11-25-2005, 04:45 AM
The Australian பத்திரிகையில் வந்த ஒரு செய்தி
Tamil Tigers in tsunami funds row
Cameron Stewart and Natasha Robinson
November 25, 2005
SRI Lanka warned the Howard Government that charity donations given by Australians after the tsunami may have been used to fund terrorist group the Tamil Tigers.
The warning came ahead of police raids in Melbourne this week on a group suspected of raising funds to support the Tigers, who are waging a bloody war to create a separate homeland in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner Asoka Girihagama told The Australian yesterday that Sri Lanka had passed information to Australia about suspected fundraising by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation.
"We have heard bad news about the TRO's fundraising activities in Australia," he said. "We have kept the Australian Government very well informed about these activities."
Those raided in Melbourne this week were believed to have links to the TRO, which sells itself as a Tamil charity organisation but is widely suspected of funding the Tamil Tigers.
The head of the TRO in Australia, Melbourne-based gynaecologist Rajan Rasiah, was unaware that any of his members were raided but revealed his organisation's fundraising had jumped fivefold after the tsunami, which ravaged the nation, from $200,000 a year in charitable donations to $1.1million.
Dr Rasiah insisted that the TRO had no choice but to co-operate with the Tamil Tigers, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, in directing charitable contributions because they controlled northeast parts of the country.
"You have to work with the permission, with the approval and with the support of the LTTE if you want to work in the north-east," Dr Rasiah said.
While the Tamil Tigers are not officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Australia, they are considered to be engaged in terrorist activity in their homeland. However, Dr Rasiah said the Tigers were "freedom fighters", not terrorists.
Mr Girihagama said TRO claims to be a charity organisation may have been a "pretext" to gather funds to assist the Tamil Tigers.
Dr Rasiah said the TRO was a signatory to the code of conduct of the umbrella organisation the Australian Council for International Development, that its funds were audited by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and that the Australian Tax Office had full details of where its money was directed.
He denied that any of the $1.1million collected by the TRO after the Boxing Day tsunami was used to fund LTTE.
"Just because we are Tamils and we are raising funds for our people ourselves, we are accused," he said. "If UNICEF gives money or Oxfam gives money to the northeast, there is no accusation.
"And the amount of money we collect is so little. I mean, come on, you can't run a war with that sort of money."
The Wednesday raids targeted homes in suburban Melbourne, including a house in Burwood East reportedly owned by Tamil press owner Ponniah Sathiyanathan.
A Melbourne Tamil man who yesterday visited the Burwood East house said it was the base for the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee. A neighbour said police had spent about six hours at the home, where Australian Federal Police officers seized material believed to be computer hard drives and literature.
Dr Rasiah said the Australian branch of the TRO's northern Sri Lanka base was in Killinochi, within the heartland controlled by LTTE separatists.
Despite a 2002 ceasefire, the past year has seen a re-emergence of tensions, and a Sri Lankan presidential election in November - boycotted by the Tamil Tigers - destabilised the peace process.
Dr Rasiah said he believed the change of government in Sri Lanka was the reason members of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee had been raided.
Mr Girihagama said he was uncertain if this week's raids were directly linked to information provided to Australia by Sri Lanka.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...255E601,00.html
Tamil Tigers in tsunami funds row
Cameron Stewart and Natasha Robinson
November 25, 2005
SRI Lanka warned the Howard Government that charity donations given by Australians after the tsunami may have been used to fund terrorist group the Tamil Tigers.
The warning came ahead of police raids in Melbourne this week on a group suspected of raising funds to support the Tigers, who are waging a bloody war to create a separate homeland in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner Asoka Girihagama told The Australian yesterday that Sri Lanka had passed information to Australia about suspected fundraising by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation.
"We have heard bad news about the TRO's fundraising activities in Australia," he said. "We have kept the Australian Government very well informed about these activities."
Those raided in Melbourne this week were believed to have links to the TRO, which sells itself as a Tamil charity organisation but is widely suspected of funding the Tamil Tigers.
The head of the TRO in Australia, Melbourne-based gynaecologist Rajan Rasiah, was unaware that any of his members were raided but revealed his organisation's fundraising had jumped fivefold after the tsunami, which ravaged the nation, from $200,000 a year in charitable donations to $1.1million.
Dr Rasiah insisted that the TRO had no choice but to co-operate with the Tamil Tigers, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, in directing charitable contributions because they controlled northeast parts of the country.
"You have to work with the permission, with the approval and with the support of the LTTE if you want to work in the north-east," Dr Rasiah said.
While the Tamil Tigers are not officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Australia, they are considered to be engaged in terrorist activity in their homeland. However, Dr Rasiah said the Tigers were "freedom fighters", not terrorists.
Mr Girihagama said TRO claims to be a charity organisation may have been a "pretext" to gather funds to assist the Tamil Tigers.
Dr Rasiah said the TRO was a signatory to the code of conduct of the umbrella organisation the Australian Council for International Development, that its funds were audited by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and that the Australian Tax Office had full details of where its money was directed.
He denied that any of the $1.1million collected by the TRO after the Boxing Day tsunami was used to fund LTTE.
"Just because we are Tamils and we are raising funds for our people ourselves, we are accused," he said. "If UNICEF gives money or Oxfam gives money to the northeast, there is no accusation.
"And the amount of money we collect is so little. I mean, come on, you can't run a war with that sort of money."
The Wednesday raids targeted homes in suburban Melbourne, including a house in Burwood East reportedly owned by Tamil press owner Ponniah Sathiyanathan.
A Melbourne Tamil man who yesterday visited the Burwood East house said it was the base for the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee. A neighbour said police had spent about six hours at the home, where Australian Federal Police officers seized material believed to be computer hard drives and literature.
Dr Rasiah said the Australian branch of the TRO's northern Sri Lanka base was in Killinochi, within the heartland controlled by LTTE separatists.
Despite a 2002 ceasefire, the past year has seen a re-emergence of tensions, and a Sri Lankan presidential election in November - boycotted by the Tamil Tigers - destabilised the peace process.
Dr Rasiah said he believed the change of government in Sri Lanka was the reason members of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee had been raided.
Mr Girihagama said he was uncertain if this week's raids were directly linked to information provided to Australia by Sri Lanka.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...255E601,00.html
,
,
,