Democracy, Sovereignty and Terror by Roberts Adam;

Author:Roberts, Adam; [Author]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1209021
Publisher: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

LTTE in Western Capitals

As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka it would be idle for me to pretend that my interest in the subject on which I am speaking this evening in London is merely academic. It is obvious that I speak with a particular terrorist group very much in mind. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the LTTE, has been engaged in terrorism for at least 15 years. The terrorist activities which they have carried out in my country range all the way from attacks on human beings, on children, on priests, on economic targets – the Central Bank of the country, the World Trade Centre in Colombo – to an attack on the most sacred Buddhist shrine in the world – the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy.11

It is well known that the LTTE is able to sustain such terrorist activities by virtue of the continued flow of funds to their coffers through which they are able to procure illicit arms, explosives, weapons, including missiles. The flow of such funds to the LTTE is sustained through their own offices or front organizations operating publicly in a number of Western capitals. The LTTE maintains their so-called International Secretariat at No. 211 Catherine Road in London, and several front organizations operate in this great city which raise and transmit funds which go towards the purchase of weapons and explosives.

The Times of London, in its issue of 23 October 1997, in an article headed ‘British Tamils fund war in Sri Lanka’, reported the raising of sterling £250,000 a month by the LTTE from Tamil nationals living in Britain.12 According to this report, the LTTE’s worldwide income is believed to be about sterling £1.25 million per month, some of which goes to humanitarian causes but most of which funds its sophisticated war machine. The Times of London is not a hysterical newspaper.

Recently one has become aware of the use by the LTTE of electronic or wire communication systems or networks to carry out criminal acts. The LTTE has actively engaged itself in using international information networks such as the Internet for their fund-raising activities to perpetrate acts of terrorism in Sri Lanka. Appeals have been made through the Internet bulletins which are designed to appeal to the humanitarian sentiments of the donor communities but in reality they are aimed at raising funds for LTTE activities. In these bulletins the LTTE has been specifically listed as one of the organizations to which funds could be channelled for, I quote, ‘humanitarian purposes’. These bulletins appeal for donations to be made to LTTE-related organizations based in Western capitals rather than to recognized international humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and reputed NGOs based in Sri Lanka. Thus the humanitarian façade is only a convenient cover for the perpetration of terrible crimes by the terrorists.

An appeal for money for the LTTE made through freenet.carleton of Carleton University of Canada openly acknowledged that this particular fund-raising is for the purchase of missiles for the LTTE.

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