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LTTE web-site claims HRW "apologized" for report on LTTE fund-raising.
Roy Edwards in Toronto,
March 22.
The LTTE web site Nitharsanam, alleged to be managed by a close
relative of LTTE's intelligence chief Pottu Amman, reported yesterday
that the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has "apologized" for “faulty
reporting” about LTTE fund-raising activities'. The article on the web
site, published only in Tamil, claimed that more than 23,000 e-mails
have been sent to the HRW offices in New York by Sri Lankan Tamils living in
Europe and Scandinavian countries. The web site furthermore went on to
claim that this pressure had compelled the HRW to “retract” its report
released last Wednesday. Earlier in the week, the Nithrsanam web site
while demanding an apology from the HRW launched a systematic
campaign of intimidation against Ms.Jo Becker, advocacy director of
the Children's Rights Division at HRW. The web site also issued threats to
members of the Tamil Diaspora community who assisted in the
preparation of the HRW report. This included the posting of names, family details and
photos of some of the individuals who are alleged to have provided information to the
HRW during the drafting of the report.
This particular web site which has a notorious history of spelling out names of victims before LTTE assassin's carryout
executions and had posted gruesome photos of the victims as part of
intimidation tactics against those Tamils who oppose the LTTE. Months
before the Tiger assassins gunned down the principal of a leading
College in Jaffna Mr.Rajadurai , the site posted a warning to the effect that the principal
would be assassinated in public.
The HRW report that was very critical of the heavy-handed tactics used
by the LTTE fund-raisers in England and Canada, received wide coverage
from national media in the UK and Canada. The United States State
Department also went on record to comment about the HRW report.
Editorials in leading newspapers, such as the Toronto Star and the
Globe& Mail, were vociferous in demanding that the federal government
ban the LTTE as a terrorist group in Canada.
In a hastily arranged press conference on the 14th of March at the
Delta hotel in Toronto, Canadian Tamil Congress members angrily
denounced the HRW report and demanded an "apology". Canadian Tamil
Congress is an LTTE front organization formerly known as the
Federation of Association of Canadian Tamils (FACT). FACT was earlier
declared to be a front organization for the LTTE along with the World
Tamil Movement(WTM) by the United States State department. Sri Lankan
Tamil sources indicated that the extensive coverage by the Canadian
media including editorials from almost all the leading news papers
calling for the curbing of LTTE activities have made many LTTE
fundraisers nervous. Facing a looming crackdown by the authorities,
LTTE is reported to have activated all of it's western outlets to
carryout a systematic campaign against the widely respected and
internationally renowned HRW and Ms. Jo Becker in particular. As part of this effort CMR
a radio station in Toronto, controlled by the LTTE front World Tamil
Movement, has been urging listeners to mount a sustained protest
campaign against the HRW demanding an apology.
Discuss this story
Published: Tue Mar 21 21:19:48 EST 2006
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Sri Lanka rebels may postpone April crunch talks
Reuters,
March 22.
NEW MALDEN (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels will view any further attacks by renegades they say are military-backed as an act of war and may postpone crunch talks unless the state disarms them, their chief negotiator has warned.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are due to attend a second round of peace talks with Sri Lankan officials in Geneva in April, and say the island's fragile peace process could grind to a halt if the government fails to honour a pledge to rein in armed groups.
The Tigers accuse a breakaway faction led by a former senior rebel commander called Karuna of targeting their forces in the east of Sri Lanka, and insist the onus falls on the government to tame them.
"If the paramilitaries continue to launch military offensive operations against the LTTE with the backing of the Sri Lankan armed forces, it will certainly be construed as an act of war against the LTTE," Tiger theoretician Anton Balasingham told Reuters in an interview late on Tuesday.
More...
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Published: Tue Mar 21 22:35:58 EST 2006
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Sri Lanka Buddhist monks want Norway out of peace facilitating
people.com.cn,
march 21.
A group of Buddhist monks marched to the Norwegian embassy here Tuesday, demanding that Norway quit from Sri Lanka.
The monks from the National Bhikku Front and backed by the main left party the JVP or the People's Liberation Front demanded the immediate withdrawal of Norway from the peace facilitating role with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.
"We demand that the Norwegians who are helping the LTTE to set up a separate state be banished immediately," Venerable Dambara Amila, a leading protesting monk said.
He added the Norwegians had not been impartial right from the start of their peace facilitation role in Sri Lanka.
He accused Norway of laying out a red carpet to welcome the Tigers when they visited Norway after last month's Geneva talks with the Sri Lankan government.
The police placed barricades in front of the Norwegian embassy as protesters gathered around there.
The Norwegian government has been facilitating peace in the island since the year 2000. Their efforts have brought the two warring factions to six rounds of direct talks which ceased violence that had claimed over 64,000 lives since the mid-1980s.
More...
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Published: Tue Mar 21 11:17:43 EST 2006
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