http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/07/31/fea03.asp

LTTE diaspora dramatics, a poser for Western states

Shenali Waduge

There’s always a tolerable level to anything and sooner than later the LTTE diaspora are going to find out that they may need to do far more than take to the streets in processions against Sri Lanka, bribe the local MPs while carrying out nefarious acts like credit card scams, gang wars, human smuggling, narcotics, terror financing etc.

United as one. File photo

Should we even flag these crimes to any of these Western governments? Well if these Western governments and their leaders are not bothered that their own citizens are victims of people demonstrating on behalf of a banned terrorist outfit - we simply say good luck and good riddance. Let these LTTE diaspora get up to all sorts of mischief and become a nuisance in these foreign climes.

Afterall, these very nations that embraced immigrants are now saying adios to multi-culturalism. So it is only a matter of time that LTTE diaspora will become an intolerable nuisance to these Western governments.

Western governments do not need us to remind them what the LTTE or the LTTE diaspora has been upto over the years. Of course we did cry foul that having banned the LTTE as a terrorist organization it seemed ludicrous to allow its international headquarters to openly function in London while LTTE’s ideological head and his wife openly advocated separatism. But if that is how the West fashions its agenda - so be it.

We could never expect miracles from governments that harboured terrorists and their stooges and chose only to issue sympathy statements for civilian killings by LTTE over three decades. From all this it is clear and suffices to conclude that the diaspora was simply a useful tool to inflict pressures upon the Sri Lankan government - naturally the diaspora made the most of the opportunities that came their way.

Western governments

The cries of ‘discrimination’, ‘ethnic bias’, ‘human rights violations’ were marketed to perfection both by the LTTE and the Western governments. For the LTTE, it provided them a cover to hide their brutality and for Western nations it was simply a convenient means to advance their own agendas.

So while the LTTE were using the diaspora, the diaspora were using the Western governments and Western governments were using the diaspora against the Sri Lankan state, it was the citizens of these Western nations that were being fooled into accepting a false and hyped up notion of wrongs being done to the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

There are many like Dayan Anthony - recently refused refugee status and turned back to Sri Lanka. His story is that the agent taking money to transport him to the West insisted he play the discrimination card.

Often the impression that is given overseas by the diaspora is that Tamils asked to return will be killed. If this argument is true how is it that there are more Tamils living in Colombo amongst the Sinhalese than ever before? How is it that practically all the condominiums built from Wellawatte to Dehiwela numbering well over 250 all belong to Tamils and occupied only by mostly Tamils?

It is impossible for a Sinhalese to play the discrimination ticket on the basis that they are the majority. The only other way is to portray political discrimination, media discrimination etc which have all become key instruments in obtaining passports to foreign shores for some. There are also those that are nothing but anti-Sri Lankan, who are of course lavished with foreign currency and made to continue the campaign to voice such sentiments through organizations that have been set up exclusively for this purpose and staying in Sri Lanka for them is far more lucrative than living overseas where they would neither be creating headlines nor gaining too much limelight! In other words everything is simply a farce.

Suicide cadres

Returning to the question of the LTTE diaspora, we do not need to waste time any further in highlighting all the ills that these diaspora members are upto in foreign shores. Bribing local MPs certainly calls for investigation by these authorities. It is evident that these foreign MPs speak on behalf of terrorist groups, rally alongside diaspora calling for a separate state, attend terrorist events atop decorated stages where speakers glorify suicide cadres and speaking glowingly about its terrorist leader has nothing liberal or democratic about it and is everything to do with mutual benefits both for diaspora and these local MPs.

It is through these local bodies that most of the diaspora have come to tap into welfare systems and schemes. Most loans taken are never returned.

Using tax payers’ money hundreds of 'LTTE madrasas' have emerged all over Europe where local education authorities have pinpointed that learning imparted is not upto standards and not without query. Hundreds of foreign citizens have become victims of credit card scams all engineered by LTTE diaspora, even several kovils have been subject to investigation for terror financing. If embarrassing Sri Lanka’s Head of state is what makes them tick so be it because on an official visit if Western governments compromise the security of a foreign leader its outcome is nothing that should embarrass Sri Lanka but the country hosting Sri Lanka’s head. What Sri Lanka’s missions need to be concerned about is first and foremost to portray the correct picture about why we refuse to accept the argument of discrimination and to showcase the reasons why and to place the fact in order to allow Western citizens to derive their own conclusions.

LTTE diaspora

With the record that the LTTE diaspora has it does question their right to be pointing fingers at Sri Lanka’s armed forces in the light of none of them sending a cent to uplift the life or livelihood of a single Tamil and how many of them ever raised a voice to insist that LTTE do not turn Tamil children into killers by kidnapping them. There is enough evidence available with the UN to showcase how children were very much part of LTTE’s killing machine. It is not difficult for anyone to accept how the North and East have changed since the elimination of the LTTE.

None of these LTTE diaspora will ever understand how it feels for their own people to feel free and neither do they like to accept that the Tamil people in the North and East are grateful and happy that the armed forces are among them to protect them now that they have come to realize that the army is not their enemy. The LTTE diaspora and the TNA have a very dismal record in terms of helping Tamil people - for most part they are no action - talk only or rather action confined to demonstrations and placards disturbing foreign citizens!

There are millions of Chinese diaspora all over the world, similarly there are thousands of other diaspora carrying on with their lives - so what exactly is wrong with these LTTE diaspora? From what emerges there are enough differences amongst their own with different forums trying to become the leader of the Tamil people. Some of these power struggles are nothing we should worry over and simply watch the curtain raiser and watch the theatrics unfold - it would be nothing short of how the LTTE eliminated all other Tamil militant parties to become self-appointed as Tamil liberators.

Domiciled overseas any mischief LTTE diaspora gets into has now nothing to do with Sri Lanka - Let these foreign governments handle their new found headache.

Let us simply get on with putting Sri Lanka in order.