Anton Raja is proud of his new central-London offices in Eelam House. "Look, from this window you can see Tower Bridge," he says, pointing to one of London's top tourist attractions. But despite his business suit, Raja is no typical company boss showing off new premises. He is the international spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, otherwise known as the Tamil Tigers, the guerrilla movement that's fighting for secession in Sri Lanka.

"Our new offices are a meeting place for Tamils, local politicians, journalists, anyone interested in our struggle," he says. A portrait of the Tigers' supreme leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, gazes from a wall in the entrance hall at piles of leaflets for fund-raising events run by support groups for the Tigers. Beside the portrait is a large map of northern and eastern Sri Lanka — what Raja and the Tigers call their homeland: Tamil Eelam.

Raja believes Eelam House, which opened last year, symbolizes London's growing importance to the Tigers' global activities. The LTTE is outlawed in Sri Lanka and labelled a terrorist group in the United States, but its propaganda and fund-raising operations in the British capital are booming. From Eelam House, the LTTE produces magazines, runs Internet Web sites, mans telephone hot-lines and issues press releases. These help to convince many of the 450,000 Tamils living outside Sri Lanka of the need to campaign, fund and fight for a separate homeland.

But the LTTE's stronghold in London is also under threat. Whitehall is drawing up a law under which incitement in Britain — through publicity or fund-raising, for instance — of terrorist acts abroad will become a criminal offence. New powers to ban foreign "terrorist groups" will also be introduced. Home Secretary Jack Straw says the new law, which could take effect by 2000, shows London will not "drop its guard" against groups that "commit acts of terrorism in the United Kingdom, raise funds here or use the UK as a base from which to launch attacks elsewhere in the world."

Response

The move is a response to criticism from countries such as Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Egypt that Britain is a haven for terrorists. Indeed, many rebel groups are based in London and can operate freely as long as they do not break domestic laws. But Colombo's recent banning of the LTTE has removed the argument — often cited by London — that a group still legal in Sri Lanka should not be banned in Britain.

Raja, however, is "unconcerned" about any new law and evidence suggests the LTTE will not easily roll over. In 1992 London expelled Sathasivam Krishnaswamy, at the time the Tigers' international chief, reportedly for his links with foreign terrorism. But LTTE activity continues unabated — thanks in part to its support groups which run campaigns that don't bear the LTTE's name. A law banning the LTTE may have little effect on their activities.

"The LTTE would not be affected by any new law," says James Karan, head of the London-based pro-Tigers International Federation of Tamils. He adds: "As local Tamils we will keep our campaigns going, whatever any new law says."

Aruna Kulatunga, a spokesman at Sri Lanka's high commission in London, welcomes the new law but believes it might only affect "showcase LTTE offices" such as Eelam House. Rohan Gunaratna, a specialist on the Tamil rebels at St. Andrew's University, Scotland, agrees: "The LTTE has a network of other premises, often under different names, which could keep running."

Used to legal battles

The Tigers are used to legal battles against governments. For instance, the LTTE hired a top law firm run by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark to fight Washington's decision last year to label it a terrorist organization. The effort failed and donations by US residents to the Tigers are now banned, while LTTE activists are denied American visas.

But the Canadian government's efforts to deport Suresh Manickavasagam, a Tamil accused of LTTE links, to Sri Lanka have been repeatedly held up in the courts by local support groups. "They will fight with all means possible," says a London-based Sri Lanka expert close to the Tamil community, who requested anonymity. "They'll use their Tamil groups as cover and mount legal challenges to any moves against them."

The British government knows that implementing a law against inciting terrorism abroad will be tricky. Straw says "fine balances" will be needed to define what incitement to terrorism means in practice and to assess whether related support groups and charities would also be affected.

It is precisely such concerns that prompt civil-rights groups to fight against such a law. "A line is needed between prosecuting people for what they do and what they say," says John Wadham of the British rights group Liberty. "If people believe the Tamil Tigers' goals are right, such free speech should be protected."

The Tigers would lose much if the law were passed. Gunaratna believes the law "could be a major blow to the Tigers internationally, as London is the group's most important base outside Sri Lanka." It could also hit their military operations, Gunaratna says, as "funds for weapons and explosives are raised here and bank transfers for arms have been traced back to London." Last November, a captured LTTE activist testified in a Colombo court that the Tigers' London office had paid him to plan attacks in Colombo. Such evidence could prove crucial to any future legal action against Eelam House.

But if the past is any guide, the Tigers will prove difficult to catch. Gunaratne's books on their global operations reveal overlapping networks for fund-raising, arms procurement and propaganda, stretching across Asia, Europe and the Americas. He estimates the Tigers generate several million dollars a month world-wide, from donations, front organizations such as shops and restaurants and from property and other investments. Colombo estimates that the LTTE raises $400,000 a month from Britain alone.

Some of those funds seem to come from illegal activity. The Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute, a non-profit research group, alleges in a 1995 study that the Tigers' "most profitable activities have been heroin trafficking and extortion of Tamils living in India and the western world." It documents the arrests world-wide, since the early 1980s, of several Tamils for drug-running.

Consequently the police and intelligence agencies in countries such as Britain and Germany keep a close watch on the Tigers. In January police raided their premises in London in search of drugs but no arrests were reported. Since the mid-1980s at least a dozen Tamils have been charged with extortion in Germany. German police, however, complain that victims usually refuse to give evidence for fear of reprisals.

The LTTE makes sure that the criminal links to its networks, if any, are hard to find. Tamil sources in Britain believe the organization now tries to forestall complaints to the police from within the community by using strong social pressure, rather than the threat of violence, to get donations.

The LTTE appears set on a two-fold response to London's legal moves. On the one hand, it plans to intensify its international propaganda to strengthen support within the Tamil community. On the other hand, it plans to cut formal links with groups that conduct pro-LTTE campaigns, making it difficult to prosecute its activists.

The Sri Lankan government acknowledges that the LTTE's propaganda is a formidable weapon in the battle to mould public opinion. High Commission spokesman Kulatunga says the Tigers have "a highly sophisticated publicity machine. We've been slow to match it." He has counted around 50 pro-LTTE support groups in Britain. LTTE staff, volunteers and other backers run several magazines and Web sites-just a few of about 30 pro-LTTE newspapers and 60 Web sites worldwide. Press releases are faxed to 450 international addresses virtually every day. Annual soccer, cricket and other fund-raisers attract thousands of people.

Copying for compact discs

The rebels are also involved in the copying and selling to Tamil compact discs and videos, often illegally, according to Sri Lankan sources. And the London office coordinates campaigns with LTTE support networks in countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland and Canada.

The LTTE has its connections in government, as well. The Tigers have about a dozen national lawmakers in Britain among their backers, according to Kulatunga. In February two Labour Party parliamentarians were keynote speakers at a pro-LTTE rally in London, which attracted more than 10,000 people — an indication of the Tigers' political clout.

"The LTTE is skilled at mobilizing Tamil block votes in targeted constituencies during elections," says Kulatunga. Such support persists even though many of the 160,000 Sri Lankans living in Britain know that some of their donations are used not solely for humanitarian aid, as the Tigers claim, but for the war effort in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's 14-year civil war has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives and compelled Colombo to spend 6% of GDP on defence. This year, about 47 billion rupees ($780 million) has been bugeted to combat the Tigers. Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga hopes to isolate the LTTE from the Tamil mainstream through a new constitution which in effect recognizes a Tamil homeland in the northeast of the country. But she lacks the parliamentary support to push through these proposals, for which a two-thirds majority is required. What's more, her formula was devised without consulting the LTTE — and is therefore unlikely to result in peace.

Back to Latest News

Copyright © The Island

Home News Business DhammaWeb Info & Services Classified Search