03-16-2006, 07:14 AM
Tamil people around the world are being intimidated and threatened into giving money to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, according to a new report.
The extortion of money from Tamils living in North America and Europe has been stepped up recently to fund a "final war", says Human Rights Watch.
The rebels said the allegations were untrue and designed to discredit them.
A recent upsurge in violence between the rebels and security forces in Sri Lanka has cost at least 120 lives.
Sri Lankan officials and leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have agreed to curb the unrest and hold more talks in April on a threadbare truce.
<b>Fear</b>
Human Rights Watch says a new "aggressive and systematic fundraising drive" was launched by the Tigers in late 2005, coinciding with a sharp rise in violence in Sri Lanka.
Its report said some Tamils living overseas were being coerced and intimidated into giving the LTTE money.
About 800,000 Sri Lankan Tamils live abroad, mostly in the UK and Canada.
The report said many members of the Tamil diaspora or their relatives had "suffered human rights violations at the hands of the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government" and actively supported the Tamil Tigers.
"But the culture of fear is so strong that even Tamils who don't support them [the rebels] still feel they have no choice but to give money," the New York-based group said.
It called on the governments of Canada and Britain to protect Tamils living there.
Those interviewed for the report talk of door-to-door teams making frequent visits and threatening violence against family members.
They say those collecting the money claim it is to fund a so-called "final war", although the rebels and the Sri Lankan government restarted are supposed to be in the middle of peace talks.
"Sri Lankan Tamils living in the West fear that if they speak out about Tamil Tiger abuses, they may put themselves and their families at risk," said Jo Becker, author of the report.
But rebel political leader SP Thamilselvan said the report was baseless.
"The LTTE does not have any agents or its members to go and collect money from anybody anywhere in the world," he told the BBC.
"What happens is the Tamils living overseas collect money because they know that these people are affected by war and therefore deserve assistance by their own brethren."
The Canadian Tamil Congress, a prominent expatriate group, said the report was based on "anecdotal evidence and misguided assumptions".
"There has not been a single prosecution for extortion in Canada amongst the Tamil community," it said.
<b>Talks </b>
Correspondents say financial contributions have made the Tamil Tigers into one of the world's richest militant organisations, as well as one of the most lethal.
The rebels are proscribed as a terrorist group in both the UK and the US.
The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government met in Geneva last month and agreed to abide by the fragile 2002 ceasefire. More than 60,000 people died during two decades of conflict in Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Tigers want autonomy for minority Tamils in the north and east.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has said the solution to the conflict lies in a unitary state.
இந்த விடயத்தைப் பற்றி மற்றவர்கள் என்ன நினைக்கிறார்கள் என்று இங்கே அறியலாம்.
....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asi...sia/4807846.stm
The extortion of money from Tamils living in North America and Europe has been stepped up recently to fund a "final war", says Human Rights Watch.
The rebels said the allegations were untrue and designed to discredit them.
A recent upsurge in violence between the rebels and security forces in Sri Lanka has cost at least 120 lives.
Sri Lankan officials and leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have agreed to curb the unrest and hold more talks in April on a threadbare truce.
<b>Fear</b>
Human Rights Watch says a new "aggressive and systematic fundraising drive" was launched by the Tigers in late 2005, coinciding with a sharp rise in violence in Sri Lanka.
Its report said some Tamils living overseas were being coerced and intimidated into giving the LTTE money.
About 800,000 Sri Lankan Tamils live abroad, mostly in the UK and Canada.
The report said many members of the Tamil diaspora or their relatives had "suffered human rights violations at the hands of the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government" and actively supported the Tamil Tigers.
"But the culture of fear is so strong that even Tamils who don't support them [the rebels] still feel they have no choice but to give money," the New York-based group said.
It called on the governments of Canada and Britain to protect Tamils living there.
Those interviewed for the report talk of door-to-door teams making frequent visits and threatening violence against family members.
They say those collecting the money claim it is to fund a so-called "final war", although the rebels and the Sri Lankan government restarted are supposed to be in the middle of peace talks.
"Sri Lankan Tamils living in the West fear that if they speak out about Tamil Tiger abuses, they may put themselves and their families at risk," said Jo Becker, author of the report.
But rebel political leader SP Thamilselvan said the report was baseless.
"The LTTE does not have any agents or its members to go and collect money from anybody anywhere in the world," he told the BBC.
"What happens is the Tamils living overseas collect money because they know that these people are affected by war and therefore deserve assistance by their own brethren."
The Canadian Tamil Congress, a prominent expatriate group, said the report was based on "anecdotal evidence and misguided assumptions".
"There has not been a single prosecution for extortion in Canada amongst the Tamil community," it said.
<b>Talks </b>
Correspondents say financial contributions have made the Tamil Tigers into one of the world's richest militant organisations, as well as one of the most lethal.
The rebels are proscribed as a terrorist group in both the UK and the US.
The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government met in Geneva last month and agreed to abide by the fragile 2002 ceasefire. More than 60,000 people died during two decades of conflict in Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Tigers want autonomy for minority Tamils in the north and east.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has said the solution to the conflict lies in a unitary state.
இந்த விடயத்தைப் பற்றி மற்றவர்கள் என்ன நினைக்கிறார்கள் என்று இங்கே அறியலாம்.
....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asi...sia/4807846.stm