Tigers making hectic preparations for war
Behind
the relative lull in the battle fields of the north Tiger guerrillas are
making hectic preparations for war, state intelligence agencies have told
the Government.
The clandestine Voice of Tigers radio, heard in the Wanni and the Jaffna
peninsula, was making repeated calls for fresh recruits to join in what
it called decisive battles ahead.
These calls have been followed by propaganda campaigns, where video
footage of the recent LTTE seizure of the Elephant Pass defence complex,
has been shown in public areas under their control. If these have met with
some response, there have also been other reactions. Attendance in higher
grades in schools in the Jaffna peninsula has dropped considerably.
Youth in the Wanni have fled to Government controlled Vavuniya to beat
the recruitment drive. Some have even found their way to Trincomalee from
the Jaffna peninsula. Police have begun to screen several of them who want
to come down to Colombo.
Reports of the LTTE making fresh attempts to smuggle weapons and other
equipment from international waters, off the north-east coast, have led
to stepped up surveillance by the Air Force and the Navy. Unconfirmed reports
also spoke of sophisticated communications equipment being smuggled in.
In another unexpected move, the LTTE has also begun to woo its former members
who were given permission to quit the movement for various personal reasons
including marriage. Both in the north and east, these cadres have been
summoned for meetings with Tiger guerrilla "area leaders" where
they have been called upon to help in various ways. That included the recruitment
drive and fund raising.
These preparations by the LTTE come as they have scaled down major offensive
operations, particularly mortar and artillery attacks on areas near the
Palaly airbase and the neighbouring Kankesanturai port. Both these supply
links are operational after the security authorities have taken adequate
counter measures.
Despite the relative lull, security forces and Police have remained
at a heightened level of alert, particularly in view of the current month
being termed "Black July." Several events which occurred over
the years during July are considered significant by the LTTE. Among some
of them are: July 5, 1987: First Black Tiger suicide cadre was killed during
an attack on the Nelliady Central College where troops were billeted during
"Operation Liberation." July 18, 1996: LTTE attack on the Mullaitivu
Military Base. Today also marks the 17th anniversary of the 1983 ethnic
violence.
There were also other reasons to maintain a heightened level of alert
in the Jaffna peninsula. Infiltrated intelligence cadres were reported
to be moving around, trying to obtain information on artillery and Multi
Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) positions in the area. In addition, pistol
gangs were also reported to be moving around in the peninsula trying to
take on opportunity targets, those of security forces personnel and Police
manning check-points.
Senior security officials heaved a sigh of relief that there have been
no "commemorative" strikes in the past three weeks. One of them,
who did not wish to be identified, declared "quite obviously, their
attention is being focused on preparations for a bigger effort."
These developments have been receiving the priority consideration of
those in the top echelons of the defence establishment. Modernisation of
the security forces has become a top priority. Procurement of advanced
equipment for this purpose has got under way and many a multi million rupee
deal has been concluded. This has been followed by special emissaries of
President Chandrika Kumaratunga visiting the countries that sold defence
equipment to thank the heads of those Governments.
Particulars of the procurement deals cannot be discussed in view of
the ongoing censorship. That is even without making references to the countries
concerned or the type of equipment that is being procured. There was, however,
a significant development this week over finding resources to pay for all
the procurements.
The Sunday Times has learnt that urgent procurements made outside tender
procedures were to be obtained from financial allocations made for the
current year, i.e. 2000. On this basis, deals had been concluded and letters
of credit opened with suppliers in many cases. In other cases, such letters
of credit are to be opened with the deals being finalised. The Government
has now decided that payments for such purchases should be made from financial
allocations for year 2001. Top level defence officials are now engaged
in discussions with suppliers to make provision in the deals to accommodate
the latest Government decision. Why such a decision has been taken is not
immediately clear. However, there is speculation it may be related to the
upcoming Parliamentary general elections.
Coupled with the modernisation drive is a stepped up recruitment campaign
which is going on parallel to a concerted effort to arrest deserters. Police
say they have forwarded reports to the Attorney General's Department in
order to indict employers who had hired deserters.
Another area of serious concern to those at the highest levels of the
Government is the recent decision to place the country on a "war footing."
President Kumaratunga herself is said to be of the view that adequate measures
to ensure greater public awareness were still not in place. This is expected
to lead to the introduction of several new measures.
One such measure that has already been adopted is the appointment of
a new Military Spokesman. A battle hardened officer, Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne,
currently Director Training at Army Headquarters is to be named the new
Spokesman. The present incumbent, Brigadier Palitha Fernando, is to take
over as the Sports Officer of the Army. Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Srilal
Weerasooria, appointed the latter as Military Spokesman, late last year.
Highly placed defence sources also speak of top level changes in the
battlefield and at command levels.
Last night Major Gen. Anton Wijendra, currently Security Forces (SF)
Commander Wanni was appointed SF Commander Jaffna. Major Gen. Sarath Fonseka
SF Commander Jaffna will take over as SF Commander Wanni. Major Gen. Janaka
Perera Overall Operations Commander (OOC) North will revert to his substantive
post as Chief of Staff of the Army.
The continuing lull is highly unlikely to last for many more weeks.
Security forces are confident they can now meet effectively the newer threats
posed by the Tiger guerrillas.
What surprises the latter will hold, particularly in the coming weeks
when the campaigns for the Parliamentary general elections get underway,
remains to be seen. At least for the moment, the mood remains quiet as
both sides ready themselves.
How to collect money in Canada
Fund raising for the Tigers is illegal in the United States. But Canada
has no such prohibition, and Canadian intelligence officials and Sri Lankan
diplomats say it has become an increasingly important source of support
for the Tigers, who are seeking to carve a Tamil homeland out of Sri Lanka
says a report in The New York Times.
Here is the report:
Canada's Tamils Work for a Homeland From Afar By Somini Sengupta TORONTO
— At Queens Park, a swath of green in front of the legislative building
downtown, thousands gathered one recent Saturday for a festive celebration.
A band played. Children danced. Volunteers bearing cardboard piggy banks
trolled the crowd for donations. Wads of cash were enthusiastically stuffed
inside. But these were no ordinary festivities. The revelers had come to
celebrate the latest "victory" of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam, the guerrillas embroiled in one of the world's bloodiest secessionist
wars, in Sri Lanka.
A colossal effigy of the cherub-faced guerrilla leader, Vellupillai
Prabhakaran, stood on the stage. Videos of the rebels' latest exploits
were on sale. And, of greatest concern to the Sri Lankan government, the
donations collected here by Canadian Tamils, it is believed, would ultimately
find their way to support the Tamil insurrection.
Fund-raising for the Tigers is illegal in the United States. But Canada
has no such prohibition, and Canadian intelligence officials and Sri Lankan
diplomats say it has become an increasingly important source of support
for the Tigers, who are seeking to carve a Tamil homeland out of Sri Lanka,
an island nation off the southern tip of India.
Since it began in 1983, the war has claimed 62,000 lives and displaced
a million people, including the 150,000 or so Tamil refugees who have poured
into this city, making it home to the largest concentration of Sri Lankan
Tamils outside Sri Lanka. So oceans away from the mass graves and suicide
bombers that have become hallmarks of the civil war, the Tamils of Toronto
hold pledge drives on Tamil radio, fill tills on shop counters, and solicit
money door-to-door in Tamil neighborhoods and workplaces. Experts estimate
they send anywhere from $7 million to $22 million a year in direct and
indirect support for the guerrillas.
Among the many seemingly improbable champions of the guerrilla cause
is Sitta Sittampalam, 66, a former schoolteacher with a patch of silver
hair and a gold pen tucked smartly in his breast pocket. What much of the
world might consider terrorism, Mr. Sittampalam calls a liberation struggle
for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, which he says has suffered years of repression
by the island's majority Sinhalese. If that struggle results in "incidental"
civilian deaths, said Mr. Sittampalam, who now heads a Tamil immigrant
aid agency here, it is part of the regrettable but inevitable logic of
war. He regards the Tigers' suicide bombers, known for blowing up politicians
and civilians alike, to be "heroes" of the highest order; indeed,
the Black Tigers, as they are called, are commemorated here every July.
"I do all that I can to support Prabhakaran, to see that this struggle
matures to the stage where we have one free nation recognized in the international
community," said Mr. Sittampalam, who like many overseas Tamils became
politically active long after leaving Sri Lanka. Like other Tiger supporters,
he insists his money goes toward a charity that provides relief aid, though
that too, relief workers say, is controlled by the Tigers.
"It was the efforts of the Jewish diaspora that made Israel a free
country," Mr. Sittampalam said. "Why shouldn't Tamils do that?"
Fueled by the potent idea of a homeland, overseas Tamils have been vital
to drumming up political and financial support for the separatist cause
— much like Jewish, Arab and Irish expatriates have for their own struggles.
And while the Tigers certainly have other lucrative means of support, many
scholars and Sri Lankan diplomats say the scope of the insurgency could
not be sustained without expatriate aid. Tamil nationalist fervor was on
full display a few weeks ago, after the Tigers captured the strategic gateway
to the northern Jaffna peninsula, a part of Sri Lanka that the Tamils would
like to see as their own. One Tamil radio station, announcing its pledges
over the airwaves like a public radio fund-raising drive, took in more
than $600,000, said Nehru Gunaratnam, a spokesman for the World Tamil Movement,
the group that sponsored the rally in June and is effectively the political
arm of the Tigers in Canada.
Meanwhile, pro-Tiger activists went door-to-door, coaxing regular donors
to make special offerings. They appeared at the home of one such donor,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of both Canadian law enforcement
and World Tamil Movement organizers. He chatted with the solicitors over
a cup of tea. They filled him in on the news from home, and left with $250.
That was in addition to his regular $100 monthly contribution, deducted
directly from his checking account.
No, he chuckled, he does not claim it on his tax returns. And no, he
does not ask how the money is spent. He would feel guilty asking, he said.
"We are here, having a good job, eating well, having a car, going
for parties," explained the man, who came here after a mob chased
his family out of their home in Sri Lanka in 1983. "When we are living
like this and giving a little money, to ask questions, it's not correct."
Such voluntary contributions make up the bulk of the money raised for
the Tigers, law enforcement authorities and Tamil Canadians say. But sometimes,
they say, a bit of polite coercion is used, and occasionally Tamil gang
members are deployed against Tiger critics. The police say proceeds from
immigrant smuggling and heroin trafficking may also make their way into
the Tiger Treasury. In recent years, dozens of Tamil street-gang members
have been convicted on immigration and drug charges.
"Some of them we believe may be giving money to the Tigers,"
said Sgt. Fred Bowen of the drug section of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police. "Because it's not a criminal offense, we don't devote our
resources there." That may soon change. Canada does not keep a list
of proscribed terrorist groups as the United States does. But it is a signatory
to a recent United Nations convention that urges countries to monitor and
ultimately freeze the collection or deposit of money that may be used to
buy arms or support terrorists abroad.
Canadian lawmakers are currently considering how to amend their criminal
code to comply with the convention. Recently, Canada has also tried to
deport known members of the Tigers, notably Manikavasagam Suresh, the former
spokesman for the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils, an umbrella
group that includes the World Tamil Movement, arguing that he posed a risk
to national safety. The case of Mr. Suresh, a key fund-raiser, is being
appealed before Canada's Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the charity that the World Tamil Movement says receives much
of its money, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, is itself controlled
by the Tigers, according to officials with several independent nongovernmental
organizations in Sri Lanka. "To my mind, and to most people here,
they are basically the development wing of the LTTE," said Simon Harris,
Acting Country Director for Oxfam in Sri Lanka, using the Tigers' initials.
By law, Americans cannot contribute to any group linked to organizations
on the State Department's terrorist list, like the Tigers. But those links
are not always clear.
Tamil-Americans can and do raise money for the Tamil Rehabilitation
Organization, which is not on the State Department's list. The group has
a fund-raiser scheduled for next Sunday in Edison, N.J. Estimates of how
much money leaves Canada in support of the Tamil cause vary widely. Peter
Chalk, a researcher with the Washington office of the Rand Institute, offers
a "very rough" estimate of about $600,000 to $1 million each
month.
Rohan Gunaratna, a research associate at the Center for Study of Terrorism
and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Edinburgh, says
Canadians raise up to $22 million a year. Some of it trickles out, Mr.
Gunaratna contends, through a web of bank accounts that are used to procure
arms. But much of it, he and others say, is dispatched through an informal,
paperless money-lending system, through which money deposited at a Tamil
shop in Toronto can end up halfway around the world in a matter of hours,
leaving no record of the transaction. For their part, those who take up
the collection here, chiefly the World Tamil Movement, cannot, or will
not, explain how the money they collect is transferred or spent. "There
are different avenues I can't talk about," Mr. Gunaratnam, the group's
spokesman, said. "Relief reaches there," he said simply. "It
is distributed."
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