufficient."
Eight years later, the impact of this judgment appears to have been minimal. Ironically, V.I.S. Rodrigo, the petitioner in whose favour the Court decided this week and who had undergone a similar harrowing experience, this time at the Polhengoda checkpoint and at the hands of a female sub-inspector, had also been arrested and detained because (in the words of the respondent police officer as disclosed to court) "he had stammered and appeared to be excited." One is constrained to question whether there is, therefore some highly confidential and secretive directive or departmental order nestling in the desks of the police stations that define stammering as a justifiable ground on which arrests may be made? Perhaps this is a moot question that the Inspector General of Police may be called upon by the public to answer.
In this week's judgment, Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva (with Shiranee Tillekewardene and Balapatabendi JJ agreeing) passed severe strictures on the arrest and later detention of V.I.S. Rodrigo by the Officer in Charge of the Traffic Branch of the Kirulapona police station purportedly on the suspicion that his driving licence was forged. The Court referred to a 'vicious scheme' of the police as well as the 'abuse of power, rampant dishonesty and corruption and also misuse of the process of law that take place at 'check points' that have sprouted up."
In the Gnanamuttu case, the Registrar of the Supreme Court was directed to send a copy of the judgment to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for appropriate action but to all intents and purposes, nothing was done. In the judgment relating to the complaint brought by V.I.S. Rodrigo, the non-implementation of previous orders by Court, particularly regarding another recent instance where a person who was transporting furniture for personal use was wrongfully arrested, detained and tortured because he refused to give a bribe that was demanded, was specifically adverted to. It is in the context of this non -implementation that the Court, this week, issued directions in terms of Article 126(4) of the Constitution ordering the dismantling of permanent 'checkpoints' and proper regulation of the total prohibition of parking vehicles on principal roads. Further, IGP and Secretary, Defence was directed to ensure that minimum inconvenience be caused to the public as a result of movements of politicians on these roads.
Highhanded, insensitive and discriminatory action
It is unfortunate that judicial intervention is required in order to drive home the thinking that while interests of national security may be paramount, ordinary citizens of any ethnicity cannot be harassed and threatened by law enforcement officers who besmirch the good name of the entire service in so doing.
This rule applies not only to behaviour on the roads but also to all other procedures that are being put into place in the name of national security. What befell V.I.S. Rodrigo, (which is surely a plight common to many other roadusers), demonstrates that arbitrary police abuse is not limited to members of one particular ethnicity alone. But there is no doubt that it is citizens of this ethnicity who bear the very brunt of such attacks. The manner in which the mass arrests of Tamils took place early this week, ostensibly as a security measure is another instance of highhanded, insensitive and overtly discriminatory action. Each and every action of this nature only alienates the ordinary Tamil community, many of whom do not support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In many instances, none of these measures have a rational justification besides possessing racist undertones. Why, for example, are civilians in Jaffna required to have a special identification card issued by the Army in which moreover, it is required to be stated as to what the political opinion of the applicant is? Where is the rational justification between this requirement and national security? Why should passengers, when traveling on the bus be separated by ethnicity and one lot of passengers detained without proper checking of their identification but solely because they are Tamil? Such occurrences make me ashamed to say that I am Sri Lankan and that I live in a country where such incidents are commonplace. These are issues that we should be putting to the Government of Sri Lanka sans any particular political persuasion and as citizens of Sri Lanka, not as Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others.
Sri Lanka says 25 dead in clashes amid calls for UN rights mission
International groups called for a UN human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka on Saturday as fresh clashes between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels left at least 25 dead, the government said.
Fighting across Sri Lanka's northern frontier left 24 rebels dead and injured 18 during 24 hours ending early Saturday, the defence ministry said, placing their own losses at one soldier killed and two injured.
There was no immediate word from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Independent verification of battlefield casualties are not possible and both sides are known to offer wildly contradictory figures.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Saturday called for the United Nations Human Rights Council to monitor rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
They have called before for such a mission but said the need was more urgent than ever.
The human rights situation in Sri Lanka "is rapidly deteriorating. In the last two weeks of November alone, more than 50 civilians have been killed in Sri Lanka," the Human Rights Watch said.
Since September, more than 20,000 people have been displaced by the escalation in fighting between both sides, the rights group said in an open letter ahead of a UN meeting on human rights in Geneva next week.
In the northern district of Jaffna, the number of "enforced disappearances" and unlawful killings continues "at very high levels," the HRW said adding that "over 200 civilians were reported missing in Jaffna since January 2007."
"Both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have failed to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm," the group said.
Sri Lanka has strongly resisted calls for a UN monitoring mission in the embattled country where more than 60,000 people have been killed since 1972.
"We are not willing to discuss a UN presence in Sri Lanka for monitoring purposes nor are we willing to allow an office of the High Commissioner (here)," Human Rights minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said in October after a visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.
Fighting across Sri Lanka's northern frontier left 24 rebels dead and injured 18 during 24 hours ending early Saturday, the defence ministry said, placing their own losses at one soldier killed and two injured.
There was no immediate word from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Independent verification of battlefield casualties are not possible and both sides are known to offer wildly contradictory figures.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Saturday called for the United Nations Human Rights Council to monitor rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
They have called before for such a mission but said the need was more urgent than ever.
The human rights situation in Sri Lanka "is rapidly deteriorating. In the last two weeks of November alone, more than 50 civilians have been killed in Sri Lanka," the Human Rights Watch said.
Since September, more than 20,000 people have been displaced by the escalation in fighting between both sides, the rights group said in an open letter ahead of a UN meeting on human rights in Geneva next week.
In the northern district of Jaffna, the number of "enforced disappearances" and unlawful killings continues "at very high levels," the HRW said adding that "over 200 civilians were reported missing in Jaffna since January 2007."
"Both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have failed to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm," the group said.
Sri Lanka has strongly resisted calls for a UN monitoring mission in the embattled country where more than 60,000 people have been killed since 1972.
"We are not willing to discuss a UN presence in Sri Lanka for monitoring purposes nor are we willing to allow an office of the High Commissioner (here)," Human Rights minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said in October after a visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.
Vaiko writes to Indian PM, alleges SLN-Indian Navy nexus
Vaiko, General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam dashed off a letter to the Indian Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh alleging "a nefarious nexus between Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) and Indian Navy" after an Indian naval official declared that SLN was not guilty of deliberately killing Indian fishermen. Mr Vaiko also appealed to Mr Singh to "stop forthwith the supply of arms to Sri Lanka and withdraw the radars already supplied and give instructions to the officers of the Indian Navy not to pursue the nefarious game" of collaborating with the SLN. His three-page letter was released to the media on Sunday.
Commodore PE Van Halteren, Naval officer-in-charge of Tamilnadu, had given a clean-chit to the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) when he addressed the media in Chennai on Saturday. Defending the SLN, he said that it has "never deliberately fired at Indian fishermen in the Palk Straits. The Indian fishermen fell prey to the crossfire between the Lankan Navy and LTTE whenever they crossed the international maritime boundary. As a matter of policy, they do not open fire on Indian fishermen. The SLN never crossed into Indian territory to attack the fishermen who have alleged that they were frequently targeted by the Lankan Navy boats." Vaiko labeled Halteren's statement "most unwarranted, uncalled for and unjustifiable."
Coming down heavily on Halteren's defence and support of the SLN, Mr Vaiko pointed out that in the Indian democratical setup, the chiefs of the armed forces have "all along been very careful in their press briefings and statements" and "confined themselves to the scope of their authority." In his letter he questioned the recent trend of the officers of the armed forces, particularly naval officers, to make statements in support of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) since it "causes grave concern and reasonable suspicions as to whether they operate at the behest of the Indian Government or the SLN?"
On September 16, 2004, Chief of the Indian Naval Staff Arun Prakash had said that Indian fishermen have never been attacked by the SLN. Two days later, Vaiko had presented a memorandum to Mr Manmohan Singh giving details of the Tamilnadu fishermen who had been attacked and killed by the SLN since 1970 in more than 900 attacks. According to his letter, the deaths of the Tamilnadu fishermen at the hands of the SLN had been acknowledged in Parliament by the Indian Government itself. Vaiko condemned the "audacity" of the the naval chief to have out-stepped his official bounds and given a "clean chit to the murderous SLN" when in truth they had entered Indian territorial waters innumerable times and attacked Indian fishermen. On July 17, 1997, an SLN helicopter had dared to fly over Indian territorial waters at Arukattuturai near Vedaaranyam and dropped bombs that left four Indian Tamil fishermen dead and several others wounded.
In his letter, Vaiko pointed out that there existed "a nefarious nexus between SLN and Indian Navy" and therefore he alleged that "the Indian Navy is under a cloud of accusation that they are collaborating with SLN by providing information, communication and help in the genocidal attacks of SLN against the Tamils in the ongoing confrontation." He noted with distress that "the Indian Navy has never attempted even once to protect Tamilnadu fishermen and ward-off attacks of the SLN all these years."
He alleged that the farsighted foreign policy of Indian Prime Ministers like Pundit Nehru and Mrs Indira Gandhi had been "given a decent burial" by the "clandestine, planned assistance of the Indian Government to the racist Sri Lanka Government in their military attacks against the Tamils" and this was reflected by the "arrogant, alarming utterances of the Indian Naval officers."
Vaiko had previously written to Mr Manmohan Singh on August 6, 2007 expressing his anguish and protest to the decision taken by the SLN and Indian Navy to jointly coordinate their communication network on July 13, 2007 onboard a SLN vessel. He alleged that through this decision, "the Indian Government had knowingly fallen into the conspiratory trap laid by the Sri Lankan racist Government."
(www.tamilnet.com)
Commodore PE Van Halteren, Naval officer-in-charge of Tamilnadu, had given a clean-chit to the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) when he addressed the media in Chennai on Saturday. Defending the SLN, he said that it has "never deliberately fired at Indian fishermen in the Palk Straits. The Indian fishermen fell prey to the crossfire between the Lankan Navy and LTTE whenever they crossed the international maritime boundary. As a matter of policy, they do not open fire on Indian fishermen. The SLN never crossed into Indian territory to attack the fishermen who have alleged that they were frequently targeted by the Lankan Navy boats." Vaiko labeled Halteren's statement "most unwarranted, uncalled for and unjustifiable."
Coming down heavily on Halteren's defence and support of the SLN, Mr Vaiko pointed out that in the Indian democratical setup, the chiefs of the armed forces have "all along been very careful in their press briefings and statements" and "confined themselves to the scope of their authority." In his letter he questioned the recent trend of the officers of the armed forces, particularly naval officers, to make statements in support of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) since it "causes grave concern and reasonable suspicions as to whether they operate at the behest of the Indian Government or the SLN?"
On September 16, 2004, Chief of the Indian Naval Staff Arun Prakash had said that Indian fishermen have never been attacked by the SLN. Two days later, Vaiko had presented a memorandum to Mr Manmohan Singh giving details of the Tamilnadu fishermen who had been attacked and killed by the SLN since 1970 in more than 900 attacks. According to his letter, the deaths of the Tamilnadu fishermen at the hands of the SLN had been acknowledged in Parliament by the Indian Government itself. Vaiko condemned the "audacity" of the the naval chief to have out-stepped his official bounds and given a "clean chit to the murderous SLN" when in truth they had entered Indian territorial waters innumerable times and attacked Indian fishermen. On July 17, 1997, an SLN helicopter had dared to fly over Indian territorial waters at Arukattuturai near Vedaaranyam and dropped bombs that left four Indian Tamil fishermen dead and several others wounded.
In his letter, Vaiko pointed out that there existed "a nefarious nexus between SLN and Indian Navy" and therefore he alleged that "the Indian Navy is under a cloud of accusation that they are collaborating with SLN by providing information, communication and help in the genocidal attacks of SLN against the Tamils in the ongoing confrontation." He noted with distress that "the Indian Navy has never attempted even once to protect Tamilnadu fishermen and ward-off attacks of the SLN all these years."
He alleged that the farsighted foreign policy of Indian Prime Ministers like Pundit Nehru and Mrs Indira Gandhi had been "given a decent burial" by the "clandestine, planned assistance of the Indian Government to the racist Sri Lanka Government in their military attacks against the Tamils" and this was reflected by the "arrogant, alarming utterances of the Indian Naval officers."
Vaiko had previously written to Mr Manmohan Singh on August 6, 2007 expressing his anguish and protest to the decision taken by the SLN and Indian Navy to jointly coordinate their communication network on July 13, 2007 onboard a SLN vessel. He alleged that through this decision, "the Indian Government had knowingly fallen into the conspiratory trap laid by the Sri Lankan racist Government."
(www.tamilnet.com)
LTTE sea wing member, 2 others held in Chennai
A Tamil Tiger guerrilla has been arrested in Chennai along with two accomplices — including an Indian — on charges of smuggling war materials to the rebels in the island nation.
The Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police — which deals with insurgent activities — made the arrests late Saturday near the international airport in Chennai, a statement from the police said on Sunday.
The three were identified as James alias Raja, 46, and Jayakumar, 34, (both Sri Lankans) and Ravi Kumar, 42, an Indian.
Jayakumar reportedly told the police that he belonged to the Sea Tigers, the LTTE's sea wing, from 1995 to 2006 during which he took part in battles against the Sri Lankan military.
Jayakumar added that after quitting the Sea Tigers, he sailed to Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu in early 2007 by boat on the orders of Soosai, the Sea Tigers leader. He is from Velvettiturai in Jaffna where LTTE chief V Prabhakaran was born.
James, who belongs to Mannar in Sri Lanka, said he visited India thrice this year using his passport. He later flew to India in October 2007 and then went on to buy for the LTTE computer spare parts, underwater footwear, global positioning system and bundles of beedis, the statement said.
Police seized Rs 4, 78,290 and Rs 4,140 worth Sri Lankan currency and four mobile phones from the group.
The men, according to the police, had tried to hire a boat. The boat was reportedly being harboured in Mallipattinam on the Thanjavur coast, about 450 km south.
Jayakumar reportedly said he went to Thanjavur and bought it for Rs 4,80,000 sent by Soosai and an LTTE fund controller based in London.
Police said Jayakumar had admitted that he had planned to send the boat to Sri Lanka with James. The Indian arrested is said to have helped the Sri Lankan Tamils buy the boat.
Tamil Nadu is separated from Sri Lanka by a strip of sea. Although the Tamil Tigers do not enjoy the kind of support they had in the state in the 1980s, there are still committed sympathisers to the LTTE cause of a separate state.
The Q Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police — which deals with insurgent activities — made the arrests late Saturday near the international airport in Chennai, a statement from the police said on Sunday.
The three were identified as James alias Raja, 46, and Jayakumar, 34, (both Sri Lankans) and Ravi Kumar, 42, an Indian.
Jayakumar reportedly told the police that he belonged to the Sea Tigers, the LTTE's sea wing, from 1995 to 2006 during which he took part in battles against the Sri Lankan military.
Jayakumar added that after quitting the Sea Tigers, he sailed to Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu in early 2007 by boat on the orders of Soosai, the Sea Tigers leader. He is from Velvettiturai in Jaffna where LTTE chief V Prabhakaran was born.
James, who belongs to Mannar in Sri Lanka, said he visited India thrice this year using his passport. He later flew to India in October 2007 and then went on to buy for the LTTE computer spare parts, underwater footwear, global positioning system and bundles of beedis, the statement said.
Police seized Rs 4, 78,290 and Rs 4,140 worth Sri Lankan currency and four mobile phones from the group.
The men, according to the police, had tried to hire a boat. The boat was reportedly being harboured in Mallipattinam on the Thanjavur coast, about 450 km south.
Jayakumar reportedly said he went to Thanjavur and bought it for Rs 4,80,000 sent by Soosai and an LTTE fund controller based in London.
Police said Jayakumar had admitted that he had planned to send the boat to Sri Lanka with James. The Indian arrested is said to have helped the Sri Lankan Tamils buy the boat.
Tamil Nadu is separated from Sri Lanka by a strip of sea. Although the Tamil Tigers do not enjoy the kind of support they had in the state in the 1980s, there are still committed sympathisers to the LTTE cause of a separate state.
LTTE braces for a second front in north
The LTTE, struggling to thwart the army on the Vanni front is facing the prospect of large scale military action on another front.
The army is on the offensive in the general area west of Omanthai, with the current focus being the area south of Adampan, an LTTE stronghold now under intense pressure.
The LTTE is believed to have shifted some of the experienced units from the Vanni front for re-deployment along the Muhamalai line and elsewhere. Authoritative military officials said that this was due to their belief that the army would make a thrust across the northern front.
The launch of large scale operations on another front is expected to cause serious difficulties to the LTTE, particularly at a time it is experiencing a severe shortage of ammunition.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara yesterday said that ground troops were making good progress on the Vanni front."We have inflicted sizeable losses on the enemy over the past several months and they are being forced to re-think their strategy," he said. According to him, the LTTE had replaced some of the experienced units with fresh recruits and women cadres. Nanayakkara said that the LTTE was in the process of re-deploying units, strengtheing positions, particularly the Muhamalai line.
He said the ongoing offensive action on the Vanni front wasn’t aimed at capturing land. Ground troops were in the process of inflicting maximum possible losses on the enemy both in terms of personnel and material, he said. Although the army’s intention wasn’t to regain land, the LTTE in some instances had vacated villages, he said.
A case in point is the recent vacation of an LTTE camp at Thampane, which Nanayakkara called ‘Vietnam Base’.
Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has committed sizeable forces to Vanni front. Fonseka last Friday toured Weli Oya and Vavuniya to assess the status of the operations that were being carried out in the region as part of the overall strategy to weaken the LTTE’s capacity to wage war in the Vanni.
Nanayakkara said that the LTTE had been losing about ten cadres on a daily basis and on some days their losses doubled. On Saturday, the ground troops killed at least 14 LTTE cadres in separate confrontations at Periyathampanai and Kallikulam.
The military said that Bhanu and Swarnam, who unsuccessfully tried to thwart the army offensive which brought the Eastern Province under government control, were in charge of some the formations deployed in the northern theatre. Balraj is believed to be in charge of Weli Oya sector with Theepan in overall command of the northern front.
The service chiefs have assured the Defence Secretary that the ongoing operations were progressing as planned. The military is confident that the LTTE wouldn’t be able to sustain resistance at the current level for much longer. Police asserted that the recent deliberate attacks on civilian targets, too, could be part of their strategy to pressure the government slow down the offensive action.
The army is on the offensive in the general area west of Omanthai, with the current focus being the area south of Adampan, an LTTE stronghold now under intense pressure.
The LTTE is believed to have shifted some of the experienced units from the Vanni front for re-deployment along the Muhamalai line and elsewhere. Authoritative military officials said that this was due to their belief that the army would make a thrust across the northern front.
The launch of large scale operations on another front is expected to cause serious difficulties to the LTTE, particularly at a time it is experiencing a severe shortage of ammunition.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara yesterday said that ground troops were making good progress on the Vanni front."We have inflicted sizeable losses on the enemy over the past several months and they are being forced to re-think their strategy," he said. According to him, the LTTE had replaced some of the experienced units with fresh recruits and women cadres. Nanayakkara said that the LTTE was in the process of re-deploying units, strengtheing positions, particularly the Muhamalai line.
He said the ongoing offensive action on the Vanni front wasn’t aimed at capturing land. Ground troops were in the process of inflicting maximum possible losses on the enemy both in terms of personnel and material, he said. Although the army’s intention wasn’t to regain land, the LTTE in some instances had vacated villages, he said.
A case in point is the recent vacation of an LTTE camp at Thampane, which Nanayakkara called ‘Vietnam Base’.
Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has committed sizeable forces to Vanni front. Fonseka last Friday toured Weli Oya and Vavuniya to assess the status of the operations that were being carried out in the region as part of the overall strategy to weaken the LTTE’s capacity to wage war in the Vanni.
Nanayakkara said that the LTTE had been losing about ten cadres on a daily basis and on some days their losses doubled. On Saturday, the ground troops killed at least 14 LTTE cadres in separate confrontations at Periyathampanai and Kallikulam.
The military said that Bhanu and Swarnam, who unsuccessfully tried to thwart the army offensive which brought the Eastern Province under government control, were in charge of some the formations deployed in the northern theatre. Balraj is believed to be in charge of Weli Oya sector with Theepan in overall command of the northern front.
The service chiefs have assured the Defence Secretary that the ongoing operations were progressing as planned. The military is confident that the LTTE wouldn’t be able to sustain resistance at the current level for much longer. Police asserted that the recent deliberate attacks on civilian targets, too, could be part of their strategy to pressure the government slow down the offensive action.
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