By Asoka Subhawickrama, Sydney, Australia

Sri Lankan Australians, numbering some 150,000, are gravely concerned about suggestions from certain quarters to give temporary protection visas to Sri Lankan Tamils who claim to be refugees of the war that ended recently.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Our political leaders better think twice before making a decision.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan government has categorically declared that all the war-affected citizens will be resettled in their villages within six months.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If developed countries give a helping hand for this exercise, it could be completed earlier and more satisfactorily.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  After all, the Sri Lankan government has to look after not only the Tamil IDPs, but the many thousands of Singhalese and Muslim IDPs who fled the ethnic cleansing of the North and the East by the Tamil Tigers during the past 3 decades.

Helping Sri Lanka achieve the goal of resettling the IDPs would in turn help the developed countries in stemming the influx of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-refugeesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-economic asylum seekersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ from Sri Lanka.

Now that the war is over, the Sri Lankan government has clearly stated that there is no reason for any one to seek refugee status in a foreign country. The guns are silent; suicide bombers are dead or have surrendered, the security forces are returning to barracks, the people and the government of Sri Lanka are doing everything they can to help the IDPs, but some people in the developed world are trying to paint a picture of gloom and despair for reasons only they know or donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t know.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Role of the Tamil Diaspora in the 30 year civil war

The Tamil Tiger terrorists (also called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – LTTE) waged a war against successive democratically elected governments of Sri Lanka over a 30 year period.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Their war was to establish a mono-ethnic dictatorial racist regime in the North and the East of the island.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  While its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran led the military campaign on the ground in Sri Lanka, it was the Tamil Diaspora that mainly contributed to the war through voluntary contributions and other types of fund-raising.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Funds were generated largely through drug smuggling, racketeering, money laundering and other illegal means as well as extortions in the form of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-protection moneyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ from Tamil individuals and businesses.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  These are well documented in authoritative reports of national police forces and the Interpol.

Apart from fund raising, Tamil Diaspora has been active in lobbying internationally to thwart the Sri Lankan government from countering the terrorist activities of the Tamil Tigers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Their infiltration into political parties, media, the Church, human rights organisation are well known anecdotally and, with time, bound to be exposed.

The Tamil Diaspora in general, and the front organisations of the Tamil Tigers in particular, are some of the most secretive groups that exist in the developed world today.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Its internal control systems are more sophisticated than that of the Mafia or the Triads. To date, no law enforcement agency in the West have been able to infiltrate into these organisations.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The inability of the police to get any information on the acid throwers in Sydney is a case in point.

It is well established that had it not been for the Tamil Diaspora the war would not have lasted this long, or 70,000 lives lost as a result of it.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  It is the succour the Diaspora gave to the Tigers that enabled one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations in the world to continue this war for so long.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  A war that, apart from snuffing out the lives of thousands of ordinary men, women and children, took the lives of a former prime minister of India, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, a president of Sri Lanka, its ministers including the illustrious Oxford scholar Lakshman Kadiragamar (a Tamil) and Tamil peace activists like Harvard educated Tamil leader Dr Neelan Thiruchelvam.

In all of these crimes, the Tamil Diaspora, and those others that espoused their cause, have blood on their hands.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
Future Tamil ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-RefugeesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ into the Developed Countries

The Tamil Diaspora has, through their media outlets, made it quite clear that they will continue their ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-struggleƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Last week, SBS TV broadcasted the ominous declaration of a notorious expatriate Tamil leader at a Canberra demonstration: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The battle is over, but the war will go on..ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ In a nutshell, it means that they will, in the future, fund and sustain another terrorist outfit like the Tamil Tigers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  After all, it is not them who suffer the pains of the war; it is not their children who are abducted and made into child soldiers or suicide bombers; it is the poor Tamils of Sri Lanka who suffer because of the thirst of these expatriates for power and an ethnically pure ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-homelandƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in Sri Lanka.

Any influx of Tamil ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-refugeesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, under whatever immigration category, will not only enhance the strength of the Tamil Diaspora in Australia, but also those that will actively campaign to re-establish another terrorist outfit in Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  As can be seen from the recent vicious attacks carried out by these ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Tamil activistsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ on fellow Sri Lankans on the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, their campaign is sure to be extremely violent.

The truly affected Tamil people are mainly fishermen and farmers, the unsophisticated, non-English speaking rural folk who are eager to go back to their villages – not to Australia.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ However, the ones likely to meet the immigration requirements as a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Tamil refugeeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ would be the masquerading former members of the Tamil Tigers with forged documents and well rehearsed tall stories.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  For several decades, the Tamil Tigers have had a well established door-to-door people smuggling chain.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  It is complete with professional forgers and Tamil employees at the Australian High Commission at the Sri Lanka end and refugee activists and lawyers at the Australia end.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Tamil Tigers actually had a monopoly in sending Tamil ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-refugeesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ to developed countries.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Any ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-refugeeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ had to be one of their cadres, or one of their relatives who promised that they would repay the terrorists with fund raising and lobbying.

In promoting the idea of temporary protection visas, you are only encouraging and strengthening the external arm of the Tamil Tiger terrorists.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  It will only help establish another terror campaign in Sri Lanka and boost up the numbers and activities of the violent Tamil Tiger activists on Australian soil.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  More importantly, allowing self-declared and undeclared Tamil Tigers to set foot on Australian soil is tantamount to importing foreign terrorists.

Asoka Subhawickrama