US quits Human Rights Council

The news that the US has completely withdrawn from the Human Rights Council spread like wildfire Friday afternoon (June 6) through the corridors of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. There was general consternation amongst diplomats and NGOS. Reached by phone, the American mission in Geneva neither confirmed nor denied the report. Although unofficial, the news comes at a time of long opposition by the Bush administration to the reforms which created the Human Rights Council in June 2006. Washington announced from the beginning that the US would not be an active member but its observer status would mean that it could intervene during the sessions. To date even this has rarely happened.

“We don’t understand the reasons nor the timing of the decision”, said Sebastien Gillioz of Human Rights Watch. “There have even been some positive signs during this Council. For example Belarus was not re-elected as a member in 2007 nor Sri Lanka this year”.

The stupefaction was made greater by the fact the US actively took part in the universal Periodic Review (UPR) process where 32 countries were scrutinized by their peers in April and May. In particular a series of recommendations were made regarding Romania, Japan, Guatemala, Peru, Tunisia, Ukraine, Indonesia and others.

Diplomats are equally concerned. If the current president of the Council, Doru Costea, declined to comment, his predecessor, Luis Alfonso De Alba said that he didnt see any reason to justify such a decision. Several observers mentioned Washington’s growing discontentment with the influence of the Islamic and African countries in the Council.

“It is an aberration”, said Peter Splinter of Amnesty International. “It seems that the government has lost its mind. How could it believe it is going to improve human rights by running away? It is like those who say, ‘I don’t like the way this town is governed so I’m not going to vote’”.

For Human Rights Watch (HRW), the US has shown very little commitment to human rights in general. The working group against arbitrary detention gave up going to Guantanamo last month because Washington would not allow its members to have face to face meetings with detainees. For its part, the Rapporteur against racism, Doudou Diene, has fought for years to be able to pay a visit and only recently got permission.

But Eric Sottas, director of the International Organisation against Torture sees it as a a political gesture. “The US has always clearly shown its opposition to the Council. This is a slightly more public way of putting pressure on it in order to raise the stakes. What is more the Bush dynasty is coming to the end of its mandate,” he said. “It reminds me of the time when the Nixon administration, which backed Pinochet in Chile, chastized the UN for criticising the Chilean dictator. But when Carter was elected in 1977, the American government took the floor at the Human Rights Commission to ask forgiveness. After a presidency like that of Bush, you can expect some important changes in US policy on human right.”

HRW is still worried about the withdrawal. “The message is worrying”, says Sebastien Gillioz. “ Ever since September 11, 2001, the US has constantly interpreted international standards in an “ a la carte” manner that has eroded human rights. Its behaviour has served as an example to a stream of states, including Pakistan, Egypt and other, who are not embarrassed to review human rights standards on homosexuality, abortion, capital punishment. It is a step backwards.”

source: humanrights-geneva.info

Canadian POLICE MOVE ON TAMIL GROUP

WTM denies it is funding terrorism

Counterterrorism police in Quebec and Ontario effectively shut down a non-profit organization for Canadian Tamils this weekend due to allegations it has been raising money to finance terrorist activities in Sri Lanka.

The RCMP was expected to announce details of its unprecedented actions as early as today, but several sources said police had moved in to enforce a Federal Court restraining order against the World Tamil Movement.

The WTM's offices in Montreal and Toronto have been under police investigation for six years, and were raided by police in 2006. While no charges have yet resulted, the decision to seek a restraining order suggests Ottawa is aggressively pursuing the group.

The restraining order pertains to real estate in Montreal and other assets in Toronto.

The recent events are focused mostly on Montreal. Police sealed off the Montreal WTM office on Friday, said Steven Slimovitch, the group's lawyer. He said his clients were barred from entering the premises, disrupting community programs.

"A Federal Court judge has issued an order to seal the office of the World Tamil Movement and to essentially put it under the trusteeship of the federal government," he said.

The order was issued under a section of the Criminal Code dealing with terrorism financing, but Mr. Slimovitch said no defence counsel were present for the hearing and his clients deny the allegations they are financing terrorists.

"My clients have never been charged with terrorism-financing, and my clients have never had a chance to defend themselves against terrorism-financing accusations," he said.

The action is the latest development in two related RCMP-led investigations called Project Osaluki and Project Crible. The probes, by the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams in Ontario and Quebec, are examining allegations the WTM has been funnelling money to the Tamil Tigers to finance civil war in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil Tigers are an outlawed terrorist group in Canada. Knowingly raising money for the group or financing its activities is against the law and punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Many members of Canada's large ethnic Tamil community support the Tigers and their fight to create an independent state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

Police went to court last week to ask for restraining orders against WTM properties in Toronto and Montreal, said a source familiar with the case. Officers were in the process late yesterday of serving official notice to the people associated with the properties.

Police officers were having difficulty finding at least one per-son linked to the group and its properties. The RCMP was apparently waiting for that to take place before publicly announcing the moves it had taken.

This appears to be a first in the realm of terrorism, but the police action is similar to the way police routinely deal with organized crime: Officers will appear before a judge in private and present affidavits seeking judicial approval to restrain properties considered proceeds of crime.

While the property is restrained, the owner cannot sell it, move it, alter it or dispose of it. The order secures the property pending a court hearing. The owners are then notified and can appear before the courts and mount a defence against the Crown's allegations.

A judge will then decide whether the restrained property should be forfeited to the Crown or returned to its owner. The process is similar to how police restrain fortified clubhouses of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and other bike gangs.

The weekend police action in Montreal has disrupted community activities scheduled for the group's headquarters in the city's Cote-des-Neiges district, Mr. Slimovitch said.

"Essentially they're shutting down the entire community -- artistic things, sporting things," he said. "My clients completely deny any terrorism financing. They support the Tamil people and they support the Tamil people's right to self-determination, but they are very much against any form of terrorism."

An official with the WTM Montreal office declined comment and referred all questions to Mr. Slimovitch. The lawyer said he intends to go to court to have the reasons for the order disclosed.

Corporal Elaine Lavergne of the RCMP said the police force could not comment as a result of the secrecy order.

"We are under the authority of a court," she said. She could not even disclose the level of court that issued the order, which she said is sealed from public view. "It has never happened before," she said of the sweeping secrecy provisions.

The president of the WTM's Ontario branch, Sitta Sittampalam, also declined to comment yesterday. "I was asked by my lawyer not to reveal anything on this matter," he said. "I'm not in a position to divulge anything."

Source: nationalpost.com

FACTBOX-Sri Lankan leaders, long a target of rebels

A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel killed Sri Lanka's highways minister and nine others in a suicide attack near Colombo on Sunday, the military said.

Following are some of the high-profile killings of top leaders blamed on the Tamil Tigers on the war-scarred island.

March 1991: Defense Minister Ranjan Wijeratne is among 19 killed when a car bomb is detonated in Colombo, the first major killing of a top leader.

May 1991: Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is killed in southern India by a suspected woman LTTE suicide bomber during an election rally.

May 1993: President Ranasinghe Premadasa and 23 others are killed by a suicide bomber during a May Day march.

December 1999: President Chandrika Kumaratunga is wounded in an attempted assassination by a suicide bomber in Colombo just as she is getting into her car following an election rally. At least 34 are killed in two explosions. She loses an eye.

June 2000: Industrial Development Minister C.V. Gunaratne and 21 others are killed in a suicide bomb blast in Colombo. The minister was involved in raising funds for the war against the LTTE.

August 2005: Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is shot dead at his home in Colombo by a suspected Tamil Tiger sniper.

April 2006: Army Commander Major General Sarath Fonseka is badly hurt in an abortive suicide attack inside the Army headquarters in Colombo.

December 2006: Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, defence secretary and brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, narrowly escapes a suicide attack by Tamil Tiger rebels in Colombo.

January 8, 2008: Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake is killed by a roadside bomb planted by the rebels in the town of Ja-Ela, 19 km (12 miles) north of Colombo.

April 6: Suicide bomb blast kills Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and at least 11 other people in the western town of Weliveriya, 30 km (19 miles) from Colombo.

Source: Reuters

Sri Lanka's disappeared: Gang demands Tamil exiles pay ransom for kidnapped relatives

The government-backed Karuna Faction militia is using abduction as a fundraising tool at home and abroad. Dan McDougall reports

For some refugees, finding asylum in Britain is not the end of the nightmare, but the beginning. And no one knows this better than Tamils such as Ariyathas Pushpathas.

Ten years ago, as a 17-year-old, he fled Sri Lanka after his sister died in an air-raid. Six months ago, his brother and cousin were kidnapped in Colombo by "agents" claiming to act on behalf of the island's Karuna Faction militia, now a de-facto extension of Sri Lanka's intelligence services. And last month he was approached outside his west London church by two Sri Lankan men claiming to know the whereabouts of his kidnapped relatives. They asked him to hand over his savings or his relatives in Colombo would face further violence and intimidation.

In Colombo his family have faced similar blackmail. His terrified aunt, Maria Regina, sold her home, took a loan she could never repay and handed over $25,000. Both the kidnap victims are still missing. They are not alone. In the last year alone, hundreds have been taken, never to be seen again.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch last month released a damning report claiming the Sri Lankan government was responsible for widespread abductions and disappearances as it fights a new phase in a 25-year civil war with the Tamil Tigers. "Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, once a rights advocate, has now led his government to become one of the world's worst perpetrators of forced disappearances," said Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director, Elaine Pearson, in a statement launching the 241-page document.

On the streets of London, Toronto and Berlin it is well known that Sri Lanka's separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are, on a daily basis, using threats, intimidation and violence to extort millions of pounds from the estimated 800,000 Tamils living abroad. But an investigation by The Independent on Sunday in both Colombo and London has found the first evidence that Sri Lanka's government-backed militia, the Karuna Faction, are similarly extorting money from the island's far-flung diaspora.

Ariyathas said: "The Tamil Tiger fundraisers have long been a part of our lives in Britain. They turn up at Hindu Temples and community centres where Tamils meet. Many people I know have been paying direct debits into LTTE accounts for many years.

"What is happening now is very different. The Karuna Faction are kidnapping young Sri Lankan men in Colombo as a business enterprise and targeting the same diaspora the Tamil Tigers have been milking.

"The trouble is, the Karuna are now an extension of the Sri Lankan army. The question I want to know is: am I being extorted and threatened by government agents? Since I saw them outside my church they haven't returned, but I fear they know where I live."

They certainly knew where his cousin lived in the Sri Lankan capital's largest Tamil neighbourhood, Colombo 13. Arulthas Pushpathas is one of hundreds of young Tamil men who have been abducted from their homes in the city over the past 12 months.

His mother (and Ariyathas's aunt), Maria Regina, clutches a photograph of him as she sits on a broken car seat, inexplicably abandoned in the decrepit lobby of her family's short-stay lodge. She said: "They came looking for him, here at the lodge, at night, but he wasn't at home. Raids here are common; many Tamils arriving in the city stay here. They come in with torches and guns in the middle of the night. It is terrifying.

"I was worried about my son. They had taken his cousin two months before. Later that same night a neighbour saw an unmarked white van pull up and my boy was bundled in to the back. I've not seen him since."

Shortly after Arulthas was abducted, Maria received a request for a $25,000 ransom, which she paid, bankrupting herself in the process. Despite the payment, neither her son nor nephew have been handed back.

She claims they targeted her family for financial reasons, because her eldest nephew lives in the UK and the family owned a small hotel. Now homeless after selling her house in the north to raise money, she spends her days walking from army camp to detention centres pleading for his release.

One Sri Lankan MP, Mano Ganesan said: "Understand this. There are two key motivations behind the government-sponsored arbitrary arrests and abductions of young Tamil men. The initial motivation was to spread fear in the heart of a community and suppress any opposition within the capital. Now the key motivation seems to be making money and cashing in on political unrest.

"We have lists and photographs of hundreds of 'disappeared', mostly young Tamil men, and in all of the most recent cases ransoms are being demanded from their families at home and abroad, particularly in London and Toronto. This is being carried out by the Sri Lankan intelligence services and the Karuna Faction who have found a lucrative sideline in extortion."

The Karuna Faction is targeting a profitable market. Earlier this year, Amnesty International revealed that Sri Lankan families in London were paying the LTTE as much as £2,000 a year each. Tamils in Canada, Norway and France reported being approached for similar amounts. The group said Tamils who were unable to pay have been told by LTTE fundraisers to borrow the money, make a contribution by credit card, or even remortgage their homes.

For many, these sums are so huge as to be beyond reach. In a sparsely furnished flat in Streatham, south London, surrounded by faded black-and-white photographs of his childhood in Sri Lanka, sits P Ramanathan. Despite a resilience few of us could muster, he feels far from home here.

He said: "I want to go back. I'm a labourer on a building site. This is no life. But it's not safe to go back. The perception that it is a beautiful holiday island couldn't be further from the truth. As a Tamil exile I would face arrest and torture if I set foot in my homeland."

The 48-year-old from the northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna rifles through a shoe box of belongings and pulls out a dog-eared passport picture of his younger brother S Krishnavani, nervously fingering the Kalava, the sacred Hindu red string wrapped twice around his wrist, as he does so. "My brother was taken as he came home from work late last year. One of his neighbours saw him being bundled into a white van in Colombo 12. The vehicle had no number plates.

"Four days later my parents were approached by a retired policeman claiming to represent the Karuna Faction and told to contact me in London to send money back to Colombo. My cousin in Jaffna tells me the Tamil diaspora is being targeted. The Karuna are gaining access to bank accounts and records in Colombo and focusing on Tamil families with relatives abroad."

He added: "I sent some money home, all that I could afford, but I have also been contacted here in London. At weekends I go to a Hindu temple in Wembley, west London. In May a man approached me and crushed a piece of paper in my hand. It had my brother's name on it. It told me to send £5,000 home or I will never see him again. Last week my brother's neighbour was also abducted."

The job of tracking down their potential victims in cities like London and Toronto is relatively simple. Tamils in Britain now number about 150,000, and are easily identified on the electoral roll by their surnames. The IoS has discovered half a dozen other Colombo-based Tamil families with relatives in London being extorted for ransoms.

In Britain, the Tamil Tigers are proscribed as a terrorist organisation and so banned from raising funds or holding meetings. The Sri Lankan High Commission has raised their activities with the Home Office and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and Scotland Yard recently announced an operation aimed at investigating Tamil intimidation of British citizens. No such laws exist outlawing the Karuna Faction.

The escalating activity of the Karuna Faction – a militia once part of the LTTE movement but now firmly allied to the Sri Lankan government – has emerged as a key factor behind the upsurge in violence that has killed more than 4,000 people in the past 12 months, and left a 2002 ceasefire agreement in tatters.

The Karuna Faction was formed when the Tamil Tigers' leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, fell out with his former bodyguard and top military commander, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, better known as "Colonel Karuna", who joined forces with the Sri Lankan government.

Ironically, the leader and founder of the organisation, Col Karuna, was arrested in London late last year for carrying an apparently genuine Sri Lankan diplomatic passport issued under a false name. He is currently serving nine months in a British prison for identity fraud, and is not presently being investigated for his alleged role in extortion.

Back in west London, sitting on the floor of his dismal bedsit close to Southall Broadway, Ariyathas produces a pile of paperwork from a drawer. At the head of the most recent document from the Immigration Service at Eaton House near London, the words "Liability to Detention" glare out from the page.

He said: "I've been in Britain for 10 years but the immigration authorities are now telling me it is safe for me to go back. My sister was killed, my brother and cousin are kidnapped and my parents are separated by a front line, yet they are telling me it is safe to return. It is harder to take when you are being blackmailed in the country you escaped to in order to survive."

Source: Independent

'We are better off without the LTTE' : S C Chandrahasan

S C Chandrahasan is the son of Samuvel Selvnayagam, a Tamil leader who was known as the Mahatma Gandhi [Images] of Sri Lanka [Images]. After the island-nation's ethnic conflict began in 1983, Chandrahasan founded the Organisation For Eelam Refugees' Rehabilitation.

OFERR works in Sri Lanka and India, and has offices in all the 104 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. It also works in the north and east of Sri Lanka, two regions badly affected in the conflict.

The soft-spoken leader slams both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the mess in the island state.

He spoke at length to rediff.com's Special Correspondent A Ganesh Nadar.

What was the position on the ground at the time of the ceasefire and peace talks in 2002?

At the time of the ceasefire some areas were controlled by the Sri Lankan government and others were under the control of the LTTE. There were some hazy areas where both the LTTE and government troops moved around.

What is the position now?

Currently the LTTE s presence in the east has been cleared.

Why did Colonel Karuna go against the LTTE?

The people in the east did not appreciate the way the LTTE leadership shared the facilities that came by because of the ceasefire. There was a committee to oversee development activities. Not a single person from the east was on that committee. They did not give enough positions in the administration to the people in the east. That hurt them. Karuna objected to this.

What is the composition of the people in the east?

In the east, the majority are Tamilians, then Muslims and Sinhalese. The Muslims speak Tamil but of late they want to be classified separately and not be bunched with the Tamils. So they are being classified that way. But they are Tamil speaking and culturally Tamil. The Tamils and Muslims did have a good rapport, but with the ethnic conflict, and the divide and rule policy of the government, there has been some friction.

Do you work in the east too?

We are working in the east and we work with all three communities. We like our work to be balanced. Our work in the peaceful area is easy. On the battlefront it is difficult. There both sides (the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army) are armed, and the hapless people are caught in between.

What is happening in the east now?

After the talks broke down, the army has moved forward slowly. In the east they have cleared the area and the LTTE is not visible there anymore in a meaningful way. They are moving around there but no longer in command.

Which areas have been cleared?

Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts have been cleared. Mannar and Vavuniya and some places in the north are still under the LTTE's control.


With the increase in fighting there, why has there not been an influx of refugees to India?

There are places where civilians can still move around and find alternative residence. But people usually move as a last resort after the fighting starts and it becomes dangerous. It is also difficult to get boats to India and therefore there has been no heavy influx of refugees.

There is a belief that when you have to move it is still better to remain within the country than cross the border -- then you lose everything. We work in Mannar too. We advise people to remain there. Only as a last resort do they cross over to India.

Also the climatic conditions are not conducive to crossing. Also the navies of India and Sri Lanka and the Coast Guard are patrolling the sea.

Any other reason?

Another thing that has changed now is the approach of the army. Earlier, in the eighties, they used to attack Tamil civilians. Now civilians are not attacked.

But human rights violations are occurring. When they suspect that you are connected to the LTTE or an informer or you give wrong information, you are in trouble. People have been summarily executed. People continue to disappear. The number of deaths and disappearances are unacceptably high. According to latest reports the highest number of disappearances are in the government-controlled area in the north.

How can that be stopped?

Enough public opinion has to be built up to stop that. Once people are taken we do not know what happens to them. The government has to correct that.

What is the difference between life in a government area and an LTTE area?

In the LTTE areas, civilians were secure. Their only fear was forceful recruitment and taxes. The LTTE's taxation was highly arbitrary.

When fighting breaks out civilians are in great danger. After the fighting, life does not get better in the liberated area. There is a screening process and the army keeps an eye on the people. Commodities are not allowed to come in as the army fears that it will fall into LTTE hands. So the civilian population is put to great hardship even after the government gets back control.

Has the LTTE helped in getting justice for the Tamil people?

The LTTE coming into the picture has two phases. Earlier they were not killing innocent people. Then they started internecine fighting and started killing innocent people and other Tamil leaders. They have become a problem rather than the solution.

What is the alternative?

Some of us who believe in the non-violent process know that the struggle will go on until justice is achieved. It will go on much more effectively if the LTTE is not in the picture.

Tell us about your father's role in the struggle?

My father S A V Selvanayagam was the leader of the Tamil people from 1948 to 1983. He was the leader of a federal party. He believed that a federal solution was possible. If people would have accepted that solution there would have been no problem now. It was a non-violent struggle. He was very firm that we must not use violence, that we must convince people. It was Gandhi's method that he adopted. Then the militants went and hijacked the process and could not sustain it.

The problem started in 1948. They brought in an act in Parliament whereby half the Tamil population lost its citizenship. The act took away the citizenship of all Tamils of Indian origin who were working in the plantations. That was the basic cause.

At that time my father said, 'What is now happening to the Indian Tamils will happen to us tomorrow'. People did not believe him and in the 1952 elections he lost. In 1956 people realised that what he had said was right.

People who returned to India at that time say that the Sri Lankan Tamils supported the government in chasing out the Indian Tamils?

One Tamil leader did go along with the Sinhala government and that gave us all a bad name. My father said that any act that is discriminatory should be opposed. They began the struggle at that time. Only one percent of the Tamils driven out at that time were business people. Most of them were in the plantations.

Then began the process of colonisation. The majority Sinhala people were sent into the Tamil areas with free land, money and equipment. The locals did not get anything. Then came the language act. That was the last straw. They said anybody seeking government employment had to be fluent in Sinhalese.

What happened to the non-violent movement for justice?

The movement gathered strength and in 1960 we paralysed the entire government machinery in the northeast without any violence. Unfortunately with violence spreading in the south in the seventies infecting other areas, the Tamil youth started reacting.

What did the government do next?

The violence on the Sinhala side increased. They first started recruiting more Sinhalese in government service. If you take the police in 1977, 99 percent were Sinhalese. The army is still worse. When you have two large ethnic communities and you fill the security forces with one side, it is a big mistake. Now it is a bit late to do anything about it.

What about the influence of the LTTE on the Tamils?

The LTTE has a hold on about 10 percent of the Tamils. That also is the fault of the government. When someone in your family disappears in a white van, there is bitterness and a desire to support the LTTE. The activities of the Sinhala government and its troops have been encouraging militancy. Tamil militancy is reactive.

Otherwise people would have gone the non-violent way. The influence of the Gandhian movement in India had a tremendous effect on the island. The actions of the army, including indiscriminate firing on civilians in the eighties, encouraged militancy.

You feel that it has changed now?

Now that has changed. There is no indiscriminate firing. Also there is a sizable population among the Sinhalese who say 'We must live together'. That is a qualitative change.

What is the position of the LTTE today?

Unfortunately, the LTTE factor is a problem. The LTTE not being in the picture will strengthen the Tamil side. It will facilitate India coming in a very meaningful way.

We had a two-day discussion in Tamil Nadu among representatives of the refugees. Everyone agreed that we should not take an LTTE-centric view of everything. The LTTE view will show everything going wrong. But if you don't look it at that way, there are other means. The struggle will go on till justice is achieved.

If the non-violent movement had continued after 1977 we would have got our rights by now.

Source: rediff.com

Take aid from China and take a pass on human rights

By Somini Sengupta
Published: March 9, 2008

FOR 25 years, the dirty little war on this island in the Indian Ocean has stretched its octopus arms across the world. The ethnic Tamil diaspora has provided vital funding for separatist rebels; remittances from Sri Lankan workers abroad have propped up the economy; the government has relied on foreign assistance to battle the insurgency.

Today, a shifting world order is bearing new fruits for Sri Lanka. Most notably, China's quiet assertion in India's backyard has put Sri Lanka's government in a position not only to play China off against India, but also to ignore complaints from outside Asia about human rights violations in the war.

The timing is propitious. The government jettisoned a five-year cease-fire this year, and is now banking on a military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In so doing, it has faced a barrage of criticism over human rights abuses and has lost defense aid from the United States and some other sources. And, in recent months, government officials have increasingly cozied up to countries that tend to say little to nothing on things like abductions and assaults on press freedom.

Sri Lanka's foreign secretary, Palitha Kohona, put it plainly when he said that Sri Lanka's "traditional donors," namely, the United States, Canada and the European Union, had "receded into a very distant corner," to be replaced by countries in the East. He gave three reasons: The new donors are neighbors; they are rich; and they conduct themselves differently. "Asians don't go around teaching each other how to behave," he said. "There are ways we deal with each other — perhaps a quiet chat, but not wagging the finger."

The Tamil Tigers, for their part, have succeeded in getting themselves classified as a terrorist group in many countries, including the United States, Canada and the European Union, making it harder for the guerrillas to raise money abroad.

At the same time, according to Kohona, Chinese assistance has grown fivefold in the last year to nearly $1 billion, eclipsing Sri Lanka's longtime biggest donor, Japan. The Chinese are building a highway, developing two power plants and putting up a new port in the hometown of the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka also buys a lot of weapons from China and China's ally Pakistan.

Chinese diplomacy in South Asia, grounded as it is in a policy of "harmony" and deep pockets, is of obvious concern to India. So are the sentiments of Tamils at home. Overt support from India for the Sri Lankan counterinsurgency program can be explosive among India's Tamils. But coming down hard on the government here could push Sri Lanka deeper into China's embrace.

"There is little choice," said Ashok Kumar Mehta, a retired general who was a leader of an Indian peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka nearly 20 years ago. "India's policy is virtually hands off."

Kohona, the Sri Lankan foreign secretary, noted that India's contributions had also grown, to nearly $500 million this year. India is building a coal-fired power plant and Indian companies have been invited to build technology parks and invest in telecommunications. New Delhi, like Washington, has shut the tap on direct military support, but it can still help with crucial intelligence, particularly in intercepting weapons smuggled by sea.

The picture in Sri Lanka is emblematic of a major shift from 20 years ago, when India was the only power center in the region. Now come China's artful moves in India's backyard. As C. Raja Mohan, an international relations professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, points out, China has started building a circle of road-and-port connections in India's neighboring countries, and it has begun to eye a role in the Indian Ocean, as its thirst for natural resources makes it more important to secure the sea lanes.

That offers countries like Sri Lanka ample opportunities. "Now the smaller countries have increasingly turned to China to influence India's strategic interests, and thus silence it on human rights issues," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch. She cited Burma, where, in the 1990s, India pressed for democracy and watched the military junta sidle up to Beijing. "Now India is concerned about China's role in Sri Lanka because of control over the Indian Ocean," she said.

Iran is the latest entrant. Late last year came the promise of a whopping $1.6 billion line of credit, primarily to help Sri Lanka buy Iranian oil.

Washington still counts. Sri Lanka is sore at losing American military aid and development assistance. The United States has also irritated the government by pressing for United Nations human rights monitors after the visit last October of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour. She said at the end of her visit that "the weakness of the rule of law and prevalence of impunity is alarming."

That infuriated the government. Sri Lanka's mission in Geneva sent out acerbic opinion pieces published in Sri Lankan newspapers. One, an editorial in the pro-government newspaper, The Island, declared that "those UN knights in shining armor tilting at windmills in small countries should be told that the protection of human rights is next to impossible during a fiercely fought war." Still, criticism over human rights continues to dog Sri Lanka.

Last Thursday, a report by Human Rights Watch blamed the government for a pattern of disappearances. The same day, an international Group of Eminent Persons that the government had invited to monitor Sri Lankan investigations into human rights violations said it was leaving; it cited "a lack of political and institutional will."

The attorney general's office responded by saying that the government would reconstitute the panel with "an alternate group of eminent persons."

But however free Sri Lanka feels to dismiss Western concerns about human rights these days, there are still long-range costs it may find itself confronting one day. The real Achilles' heel for the government is looming economic trouble, as its war chest expands and inflation reaches double digits.

And in that, the world matters. For its failure to ratify certain international conventions, Sri Lanka already risks losing trade preferences with the European Union at the end of this year. And, however much China has risen in importance, Europe remains this country's largest trading partner.

Source: IHT

Lankapuvath website launched

The Website of Lankapuvath, Sri Lanka's National News Agency was launched at the Galle Face Hotel on Wednesday. The Chief guest was Parliamentarian, Basil Rajapaksa, Senior Advisor to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The website is in Sinhala, Tamil and English along with audio and video clips

http://www.lankapuvath.lk/

Source: sundayobserver.lk

Sri Lanka's Return to War: Limiting the Damage(REPORT)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Sri Lanka is in civil war again, and there are no prospects of a peace process resuming soon. On 2 January 2008, the government announced its withdrawal from a ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This formalised a return to conflict that has been underway since 2006 but also presaged worse to come. The humanitarian crisis is deepening, abuses of human rights by both sides are increasing, and those calling for peace are being silenced. There is no present chance of a new ceasefire or negotiations since the government, despite pro forma statements in favour of a political solution, is dependent on hardliners and appears intent on a military decision. International actors must concentrate for now on damage limitation: protecting civilians from the war’s worst effects and supporting those working to preserve Sri Lanka’s democratic institutions.

In addition to heavy fighting in the north, the first weeks of 2008 have seen the assassinations of a government minister and a Tamil opposition member of parliament, multiple bombings in Colombo, a wave of deadly attacks on civilians in the majority Sinhalese south, and widespread disappearances and killings of non-combantants in the north and east. More than 5,000 combatants and civilians are estimated to have been killed over the past two years. At least 140,000 have fled intensified fighting in the north, and more are likely to be forced out if the military continues its push into Tiger-controlled territory. If the government’s military approach in the east is a precedent for its conduct of the northern campaign, civilians and their property are at grave risk.

Much of the blame for the resumption in violence lies with the LTTE; its ceasefire violations and abuses of the population under its control pushed the government towards war. The Tiger strategy was to shore up internal support by provoking a Sinhala nationalist reaction; it worked, although the insurgents may come to regret their approach. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has also overplayed his hand. Relying on support from Sinhala extremists, he has let them set an agenda that allows only for a military approach.

The military and much of the government leadership believe they can defeat or permanently weaken the Tigers by the end of 2008. The LTTE has been badly hurt over the past eighteen months: it has lost the areas it controlled in the Eastern Province; its arms routes have been disrupted; hundreds, perhaps thousands, of its fighters have been killed; and senior commanders are now vulnerable to targeted elimination, either from air force bombs or special forces. But the Tigers remain a formidable fighting force. While the army has been inching forward in the north, they are fighting back from well-defended positions. Even assuming the Tigers can be defeated militarily, it remains unclear how the government would pacify and control the large Tamil-speaking areas in the north that have been under LTTE domination for a decade or more.

The government argues its military campaign will clear the way for a political solution. Vowing to “eradicate terrorism”, it says it aims to destroy the Tigers or force them to disarm and enter democratic politics and negotiations alongside other Tamil and Muslim parties. But after promising for more than a year to undertake substantial constitutional reforms once the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) recommended them, it now proposes only to “fully implement” the constitution’s long-existing Thirteenth Amendment. The limited devolved powers for the north and east that this would represent are unlikely even in the best case to be sufficient to win over many Tamils or Muslims, though they could be a useful start if implemented sincerely. Since President Rajapaksa has chosen to depend on strongly Sinhala nationalist parties for his government’s survival, however, this seems unlikely.

Meanwhile, ethnic divisions are deepening. The humanitarian costs of the war are concentrated in Tamil-speaking areas. In Colombo, security forces have conducted large, often indiscriminate arrests of Tamils under emergency regulations. But Muslims are under pressure from both the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), a paramilitary group which broke from the Tigers and operates with the government’s blessing, and government-sponsored land and administrative changes. The much touted “liberation” of the Eastern Province has failed to bring development or democracy; instead it has been characterised by military rule and rising ethnic tensions. The government will lose an opportunity to set up a democratic alternative to the LTTE in the east if it fails to rein in the TMVP ahead of a series of elections scheduled to begin in March 2008.

The human rights and governance crisis continues unabated, with paralysis of the institutions empowered to investigate and prosecute, and consequent impunity for abusers. The many ad hoc commissions of inquiry of the past two years have accomplished nothing, while disappearances and political killings continue, especially in Jaffna and other parts of the north. Both the Tigers and the TMVP continue to recruit and make use of child soldiers, despite repeated pledges to UN agencies and others not to.

The current conflict is worse than what preceded the 2002 ceasefire. The government’s counter-insurgency campaign is more brutal and indiscriminate, the terror and criminal activities of its Tamil proxy forces more extensive and blatant, and the role of chauvinistic Sinhala ideologues in government more pronounced. The suspected involvement of pro-government forces in the assassinations of Tamil politicians is particularly disturbing. The Tigers have fully militarised life in areas under their control and returned to brutal attacks on Sinhalese civilians, intent on provoking even worse retaliation.

As unpromising as present circumstances are, the government should be alert to any opportunities that arise to promote a new peace process. Meanwhile, the international community needs to use its limited leverage for the time being to prevent further deterioration, while developing strategies to strengthen the moderate, non-violent forces still committed to a peaceful and just settlement and to build the middle ground – significantly beyond the unitary state but far short of a separate Tamil state – that will be necessary if a lasting political solution is to gain traction once political conditions are better. This will require pressing the Tigers and their supporters to abandon terrorism and separatism, while simultaneously encouraging a new consensus in the south in support of constitutional and state reforms.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government of Sri Lanka:

1. Meet basic humanitarian needs and protect civilians from the effects of war by:

(a) conducting all military operations in strict accordance with international law;

(b) guaranteeing full and prompt access for UN agencies and humanitarian organisations, with adequate medical supplies, to LTTE-controlled areas; and

(c) defending UN agencies and international humanitarian organisations against unfounded allegations by hardline politicians and parties and guaranteeing the safety of all humanitarian workers, Sri Lankan and foreign.

2. Take all necessary steps to protect the fundamental human rights of all citizens, including:

(a) conducting anti-terrorist operations in accordance with both domestic constitutional guarantees and international human rights and humanitarian law;

(b) investigating fully all allegations of disappearances and killings carried out by state forces or militant groups aligned with the state and prosecuting when credible evidence is available;

(c) passing through parliament a witness protection law that takes into account suggestions from civil society organisations and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP);

(d) accepting the proposed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) office in Sri Lanka with adequate powers to monitor and report on human rights violations throughout the country; and

(e) guaranteeing the protection of media personnel and investigating fully recent attacks on journalists.

3. Develop the Eastern Province equitably, transparently, inclusively and effectively by:

(a) delaying local and provincial elections until the illegal activities of all armed groups, including the TMVP, are curtailed and adequate security for all political parties is guaranteed by the police and legitimate security forces;

(b) ending de facto military rule over large parts of the Eastern Province and ensuring that politicians and civil servants of all ethnicities have a major role in planning and decision making; and

(c) guaranteeing full access for UN agencies and humanitarian organisations in the newly cleared areas.

4. Pursue vigorously political reforms that address the legitimate rights and needs of all citizens and ethnic communities in a united and democratic Sri Lanka by:

(a) granting the Eastern Provincial Council, once constituted, all allowable powers under the Thirteenth Amendment, including for police, finance, land and education;

(b) publicly commiting to pursue in the near future more substantial constitutional reforms, including power-sharing at the centre; and

(c) requesting the APRC to publish its proposals for constitutional reforms by the Sinhala and Tamil New Year (mid-April 2008), even if full consensus has not been reached.

To the President:

5. Establish immediately the Constitutional Council and request it to nominate new members to all independent commissions.

To all Political Parties:

6. Monitor closely implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment, work to ensure that maximum powers are granted to the Eastern Provincial Council once it is established after free and fair elections, and press the government to keep constitutional reform high on the agenda.

To the Constituent Parties of the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC):

7. Submit final proposals for constitutional reforms, including power sharing, by mid-April 2008, if necessary with majority and minority reports.

To the United National Party:

8. State publicly willingness to support in parliament reasonable devolution and power-sharing proposals that go beyond the limits of the unitary state, once these are submitted by the APRC.

To the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE):

9. Cease all attacks on civilians, suicide bombings, forced recruitment and repression of media freedom and political dissent and respect fully international human rights and humanitarian law.

10. Abandon publicly the demand for an independent Tamil state (Eelam) and announce willingness to negotiate within the framework of a united Sri Lanka.

To the International Community, in particular Japan, Norway, the EU, the U.S., India, Australia, South Korea and Other Asian States, as well as the United Nations:

11. Recognise that the 2002 peace process having now run its course:

(a) the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donors Conference (Norway, Japan, the U.S. and the EU) no longer have, as such, a clear peacemaking role; and

(b) there needs to be deepened cooperation between India, the EU and the U.S., with the goal of eventually developing a more politically powerful contact group.

12. Strengthen efforts to convince the government to accept a fully staffed UNHCHR office, able to monitor and report on rights violations throughout the country.

13. Continue support for constitutional power-sharing reform to address legitimate minority grievances, monitor Thirteenth Amendment implementation and urge the APRC to submit its proposals by mid-April 2008.

14. Strengthen efforts to close down the LTTE’s global financing and supply networks.

15. Cooperate with UK authorities in gathering evidence for possible prosecution of former TMVP leader Karuna on war crimes and human rights violations charges.

16. Speak out more regularly in defence of UN agencies and international humanitarian organisations and for the safety of all humanitarian workers, Sri Lankan and foreign.

To Donor Governments and International Financial Institutions:

17. Promote respect for the Guiding Principles for Humanitarian and Development Assistance agreed by donors and the Sri Lankan government in 2007 by forming a donor task force to investigate political and conflict dynamics in the Eastern Province and report publicly on the best way to ensure equity, inclusiveness and transparency.

To the United Nations Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict:

18. Recommend that the Security Council impose targeted sanctions on both the Tigers and the TMVP for continued recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Colombo/Brussels, 20 February 2008

Source: crisisgroup.org

HOT ZONE : Chapter 13: Sri Lanka

Kevin Sites covered Sri Lanka as violence erupted between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, pushing a nation with so much to lose back to the brink of all-out war. In rebel-held territory Sites interviewed Tiger fighters about their tactics and reported on the many effects of war still seen in the region.

Sites found signs of progress -- an important library has been rebuilt and land mine-related casualties are sharply declining -- but Sites also found the renewed violence had already erased tourism in some areas.

"A World of Conflict" is the documentary about the "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" project, in which veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites reported from every major global conflict in one year, in an effort to understand the costs of a world perpetually at war.

We are highlighting one chapter of the documentary each week in chronological order, allowing you to see the film in its entirety — exclusively online.

The documentary contains searing, never-before-seen images of combat and its lingering impact on civil society, beginning with the anarchy of Somalia in September 2005 and culminating with the explosive war between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006.

The documentary is included with Sites' new book, "In the Hot Zone: One Man. One Year. Twenty Wars." (The Harper Perennial paperback original is available now at Amazon.com and at book stores.)

CHECK THIS VIDEO OUT>>>>LINK

Source: hotzone.yahoo.com

Tamil Tigers Exploit Exiles Abroad to Fund Insurgency

By Rüdiger Falksohn and Padma Rao

After 25 years of civil war, the Sri Lankan government believes that its goal of militarily defeating Tamil rebels is finally in sight. But cutting off the rebels' financial resources is a different matter.

The Sri Lankan flag, with its green-and-orange stripes and yellow image of a lion, fluttered proudly in a brisk ocean wind. President Mahinda Rajapaksa also seemed filled with pride when he stepped up to the microphone to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence on Monday of last week.

"Our security forces are today achieving victories against terrorism unprecedented in history," he said defiantly, referring to the civil war that has crippled the country for the last 25 years. "Terrorism is receiving an unprecedented defeat."

Despite the military parade that followed Rajapaksa's address, it was clear, judging by the many ordinary soldiers positioned behind sandbags, rolls of barbed wire and temporary bunkers in the capital Colombo, that the ceremony was only made possible by tight security precautions. Soldiers and armed security personnel kept a watchful eye on every shop and even every ice cream vendor along the city's harbor promenade.

Nevertheless, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) insurgents -- commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, who are demanding an independent Tamil state and occupy one-third of the country -- managed to stage several attacks. At least 13 people were killed when a bomb exploded at a Colombo train station. Almost at the same time as Rajapaksa's speech, a bus went up in flames 240 kilometers (149 miles) away in the country's interior, also killing 13 people. Twenty people died in another bus explosion in Dambulla, the site of a cave temple and a popular tourist destination.

The civil war has already claimed the lives of more than 70,000 Sri Lankans, and the cease-fire agreement reached six years ago has long been worth less than the paper it was printed on. After the government formally dissolved the agreement in mid-January, Rajapaksa's troops resumed their bombardment of the LTTE-occupied north and have reported many successes since then. They even claim that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers, was mortally wounded in one of the attacks.

One of the World's Most Resilient Rebel Groups

But the Tigers seem unimpressed. In fact, the self-appointed representatives of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority have repeatedly demonstrated, with their attacks and assassinations, that they remain one of the world's most resilient rebel groups. The LTTE is the only guerilla organization in the world with its own rudimentary air force, as it demonstrated a year ago in a surprise attack on the headquarters of the Sri Lankan Air Force near the airport in Colombo. Although the Tigers' aircraft and bomb technology were substantially outdated, the air attack confirmed what had been just a rumor until then: That the LTTE is more than just a collection of jungle fighters, including many child soldiers, and naval vessels.

The Tigers are said to have the second-highest budget of all separatists, outdone only by Colombia's FARC guerillas, with their sizable cocaine revenues. The British military publication Jane's Intelligence Review and the humanitarian group Human Rights Watch recently published details of the group's sources of funding.

According to the report, the Tigers raise up to $300 million (204 million euros) a year, or between 80 and 90 percent of their total budget, abroad. Overseas Tamils are expected to donate funds, making private households and businesspeople the group's principal source of funding. Human Rights Watch describes the Tamils' fundraising method as "extortion." Indeed, poor or financially strapped Tamil families living in London, for instance, are asked to pay a monthly contribution of 40 British pounds (54 euros) apiece, while the Tamils who operate a Hindu temple in Canada are expected to come up with the equivalent of 700,000 euros ($1.03 million) -- as a "contribution to the final war."

With one in four Tamils living abroad, the number of potential donors runs upwards of 800,000. The largest diaspora is concentrated in Canada (about 250,000 people), followed by India (150,000), Great Britain (110,000), Germany (50,000), Switzerland, France and Australia (30,000 each). LTTE allegedly demands that Tamil expatriates contribute 20 percent of their earnings to the Tigers' cause, and Tamil cultural organizations are believed to employ money collectors who then funnel the revenues through circuitous routes to "Eelam," as the Tigers' realm is known.

Converting Dollars into Weapons

The collected dollars are often converted into weapons before reaching Sri Lanka. The weapons are shipped to Jaffna, the Tamil stronghold, primarily from southern India. Speedboats take only 45 minutes to cross the 35-kilometer (22-mile) Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. They often arrive loaded with overstock from a global weapons bazaar: Ukrainian explosives, Bulgarian SA-14 short-range missiles, bazookas from Cyprus, grenade launchers from Croatia and guns from Cambodia, Thailand and Burma.

To pay for all of this, the Tigers have apparently even turned to the illicit use of credit cards. In Norway, 16 LTTE supporters were put behind bars for credit card fraud last May. Authorities in Singapore and Thailand have raided criminal gangs outfitted with blank credit cards and reading devices designed to crack secret codes at ATMs.

The Tigers are organized centrally and hierarchically. According to Jane's, the organization's finances are handled by the Aiyanna Group, which is run by LTTE intelligence chief Potta Amman, and the Office of Overseas Purchases, headed by senior LTTE official Kumaran Pathmanathan (hence the nickname KP Department). Pathmanathan is believed to be in charge of securing financial contributions and allegedly works hand-in-hand with groups like the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC) in the borough of Queens in New York.

The WTCC, for its part, denies any involvement with LTTE, which is listed as a terrorist organization in North America and in the European Union.

Many Tamils who fled Sri Lanka in the early 1980s in the wake of pogroms committed by the Singhalese majority, or who have traumatic memories of the violent acts the government has committed in fighting the Tigers, support the LTTE voluntarily. They see the organization as the defender of a just cause.

Those who don't see it this way receive house visits from money collectors whose repertoire ranges from subtle encouragement to blatant extortion. Anyone who consistently refuses to pay up runs the risk of anything from harassing phone calls to a ransacked apartment, can run into problems when traveling home to Sri Lanka and endangers family members. According to a Tamil who has been at the receiving end of Tiger harassment, "they simply say: we'll show you. We all know that this can be a matter of life and death."

Source: spiegel.de

60th Independence Day Celebration(videos)

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6



Source & Uploaded by : SANDUN/YOUTUBE

Independence Day speech(video) by the President

Source: ITN(CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER)

Scam may have link to Tamil Tigers: cops

'They're obviously supporters'

By ROB LAMBERTI, SUN MEDIA

The Toronto Sun

Fraud investigators suspect a group of four who swiped account information from British bank cards of swindling victims out of about $250,000.

But Toronto Police are also trying to determine if there's a link between the international scam and the Tamil Tigers. Police found posters supporting the rebel group, which has been locked in a decades-old battle with Sri Lanka for independence.

"They're obviously supporters of the group," said Det. Scott Wittemore of 42 Division.

'MONTHS TO TRACK THAT'

He said calendars and posters were found in the homes of two suspects.

"That's the next question we're going to have to investigate," he said. "My suspicions are that money will be going there, but it's going to take us months to track that."

The four suspects, two from London, England, face 83 charges, including belonging to a criminal organization, an offence developed to combat organized crime groups.

"We feel that we've met the threshold," Wittemore said. "I mean, it's not like a group of school kids saying, 'Let's go and rob whatever.' I think we have a strong case, but it will be up to a judge."

Wittemore said a patrolling cruiser spotted the suspects' vehicle go through a stop sign Monday in the Brimley Rd. and Brimwood Blvd. area.

SUSPICIONS RAISED

The uniformed officers then found 41 gift cards, raising suspicions of a fraud scheme. Police discovered that the magnetic strip on the back of the cards contained debit card information of legitimate bank customers from Britain.

Police raided a Markham hotel room on Woodbine Ave. and an Ellesmere Rd. home after the car was stopped.

Investigators seized two laptop computers, computer memory sticks, reader and writer hardware, travel documents and passports issued to the suspects, a pinhole camera device, $25,000 in Canadian $20 bills and receipts for money transfers to people in the U.K. In total, 88 bogus ATM cards were seized.

Pratheepan Thambu, 22, and Lojanand Srianandan, 27, both of Toronto, and Sethukavalar Saravanabavan, 35, and Kirubakaran Selvanayagam Pillai, 38, of London, England, are to appear in a Scarborough court Friday.

Source: cnews.canoe.ca

Police explore Tamil link in fraud probe

TIMOTHY APPLEBY

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

January 31, 2008 at 5:09 AM EST

A routine traffic stop has sparked a widening police probe of a debit-card fraud that may have funnelled funds to the outlawed Tamil Tigers.

After a visiting motorist failed to halt at a stop sign Monday, police in Scarborough's 42 Division searched his rented vehicle and found plastic cards carrying the debit data of bank customers in the United Kingdom.

Now four men face multiple charges of attempting to loot bank accounts in Britain. The four - two of them visitors from Britain and two of them Toronto residents - are all of Sri Lankan origin.

For now, the alleged scam is being treated as a relatively straightforward effort to steal tens of thousands of dollars from British bank-card holders via the international network of bank-teller machines.

But lead investigator Detective Scott Whittemore said yesterday that in visits to two Scarborough homes, police discovered calendars and posters promoting and lauding Sri Lanka's insurgent Tamil Tigers, a group outlawed in Canada.

And while voicing support for the group is not an offence, providing it with material support has been illegal since April of last year, when Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced that the Tamil Tigers had been added to Ottawa's list of proscribed terrorist groups.

The United States and the European Union have similarly blacklisted the organization.

Police are investigating whether any of the four men has financial ties to the Tigers. If the alleged fraud was intended to benefit the Tigers, it would not be the first time crime-derived funds have been funnelled to the group, but such connections are always hard to prove, Det. Whittemore said.

The four men were arrested when their rented car ran a stop sign and was examined. Police discovered 42 plastic bank cards in the car, and dozens more cards were found when police later raided a Brampton hotel and a home on Scarborough's Ellesmere Road.

And while it was unclear how much money was actually stolen, $25,000 in Canadian $20 bills was found in the raids, along with two laptop computers, computer memory sticks and hardware, pinhole cameras and passports and travel documents.

The four men will appear in court tomorrow for a bail hearing.

Canada's Tamil community numbers more than 200,000 people, two-thirds of whom live in the Toronto area. In their homeland, Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been locked in a war with the state in a conflict that has claimed at least 60,000 lives since 1972.

The Canadian Tamil Congress rejects suggestions the Tigers play any role in terrorism. But two days after last year's announcement outlawing the Tigers, RCMP raided the Montreal office of the World Tamil Movement, allegedly a front for Tiger fund-raising.

And in March of last year, a report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch went further than merely asserting that Canadian money is fuelling the insurgency. The report stated that in Toronto, Tamils acting on behalf of the Tigers have committed widespread extortion and intimidation against their compatriots.

"Families were typically pressed for between $2,500 and $5,000," the report's authors wrote, "while some businesses were asked for up to $100,000."

The CTC denounced the Human Rights Watch findings, calling them methodologically flawed and flat-out wrong.

Source: theglobeandmail.com

People living on the edge

Daily Mirror Feature

By Senaka De Silva and Jeevani Pereira

Pics by Samantha Perera

On November 26, 2007 Leelawathi, Ekanayake, Hemapala and Punchi Banda of Mahawilachchiya, Anuradhapura met their unhappy fate at around 8 a.m. when entering their fields to begin work. Two weeks before, a farmer had disappeared from the field and a week before that another disappearance had occurred; thus fear was foremost in their minds.

Ekanayake who was wheeling his bicycle towards the shade of Okra plants saw a suspicious movement near the clump of trees he was heading for. According to the police, Ekanayake who had seen an unfamiliar man lying in wait in a crouch, would have pretended that he had not seen the man. But, before he had reached his usual parking place, Ekanayake had apparently abandoned his bicycle and had broken into a run. The man realising he had been discovered had shot Ekanayake, killing him on the spot.

Meanwhile, hidden from view at various points of the 125 acre field, men suspected to be LTTE cadres had shot at Punchibanda. Two LTTE terrorists had taken Leelawathi and Hemapala, (husband and wife), several meters away and killed them as well. It is believed that as a result of Ekanayake running away and the sound of gun fire, the lives of many other farmers entering the field that day had been saved.

“There are more than 40 farmers who work their land in the Mannaram Handiya area,” commented the OIC. “And we believe that the six LTTE cadres who came that day, were counting on killing more after abducting them away from there.”

The incident sparked off a massive effort by the police to ensure the safety of the villagers, not only around the area the incident had taken place, but also in the 12 Gramaseva divisions of Mahawillachchiya, surrounded by the Wilpattu forest. With the participation of the chief monk in the area and other relevant authorities, the police began a campaign to educate people in the villages and arranging to provide a 24 hour protection system by recruiting people from each village to form civil defence forces.

“We want to continue farming, this is all we know. Where are we to go if we leave this place? We cannot go beg at refugee camps. But now we are not sure what will happen to us, we fear for our survival,” N Gunatillake who has been farming in the Mahawillachchiya area for nearly 50 years said adding that with troubles escalating in the North they were going to be affected more than ever.

With a shotgun tightly in hand, K.A Lionel told us tentatively that he was not sure whether he was going to continue tending his pumpkin and green chillie Chena during the next season.

He, like many others in the Mannaram Handiya village in Mahawillachchiya, Anuradhapura were unsure of their lives each day they come to work their land; especially after four farmers were killed by suspected LTTE terrorists in the very same field in November last year and a recent attack at one of the bunkers set up to protect the area.

Threatened village

Fringed by the Wilpattu forest with no more than 10 kms. to cross over to Vavuniya, the farmers in the threatened village fear mostly that the security put in place for them by the police would not be enough if the war should escalate and rebels should trickle down. However, police pointed out that recruiting more than 400 to the Civil Defence Force recently and positioning them to guard the mouth of the forest at various points would counter the problem adequately.

“Soon after the murders, we held a meeting with the relevant authorities as well as farmers of the area and wasted no time in assuring security for the civil population,” explained OIC Mahawillachchiya G K Abeynaike.

“Also we will be receiving Rs 15 million from the government to clear 200m into the forest for 34 kms. up to the Ittikulama stream, areas which are exposed to threat, and build bunkers,” said Jayanta Atapattu, ASP Tantirimale.

More than 550 shotguns were also distributed among villagers for protection and according to the OIC, updates with the community are done each week building up close relations with the people in the area.

“The dedication of recruits from the village to protect the area has to be specially commended,” he remarked, adding that they were people willing to sacrifice their lives during cordon searches in the forest.

Furthermore, the Civil Defence Committee set up among the villages has proved informative about the problems they encounter, as well as any suspicious activity in the area.

The people of the threatened villages in Mahawillachchiya however, find it difficult to get back to normalcy. Meeting people who had farmed in the area for more than 50 years at a stretch, they said they had hardly encountered such a grave situation before.

Protection increased

“We were getting ready to come in the morning when we heard the news,” said Damayanthi Perera adding that she had been farming as long as she could remember, with her parents, and now with her husband. “Protection has been increased but still we are afraid. Some of us live close to the forest and if nothing happens to us in the fields we are scared that something will happen to us in our houses.”

Gunatillake who has been farming in the area for nearly 50 years said that with troubles escalating in the North they were going to be affected more than ever. “We want to continue farming, this is all we know. Where are we to go if we leave this place? We cannot go begging at refugee camps. But now we are not sure what will happen to us; we fear for our survival,” he said.

“We are unsure of the next season,” wife of murdered Punchibanda, told us. “I will go to the fields now because I have to see to my survival, but I do not know what will happen the next time, and I know of no other way to survive.” Her husband who set off earlier that morning was to be joined by her. However, house work made her promise to come later. “My husband was abducted before in 1996 by LTTE terrorists. They questioned him in the forests; he might have been killed if a group of young people from the village did not go looking for him and saved him,” she said adding tearfully that the second time he had not been so lucky.

According to K A Lionel they had asked for security when the abduction of a farmer took place during the previous week but nothing was done. “It was after the killings that the authorities looked up and decided to do something about it. They gave us guns but I don’t think anyone can handle a mammotty and a gun at the same time,” he said.

Nothing attempted

He also pointed out that authorities had promised to begin clearing 200m of the bordering forest by 5th January. However, up to date nothing has been attempted. Many of the villagers echoed that they would feel much safer with the bunkers around.

Kabellawe Dhamma Buddha Thera, priest at the Mahawillachchiya temple who has been actively involved in communicating and educating people said that only a little of the money promised for the bunkers had been released and they were awaiting the full amout before clearing the borderline of the forest – without touching Wilpattu itself.

“The bunkers will be set up and safety will be ensured,” he stressed adding that with a protective strip already in place from Tantirimale, Indiweva up to Kudakakkul Kotuwa internally the bunkers at the borderline would provide added safety for civilians.”

In the silence of the fields of Mahawillachchiya, that spread as far as the eye could see we encountered newly established hillocks with two or more Defence Forces standing guard. Men from the village itself stressed that they too would afford no more chances for any civilian to be hurt.

‘Defence Forcer’, Nandasena said that the safety of villages was ensured with the recruitment and that they were doing their best to keep harm at bay.

“After we started guarding the area for 24 hours, people started coming earlier than they used to. Before they used to come by 10 a.m. and leave by 2 p.m. He continued saying that this gave little time for pumpkin farmers to ensure the pollination of male and female flowers of the plants, something they had to do themselves when the bee season was over.

S.M Madhura Kumara, another Defence Forcer who joined after the four murders said that they are sent on cordon searches in teams almost three times a week. “We go into around four kilo meters of forest – that is as far as we can communicate with our equipment,” he said. “We do these not because we have to, but because the people of this village are our parents, friends and relatives.”

Repercussions of war

Thus the battle for survival goes on and despite the best efforts by authorities, fear is a constant affliction for these people living in threatened villages. Forced to dealing with failing crops and wild animals at the worst of times, they are now burdened with repercussions of a war they had never asked for.

Source : Dailymirror