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LTTE launches special drive for funds in Europe, Canada

New Delhi, June 6 :

In a potentially significant development, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas have started a special campaign to raise money in Europe and North America, saying they are sick and tired of the peace process.

Tamil sources say the fund collection began about a month ago and members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been telling Sri Lankan Tamils that the group might go back to fighting.

A Tamil professional in a London suburb told IANS that when he asked LTTE activists who came calling why they needed the money since there was peace in the island, he was told: "We have been betrayed by the peace process. We may have to resume fighting."

"I was surprised but quietly gave them what I could," said one Tamil source, adding that he later found out from friends that the special drive was launched some three weeks ago all over Britain.

Another Sri Lankan Tamil in the Canadian city of Toronto, known as "Little Jaffna", added that a similar fund collection drive had begun there too about a month ago.

"They are collecting money here," the man said. "They are saying they need the money to fight."

Tamil sources say this is the first time since the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government signed a peace pact in February 2002 that the Tigers have undertaken such a sweeping drive to raise money in the West.

The London source said similar campaigns were also under way in countries like France and Switzerland.

Significantly, the Toronto source reported that supporters of Karuna, the renegade former LTTE leader, had launched a similar drive in that city although on a much smaller scale.

Despite the Norwegian-backed peace process, the LTTE, the world's deadliest insurgent group, is known to collect money regularly from its staunch supporters in the West - and these are almost wholly voluntary.

Many rich Sri Lankan Tamils contribute significant amounts to the Tigers, who control vast areas in the island's north and east and who have gained enormously politically, militarily and diplomatically in the past two years.

In the latest drive, the LTTE has reportedly approached Sri Lankan Tamils in general, going from house to house, requesting them to donate for the cause.

Tamil sources believe the LTTE would surely raise "hundreds of thousands of dollars" because many Tamils, particularly the high-income professionals, are known to be very generous vis-à-vis the Tigers.

The sources say while the LTTE fund collectors could have been bluffing or exaggerating when they said the Tigers would resume fighting, the drive to raise money at this stage could not have been done without a purpose.

The situation in Sri Lanka's east has deteriorated since Karuna launched an unprecedented rebellion in March. Although Karuna fled the region in April, the two groups are targeting each other now.

The LTTE believes that Colombo is sheltering Karuna and his core group and that Karuna's men were acting in collusion with the military to kill LTTE members and its select supporters.

Diplomats in Colombo believe the situation in the Sri Lankan east is unlikely to return to normal quickly. Karuna had argued that the LTTE was biased against the Tamils in the east while favouring Tamils from the north.

The LTTE has warned of grave consequences if its supporters continued to get killed but Tamil sources differ in their assessment of what the Tigers could do.

A Tamil source in Sri Lanka ruled out the possibility of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran resorting to war.

"He will be a loser if he does that," said the source. "He has gained so much from the peace process. Moreover, the world will again brand him as a terrorist, something that deeply troubles the LTTE."

But a Tamil politician argued that Prabhakaran was unpredictable.

"It is impossible to read his mind," the political source said. "After six rounds of globally mediated talks, the LTTE called the exercise a waste of time. They will do anything that they feel is good for them.

"If they feel that peace is good, they will stick to the peace process. If they feel otherwise, they will resume fighting, irrespective of the consequences. The fund collection has to be seen in this context."

http://www.newkerala.com