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Time to Act : The LTTE, its Front Organizations, and the challenge to Europe - 5:

The danger of not taking action against the LTTE/its fronts

Excerpts from address by Ravinatha Aryasinha, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg, at the EU-US International Seminar on the LTTE, held at the Europol Headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands, 9-10 Dec 2008.

a) Sri Lanka’s efforts to defeat terrorism could be wasted


Ravinatha Aryasinha

At a time Sri Lanka is engaged in the difficult task of putting an end to terrorism in the North of the country, it is vital to also end the capacity of the LTTE and its front organizations to raise funds and engage in propaganda in western countries. Else the sacrifices being made on the ground would be wasted and the capacity to sustain the conflict will be revived.

b) No country is insulated from the LTTE and its front organization activity Countries of high intensity LTTE activities - their law enforcement and monitoring agencies, need to interdict the networks of the LTTE and its front organizations.

They should do so not merely in terms of its international obligations to help in the fight against terrorism wherever it takes place, but also because today these terrorist front organizations are getting engrained into and are exploiting the body politic of many of these countries, abusing their grant of asylum and corrupting and criminalizing their respective societies.

c) Ramifications abroad of an LTTE defeat in Sri Lanka The situation is likely to get worse abroad, in a scenario where the conventional fighting capacity of the LTTE is defeated.

In such a case, the pressure on the diaspora would be intensified by the LTTE as there is likely to be resistance to continue to fund the LTTE. Networked and trained as they are, in order to survive, members of the LTTE are also likely to be forced into engaging/prolonging clandestine businesses or engage in criminal activities as mercenaries.

What more should be done in Europe ?

a) List TRO and other front organizations or add to list of terrorist entities in the also known as (a.k.a) category

Through Council Decision 2006/379/EC of 29 May 2006 the EC applied EC Regulation No. 2580/2001 on specific measures directed against groups and entities with a view to combating terrorism to the LTTE. Despite this stricture it is clear that the LTTE through its front organizations continue to engage in terrorist financing making a mockery of the EU listing of the LTTE.

With a view to addressing this continuing trend, Sri Lanka presented in June 2008 a comprehensive dossier to the EU on the TRO and other key LTTE front organization operations in Europe and elsewhere.

This dossier was further supplemented with information on continuing appeals being made by the LTTE through the front organizations to the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora for enhanced financing through numerous propaganda campaigns and other means. All our countries are obligated to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1373.

Additionally all parties to the 1999 UN Convention on Terrorist Financing are required to take specific measures against fund raising activities of terrorist groups. The US and Canadian proscriptions of the TRO and the WTM respectively, provide a plethora of evidence that underlines the culpability of LTTE front organizations. It is necessary, that the EU address this problem in an effective manner.

b) Greater Vigilance

It is of paramount importance that greater vigilance is exercised by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in EU countries on the varying methods adopted by particularly LTTE front organizations. In this context, it is vital that the finance generating and arms procurement networks of the LTTE, which has a global reach and exploits Tamil Diaspora presence, is arrested in all parts of the world, simultaneously. Doing so piece meal within states or leaving lag time in action taken between states, will only allow the LTTE and its front organisations to move their operations to avoid detection.

c) Modalities for Intelligence Cooperation.

It is critical that we identify the clandestine network in place across the globe, involved in arms procurement and money laundering and other illegal operations. This is not something the Government of Sri Lanka can do on European soil, but must necessarily be initiated by the respective governments themselves.

d) Modalities for Criminal Justice Field Cooperation

Understanding each other’s criminal justice systems relating to terrorism, building of formal and informal contacts/enhanced interaction between relevant authorities, cooperation among prosecutorial authorities, exchange of information on a pro-active basis between relevant entities, cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) in the respective jurisdictions and entering into Mutual Legal Assistance arrangements in criminal matters, are some of the means through which this objective can be addressed.

Conclusion

The network of the LTTE and its front organisations transcends the national borders both within the European Union, as well as outside.

We have seen sufficient evidence in the prosecutions such as those carried out in the US, Canada and Australia, that the operations of front organisations are an integral part of the LTTE.

Taking concerted action against all entities who act for, or on behalf of, or at the behest of terrorist organizations, is an obligation all our countries have voluntarily undertaken under the numerous UN conventions on terrorism, which we have signed and ratified.

Doing so has also cast on us, the obligation to implement these provisions equally, to all terrorist entities across the globe. Sri Lanka calls upon the European Union and other European countries to honour its pledges in this regard, with respect to the LTTE and its numerous front organisations operating in their respective countries. It is indeed, time to act.

Concluded

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