Shenali D Waduge 

If there is no good or bad Taliban the same should be said about the LTTE. Lives of 132 children were cut short while world leaders, diplomats and the UN continue to deliberate on who and what terrorism is. The issue remains the fact that one man’s terrorist inadvertently becomes another man’s freedom fighter and LTTE terrorists remained ‘freedom fighters’ in view of the relationship they were able to forge with Western politicians in a ‘you scratch our back and we will scratch yours’ arrangement that continues to provide the brains of the LTTE VIP status and foreign citizenship.

 The below list is just a handful of examples of killings committed upon innocent civilians by the LTTE. In 3 decades close to 300 attacks took place and the only response Sri Lanka received from the International Community was a sympathy statement and the insistence on returning to talking with the LTTE. This was so because those funding the LTTE were living on foreign shores, holding foreign passports and having close links to foreign politicians and associated with foreign organizations by virtue of registering themselves as international charities and human rights advocates while back in Sri Lanka orders were given to blow people up, assassinate leaders and cause mayhem. Everyday was a Peshawar type scenario in Sri Lanka for 30 years and only after May 2009 the people are living without fear. The present fear is the likelihood of LTTE re-emerging once again helped by the same players.

 The GOSL has banned 16 foreign based organizations as LTTE fronts incorporating the UN Security Council Resolution 1373. The GOSL has also name over 400 individuals linked to LTTE most of whom are living overseas. The LTTE fronts have been openly operating from the very nations that have themselves banned LTTE.

The accusation is that LTTE’s crimes have escaped because of their ability to pocket foreign parliamentarians. There are reasons why we believe so

Example of Canada – How Canadian leaders have even attended LTTE fundraisers / events and continue to carry out a bogus concern for Tamils when all the funds raised have gone to the LTTE and not to ordinary Tamils. No action has been taken against these Parliamentarians neither have they been investigated for the type of relationship that they have with these LTTE fronts.

• Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin and Ms. M Minna as well as other Canadian MPs attended LTTE fund raiser in 2000
• Liberal MPs have attended ceremonies honouring LTTE leaders
• Bob Rae Leader of the Liberal Party has been more concerned about Sri Lanka’s Tamils than his own countrymen!
• The Canadian Tamil Congress thanked MP Stephen Harper (now PM) and Foreign Minister John Baird for supporting their ‘cause’ – CTC is listed as a LTTE front.
• When Allan Rock served as Minister of Justice, he was soft on the LTTE in Canada

Even organizations like Amnesty International accepted Canadian dollars 50,000 from the Canadian Tamil Congress also listed as a LTTE front. The cheque was presente at an event to which TNA MP Sumanthiran also participated.

Example of Britain

• LTTE’s international office has been London and LTTE has openly publicized this. LTTE’s supposed theoretician Anton Balasingham freely moved to and from London on behalf of the LTTE. His wife Adele was the key trainer of suicide cadres in particular children and she continues to live happily in the UK. LTTE was banned by UK on 28 February 2000.
• When the ban was announced the following British MPs objected : Robert Evans, Linda Perham, Andrew Dismore, Dr. Jenny Tong, Jeremy Corbyn, John MacDonald, Andy Love.  Similarly, Hon Andrew Love (Labour), Hon Simon Hughes (Lib Dem), Hon Jeremy Corbyn (Lab), Hon John McDonnell (Lab), Hon Paul Burstow (Lib Dem), Hon Susan Kramer (Lib Dem), Hon Andrew Dismore (Lab), Hon Andrew Pelling (Independent), Hon Lee Scott (Conservative), Rt. Hon Keith Vaz (Lab) and the Hon Minister Bill Rammell (Lab) – They were never investigated as to why they would wish to sing on behalf of the LTTE?
• Other MPs who have voiced support for LTTE have been Gavin Barwell, Tom Brake, James Brokenshire, David Burrowes, Edward Davey, Duncan Smith, Barry Gardiner, Zac Goldsmith, Robert, Halfon, Stephen Hammond, Nick Hurd, Joseph Johnson, Sadiq Khan, Siobhain McDonagh, Bob Neill, Richard Ottoway, Stephen Pound, Andrew Rosindell, Sarah Teather, Gareth Thomas, Stephen Timms, Theresa Villiers, Angela Watkinson, Angus Robertson, Dianne Abbot, Jon Trickett, Mark Hendrik, Philip Davies, Peter Bottomley, David Miliband, Stella Creasy & John Mann,
• InMay 2007, UK MP for Edmonton Andy Love declared open the LTTE’s new TV station Tharisanam in Southgate, London
• David Miliband attended the launch of the Global Tamil Forum on 24^th February 2010 at the UK House of Commons whilst he was serving as UK Foreign Secretary despite protests by the GOSL. Miliband continues to speak on behalf of the GTF – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOaxLvJ5aW0
• speakers like Siobhain McDonagh, MP Robert Halfon (holding posts in the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils), Theresa Villiers MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Nick Clegg UK Deputy PM and Leader of Liberal Democrat Party, Douglas Alexander Shadow Foreign Secretary, Ed Davey Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Simon Hughes Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Kerry McCarthy Shadow Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister, Baroness Warsi Senior Minister of State FCO, Ed Miliband Leader of Labour Party and brother of David Miliband all spoke at the 27 February 2013, Global Tamil Forum 3^rd anniversary conference held at UK Parliament.
• Gordon Brown then PM of Britain attended the GTF inaugural GM on 24 February 2010
• Stuart Drake also joined Joan Ryan and GTF as its Research and Communication Chief

• Joan Ryan, former member of Labor Party, MP for Enfield North (1997-2010) was elected as the CEO of GTF. She was also Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for nationality, citizenship and immigration and was responsible for ID cards/passports, refugee integration etc. In the light of the exposure of Tamil asylum seekers (especially those with LTTE connections) paying to be tortured to secure asylum there is a big question mark as to what role she played during her tenure between 2006-2007 in charge of ID/passports given her role as CEO of GTF- a banned LTTE front. In May 2009 she claimed £4,500 under the Additional Costs Allowance. In February 2010 she was asked to pay £5,121 mortgage interest, the same period news covered 20 attempts to delete from Parliament omputers details of her expense claims and the same period she joins a terrorist front as CEO!

Examples in US : With the international illegal activities LTTE and its Diaspora elements are involved in, LTTE is able to retain the best of lawyers and pocket any foreign parliamentarian as well and with a host of LTTE fronts now banned under UNSC Resolution the foreign parliamentarians associated with them should all be investigated.

• Bruce Feinn is the pro-LTTE ‘Tamils Against Genocide’ retainer lawyer (Lichfield Group/Fein & Fein, LLC)
• Ramsey Clark is the former US Attorney General. He is 82 years old. He has joined the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam as one of its Senators. The TGTE is on the list of proscribed LTTE fronts named by the GOSL. Clark was also the Elections Commissioner for the US TGTE elections.
• Domach Wal Ruach of the SPLM-USA congratulated members of the TGTE
• Also in the TGTE – Robert Evans: Former UK Member of European Parliament, Daniel Mayan: Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM): South Sudan, Dr. Brian Seneviratne: A Sinhalese Physician from Australia, Mr. Roy Chetty: South Africa, Mr. Gilles Piquois: Attorney – at – Law: France, Mr. David Matas: Human Rights Attorney: Canada,

Examples in Australia:

• Bruce Haigh – patron of Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies has as colleagues Brahmi Jegan and Dr. Sam Pari whom the Sri Lanka Defense authorities have proved as being a member of the LTTE
• Australian Parliament by John Murphy, Parliamentary Secretary of Trade and the Member for Lowe constituency refused to denounce LTTE crimes or the LTTE leader
• Senator Lee Rhianon – in fact Senator Lee was reprimanded by Don Randall for commemorating Prabakaran I urge Senator Lee Rhiannon to make a public apology regarding her disgraceful and dishonest statement on Sri Lanka in this parliament. That is just untenable when, in the post- conflict era, Sri Lanka is positively progressing and people are enjoying a dividend of peace. The statement made by Senator Lee Rhiannon is unacceptable as she is supporting the LTTE while castigating the democratically elected President of Sri Lanka, which clearly creates disharmony and division amongst Sri Lankans in a peaceful Sri Lanka,”
• Justice John Dowd, a former Chairman of the International Commission of Jurists and a former NSW Attorney General attended an event organized by the Australian Tamil Congress and Global Tamil Forum in 2011 (ATC and GTF is also proscribed by GOSL)
• Other Australian MPs include Brett Mason, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trent Hawkins on behalf of the Socialist Alliance, ALP state MP Luke Donnellan, Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator Claire Moore sent a congratulatory message to ATC, Dr. Dennis Jensen, Mr Nick Champion, Jack Snelling MP SA http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/10/06/gosl-names-bans-ltte-fronts-australian-tamil-congress/

Examples of the Church:

• The Head of the proscribed Global Tamil Forum is a Church Father – Father Emmanuel. His links to Prabakaran and the LTTE go far yet the Church/Vatican has completely ignored Father Emmanuel’s links to terrorism. Father Emmanuel hailed LTTE as freedom fighters, he compared Prabakaran to Jesus Christ, referred to LTTE as ‘soldiers of Christ’, called the suicide cadres as ‘martyrs of the Catholic Church’ and referred to himself as Moses.
• Bishop of Mannar Rayappu Joseph opened Eelam House in UK and allowed LTTE to use the Madhu Church and run a radio station inside it (Radio Veritas),
• Other notable Bishops linked to the LTTE is – Bishop of Jaffna Savundranayagam, Bishop of Batticoloa Kingsley Swamipillai, Father Gaspar Raj Jegath of Radio Veritas, Father Chandrakanthan, S Jebanesan Bishop of Church of South India, Dick Wootton of Australia, Bishop Kenneth Fernando visited Prabakaran with Charles Abeysekera and Jayadeva Uyangoda, Rev Sr. Mary Barbara, Dr Anita Nesiah, M. Rajasigham, Joe William and T. Jayasingham of the National Peace Council, A senior Christian priest, Rev. Sam T. Jayathilakarajah of the Achchelu Methodist Church and his brother, Dr. Jayakularajah enthusiastically gave shelter and performed surgery on injured LTTE members (including Pulenthiran and Seelan) after they attacked the Chavakachcheri Police station in 1982.

• Christian priest, Father Anton Sinnarasa was also arrested by the Sri Lankan army for sheltering the LTTE members and for his involvement in the LTTE bank van holdup at Neervely, where 81 lakhs of rupees was robbed on March 25th 1981. In September 1983, Father Sinnarasa later escaped from custody during the famous Batticoloa jailbreak. He slipped away to Canada a few years later and continues to lead LTTE-front activities in Tamil-dominated suburbs of Toronto under the name Anton Philip”. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran a detailed report on another Christian priest, Father Francis Xavier who is a leading organizer and fundraiser for the Tamil Tigers in Toronto, Canada.

http://www.onlanka.com/news/gosl-proscribed-father-s-j-emmanuel-a-catholic-priest-linked-to-ltte-terrorism.html

Then there are the agencies claiming to be unbiased and transparent. Is it not amusing then when these very agencies sponsor a one-sided documentary compiled by Britain’s Channel 4 which has as its star witness a proven LTTE member (Vany Kumar?

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Open Society Foundation (George Soros), Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission jointly screened the C4 documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ at the Congressional Auditorium, Washington DC on 15 July 2011 to senators, congressmen, officials and diplomats. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group also jointly screened the documentary at the European Parliament, Brussels on 12^th October 2011 too. Why did these entities not jointly screen atrocities committed by the LTTE?

Ban Ki Moon’s Panel of Experts even described LTTE as ‘disciplined’ in its Report.

Thus, it is not difficult to understand why GOSL has an uphill task of bringing justice to the victims of LTTE terror. The LTTE Diaspora has managed to pocket foreign parliamentarians and international organizations and influence them. The exact nature of what keeps foreign governments/leaders silent on LTTE atrocities can be exposed only if a brave decision is taken to investigate all foreign leaders connected to the LTTE fronts now proscribed by the GOSL. With the goalposts changed after naming and shaming the organizations the onus is now on foreign governments to investigate their people for links to terror. The importance of this is highlighted with the Government of India ascertaining that Eelam is still alive and includes Great Tamil Nadu as well.

The only VIP treatment as far as we can remember that Taliban got was a visit to the White House and a handshake with President Ronald Reagan. Taliban becomes isolated and its crimes get global denouncement +because it has not had the brains to devise ways to entice foreign parliamentarians to their fold which the LTTE-brains have mastered over the years.

The innocent victims of LTTE terrorism sympathize and condole with the parents and families of the children and teachers massacred by the Taliban in Peshawar Pakistan. We feel the pain they are suffering. LTTE gave us 30 years of sorrow and they are out to re-enter to destroy our lives once again.

The world must say NO to Terrorism and Politicians must not use Terrorism for political gains.  

Shenali D Waduge