LTTE’S WHITE PIGEON MEGA
STAR EVENT BECOMES A COMPLETE FAILURE IN LONDON
By Rangajeeva Rajakaruna
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) front, White Pigeon organized
“Mega Star “ event became a heavy disappointment for the the
organization when only 2000 instead of the expected 10,000 converged
to London’s Alexandra Palace where the Thai Pongal festival was
held.
At the last moment organizers were trying to sell high prized tickets
for 10 pounds to fill the rows and rows of empty seats that was not
very common during the “glorious” days of the LTTE in London.
The hall was filled to the brim when the LTTE hired the expensive meeting
place last time to hold the funeral of the late Anton Balasingham many
months ago.
“Many did not want to go for the show when they heard that many
South Indian stars have decided not to attend the show because of its
LTTE ties,” said a Sri Lankan Tamil resident of Kingsbury describing
the poor attendance of the well advertised event by pro-LTTE Television
and newspapers in London . Huge color posters with the photos of the
stars were put up in Tamil shops in London but many failed to appear
at the show. Photos of 11 stars appeared in the advertising posters.
Attendees said that only five artists appeared at the show.
All who carried cameras were prevented from entering the audience hall
and the one hired by this correspondent could not take the interesting
news photos of the largest number of empty seats in a recent event.
The three and one half hour of the event had to be cut down to two
hours due to many artists cancelling their trips to London.
Even a VVIP daughter’s connection in Chennai failed to encourage
all intended stars to make it a success, insiders said.
Many South Indian stars were discouraged of traveling to London after
big publicity was given to the LTTE connection to the show in the Indian
press, organizers complained. No doubt, the FBI’s announcement
not to donate to bogus charities of the LTTE on the eve of the show
helped dissuade many from going to the show, observers said.
Observers in Paris said, similar reasons would be effective , when
they want to hold the second and third mega star events on January 13.
Unlike the London show, the Paris shows have been organized by the
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), the predecessor to the White
Pigeon, that had been banned in the United States and United Kingdom
as front organization. But , the TRO is not banned in France.
The Sri Lankan government has requested the French government to ban
the TRO in France.
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