Boston Globe on Tsunami money going for arms procurements

By Walter Jayawardhana

FOREIGN MINISTER TELLS BOSTON GLOBE THAT BOSTON TAMILS DIVERTED TSUNAMI FUNDS FOR ARMS PROCUREMENT

In an interview with Boston Globe Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister alleged that a Federation of Tamil Sangams in the United States were raising funds for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

In an interview with the newspaper’s Farah Stockman the minister said, the Boston Tamil Association of Boston diverted money collected for the victims of Tsunami for the arms procurements of the LTTE. 

The foreign minister of Sri Lanka has accused several US-based charities, including a Boston-area cultural association, of raising money for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant separatist group in Sri Lanka that the State Department has classified as a terrorist organization, the Minister told the newspaper in a story datelined March 17.

“Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama met yesterday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other US officials to ask for greater scrutiny of Tamil charities, including the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America, which has a Boston-area affiliate” the newspaper said.

“Bogollagama alleged in an interview that the federation, including the Boston Tamil Association of New England, raised money following the 2004 tsunami that was diverted to arms procurement for the Tamil Tigers. He did not provide specific evidence to buttress his claim.

Two leaders of the Boston group denied the accusation, saying that the group has nothing to do with the Tigers and that all the money it raised went to tsunami victims.

“The Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for the ethnic Tamil minority, who have been discriminated against under the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government. Both sides have been accused of atrocities in the war.

“The Tigers have been implicated in the recruitment of child soldiers and the use of suicide bombs, while the government has been accused of mass arrests, disappearances, and torture.

“We are seeking the support and cooperation to go into all these areas in which the US legal system and intelligence can reach,” he said, adding that the Bush administration has been taking Sri Lanka’s complaints more seriously since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
 
“He said that cutting off funds to the Tigers would persuade the rebel group to take peace talks more seriously.

Bogollagama also accused the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, a Maryland-based aid group that works in Tamil areas, of serving as a front for terrorist fund-raising. In September, the Sri Lankan government froze the organization’s assets inside the country.

“Now, Sri Lanka is seeking similar action in the United States, he said. In addition to meetings with Rice and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Bogollagama was seeking to meet with Stuart Levy, a top Treasury Department official involved in the freezing of asse ts of the North Korean and Iranian regimes.

Gowri Navanandan, chairwoman of the board of the Boston Tamil Association of New England, said the Sri Lankan government had no basis for its allegation against the group, except that it is a Tamil organization.

“When you say the word ‘Tamil,’ obviously they are going to think you have something to do with it,” she said. “We don’t have anything to do with politics.”

“She said the organization, which has a Reading post office box, was formed to promote cultural awareness and festivals, especially for Tamil youth, and had no connection to the Tigers. She said no one from the US government ever questioned members of the group.

Palani Nadarajah, vice president of the organization, dismissed the allegations as false propaganda from the government. Nadarajah, who has lived in the Boston area since 1970, said that the group holds annual cultural events, picnics, and Tamil language classes, and that all the money the group raised for tsunami aid went to victims living in Tiger-controlled areas, not the military effort.

“The money went to the right place,” he said, adding that the group’s finances were open to the public. “It didn’t go to terrorists at all.”In recent months, the Justice Department has launched its own investigation of Tiger activities inside the United States.In August, US agents confiscated the computers of a Maryland doctor who leads the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization.

Justice Department complaints allege that suspects who said they represented the Tigers offered undercover agents millions of dollars to obtain classified intelligence, and tried to buy 18 surface-to-air missiles inside the United States.

E-mails to the organization were not answered. Critics of the Sri Lankan government say these allegations are overblown. “Sri Thillaiampalam, president of the Eelam Tamil Association, an unregistered Boston-based group he describes as a self-funded lobbying organization for human rights, said that he received a visit from FBI agents about two months ago, but that they quickly left him alone.

“They just wanted to ask if I am part of it,” said Thillaiampalam, a retired manager of a cargo company. “I said, ‘I am not.’ ”

Vaiko Gopalaswamy withdraws support from UPA government

By Walter Jayawardhana

LTTE FRIEND VAIKO GOPALASWAMY WITHDRAWS HIS SUPPORT FROM MANMOHAN SINGH LED UPA GOVERNMENT

Vaiko at MDMK sessions after resignation from UPA government

The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) led by Velupillai Prabhakaran’s friend and maverick politician Gopalaswamy Vaiko on Friday withdrew his support from the United Progressive Alliance government led by Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh.

The last act he did for the LTTE before withdrawing from the government was to represent matters to the Prime Minister against Sri Lanka “falsely alleging Sri Lanka Navy” that the navy had killed a Tamil Nadu fisherman and injuring several others by shooting.

The Sri Lanka government said it was an act of the LTTE to harm Indo Lanka relations. With the resignation of Vaiko the Tamil Tigers has lost a direct open friend in side the New Delhi government.

The strong friendship between Vaiko and the LTTE has led other South Indian politicians, like Subramanyan Swami to believe that his party is being run by LTTE funds.

With the resignation the four MDMK members will cease supporting the Congress led United Progressive Alliance UPA government in New Delhi.

At the zonal conference of the MDMK at Coimbatore the party passed a resolution accusing the UPA government of neglecting rights of Tamil Nadu in Various South Indian river water disputes. Tamil Nadu is having water sharing disputes with Kerala, Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Orissa.

Vaiko’s problems with UPA started with his disputes with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi. His waning influence in the UPA government was seen when he failed to obtain an audience for the LTTE proxy party MP’s of the Tamil National Alliance with the Prime Minister. But when they turned to Karunanidhi, who allegedly supports the LTTE only discreetly, the the TNA got an audience with, Man Mohan Singh, a matter that made possible the once humiliated parliamentarians to brag about after coming home.

The unlikely ally of the MDMK in the Tamil Nadu assembly is Jayalaitha Jeyaram led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) although the party leadership is virulently opposed to the LTTE. Vaiko’s trouble as an ally of the ruling DMK started after the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections of May 2006. Under Karunanidhi’s influence he was never invited to UPA meetings thereafter.

But while he was supporting the government and alleging genocide against the Sri Lanka Tamils the UPA government was providing training for Sri Lanka Air Force and Police personnel in India. He was powerless to do anything regarding that.

Five soldiers die while 3 tiger boats are sunk

By Walter Jayawardhana

FIVE SOLDIERS AND FOUR CIVILIANS DIE AFTER A LTTE AMBUSH WHILE NAVY SINKS THREE SEA TIGER BOATS IN MANNAR

In Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has increased their military activities after their defeats in the Eastern Province three Sea Tiger boats were sunk and a LTTE ambush killed five soldiers and four civilians.

The Sri Lanka Navy said it sank three Sea Tiger boats in the Mannar District off the North Western coast of Sri Lanka.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said when three patrol crafts engaged three Tiger vessels helicopter gunships came to help. He said four navy sailors received gun shot injuries in the battle. But their boats were intact,the spokesman said.

Five army soldiers died when the Tamil Tigers ambushed their truck. In the ensuing gun battle between the soldiers and the LTTE gunmen four civilians were killed somewhere near Omanthai, North of Vavuniya.

According to police reports the civilians died caught between the cross fire.
Defense sources said the LTTE started firing their mortars from their makeshift gun positions in Mullikulam, Keerisuddan, and Periya Pandivirichchan areas from the early hours of Saturday. About 10 injured have been airlifted to the General Hospital Anuradhapura. The security forces are presently kept at high alert for a possible LTTE offensive.

Meanwhile reports from Eastern Province said, hundreds of Tamil refugees in a camp in the eastern district of Batticaloa had ransacked a convoy of food aid trucks heading for LTTE controlled territory.

LTTE did not have will or capacity for a political settlement, says Lanka FM

By Walter Jayawardhana

BOGOLLAGAMA TELLS CSIS THAT LTTE DID NOT HAVE WILL OR CAPACITY FOR NEGOTIATED POLITICAL SETTLEMENT

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama addressing the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) wrecked five attempts of peace negotiations in the past as it neither had the will nor the capacity to negotiate a political settlement to the conflict in Sri Lanka and the group merely engages in political rhetoric as a means of achieving their objectives of a separate mono-ethnic state by resorting to force of arms.

Addressing the prestigious bipartisan body that is serving as a strategic planning partner for the US government by conducting research and analysis the foreign minister said this time the government’s effort to achieve peace is most likely to succeed as the “ present ‘moment’ constitutes a rare confluence of favourable elements.”

In addition to many more favorable reasons, the Sri Lankan foreign minister said, the LTTE stands isolated and condemned in the world with their senior leaders being convicted for the murder of India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi while the whole world is having a zero tolerance for its terrorism which the group so rampantly practices.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister said, “In moving towards a negotiated political settlement to the conflict, the government’s approach is guided by four broad principles. First, the proposals are firmly rooted in democracy, justice, and equality. Second, they are also responsive to the constitutional realities that any democracy must respect, and therefore is framed in a manner that could meet possible legal challenges that could arise. Third, they seek to empower people, uphold pluralism and recognize the fact that there are many voices within the Tamil community that are rational, devoid of parochial interest and vested agendas. Fourth, above all, in contrast with previous constitutional processes aimed at solving the conflict, whatever consensus reached would not be intended to appease the LTTE or to treat symptoms of a malaise, but to get at the root of the disease.”

The following is the full text of his speech:

Condoleezza Rice told Sri Lanka is working hard on reforms

By Walter Jayawardhana

SRI LANKA TELLS RICE THAT THE GOVERNMENT WORKING VERY HARD TO OBTAIN A CONSENSUS OF THE MAJORITY FOR REFORMS

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the Us Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was working hard to obtain a consensus of the majority of Sri Lankans living in the South to develop constitutional reforms that would address the concerns of the minorities. 

He said the current military operations undertaken in the Eastern Province by the government were purely taken up to prevent the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from taking military advantage using the cover of the ceasefire.

The Sri Lanka Embassy issuing a statement after the State Department meeting said, “Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama today told U.S. Secretary of State; Dr. Condoleezza Rice that the government of Sri Lanka was committed to a negotiated solution to the conflict and that military operations undertaken in the East of Sri Lanka were intended to prevent the LTTE from taking militarily advantage using the cover of the ceasefire and convince the LTTE that it could not expect to win on the battle field.” The statement further said, “The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was fully committed to evolving a consensus in the South and developing necessary constitutional reforms to enable an enduring settlement to the present conflict that would address the concerns of the minorities. 

“The Minister met Secretary of State this afternoon at the State Department. The meeting was preceded by a discussion with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador Nicholas Burns. During his three day visit to Washington, Minister Bogollagama also held meetings with members of the Administration including White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, and Under Secretary for Terrorism & Financial Intelligence Stuart Levy, Deputy under Secretary of Defence for Asia & Pacific Security Affairs Ambassador Richard Lawless and Deputy US Trade Representative Karan K. Bhatia.

Bogollagama and Rice

“In his meeting with Secretary Rice, the Minister who detailed the painstaking manner in which the Government had set about evolving a consensus in the South with the involvement of all the political parties to solve the problem, said that SLFP was on the verge of announcing their proposal, and that deliberations within the APRC can be expected to be concluded by April. 

“In response to concerns expressed by the American side, Minister Bogollagama said that the government was very concerned about allegations of human rights abuses and had set in motion mechanisms for addressing these concerns including establishing a Commission of Inquiry and an international group of eminent persons who would ensure transparency and impartiality in the investigations. 

“On recent displacement of civilians in the East, the Minister stressed that these are of a temporary nature. He said the government was clearing up the LTTE presence which threatens security and living conditions of the people in this area. He said immediate action will be taken for rehabilitation and resettlement of such persons, as demonstrated earlier in Muttur and Vahara.  

“Minister Bogollagama added that the Sri Lanka Government was deeply appreciative of the continuing support extended by the U.S. towards Sri Lanka’s efforts to defeat terrorism. He sought greater vigilance and greater action by the United States law enforcement authorities in countering front organizations of the LTTE and preventing those responsible for funding the LTTE in the U.S.

“Associated with Minister Bogollagama at this meeting were Sri Lanka’s  Ambassador in the US,  Bernard Goonetilleke, Foreign Secretary  Palitha Kohona, and others. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Mann and Sri Lanka Desk Officer Molly Gower were associated with Secretary Rice.”