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Tigers going down the slippery slope
Sunday, 8 April 2007 - 6:11 AM SL Time |  | |
Why Action was Taken Against Tiger Connection in Paris
April 7th, 2007
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The well - planned and co-ordinated action in Paris by French authorities against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may have come as a surprise to many in Sri Lanka and abroad. It was however hardly a surprise to those observing the irrational, self - defeating conduct of the tigers within and outside Sri Lanka . An insular, arrogant hierarchy in a state of disconnect with reality is rapidly leading the movement downhill. This is becoming clearly visible now.
The recent action against the LTTE in France is another indicator in this regard. The local leadership was unbelievably stupid and irrational. An erroneous notion that France will not crack down on them may have fulled this conduct. Whatever the reason it was patent that the LTTE was going down the slope in France. Sadly for the LTTE they seemed to have been in an ignorant state of bliss.
There was a time when France was the hub of European LTTE activity. Though the LTTE`s international secretariat was in London the accredited International - Secretariat chief of the LTTE Velummayllum Manoharan was in Paris. Manoharan a qualified engineer hailing from Vathiri was unable to travel outside France due to a previous conviction involving drugs. So Manoharan remained in Paris and Eurpean activists came to him. The LTTE plaint challenging the US ban was filed under Manoharan`s name.
Apart from Manoharan there was also the presence in Paris of Lawrence Thilagar the LTTE`s international spokesperson. Thilagar was a restraining influence until he was recalled to the Wanni. The LTTE chief for France was Nadarajah Illango. Under this troika the LTTE activity in France was comparatively well - managed. There was violence and intimidation but not to the scale prevalent in recent times.
There were however some horrible incidents like the assassination of Tamil dissident Sabalingam, the killing of LTTE activists Nathan and Gajan and also the firebombing of ?Eelanadu? office. There were some assaults of perceived LTTE critics like Ashok, Kalaichelvan etc in the past.Much of the LTTE violence in Paris was masterminded by a former tiger cadre Mariyanesan alias Sukhla. He is now married and settled in Switzerland.
Events however took a turn for the worse after the ceasefire of February 23rd 2002. The LTTE did a rapid overhaul of its overseas structures and operations. Earlier Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP was in charge of overseas purchases, overseas branch administration and overseas finances. After the ceasefire KP was relieved of administration and finances. KP was a seasoned hand fully aware of the international situation. He had a hand - picked team of experienced and relatively ?moderate? henchmen manning positions in each country.
After the ceasefire KP`s authority was undermined. All those appointed by him to positions abroad were stripped of their posts. Instead a new breed of tiger leaders emerged. There was division and competition among overseas tiger operatives due to split loyalties. The work that KP did single - handedly was now divided among Castro (overseas branch chief)Thamilselvan (Political commissar) Pottu Amman (Intelligence chief) and Thamilendhi (revenue head). With different operatives reporting to different leaders in the Wanni a state of functional anarchy prevailed.
The Wanni hierarchy recalled people to the Wanni easily thanks to the ceasefire.Constant contact with overseas branches were maintained through the internet and satellite phones. Operatives were appointed and fired rapidly. The ceasefire also paved the way for many youths with LTTE links to come to Colombo and then travel abroad. Most of them had left the LTTE but retained links and support. Many of them found their way to Paris.
Meanwhile the French LTTE branch too underwent change. Illango was removed. Nadaraja Matheenthiran alias Parithy aka Regan a native of Karamban was appointed. Parithy was a soft - spoken gentlemanly type of man. But appearances were deceptive. After a sojourn in the Wanni Parithy returned a changed man. He had been instructed to adopt a hard line. Methods practised in the Wanni were to be used with adaptations in France . This was his orders from the hierarchy. Parithy is a French citizen.
With Manoharan also being removed from office along with Sarvendra in Norway there was no clear cut overseas leadership in politics. Anton Balasingham tried to fill the void from London but Tamilselvan and Castro resented this. Soon Bala Annai gave up. In this situation different leaders emerged. One such person was Duraisamy Aravinthan alias Metha a holder of an Italian passport. Metha hailing from Thenmaratchy suffered from ?mild? polio. This caused him to limp and many thought he had been wounded in battle. Soon Metha became the politics cum propaganda chief for Europe. He too began functioning from Paris.
The LTTE in France began ?outsourcing? its fund - raising activity.Tamil gangs were assigned the duty of collecting money from Tamils. 20 % of the money collected would be given as ?commission? to the gangs. Two prominent gangs were the ?Vennilaa? group and ?Mukkaabalaa? group.Every family had to pay a minimum of 2000 Euros annually. Businesses had to pay 6000 Euros. But there were special collections from time to time where massive amounts were demanded. It is estimated that 6 million Euros were collected annually and 20 million in each special collection.
Much of this money was paid in instalments. The gangs as well as hyper - active LTTE activists would heap much pressure on the people to extract money. They would go often with rods, sticks and bottles to houses and intimidate people. shaking people by the collar, dealing out a few blows, using foul language, threatening harm to family members in Sri Lanka, damaging vehicles and furniture became common place.
The worst was abducting people and holding them illegally. A farm was purchased on the outskirts of Paris. Tamils would be abducted by gangs or LTTE activists and taken there.Then huge sums of money would be demanded from family members. The illegally detained persons were also beaten and tortured. It is astounding that the LTTE thought it could replicate in Europe what was being done in the North - East. Worse still was the fact that this was being done in France the Country which proclaimed to the world ?liberty, Equality and Fraternity? through its revolution.
Despite these actions Tamils were reluctant to complain to the Police due to a variety of reasons. Fear of consequences, lack of confidence and trust in the police and a sense of misguided loyalty to the Tamil cause were some restraints. But the bubble burst when a Tamil man beaten severely at the farmhouse confessed to his friendly physiotheraphist about how he got his injuries. The physio alerted the Police and soon the anti - terrorism unit came into the picture. These officials were able to convince the victim and two other fellow victims to lodge a ?confidential? complaint in November 2006.
Paris is also home to many Tamil dissidents who hate the LTTE and its methods. There was constant friction between both categories. It is estimated that the pro - LTTE and anti - LTTE Tamils in Paris comprise roughly 25% each of the total Tamil population.The anti - LTTE Tamils are less assertive and ill - organized for obvious reasons. One young Tamil who boldly told a TV interviewer that he was forced into giving money to the LTTE had to go into hiding after that as the tigers began gunning for him. There is a Tamil restaurant which dissident Tamils often frequent. Its owner a Tamil film producer was assaulted twice for letting anti - tigers patronize his establishment.
With such a reservoir of anti - tiger opinion available it was but a matter of time before the anti - terrorism unit made contact with some dissidents at least. Given the ?racist? character of the French Police few members of minority communities have any confidence or trust in them. But the anti - terrorism unit promising security and confidentiality was a different matter. So there was much interaction between the community and the unit. Much needed information became available.
There was also an undercurrent of anti - LTTE hostilty among the Tamil business community. The LTTE through its rapacious taxation was bleeding them dry. Aggravating the situation was the LTTE itself engaging in commercial activity. It ran a newspaper ?Eelamurasu? which was delivered free to stifle other newspapers. The ?Makkal Kadai? supermarket undercut Tamil shops with frequent ?sales? of goods at dirt cheap prices. Then there was the LTTE run Television, ?Achagam?printing press, Lune international CD , video, DVD firm that also distributes Tamil films in Europe and Lune technology computer firm. Tamils were ?expected? to utilise and patronise these LTTE run projects alone.The LTTE was reducing prices through ?subsidies? from taxes collected from Tamils themselves and undercutting businesses. The affected enterpreneurs were naturally resentful of this practice.
There were some incidents in recent times that began to worry the anti terrorism directorate engaged in investigating the LTTE. On October 1st last year TRO secretary and Mariyamman temple trustee Vinaygamoorthy alias Bala master aka ?thongal was arrested on the French - Swiss border by the Swiss police. He had 18 million Eros in hard currency with him. It was made out that it was TRO funds raised for refugees but it was clear that the monet was for tiger coffers. Vinayagamoorthy was released but arrested during the April 1st raid. In the eyes of the French police the LTTE and TRO were one and the same.
Another incident demonstrating the iron grip of the LTTE on the community was the ban on the EPDP weekly ?Thinamurasu? The sale of ?thinamurasu ? was banned in France. But one shop ?Asian Traders? ... |
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Defied it and began selling it. An LTTE gang went to the shop and threatened the owner on Dec 13th last year. Parithy himself issued a public warning that anyone selling the Thinamurasu? is a traitor and be dealt with accordingly.
There was also the friction with veteran media person SS Kuganathan. The LTTE had tried to undercut his ?Eelanaadu? newspaper earlier. It also grabbed his TV station and Radio through dubious means. Yet Kughan a former sub - editor in the Jaffna ?eelanaadu? continues with the paper and also runs a new TV. The LTTE issued a pamphlet and poster last December in the name of ?Ellaalan Padai? describing Kuhanathan as a traitor and warning that traitors abroad have to be weeded out. When Kuhanathan contacted Parithy on the phone the tiger chief brazenly admitted to the warning.
Another troubling incident was the burglary on March 19th at the house of Luxmy a Tamil woman writer and editor of the alternative journal ?Uyirnizhal?. Over a 100 videos, DVD?s and books and tapes and documents were taken away. This was no ordinary burglary as only materials of political importance and not valuables were taken. It has been the practice of anti - tiger dissidents to meet thrice a year for an event called ?Ilakkiya Santhippu? (Literary gathering) 33 such meetings have been held since 1989. All documentation, tapes etc regarding these meetings were with Luxmi and have now been stolen. Since these meetings are attended by anti - tiger activists it is feared that the LTTE could now identify and target them.
Thus it could be seen that the LTTE through is conduct was pushing matters to a point where the French authorities had no choice other than to crack down. The behaviour of the LTTE in France under Manoharan and Illango paled into insignificance when compared to the LTTE in France under Parithy and Metha. With increasing contradictions between the Tamil people and the tigers in Paris it was but inevitable that the helpless and the powerless turned to the authorities for redress and protection.
Although the LTTE was rapidly sliding downhill the flashpoint came due to an event in Sri Lanka. The LTTE overreached itself when it announced to the world on March 26th that it had an air wing capable of precision - bombing a high - security target and returning to base after flying nocturnally an incredible distance at low altitude . The Western world rankling from Sep 11th 2001 events is aghast . A non - state actor like the LTTE will not be tolerated if it has such capability. There is no public condemnation because it was a Clean job with no civilian casualties. Yet it is crunch time now.
In the case of France recent investigations have unearthed evidence of a French connection in the LTTE airwing. It is suspected that some small aircraft and spare parts were bought in France. It is also believed that some pilots and technicians obtained training in France. There is also the belief that some hih - ranking French nationals like Jean - Christophe Mitterand son of former French President Francois Mitteran were involved in arms dealing with the LTTE.
Against that backdrop action had to be taken against the LTTE. Re-inforcing the need for action was the forthcoming elections and the fact that the well known anti - terror judge in charge of investigating the LTTE was scheduled to retire in May and contest elections in June. There was a need to to demonstrate that he was anti - terror and not anti - Islam. So a crackdown on the LTTE became inevitable. But the LTTE necessitated and precipitated such action through its own conduct. The tigers simply went down the slippery slope. There had to be a downfall. |
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