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Law suit against Oslo over Norway-LTTE links

POINT OF VIEW: Norwegians Against Terrorism (NAT) will this year probe Sri Lanka's Norwegian-funded aid projects to uncover LTTE links. NAT is already in the process of collecting evidence for a future class action law suit against Oslo over Norwegian funding of Tiger terrorism, according to the latest NAT report, The International Fight Against LTTE dated January 14, 2007.

"We have found Colonel Karuna's allegations on funding LTTE front organisations to be correct. They receive funds both from the Norwegian Government and local municipality governments," states the report.

"As Norwegian citizens we are ashamed to see our tax money is used to support the LTTE terrorist organization."

The list of Norwegian-funded local organisations and individuals cited in the NAT report, include the so-called Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the LTTE front -Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) - several dubious NGOs, a leading Opposition politician and a Sinhala journalist.

To prove it NAT has obtained the payment records from the Norwegian Foreign Affairs and the Oslo Municipality. They reveal that the Norwegian Government has assisted both reputed institutions as well as treacherous, anti-national organisations to cover up its real motives.

Some of the latter (like TRO) being state-registered bodies have helped Oslo to covertly back pro-Tiger operations. The politician in question had received over 8.4 million NOK (1.2 million U.S. dollars) from his friends in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in 2005, according to the NAT report. The National Peace Council had been paid two million NOK (300,000 U.S. dollars). In the same year, TRO had received 15 million NOK (2.2 million U.S. dollars).

The report also reveals huge discrepancies between funds transferred to Sri Lanka from the Bank of Norway and official financial transfers including Norwegian foreign aid to Sri Lanka.

NAT however alleges that the latest payments which the Norwegian Foreign Ministry agency Norad made to the LTTE have removed from their unrestricted payments list. But in fact payments to the Wanni Tigers are not only continuing but even increasing, according to NAT which has contacts in Norad.

States the report: "It puzzles us why the payments made to Sri Lanka have been classified as secret for the last two years. Is Norway hiding something?" NAT finds it bewildering that Erik Solheim has risked the Norwegian Foreign Ministry's reputation and credibility in his war of words with Karuna.

The latter's allegations that can be verified from official sources have "been proven to be 100 percent correct" according to the report The anti-LTTE Norwegians express surprise over Solheim's denials of Oslo giving the Tigers military training, "since the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo previously admitted the LTTE visit to Rena" (the Norwegian Special Forces Training Camp).

I have seen a video of this visit, which the report states, is stored at the Norwegian Military website. At Rena, the visiting Tigers had access to information on weapons, tactics and military strategies. NAT says that the Canadian Intelligence Service too has confirmed that the Norwegian SF training Sea Tigers in underwater demolition in Thailand's Trang Province.

The report reiterates that the war against LTTE terrorism has to be fought outside Sri Lanka, since 70-90 percent of the Tiger funds come from their international fundraising and criminal operations. NAT will continue its research in South East Asia to establish further contacts locally in view of the threat the LTTE poses not only to Sri Lanka but also to other nations.

NAT representatives intend to visit more European countries and Canada where they will talk to the Sri Lankan Diaspora.

Leading NAT activist F. Rovik plans to call for a commission to inquire into the allegations of secret funds to help the LTTE. He however does not expect the Norwegian Government to accede to the request.

The next step therefore, according to Rovik, will be to bring international pressure on Oslo to launch an investigation. He believes that Oslo will cover it up and put a lid on all information related to the Sri Lanka facilitation project.

Says Rovik: "Initially they will use the excuse `it could disturb the peace process.' Later they will use the `national security excuse' to avoid providing the public with information. Anyway we will try to get hold of more information and expose it in a book. We think the entire peace facilitation is `a can of worms'."

NAT is determined to bring the LTTE back to their terrorist status in Norway and oust the politicians supporting the LTTE out of Norwegian politics in 2007.

Rovik, who is also an Amnesty International Member, has been in the forefront in exposing Norway's duplicity in indirectly sponsoring terrorism in Sri Lanka while pretending to douse the very flames she has helped to ignite. He has documented Norway's help in training the LTTE, supplying them with weapons and Norway's general backing for Tiger separatism in this country.

He is a strong advocate of victims of terrorism seeking compensation from countries supporting and funding terrorism. He maintains close links with the Australia-based organisations World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) and SPUR (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka).

"The fact that our oil money has been used to kill hundreds of innocent people in Sri Lanka does not seem to interest Norwegian journalists." he laments.

Rovik reveals that Norway's dealings with the LTTE do not only involve money, but travel documents and passports. More than 130.000 Norwegian passports are missing according to Interpol, he says.

"We know about the LTTE links to the Norwegian police and the arrest of the LTTE cadre who was buying Norwegian passports from a Norwegian police officer. Thai police did break the case that exposed Norwegian police-LTTE links, when they arrested a Tiger cadre in Bangkok with 900 passports."

The LTTE cadre Mike Daniel Jeya admitted in court that he bribed a Norwegian police officer in order to secure Norwegian passports. Jeya and the policeman Nyhusomen were convicted last year and sentenced to two years (Nyhusomen) and nine months (Jeya), according to the NAT report. The bribery scandal has exposed the possibility of any terrorist group, including Al-Queda, being able to obtain illegally Norwegian passports for traveling across Europe, Canada and USA.

Rovik notes there have been contacts between LTTE and Algerians linked to Al-Queda subsidiaries in the passport case. This should be an eye opener for the USA, Great Britain and Australia.

Rovik stresses the need for countries to demand all Norwegians to get entry visas since the Norwegian passports can no longer be trusted. Rovik is convinced that it is only a matter of time before serious terrorist acts are committed when terrorists acquire Norwegian passports.

On October 21, 2004, WAPS and SPUR jointly delivered a written request to the United Nations requesting the UN to end Norway's involvement in the peace process here.

The charge sheet urged the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee to investigate Norway's alleged violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1373. This resolution obligates member states to freeze the finances of any group deemed to be terrorists and not to contribute to such groups. The report cited Norway's monetary sponsorship of the LTTE.

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