Cripple LTTE extortion rackets

The LTTE's flourishing extortion rackets in the West are so pervasive that they have even entrenched themselves in Scandinavian countries, such as Denmark. As reported by us yesterday, some 11,000 Tamil families in Denmark are being ruthlessly coerced by the LTTE into parting with their hard-earned income.

Needless to say, the funds thus extorted would go to swell the Tigers' war chest. Our report quoted a representative of an LTTE front organisation calling itself the Danish Tamil Coordination Committee as saying that 5,000 to 10,000 Danish Kroners (Rs. 160,000) were extorted daily from Tamil families in Denmark. This is a pointer to the quantum of funds regularly raised by the LTTE with the covert aim of nourishing its military campaign against the Lankan State.

Therefore, it is business as usual as far as the Tigers are conserved, CFA or no CFA. While seemingly talking peace they are nursing destructive ambitions, such as going to war against the Lankan State. Why else should the LTTE be replenishing its war chest?

We hardly need re-iterate that it is the funds flowing in from sections of the Tamil diaspora in particularly the West which are helping to sustain the LTTE's separatist agenda. Ending this inflow of funds is one way in which the Tigers' separatist ambitions could be blunted.

Western governments are fully aware of this but save a few, most Western states are yet to ban the LTTE on their soil and to put an end to the anti-Lanka operations of Tiger front organisations.

Since the majority of SLMM members hail from Scandinavian countries, it would do the SLMM's image a tremendous amount of good if these countries play a lead role in ending the LTTE's anti-Lanka covert operations on their territories.

It does not follow from these observations that the search for a negotiated political solution to our problem could be slowed down or delayed. There is no alternative to a political solution but the constraints and controls on the LTTE should be such that it should see the futility of seeking a military solution.

If all prospects of finding a military solution are progressively dimmed for the LTTE, through concerted international action to deprive it of funds, there is a possibility of the Tigers cooperating more closely with the effort to find a political solution. It is to achieve this end that the Tigers' extortion rackets abroad should be busted by the relevant states.

Thus, more and more countries need to take a leaf from states, such as, the US, Canada, Australia and India, and adopt the principled stand of banning the LTTE on their soil as long as it remains committed to the path of terror and war.

Those sections of the Tamil diaspora, on the other hand, which are helping to swell the funds of the LTTE should see the error of their ways and increasingly oppose the illegal activities of the Tigers. Opposing a ruthless and coercive outfit such as the LTTE, would not prove easy for unarmed Tamil publics abroad, but some resistance needs to be shown on an organised unarmed basis, if the process of finding a political solution is to be facilitated.

Law and order agencies in foreign countries could help out in this task by cracking-down hard on LTTE illicit operations. The weakening of the LTTE presence could lead to a corresponding strengthening of Tamil diasporic organisations of a democratic orientation. The voice of the Tamil civilian public abroad would be thus bolstered.

In the run-up to the second round of ceasefire talks scheduled for mid-April, much would depend on the sustained creation of an environment which would greatly facilitate the negotiatory process. Accordingly, confidence-building measures need to be launched by both sides on an urgent basis.

The LTTE could establish its sincerity by reducing its illegal operations abroad. By relaxing its control over the Tamil civilian public abroad and locally, it could prove that it is giving peace a good chance.