Sun, 2009-04-26 19:33
By Ruwan Weerakoon in Colombo
Colombo, 26 April, (Asiantribune.com): "There is nothing
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.called ‘Amnesty to LTTE’ in my vocabulary," says Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
The US-led ‘Tokyo Co-Chairs’ had asked the Sri Lankan Government to offer amnesty to the Tamil Tigers, also devise a clear resettlement plan and open the way for a political dialogue with the Tiger outfit.
A statement in this regard was issued by the US State Department on behalf of Tokyo Co-Chairs, which had its third teleconference in less than 10 days to discuss the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka.
The State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood had said: "We urgethe Tamil Tigers to lay down arms to a neutral third party. We further urge the Government of Sri Lanka to offer amnesty to most Tamil Tigers and to devise a clear resettlement plan and to open the way for a political dialogue."
In response to the above request by the Co-chairs, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told Asian Tribune that there was nothing called ‘amnesty to the LTTE’ in his vocabulary.
“In my vocabulary there is nothing called ‘amnesty to the LTTE’? The terrorist outfit has killed thousands of our innocent civilians including children’s, and Intellectuals Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others. They brutally massacred more than thousand Tamil groups. In 1990 and later It has killed two world leaders – a prime minister and a president (Rajiv Gandhi and R. Premadasa), several Ministers. It has killed almost more than 40 elected members of Sri Lanka Parliament since 1975.
LTTE has several times tried to cripple the country’s economy, and nearly succeeded when it attacked the country’s only international airport in Katunayake.
But now the terrorist outfit is limited to only five or six square kilometers. There will be no amnesty. If Prabhakaran does not surrender, the army will eliminate him and rest of his cadres,” the defence secretary said.
- Asian Tribune -
Sunday, April 26, 2009
No surrender to third party - Defence Secretary
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stressed that the Government cannot let the LTTE to surrender to a third party and emphasised that LTTE should be made to surrender only to the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Defence Secretary, speaking to the Sunday Observer said this while commenting on the United States’ request for the LTTE to surrender to a third party.
“Sri Lankan people had suffered from terrorism and it is our people who were killed by the LTTE. It is not fair for a foreign country to request that the LTTE be allowed to surrender to an outside party,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said speaking to the `Sunday Observer’. “This is an internal matter and we, as the Government, can assure that the problem can be settled internally,” he added.
At a daily press briefing on Friday US State Department spokesman Robert Wood had stated, “”The Tamil Tigers must stop holding civilians and thus placing them in harm’s way. We call on the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms and surrender to a third party.” Yet, the US State Department has not specified who the third party is, media reports stated.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stressed that the Government cannot let the LTTE to surrender to a third party and emphasised that LTTE should be made to surrender only to the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Defence Secretary, speaking to the Sunday Observer said this while commenting on the United States’ request for the LTTE to surrender to a third party.
“Sri Lankan people had suffered from terrorism and it is our people who were killed by the LTTE. It is not fair for a foreign country to request that the LTTE be allowed to surrender to an outside party,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said speaking to the `Sunday Observer’. “This is an internal matter and we, as the Government, can assure that the problem can be settled internally,” he added.
At a daily press briefing on Friday US State Department spokesman Robert Wood had stated, “”The Tamil Tigers must stop holding civilians and thus placing them in harm’s way. We call on the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms and surrender to a third party.” Yet, the US State Department has not specified who the third party is, media reports stated.
Civilian Rescue mission most human
Humanitarian operation to continue :
CRescue mission most human
Civilian hatred to LTTE unprecedented:
A special corr
Contrary to biased reports circulating in the international media and among NGO and INGO circles the rescue mission that is being conducted successfully in the Vanni has been most humane, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the Daily News yesterday.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
According to information from ground sources in Puthumattalan and Ampalavanpokkanai the civilians arriving in the Government controlled area have been quite vocal in expressing their unprecedented hatred and anger towards the LTTE that has been keeping them under subjugation for so long, he added.
In view of the brutal shootings and suicide attacks on fleeing civilians these pro-LTTE propagandists are unable to speak openly on their behalf. Hence they are attempting to portray the developments in the North of Sri Lanka as a doomsday scenario and speak of “bloodbaths” and “humanitarian catastrophes”.
There is no humanitarian catastrophe or humanitarian crisis and the reality is that over 106, 000 have entered the Government controlled area on their own accord since last Sunday when the humanitarian rescue operation began, he further said.
The Government is not giving in to various pressures exerted on it to stop the humanitarian operation or declare a ceasefire and it will go on till the last civilian is freed from LTTE clutches, the Defence Secretary stressed. Asked whether the Indian delegation that met President Rajapaksa yesterday called for a ceasefire in the North, the Defence Secretary said that there was no such call and India did not exert any pressure on Sri Lanka on this issue.
It was yet another instance of high-level cordial discussions between the two countries on matters of mutual interest that characterise Indo- Sri Lanka relations since President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed office, he added.
CRescue mission most human
Civilian hatred to LTTE unprecedented:
A special corr
Contrary to biased reports circulating in the international media and among NGO and INGO circles the rescue mission that is being conducted successfully in the Vanni has been most humane, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the Daily News yesterday.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
According to information from ground sources in Puthumattalan and Ampalavanpokkanai the civilians arriving in the Government controlled area have been quite vocal in expressing their unprecedented hatred and anger towards the LTTE that has been keeping them under subjugation for so long, he added.
In view of the brutal shootings and suicide attacks on fleeing civilians these pro-LTTE propagandists are unable to speak openly on their behalf. Hence they are attempting to portray the developments in the North of Sri Lanka as a doomsday scenario and speak of “bloodbaths” and “humanitarian catastrophes”.
There is no humanitarian catastrophe or humanitarian crisis and the reality is that over 106, 000 have entered the Government controlled area on their own accord since last Sunday when the humanitarian rescue operation began, he further said.
The Government is not giving in to various pressures exerted on it to stop the humanitarian operation or declare a ceasefire and it will go on till the last civilian is freed from LTTE clutches, the Defence Secretary stressed. Asked whether the Indian delegation that met President Rajapaksa yesterday called for a ceasefire in the North, the Defence Secretary said that there was no such call and India did not exert any pressure on Sri Lanka on this issue.
It was yet another instance of high-level cordial discussions between the two countries on matters of mutual interest that characterise Indo- Sri Lanka relations since President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed office, he added.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Solution to Tamil's Aspirations - Treating Inferiority Complex
An “inferiority complex”, or extremely low self esteem, is a concept we are all familiar with. Chances are you, or someone you know, suffers from this complex. Those with low self esteem are more likely to be depressed, irritable, or aggressive. They may also be more likely to have feelings of resentment, alienation, and unhappiness. So what are the signs that you may have an inferiority complex? Here are the top 7:
Sensitivity To Criticism: Although people who feel inferior “know” they have shortcomings, they do not like other people to point this out. They tend to perceive any form of criticism, regardless of how sensitively or constructively it is presented, as a personal attack.
Hypercritical Attitude: People who do not feel good about themselves have trouble feeling good about anyone else. They look hard for flaws and shortcomings of others to try to convince themselves that they really aren’t so bad after all. These people cannot feel intelligent, attractive, competent, etc., unless they are the most intelligent, attractive and competent person around.
Inappropriate Response To Flattery: This can work two ways. Some people are desperate to hear anything good about themselves and will be constantly fishing for compliments. Others may refuse to listen to anything positive about themselves because it is inconsistent with their own feelings.
Tendency Toward Blaming: Some people project their perceived weaknesses onto others in order to lessen the pain of feeling inferior. From here, it is only a short step to blaming others for one’s failures.
Feelings Of Persecution: Carried to its extreme, blaming others can extend to believing that others are actively seeking to ruin you. If a man is fired from his job, for example, it may comfort him to believe that his boss was out to get him. It allows him to avoid personal responsibility for his failure.
Negative Feelings About Competition: People who feel inferior like to win games and contests every bit as anyone else, but they tend to avoid such situations because deep down, they believe they cannot win. And not coming in first is clear evidence of total failure.
Tendency Toward Seclusiveness And Timidity: Because people with an inferiority complex believe that they are not as interesting or intelligent as others, they believe that other people will feel the same way about them. So they tend to avoid social situations, and when they are forced to be with others, they will avoid speaking up because they believe doing so will only provide an embarrassing demonstration of their dullness and stupidity.
Don’t Worry! If you have most or all of these traits, it does not mean you are destined to a life of misery and self-doubt! Many people tend to gradually become easier on themselves as they grow older, after they learn from experience that they aren’t so bad after all. You can help this process along by making a conscious effort to pat yourself on the back for the things you do well. Remember, you don’t have to come in first to be proud of your efforts!
Sensitivity To Criticism: Although people who feel inferior “know” they have shortcomings, they do not like other people to point this out. They tend to perceive any form of criticism, regardless of how sensitively or constructively it is presented, as a personal attack.
Hypercritical Attitude: People who do not feel good about themselves have trouble feeling good about anyone else. They look hard for flaws and shortcomings of others to try to convince themselves that they really aren’t so bad after all. These people cannot feel intelligent, attractive, competent, etc., unless they are the most intelligent, attractive and competent person around.
Inappropriate Response To Flattery: This can work two ways. Some people are desperate to hear anything good about themselves and will be constantly fishing for compliments. Others may refuse to listen to anything positive about themselves because it is inconsistent with their own feelings.
Tendency Toward Blaming: Some people project their perceived weaknesses onto others in order to lessen the pain of feeling inferior. From here, it is only a short step to blaming others for one’s failures.
Feelings Of Persecution: Carried to its extreme, blaming others can extend to believing that others are actively seeking to ruin you. If a man is fired from his job, for example, it may comfort him to believe that his boss was out to get him. It allows him to avoid personal responsibility for his failure.
Negative Feelings About Competition: People who feel inferior like to win games and contests every bit as anyone else, but they tend to avoid such situations because deep down, they believe they cannot win. And not coming in first is clear evidence of total failure.
Tendency Toward Seclusiveness And Timidity: Because people with an inferiority complex believe that they are not as interesting or intelligent as others, they believe that other people will feel the same way about them. So they tend to avoid social situations, and when they are forced to be with others, they will avoid speaking up because they believe doing so will only provide an embarrassing demonstration of their dullness and stupidity.
Don’t Worry! If you have most or all of these traits, it does not mean you are destined to a life of misery and self-doubt! Many people tend to gradually become easier on themselves as they grow older, after they learn from experience that they aren’t so bad after all. You can help this process along by making a conscious effort to pat yourself on the back for the things you do well. Remember, you don’t have to come in first to be proud of your efforts!
LTTE & al-Qaeda: An Assessment
By Aaron Mannes
March 22, 2007 10:54 AM
Sri Lanka's Daily News reports that the LTTE has stolen Norwegian passports and sold them to al-Qaeda affiliates. This is not implausible. Rohan Gunaratna (currently head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore) wrote in Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror, that the LTTE provided forged passports for Ramzi Yousef (specialists close to the WTC 1 trials dispute this assertion). Also, while allied with the Pakistani government in the late 1980s and early 1990s the LTTE smuggled weapons from Pakistan-based Islamists to their counterparts in the Philippines.
Naturally, allies of the Sri Lankan government are playing up this possible link between their local enemy and the enemy which is the focus of international attention. However, if this cooperation occurred it should not be construed as a grand strategic alliance. The LTTE has an international network of support among the Tamil diaspora and, because of Sri Lanka's strategic location astride shipping lanes, its own fleet of sea-going vessels. So it is well positioned to play a role in trans-national criminal activity. The alleged LTTE passport sales highlight how terrorism is the tip of the iceberg of trans-national threats.
In the past I've written that the U.S. should expand its efforts against the LTTE because it was morally consistent with targeting terrorists, it would contribute to stability on the Indian-subcontinent, and because the LTTE was embedded in international criminal networks that also service Islamist terrorists. It would appear, based on recent arrests of LTTE operatives attempting to purchase weapons in the U.S. (see here and here) that the US. has stepped up operations against the LTTE. However, the Tigers have an international network and it is less clear if resources have been devoted to fostering the regional structures necessary to effectively target an organization like the Tamil Tigers.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/03/ltte_alqaeda_an_assessment_1.php
March 22, 2007 10:54 AM
Sri Lanka's Daily News reports that the LTTE has stolen Norwegian passports and sold them to al-Qaeda affiliates. This is not implausible. Rohan Gunaratna (currently head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore) wrote in Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror, that the LTTE provided forged passports for Ramzi Yousef (specialists close to the WTC 1 trials dispute this assertion). Also, while allied with the Pakistani government in the late 1980s and early 1990s the LTTE smuggled weapons from Pakistan-based Islamists to their counterparts in the Philippines.
Naturally, allies of the Sri Lankan government are playing up this possible link between their local enemy and the enemy which is the focus of international attention. However, if this cooperation occurred it should not be construed as a grand strategic alliance. The LTTE has an international network of support among the Tamil diaspora and, because of Sri Lanka's strategic location astride shipping lanes, its own fleet of sea-going vessels. So it is well positioned to play a role in trans-national criminal activity. The alleged LTTE passport sales highlight how terrorism is the tip of the iceberg of trans-national threats.
In the past I've written that the U.S. should expand its efforts against the LTTE because it was morally consistent with targeting terrorists, it would contribute to stability on the Indian-subcontinent, and because the LTTE was embedded in international criminal networks that also service Islamist terrorists. It would appear, based on recent arrests of LTTE operatives attempting to purchase weapons in the U.S. (see here and here) that the US. has stepped up operations against the LTTE. However, the Tigers have an international network and it is less clear if resources have been devoted to fostering the regional structures necessary to effectively target an organization like the Tamil Tigers.
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/03/ltte_alqaeda_an_assessment_1.php
Friday, April 24, 2009
World's Biggest Hostage Operation in Action - Sri Lanka
Wonderful! SriLanka has shown the world that how genuine she is towards innocent civilians and how vicious and tactful managing brutal terrorists. The whole nation apart from some cowards who are reluctant to accept the reality, bow the leadership of SriLanka. For years I had a question that SriLankan government really handling this problem truthfully. Till the president Rajapaksha took the challenge, I was very confident that he would do his best. Now he has proven it to the world. He has displayed his bravery not only to LTTE, but also to pro- LTTE groups and some countries, organization that for any reason this humanitarian operations wouldn't be halted. Still some of the international media has failed to absorb this "bitter truth" that LTTE is no more "saviors" for Tamils, for years what they pretended to be. I humbly request all SriLankans to get together in this hour to help the needy, thinking this is another Tsunami. It is not only the government's responsibility to look after them. They are our siblings, citizens of SriLanka. We must look after them for ever. At last but not least one thing I must mention, that we must be consistent in helping, developing the citizens of North. It is a responsibility of any government to come to power. If we start fighting each other as we did in the past, another Pirupaharan would come and sing "Sinhalaya Modaya, Kavum Kanna Yodaya"COMMENT: Dr. Kolitha Lelwala
Source: http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=46965
Al-Qaeda & LTTE, LTTE & Charity organizations
Al-Qaeda, LTTE diverting charity funds - US expert
Kolkata, Oct 21: Humanitarian and religious charity for the needy is being used for terrorist activities by groups such as the Tamil Tigers and al-Qaeda, according to a former US official and expert on terrorism funding.
Jammy Gurule, considered an expert on international criminal law, terrorism, terrorist financing and money laundering, spoke mainly about al-Qaeda, but also referred to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in passing.
"There are reports that the LTTE has been able to divert some humanitarian funds (linked to tsunami) for their personal purposes and that does not surprise me since terrorists are creative and intelligent and always looking for new sources of money," Gurule said.
"In the US we have identified 48 charity organisations which were funding terrorist groups like the Hamas or Hizbollah. Osama bin Laden himself said in interviews that Zakat (Islamic concept of charity) should be used for jehad."
"I am not condemning Islamic charity at all. I am saying how the fundamentalists and radicals are making use of this beautiful religion and charity," said Gurule, who until 2003 was an under secretary for enforcement in the US Treasury Department.
"According to different government reports, terrorism experts, NGOs and other sources, al-Qaeda has an annual budget of around USD30 million. It has a global reach with operations in 60 countries."
"When bin Laden was in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, there was substantial evidence that he was funding the Taliban to provide them al-Qaeda a safe haven," said Gurule, co-author of the book How to Block Terrorist Funds .
"Bin Laden was paying the Taliban USD10 million a year for their basic operations there."
"A lot of charity organisations are being used by terrorists to fund their activities. The US administration has frozen around USD200 million in bank accounts but much more needs to be done."
"The US laws and legislation now have not only focused on banks but have also taken into the definition of banks other financial institutions and expanded them to include a much wider range of businesses dealing with large sums of money and providing several other services to banks," he said.
"Those businesses are also liable now to file suspicious activity reports. Bond and security industries and brokerage firms, in the US, need to know the customer, suspicious activities, etc. Travel agencies are also required to file suspicious activities report," said Gurule.
According to Gurule, though India is an important partner of the US in fighting terrorism, more needs to be done.
"Since there are no major attacks in the past five years post 9/11, even the US has lost the sense of urgency and certain complacency has crept in. We need to remember what happened post 9/11 in other parts of the world. The memory of the international community, including the US, is very short," rued Gurule.
Gurule played diplomatic while referring to Pakistan.
"I don’t want to single out a particular country. A country not doing much needs to be engaged and it is a long-term effort. Certain people are criticising the US for its alleged double standards but a lot of things like telephonic conversations, correspondence, meetings and other efforts go on behind the public eye. I can say this, having worked in the government," Gurule said.
Gurule rues the absence of international law or legislation to bind countries in the fight against terrorism.
"We need one international convention on prevention of terrorism. It strikes me as rather ironic that even five years after 9/11 and the long history of terrorism preceding that there has not been an international convention on terrorism."
"I think if we had such a treaty that could go a long way in addressing the question and prosecution of terrorists or their extradition by the signatory states. It would have been a legal obligation. But we don’t have a convention."
"I think why we do not have such a convention or law even now is because we are still as an international community unable or unwilling to come to an international definition of terrorism."
"Like the terrorist-freedom fighter dichotomy. I think that is a phony argument. International communities have to agree the fundamental definition that killing innocent civilians in furtherance of ethnic, political and religious ideology is tantamount to terrorism," Gurule said.(Zeenews.Com)
Source: http://www.island.lk/2006/10/23/news6.html
Kolkata, Oct 21: Humanitarian and religious charity for the needy is being used for terrorist activities by groups such as the Tamil Tigers and al-Qaeda, according to a former US official and expert on terrorism funding.
Jammy Gurule, considered an expert on international criminal law, terrorism, terrorist financing and money laundering, spoke mainly about al-Qaeda, but also referred to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in passing.
"There are reports that the LTTE has been able to divert some humanitarian funds (linked to tsunami) for their personal purposes and that does not surprise me since terrorists are creative and intelligent and always looking for new sources of money," Gurule said.
"In the US we have identified 48 charity organisations which were funding terrorist groups like the Hamas or Hizbollah. Osama bin Laden himself said in interviews that Zakat (Islamic concept of charity) should be used for jehad."
"I am not condemning Islamic charity at all. I am saying how the fundamentalists and radicals are making use of this beautiful religion and charity," said Gurule, who until 2003 was an under secretary for enforcement in the US Treasury Department.
"According to different government reports, terrorism experts, NGOs and other sources, al-Qaeda has an annual budget of around USD30 million. It has a global reach with operations in 60 countries."
"When bin Laden was in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, there was substantial evidence that he was funding the Taliban to provide them al-Qaeda a safe haven," said Gurule, co-author of the book How to Block Terrorist Funds .
"Bin Laden was paying the Taliban USD10 million a year for their basic operations there."
"A lot of charity organisations are being used by terrorists to fund their activities. The US administration has frozen around USD200 million in bank accounts but much more needs to be done."
"The US laws and legislation now have not only focused on banks but have also taken into the definition of banks other financial institutions and expanded them to include a much wider range of businesses dealing with large sums of money and providing several other services to banks," he said.
"Those businesses are also liable now to file suspicious activity reports. Bond and security industries and brokerage firms, in the US, need to know the customer, suspicious activities, etc. Travel agencies are also required to file suspicious activities report," said Gurule.
According to Gurule, though India is an important partner of the US in fighting terrorism, more needs to be done.
"Since there are no major attacks in the past five years post 9/11, even the US has lost the sense of urgency and certain complacency has crept in. We need to remember what happened post 9/11 in other parts of the world. The memory of the international community, including the US, is very short," rued Gurule.
Gurule played diplomatic while referring to Pakistan.
"I don’t want to single out a particular country. A country not doing much needs to be engaged and it is a long-term effort. Certain people are criticising the US for its alleged double standards but a lot of things like telephonic conversations, correspondence, meetings and other efforts go on behind the public eye. I can say this, having worked in the government," Gurule said.
Gurule rues the absence of international law or legislation to bind countries in the fight against terrorism.
"We need one international convention on prevention of terrorism. It strikes me as rather ironic that even five years after 9/11 and the long history of terrorism preceding that there has not been an international convention on terrorism."
"I think if we had such a treaty that could go a long way in addressing the question and prosecution of terrorists or their extradition by the signatory states. It would have been a legal obligation. But we don’t have a convention."
"I think why we do not have such a convention or law even now is because we are still as an international community unable or unwilling to come to an international definition of terrorism."
"Like the terrorist-freedom fighter dichotomy. I think that is a phony argument. International communities have to agree the fundamental definition that killing innocent civilians in furtherance of ethnic, political and religious ideology is tantamount to terrorism," Gurule said.(Zeenews.Com)
Source: http://www.island.lk/2006/10/23/news6.html
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Demise of the Tamil Tigers? Perhaps, but an Appreciation
By Zachary Abuza
“The report of my death is an exaggeration” – Mark Twain
February 23, 2009 10:27 AM
While I would love to eulogize about the death of the Tamil Tigers, it is of course premature. However, I offer this “appreciation” of the Tamil Tigers, an organization that has been, bar none, the most cutting-edge, adaptive and creative terrorist organization in the world. There is not a terrorist organization in the world that has not adopted LTTE tactics or at least aspired to do so. As the LTTE has never targeted the United States, it has been a low priority for law enforcement, military and the intelligence services. Yet, the Tamil Tigers merit study.
Founded in May 1976, by Villupilai Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tigers – formerly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – grew from being a several thousand man guerilla force to being at its height a conventional force with some 10,000 combatants. Though their military collapse since mid 2006, has been surprisingly swift, one cannot forget that for years, they fought the Sri Lankan military to a standstill and controlled a significant amount of territory. Their nearly forty-year struggle is highlighted by firsts and superlatives:
• The LTTE have perpetrated more suicide bombings than Hamas and Hezbollah combined.
• The LTTE’s suicide vest design has been copied by nearly a dozen organizations.
• The LTTE is an equal opportunity employer: the LTTE has used female bombers in a more than 3-2 ratio. The LTTE fields a conventional women’s corp.
• The LTTE has used suicide bombing as a weapon of choice in terms of targeted assassination, including the 1991 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the near assassination of Sri Lankan President Kumaratanga in 1999. The LTTE assassinated nearly 50 prominent moderate Tamil leaders, and is estimated to have killed thousands of moderate and anti-LTTE Tamils.
• The LTTE has used suicide frogman and other special operatives to penetrate far behind enemy lines.
• The LTTE targeted pillars of the Sri Lankan economy, including bombings of the Central Bank in 1996 and Columbo’s World Trade Center in 1997. In 2001, LTTE operatives penetrated the international airport and destroyed three jetliners, half of Airlanka’s fleet, in addition to 23 military aircraft.
• The LTTE was the first organization to post martyrs’ posters for the “Black Tigers” their suicide corp.
• The LTTE is the first sub state actor to use suicide naval vessels. There have been over 40 suicide naval attacks since June 1990, seven years before the USS Cole attack.
• The LTTE had a full-fledged navy, and many of their craft were indigenously designed and built. Sri Lankan forces recently captured a submarine in its final stages of construction.
• The LTTE was one of only two terrorist organizations to use a WMD (the other being Aom Shinrikyo). The Tigers used a chlorine gas bomb against Sri Lankan forces in 1990.
• The LTTE became the first sub-state actor to acquire an air force. Though used in desperation over the weekend, in two attempted “kamikaze” attacks, the LTTE has used their Czech trainers 9 times since March 2007 Sri Lankan forces captured six airfields in LTTE territory.
While their innovations on the battlefield were remarkable, it is nothing in terms of their innovations in finance and logistics. In short, the LTTE wrote the book on terrorist financing. Originally supported by India, the Tigers, turned on their patron in 1987, and since pursued a policy of self-reliance. The “Snow Tigers” under the leadership Tharmalingham Shunmugham aka Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), have funded themselves through legal and extralegal means and have procurement operatives based in around the world.
The LTTE have used arms dealers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Lebanon, Egypt and Cyprus; shopped black markets in former war zones – Cambodia (Thailand), Afghanistan, Mozambique and the former Yugoslavia; and shopped the countries of the former Soviet bloc - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia and Kazakstan, as well as North Korea and China. In one famed case, China North Industries Corp (Norinco) sold the LTTE two consignments of assault rifles, light artillery, rockets and ammunition, each large enough to fill a 230-foot cargo ship. The purchases in September 2003 and October 2004 were arranged through a middleman and certified with North Korean “end user” documents. The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksapersonally appealed to Chinese leaders in Beijing in February 2007 to halt a third consignment. One senior procurement officer arrested had a laptop with spreadsheets detailing more than $13 million in payments in the summer of 2006 for military equipment, including anti-aircraft guns and 100 tons of high explosives. His passport showed more than 100 trips in the past five years to countries such as China, Kenya.
The Tiger’s revenue stream has been estimated to be between $50 to $80 million per year. The money was diversified and invested around the world in money and stock markets through an array of front companies.
The LTTE invest directly or front money for supporters as a terrorist venture capitalist, in freight forwarding, gold and jewelry shops, restaurants, magazines and video sales, stores, bus companies, telephone and computer services. At one time, the Tigers owned and operated 11 merchant ships, flying under the flags of Panama, Honduras and Liberia, repeatedly changing the name of the ships, and manifest details.
More money came from illicit sources, including, racketeering, extortion, drug smuggling, money laundering, gold smuggling, and human smuggling. The LTTE have been behind some of the largest human trafficking rings in the European Union.
Perhaps the single-most important revenue stream is a baseline tax on the 800,000-strong Tamil diaspora, known as the Tamil Tax. They are most active in countries with large diaspora communities, especially, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, UK, US, Scandinavia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Canadian security forces estimated that the LTTE earned $6.5 million from investments in Canada between October 1998 - October 1999. The Canadian intelligence report estimated that Tamil communities in the UK, Canada and Australia, alone, provided $1.5 million per month. In Canada, the tax began as roughly C$1/day per family, though was increased. In the UK it’s roughly £300 per year.
Increasingly the LTTE has been an issue for USA law enforcement. Though proscribed by the US in 1997, there were few enforcements, until after 9/11 when the US took terrorist financing more seriously, and had to target more than just Muslim organizations and individuals for appearance’s sake. Currently, the FBI is investigating a Wall Street financier suspected of donating millions of dollars to the rebels, while an employee of Microsoft was indicted for procuring computers and software for the Tigers. Recently, 8 suspects were arrested in an ATM fraud scandal in NY. In April 2007, the FBI arrested the alleged U.S. director of the Tigers and 11 other LTTE suspects in the New York City region. In Baltimore, “a pair of Indonesian men pled guilty and were sentenced recently for working with others to export surface to air missiles, state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns, and night vision goggles to the Tigers in Sri Lanka.”
On 15 November 2007, the Treasury Department, proscribed the LTTE’s development agency, established after the 26 October 2004 tsunami, the Tamil Relief Organization. “TRO passed off its operations as charitable, when in fact it was raising money for a designated terrorist group responsible for heinous acts of terrorism," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). “TRO's efforts worldwide reportedly have allowed the LTTE to use humanitarian aid, which TRO collected from the international community after the December 2004 tsunami, to launch new campaigns to strengthen LTTE military capacity.”
Since the 22 February 2002 Norwegian-backed ceasefire fell apart, and all out war resumed in September 2006, the Tamil’s demise has been surprisingly swift. They are now confined to a small patch of jungle (roughly 35 sq miles) north of Mulitaivu, on the northeastern coast. Why the quick demise? Clearly the thirty years of war wreaked havoc on society, and proved to be a demographic catastrophe. As a result, the LTTE have been forced to rely on child soldiers, limiting their battlefield efficacy. An Amnesty International report estimated that 60 percent of LTTE cadres are under the age of 18 and that 40 percent of LTTE cadres killed in action are between the ages of 9 and 18. While these estimates seem slightly high, there is no doubt that the LTTE had to recruit child combatants to fill their depleted ranks. Second, the Sri Lankan military, never the most apt, had a string of successes. They captured the Tamil city of Jaffna in 1995, then were able to target the LTTE from both the north and the south. Following the 2005 election of the hardline president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan armed forces increased in size by 40%. Sri Lanka's military now has about 300,000 troops, in a country with a population of just 22 million. Popular support for the government’s war efforts, now that the LTTE is on the ropes, has rarely been higher. The Tamil cities of Killinochi and Mulitaivu fell this year, depriving the LTTE of concentrated populations centers and a base of revenue. Third, the once cohesive LTTE began to fracture. In 2004, Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, aka Col. Karuna, who controlled the eastern provinces, defected with his forces to the government. Disputes over the inflow of aid following the 2004 tsunami, led to further infighting. As ceasefire violations increased in 2003-06, it was clear that Prabakharan had no intention of giving the ceasefire a chance, angering his war-weary population and rank and file soldiers. In fact, the LTTE had used three previous ceasefires (1985, 1989-90, and 1994-95) as opportunities to regroup and re-arm. Finally, the post-9/11 environment had severe repercussions for LTTE fundraising and weapons procurement. Prabhakaran, himself, acknowledged that the LTTE had been "compelled by unprecedented historical circumstances to participate in [the 2002-04] peace talks with the Sinhalese state," first by the "Indian regional superpower" and "by the pressure of the international community.”
What to expect? There is nothing more ferocious than a cornered tiger. Expect a wave of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. While LTTE forces might be cornered, the LTTE has operatives and caches spread out. Desperate times call for desperate measures, including attacks on their own civilian population fleeing the war zone. Expect more attacks on moderate Tamil leaders who seek greater autonomy through legal-parliamentary means. If Prabakharan is captured or killed, the LTTE will be greatly weakened. He is the charismatic leader, the embodiment of the revolution. There is no heir to power with his popular appeal/fear or respect from rank and file.
Finally, the Tigers will regroup, for no other reason than the government’s failings. Despite the defection of Col. Karuna in 2004, the government failed to bring in meaningful development projects and give the Tamil community the degree of political and social autonomy that was promised to them. Sri Lankan military forces act with impunity and have been behind egregious human rights violations. There must be justice as well as transparent government. The government must put in place legal protections for minorities and end the systematic discrimination of the Tamil community. Though Sri Lanka is in a position to win the war, they must not fail to win the peace.
sc: http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/02/demise_of_the_tamil_tigers_per.php
“The report of my death is an exaggeration” – Mark Twain
February 23, 2009 10:27 AM
While I would love to eulogize about the death of the Tamil Tigers, it is of course premature. However, I offer this “appreciation” of the Tamil Tigers, an organization that has been, bar none, the most cutting-edge, adaptive and creative terrorist organization in the world. There is not a terrorist organization in the world that has not adopted LTTE tactics or at least aspired to do so. As the LTTE has never targeted the United States, it has been a low priority for law enforcement, military and the intelligence services. Yet, the Tamil Tigers merit study.
Founded in May 1976, by Villupilai Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tigers – formerly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – grew from being a several thousand man guerilla force to being at its height a conventional force with some 10,000 combatants. Though their military collapse since mid 2006, has been surprisingly swift, one cannot forget that for years, they fought the Sri Lankan military to a standstill and controlled a significant amount of territory. Their nearly forty-year struggle is highlighted by firsts and superlatives:
• The LTTE have perpetrated more suicide bombings than Hamas and Hezbollah combined.
• The LTTE’s suicide vest design has been copied by nearly a dozen organizations.
• The LTTE is an equal opportunity employer: the LTTE has used female bombers in a more than 3-2 ratio. The LTTE fields a conventional women’s corp.
• The LTTE has used suicide bombing as a weapon of choice in terms of targeted assassination, including the 1991 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and the near assassination of Sri Lankan President Kumaratanga in 1999. The LTTE assassinated nearly 50 prominent moderate Tamil leaders, and is estimated to have killed thousands of moderate and anti-LTTE Tamils.
• The LTTE has used suicide frogman and other special operatives to penetrate far behind enemy lines.
• The LTTE targeted pillars of the Sri Lankan economy, including bombings of the Central Bank in 1996 and Columbo’s World Trade Center in 1997. In 2001, LTTE operatives penetrated the international airport and destroyed three jetliners, half of Airlanka’s fleet, in addition to 23 military aircraft.
• The LTTE was the first organization to post martyrs’ posters for the “Black Tigers” their suicide corp.
• The LTTE is the first sub state actor to use suicide naval vessels. There have been over 40 suicide naval attacks since June 1990, seven years before the USS Cole attack.
• The LTTE had a full-fledged navy, and many of their craft were indigenously designed and built. Sri Lankan forces recently captured a submarine in its final stages of construction.
• The LTTE was one of only two terrorist organizations to use a WMD (the other being Aom Shinrikyo). The Tigers used a chlorine gas bomb against Sri Lankan forces in 1990.
• The LTTE became the first sub-state actor to acquire an air force. Though used in desperation over the weekend, in two attempted “kamikaze” attacks, the LTTE has used their Czech trainers 9 times since March 2007 Sri Lankan forces captured six airfields in LTTE territory.
While their innovations on the battlefield were remarkable, it is nothing in terms of their innovations in finance and logistics. In short, the LTTE wrote the book on terrorist financing. Originally supported by India, the Tigers, turned on their patron in 1987, and since pursued a policy of self-reliance. The “Snow Tigers” under the leadership Tharmalingham Shunmugham aka Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), have funded themselves through legal and extralegal means and have procurement operatives based in around the world.
The LTTE have used arms dealers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Lebanon, Egypt and Cyprus; shopped black markets in former war zones – Cambodia (Thailand), Afghanistan, Mozambique and the former Yugoslavia; and shopped the countries of the former Soviet bloc - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia and Kazakstan, as well as North Korea and China. In one famed case, China North Industries Corp (Norinco) sold the LTTE two consignments of assault rifles, light artillery, rockets and ammunition, each large enough to fill a 230-foot cargo ship. The purchases in September 2003 and October 2004 were arranged through a middleman and certified with North Korean “end user” documents. The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksapersonally appealed to Chinese leaders in Beijing in February 2007 to halt a third consignment. One senior procurement officer arrested had a laptop with spreadsheets detailing more than $13 million in payments in the summer of 2006 for military equipment, including anti-aircraft guns and 100 tons of high explosives. His passport showed more than 100 trips in the past five years to countries such as China, Kenya.
The Tiger’s revenue stream has been estimated to be between $50 to $80 million per year. The money was diversified and invested around the world in money and stock markets through an array of front companies.
The LTTE invest directly or front money for supporters as a terrorist venture capitalist, in freight forwarding, gold and jewelry shops, restaurants, magazines and video sales, stores, bus companies, telephone and computer services. At one time, the Tigers owned and operated 11 merchant ships, flying under the flags of Panama, Honduras and Liberia, repeatedly changing the name of the ships, and manifest details.
More money came from illicit sources, including, racketeering, extortion, drug smuggling, money laundering, gold smuggling, and human smuggling. The LTTE have been behind some of the largest human trafficking rings in the European Union.
Perhaps the single-most important revenue stream is a baseline tax on the 800,000-strong Tamil diaspora, known as the Tamil Tax. They are most active in countries with large diaspora communities, especially, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, UK, US, Scandinavia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Canadian security forces estimated that the LTTE earned $6.5 million from investments in Canada between October 1998 - October 1999. The Canadian intelligence report estimated that Tamil communities in the UK, Canada and Australia, alone, provided $1.5 million per month. In Canada, the tax began as roughly C$1/day per family, though was increased. In the UK it’s roughly £300 per year.
Increasingly the LTTE has been an issue for USA law enforcement. Though proscribed by the US in 1997, there were few enforcements, until after 9/11 when the US took terrorist financing more seriously, and had to target more than just Muslim organizations and individuals for appearance’s sake. Currently, the FBI is investigating a Wall Street financier suspected of donating millions of dollars to the rebels, while an employee of Microsoft was indicted for procuring computers and software for the Tigers. Recently, 8 suspects were arrested in an ATM fraud scandal in NY. In April 2007, the FBI arrested the alleged U.S. director of the Tigers and 11 other LTTE suspects in the New York City region. In Baltimore, “a pair of Indonesian men pled guilty and were sentenced recently for working with others to export surface to air missiles, state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns, and night vision goggles to the Tigers in Sri Lanka.”
On 15 November 2007, the Treasury Department, proscribed the LTTE’s development agency, established after the 26 October 2004 tsunami, the Tamil Relief Organization. “TRO passed off its operations as charitable, when in fact it was raising money for a designated terrorist group responsible for heinous acts of terrorism," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). “TRO's efforts worldwide reportedly have allowed the LTTE to use humanitarian aid, which TRO collected from the international community after the December 2004 tsunami, to launch new campaigns to strengthen LTTE military capacity.”
Since the 22 February 2002 Norwegian-backed ceasefire fell apart, and all out war resumed in September 2006, the Tamil’s demise has been surprisingly swift. They are now confined to a small patch of jungle (roughly 35 sq miles) north of Mulitaivu, on the northeastern coast. Why the quick demise? Clearly the thirty years of war wreaked havoc on society, and proved to be a demographic catastrophe. As a result, the LTTE have been forced to rely on child soldiers, limiting their battlefield efficacy. An Amnesty International report estimated that 60 percent of LTTE cadres are under the age of 18 and that 40 percent of LTTE cadres killed in action are between the ages of 9 and 18. While these estimates seem slightly high, there is no doubt that the LTTE had to recruit child combatants to fill their depleted ranks. Second, the Sri Lankan military, never the most apt, had a string of successes. They captured the Tamil city of Jaffna in 1995, then were able to target the LTTE from both the north and the south. Following the 2005 election of the hardline president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan armed forces increased in size by 40%. Sri Lanka's military now has about 300,000 troops, in a country with a population of just 22 million. Popular support for the government’s war efforts, now that the LTTE is on the ropes, has rarely been higher. The Tamil cities of Killinochi and Mulitaivu fell this year, depriving the LTTE of concentrated populations centers and a base of revenue. Third, the once cohesive LTTE began to fracture. In 2004, Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, aka Col. Karuna, who controlled the eastern provinces, defected with his forces to the government. Disputes over the inflow of aid following the 2004 tsunami, led to further infighting. As ceasefire violations increased in 2003-06, it was clear that Prabakharan had no intention of giving the ceasefire a chance, angering his war-weary population and rank and file soldiers. In fact, the LTTE had used three previous ceasefires (1985, 1989-90, and 1994-95) as opportunities to regroup and re-arm. Finally, the post-9/11 environment had severe repercussions for LTTE fundraising and weapons procurement. Prabhakaran, himself, acknowledged that the LTTE had been "compelled by unprecedented historical circumstances to participate in [the 2002-04] peace talks with the Sinhalese state," first by the "Indian regional superpower" and "by the pressure of the international community.”
What to expect? There is nothing more ferocious than a cornered tiger. Expect a wave of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. While LTTE forces might be cornered, the LTTE has operatives and caches spread out. Desperate times call for desperate measures, including attacks on their own civilian population fleeing the war zone. Expect more attacks on moderate Tamil leaders who seek greater autonomy through legal-parliamentary means. If Prabakharan is captured or killed, the LTTE will be greatly weakened. He is the charismatic leader, the embodiment of the revolution. There is no heir to power with his popular appeal/fear or respect from rank and file.
Finally, the Tigers will regroup, for no other reason than the government’s failings. Despite the defection of Col. Karuna in 2004, the government failed to bring in meaningful development projects and give the Tamil community the degree of political and social autonomy that was promised to them. Sri Lankan military forces act with impunity and have been behind egregious human rights violations. There must be justice as well as transparent government. The government must put in place legal protections for minorities and end the systematic discrimination of the Tamil community. Though Sri Lanka is in a position to win the war, they must not fail to win the peace.
sc: http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/02/demise_of_the_tamil_tigers_per.php
ON A HUNT FOR LTTE MILITARY LEADERS
When supper powers jointly combat Al Qaeda terrorism with 100% active support from international community, Sri Lanka exclusively combated LTTE terrorism with some passive support from international community and has produced amazing resluts. Super powers have lessons to learn from third world.Tigers sold Norwegian Passport to Al-Qaeda
Walter Jayawardhana
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
TORONTO: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have stolen Norwegian passports and sold them to the al-Qaeda organisation to earn money, Norwegians Against Terrorism Organisation chief spokesman Falk Rovik said.
Addressing as the main guest speaker at the Sri Lanka United National Association's special general meeting at the North York Civic Centre Auditorium in Toronto recently, he said an LTTE member called Mike Daniel Jeya is already in prison for this passport racket.
"The LTTE has sold these passports to the highest bidders including an Algerian al-Qaeda group," Rovik said. He said the LTTE in Norway has made use of weak members of the society to carry out their illegal rackets.
"In this case it was a police officer who was made use of. Police officer Herman Olav Nyhusmoen was a habitual gambler and was always wanting money to pay his debts. So, LTTE cadre Mike Daniel Jeya was easily able to steal the passports using him," Rovik said.
He said both the Norwegian and the LTTE cadre are in jail for the crimes. Rovik said the passport fraud was detected when a LTTEer was caught with 700 passports in Thailand.
He said according to Interpol figures 130,000 Norwegian passports have been stolen. Rovik pointed out that the LTTE has used some of the stolen passports and the balance had been sold to the highest bidders including the al-Qaeda group in Algeria.
A large gathering including representatives from Amnesty International, Mackenzie Institute, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, CSIS, Toronto Police, several GTA Riding Association officials, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner, Consul General and other Sri Lankan community leaders were present at the lecture.
Rovik who is also a member of the board of Oslo Chapter of the Amnesty International, said almost 90 per cent of LTTE revenues are raised from criminal activities outside Sri Lanka, including the smuggling of narcotics and humans, extortion of Diaspora members, credit card fraud etc.
He charged that the Norwegian Government had funded the LTTE through two ways, by giving money to the bogus humanitarian front organisation called the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and sending money to secret bank accounts.
He said the TRO is directly controlled by the LTTE and is being used to funnel money into the LTTE's arms procurements. Rovik said the money supplied by Norway to the TRO ran into millions of dollars. He said his organisation extracted these lists from public records and published.
"As a cover up, the government is grouping those figures to hide certain names the monies received," Rovik said. Norway is also using secret accounts to fund the LTTE, he said.
Rovik further charged that ex-Norwegian Special Forces have trained the LTTE Sea Tigers in under water demolition methods in Thailand. He said ex-Norwegian Special forces never train foreigners without the Norwegian Government's consent.
He said the Sea Tigers were especially trained in attacking ports and Navy ships. He revealed that certain Norwegian military personnel serving in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) under the peace process have taken LTTE personnel to study at the Special Forces Military base in Rena, Norway.
He said the Norway managed SLMM monitors are not true monitors but a bias lot and said it was amply demonstrated when a Chinese fishing trawler was destroyed by the Sea Tigers. Rovik said what the SLMM said was that the sinking of the Chinese vessel was done by an unknown third party.
He said there is innumerable pieces of evidence to prove that the Norwegian Government has contributed to terrorism in Sri Lanka.
"Due to that victims of terrorism in Sri Lanka who have lost their limbs, loved ones and property and suffered mutilations are able to file class actions against the Norwegian government asking for compensation, under the country's laws," Rovik said.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
TORONTO: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have stolen Norwegian passports and sold them to the al-Qaeda organisation to earn money, Norwegians Against Terrorism Organisation chief spokesman Falk Rovik said.
Addressing as the main guest speaker at the Sri Lanka United National Association's special general meeting at the North York Civic Centre Auditorium in Toronto recently, he said an LTTE member called Mike Daniel Jeya is already in prison for this passport racket.
"The LTTE has sold these passports to the highest bidders including an Algerian al-Qaeda group," Rovik said. He said the LTTE in Norway has made use of weak members of the society to carry out their illegal rackets.
"In this case it was a police officer who was made use of. Police officer Herman Olav Nyhusmoen was a habitual gambler and was always wanting money to pay his debts. So, LTTE cadre Mike Daniel Jeya was easily able to steal the passports using him," Rovik said.
He said both the Norwegian and the LTTE cadre are in jail for the crimes. Rovik said the passport fraud was detected when a LTTEer was caught with 700 passports in Thailand.
He said according to Interpol figures 130,000 Norwegian passports have been stolen. Rovik pointed out that the LTTE has used some of the stolen passports and the balance had been sold to the highest bidders including the al-Qaeda group in Algeria.
A large gathering including representatives from Amnesty International, Mackenzie Institute, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, CSIS, Toronto Police, several GTA Riding Association officials, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner, Deputy High Commissioner, Consul General and other Sri Lankan community leaders were present at the lecture.
Rovik who is also a member of the board of Oslo Chapter of the Amnesty International, said almost 90 per cent of LTTE revenues are raised from criminal activities outside Sri Lanka, including the smuggling of narcotics and humans, extortion of Diaspora members, credit card fraud etc.
He charged that the Norwegian Government had funded the LTTE through two ways, by giving money to the bogus humanitarian front organisation called the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and sending money to secret bank accounts.
He said the TRO is directly controlled by the LTTE and is being used to funnel money into the LTTE's arms procurements. Rovik said the money supplied by Norway to the TRO ran into millions of dollars. He said his organisation extracted these lists from public records and published.
"As a cover up, the government is grouping those figures to hide certain names the monies received," Rovik said. Norway is also using secret accounts to fund the LTTE, he said.
Rovik further charged that ex-Norwegian Special Forces have trained the LTTE Sea Tigers in under water demolition methods in Thailand. He said ex-Norwegian Special forces never train foreigners without the Norwegian Government's consent.
He said the Sea Tigers were especially trained in attacking ports and Navy ships. He revealed that certain Norwegian military personnel serving in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) under the peace process have taken LTTE personnel to study at the Special Forces Military base in Rena, Norway.
He said the Norway managed SLMM monitors are not true monitors but a bias lot and said it was amply demonstrated when a Chinese fishing trawler was destroyed by the Sea Tigers. Rovik said what the SLMM said was that the sinking of the Chinese vessel was done by an unknown third party.
He said there is innumerable pieces of evidence to prove that the Norwegian Government has contributed to terrorism in Sri Lanka.
"Due to that victims of terrorism in Sri Lanka who have lost their limbs, loved ones and property and suffered mutilations are able to file class actions against the Norwegian government asking for compensation, under the country's laws," Rovik said.
Catch a Tiger by the Toe
(By: Aaron Mannes)
11/7/2006 12:16:38 PM
While the world focuses its attention on Lebanon, the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka looks poised for yet another flare-up. Even excluding the Sri Lankan army's current offensive, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) June 15 bombing of a passenger bus that killed 64 people and the June 26 assassination of a top Sri Lankan general, LTTE terrorism and Sri Lankan military reprisals have claimed hundreds of lives this year. Sri Lanka is a democratic ally, but the United States has limited options for preventing further bloodshed.
However, international frustration with LTTE intransigence has created a rare, low-cost opportunity for American leadership in the region. If the United States can effectively target the LTTE's international finance and smuggling networks, a lack of money and weapons will reduce the group's capability to commit terror attacks, increase the possibility of a political solution in Sri Lanka, and improve the regional situation in Southeast Asia.
Long before the terms entered the American lexicon, the LTTE's struggle for an independent, ethnically Hindu Tamil homeland in northern Sri Lanka featured hundreds of suicide bombings and IEDs at a cost in lives now estimated to exceed 64,000. According to the United Nation's Children's Fund, the LTTE has a history of recruiting child soldiers (including children orphaned by the December 2004 tsunami.).
The LTTE has bombed Sri Lanka's World Trade Centre and assassinated dozens of political leaders, including two national leaders: former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993. Sri Lanka's Tamils have legitimate grievances against the Sinhalese Buddhist-dominated Sri Lankan government. But Sri Lanka is a democracy and Tamils have held high positions in the government. Furthermore, the LTTE pursues a strategy designed to stoke ethnic tensions and provoke attacks on the island's ethnic minority, hamstringing the Sri Lankan government's faltering attempts at a political solution.
The LTTE has two major sources of revenue with which to fund its war: maritime smuggling and the international Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. The LTTE, with its base of operations in close proximity to some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, maintains its own fleet of ocean-going ships that engage in commerce both legitimate and otherwise. LTTE arms buying expeditions have ranged from southern Asia to Africa and beyond. Meanwhile, the international Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora has provided financial and political support critical to the group's survival. Much of this support, according to a Human Rights Watch report, may be coerced through the intimidation and even murder of diaspora Tamils who criticize the LTTE.
These international fundraising and smuggling networks are vulnerable to concerted international efforts. Canada, home to the world's largest Sri Lankan Tamil expatriate community, banned the LTTE this April after the release of the Human Rights Watch report. The EU, frustrated with LTTE obstruction of the Norwegian-sponsored peace process, banned the LTTE in May.
While these bans have not brought the LTTE back to the negotiating table, they could be part of a long-term effort to cripple the LTTE's international networks. But such an effort would be futile without American leadership. Only the United States, which banned the LTTE in 1997, could facilitate international intelligence sharing, and ensure the dismantling of the LTTE's international networks by applying the procedures and policies used to target Al-Qaeda's financial network.
Although the LTTE is not an Islamist terrorist group, an LTTE crackdown should not be viewed as distraction from the war against Islamist terror. Attacking the LTTE's smuggling and financial networks will likely reveal a wealth of data on other criminal networks in the region. For example, exposing and dismantling the organizations which supply such lethal weaponry to the LTTE could only reduce the availability of arms to the region's Islamist terrorists as well.
Violence in Sri Lanka also has implications for India. The 50 million Tamils living in southern India will be distressed by the suffering of their brethren in Sri Lanka and could demand action. Inspired by the LTTE, India's Tamils may come to nurture their own separatist ambitions. The LTTE's establishment of a satellite television station that reaches throughout Southeast Asia only heightens Indian concerns. American help containing the situation would build bridges with India in a sector where Pakistan, India's traditional rival, has minimal interests.
Certainly, the United States should continue to facilitate development and improvement of human rights policies in Sri Lanka. But adding a few dozen analysts, special agents, and diplomats to pressure the LTTE is an inexpensive way to help ameliorate the violence in Sri Lanka and move the island beyond its past of ethnic conflict.
Aaron Mannes, author of the TerrorBlog and Profiles in Terror: The Guide to Middle East Terrorist Organizations (Rowman & Littlefield-JINSA Press), researches terrorism at the University of Maryland's Information and Network Dynamics Laboratory.
(Weekly Standard USA).
11/7/2006 12:16:38 PM
While the world focuses its attention on Lebanon, the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka looks poised for yet another flare-up. Even excluding the Sri Lankan army's current offensive, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) June 15 bombing of a passenger bus that killed 64 people and the June 26 assassination of a top Sri Lankan general, LTTE terrorism and Sri Lankan military reprisals have claimed hundreds of lives this year. Sri Lanka is a democratic ally, but the United States has limited options for preventing further bloodshed.
However, international frustration with LTTE intransigence has created a rare, low-cost opportunity for American leadership in the region. If the United States can effectively target the LTTE's international finance and smuggling networks, a lack of money and weapons will reduce the group's capability to commit terror attacks, increase the possibility of a political solution in Sri Lanka, and improve the regional situation in Southeast Asia.
Long before the terms entered the American lexicon, the LTTE's struggle for an independent, ethnically Hindu Tamil homeland in northern Sri Lanka featured hundreds of suicide bombings and IEDs at a cost in lives now estimated to exceed 64,000. According to the United Nation's Children's Fund, the LTTE has a history of recruiting child soldiers (including children orphaned by the December 2004 tsunami.).
The LTTE has bombed Sri Lanka's World Trade Centre and assassinated dozens of political leaders, including two national leaders: former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993. Sri Lanka's Tamils have legitimate grievances against the Sinhalese Buddhist-dominated Sri Lankan government. But Sri Lanka is a democracy and Tamils have held high positions in the government. Furthermore, the LTTE pursues a strategy designed to stoke ethnic tensions and provoke attacks on the island's ethnic minority, hamstringing the Sri Lankan government's faltering attempts at a political solution.
The LTTE has two major sources of revenue with which to fund its war: maritime smuggling and the international Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. The LTTE, with its base of operations in close proximity to some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, maintains its own fleet of ocean-going ships that engage in commerce both legitimate and otherwise. LTTE arms buying expeditions have ranged from southern Asia to Africa and beyond. Meanwhile, the international Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora has provided financial and political support critical to the group's survival. Much of this support, according to a Human Rights Watch report, may be coerced through the intimidation and even murder of diaspora Tamils who criticize the LTTE.
These international fundraising and smuggling networks are vulnerable to concerted international efforts. Canada, home to the world's largest Sri Lankan Tamil expatriate community, banned the LTTE this April after the release of the Human Rights Watch report. The EU, frustrated with LTTE obstruction of the Norwegian-sponsored peace process, banned the LTTE in May.
While these bans have not brought the LTTE back to the negotiating table, they could be part of a long-term effort to cripple the LTTE's international networks. But such an effort would be futile without American leadership. Only the United States, which banned the LTTE in 1997, could facilitate international intelligence sharing, and ensure the dismantling of the LTTE's international networks by applying the procedures and policies used to target Al-Qaeda's financial network.
Although the LTTE is not an Islamist terrorist group, an LTTE crackdown should not be viewed as distraction from the war against Islamist terror. Attacking the LTTE's smuggling and financial networks will likely reveal a wealth of data on other criminal networks in the region. For example, exposing and dismantling the organizations which supply such lethal weaponry to the LTTE could only reduce the availability of arms to the region's Islamist terrorists as well.
Violence in Sri Lanka also has implications for India. The 50 million Tamils living in southern India will be distressed by the suffering of their brethren in Sri Lanka and could demand action. Inspired by the LTTE, India's Tamils may come to nurture their own separatist ambitions. The LTTE's establishment of a satellite television station that reaches throughout Southeast Asia only heightens Indian concerns. American help containing the situation would build bridges with India in a sector where Pakistan, India's traditional rival, has minimal interests.
Certainly, the United States should continue to facilitate development and improvement of human rights policies in Sri Lanka. But adding a few dozen analysts, special agents, and diplomats to pressure the LTTE is an inexpensive way to help ameliorate the violence in Sri Lanka and move the island beyond its past of ethnic conflict.
Aaron Mannes, author of the TerrorBlog and Profiles in Terror: The Guide to Middle East Terrorist Organizations (Rowman & Littlefield-JINSA Press), researches terrorism at the University of Maryland's Information and Network Dynamics Laboratory.
(Weekly Standard USA).
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Did EU Deliver Its Obligations to Sri Lanka's War Against Terrorism?
Did EU deliver its obligations to protect a civil society from a terrorist group?
http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/cfsp-statements/eu-presidency-statement-on-the-two-day-ceasefire-declared-by-the-government-of-sri-lanka-16763//
On the website of the Czech Presidency, you may also find the latest Council Conclusions on Sri Lanka of 23/02/2009:
http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/council-conclusions/default.htm
We would like to inform you that the Council discussed the dramatic humanitarian situation in the country. In this context, the Commission called for the organisation of a visit to the region by the EU troika as soon as possible:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/106692.pdf
We would like to add the information that the LTTE is included in the list of persons, groups and entities to which the EU Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism applies:
http://consilium.europa.eu/showPage.aspx?id=631&lang=en
Members of the European Parliament also call for immediate ceasefire so civilians can leave combat zone:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/030-51627-068-03-11-903-20090312IPR51626-09-03-2009-2009-false/default_nl.htm
We would also like to draw your attention to the European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2009-0129+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
Mr. Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, announces additional support of €3 million for the Red Cross (ICRC) in view of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka (IP/09/444, 19/03/2009):
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/444
You may find further information on the EU-Sri Lanka relations on the website of the Directorate-General (DG) for External Relations:
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/sri_lanka/index_en.htm
Background information on EU action on terrorism can be found on the DG Justice, Freedom and Security:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/terrorism/fsj_terrorism_intro_en.htm
You may also express your views on the website of Debate Europe:
http://europa.eu/debateeurope/
Should you need further questions on the subject, kindly contact the Council of the European Union through its on-line request form:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_applications/applications/info-public/index.ASP?LANG=en&cmsID=820
European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka :
The European Parliament ,
– having regard to Rules 91 and 90(4) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas an estimated 170 000 civilians find themselves in an emergency situation, trapped in the battle zone between the Sri Lankan army and the forces of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) without access to the most basic aid,
B. whereas UN agencies have documented more than 2300 civilian deaths and at least 6500 injuries since late January 2009,
1. Calls for an immediate ceasefire by the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone; condemns all acts of violence and intimidation which are preventing civilians from leaving the conflict area;
2. Condemns the attacks on civilians as documented by the International Crisis Group;
3. Calls on both sides to respect international humanitarian law and to protect and assist the civilian population in the combat zone, as well as in the safe zone;
4. Is concerned about reports of serious overcrowding and poor conditions in the refugee camps established by the Sri Lankan Government;
5. Demands that international and national humanitarian organisations, as well as journalists, be granted full and unhindered access to the combat zone and to the refugee camps;
6. Calls on the Sri Lankan Government to cooperate with countries and aid organisations that are willing and able to evacuate civilians;
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, to the Government of Sri Lanka, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and, for information, to the Commission.
RE: Witness How A Civilized Society Justify Terrorism
In response to your enquiry, we would like to draw your attention to the EU Presidency Statement on the two-day ceasefire declared by the Government of Sri Lanka:http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/cfsp-statements/eu-presidency-statement-on-the-two-day-ceasefire-declared-by-the-government-of-sri-lanka-16763//
On the website of the Czech Presidency, you may also find the latest Council Conclusions on Sri Lanka of 23/02/2009:
http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/council-conclusions/default.htm
We would like to inform you that the Council discussed the dramatic humanitarian situation in the country. In this context, the Commission called for the organisation of a visit to the region by the EU troika as soon as possible:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/gena/106692.pdf
We would like to add the information that the LTTE is included in the list of persons, groups and entities to which the EU Common Position 2001/931/CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism applies:
http://consilium.europa.eu/showPage.aspx?id=631&lang=en
Members of the European Parliament also call for immediate ceasefire so civilians can leave combat zone:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/030-51627-068-03-11-903-20090312IPR51626-09-03-2009-2009-false/default_nl.htm
We would also like to draw your attention to the European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2009-0129+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
Mr. Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, announces additional support of €3 million for the Red Cross (ICRC) in view of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka (IP/09/444, 19/03/2009):
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/444
You may find further information on the EU-Sri Lanka relations on the website of the Directorate-General (DG) for External Relations:
http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/sri_lanka/index_en.htm
Background information on EU action on terrorism can be found on the DG Justice, Freedom and Security:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/terrorism/fsj_terrorism_intro_en.htm
You may also express your views on the website of Debate Europe:
http://europa.eu/debateeurope/
Should you need further questions on the subject, kindly contact the Council of the European Union through its on-line request form:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_applications/applications/info-public/index.ASP?LANG=en&cmsID=820
European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka :
The European Parliament ,
– having regard to Rules 91 and 90(4) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas an estimated 170 000 civilians find themselves in an emergency situation, trapped in the battle zone between the Sri Lankan army and the forces of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) without access to the most basic aid,
B. whereas UN agencies have documented more than 2300 civilian deaths and at least 6500 injuries since late January 2009,
1. Calls for an immediate ceasefire by the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone; condemns all acts of violence and intimidation which are preventing civilians from leaving the conflict area;
2. Condemns the attacks on civilians as documented by the International Crisis Group;
3. Calls on both sides to respect international humanitarian law and to protect and assist the civilian population in the combat zone, as well as in the safe zone;
4. Is concerned about reports of serious overcrowding and poor conditions in the refugee camps established by the Sri Lankan Government;
5. Demands that international and national humanitarian organisations, as well as journalists, be granted full and unhindered access to the combat zone and to the refugee camps;
6. Calls on the Sri Lankan Government to cooperate with countries and aid organisations that are willing and able to evacuate civilians;
7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, to the Government of Sri Lanka, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and, for information, to the Commission.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Part 5-5: Witness How A Civilized Society Justify Terrorism
Video with animated texts please visit You Tube:
Part 5-5: Panel Discussion Sri Lanka War - Press TV
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Part 4-5: Witness How A Civilized Society Justify Terrorism
Video with animated texts please visit You Tube:
Part 4-5: Panel Discussion Sri Lanka War - Press TV
Part 3-5: Witness How A Civilized Society Justify Terrorism
Video with animated texts please visit You Tube:
Part 3-5: Panel Discussion Sri Lanka War - Press TV
Part 2-5: Witness How A Civilized Society Justify Terrorism
Part 1-5 Witness How A Civilized Society Justify Terrorism
Video with animated text please visit You Tube:
Part 1-5: Panel Discussion Sri Lanka War - Press TV
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