Presentation made by Douglas Wickramaratne,UK to LLRC

(by Douglas Wickramaratne,UK to LLRC)

Dear Mahinda,

Douglas has done a grand job, risking his life. Without people like Douglas, who has shown an excellent knowledge of our history and the current situation, the Tamils would have had a field day. In my view, until; recently, the Sinhalese poor were the underdogs and the Tamils projected to the world that they were discriminated.

My written submission, in two parts,  to the commission is given below.

Part 1 is a general introduction.

Part 2 has a number of useful references from independent sources,  which describe the nature of Tamil terrorist funding and their organization.   Mackenzie Institute of Canada [16] has done research on Tamil terrorism and has produced good reports. Al Jazeera  TV programs, [1] and [2] also  give a useful insight to LTTE fund raising. Various references given show that  LTTE used deception as their main tool for fund raising and generating  supporters  Unfortunately there was no effective  GOSL mechanism to counter LTTE lies, deception and propaganda, which may itself be a lesson to learn.

Ben

Part 1

Open Letter

Com of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation

24- Lakshman Kadir: Inst, no 24, Horton Pls, Colombo 7 Dear Sir,

 Ways to avoid a return to ethnic conflict, lessons to be learnt  Part 1

Summary

If a terrorist organisation is to operate successfully, it needs the following ingredients:

Funds

Bases

Weapons

Supply chain

Training

Supporters

Propaganda Initially India funded, trained and supported LTTE. If Sri Lanka want to learn lessons, then it should investigate how LTTE organised its funds, bases, supply chain, weapons, training, supporters and propaganda. The first thing to observe is that LTTE was an Indian and Foreign funded terror organisation. Its supporters were from mono ethnic Tamil areas. If we are to stop future wars then we should not allow foreign links, such as Indian links and should not allow mono ethnic areas in Sri Lanka . We need to move away from being passive, if we do not want to end up as the native Americans. Unfortunately, our belief system makes us passive, and we need to question if we are following the right path, as we have lost most of the coast line, the hill country and even our Capital. It is worthwhile noting that Buddhists in countries in the Silk route were wiped out by invaders. Also note that every passive ethnic group either got wiped out or ended up as second class citizens as in Bolivia .The main lesson is not to be weak militarily or economically, or weak in intelligence gathering as it will allow our enemies to harm us or invade us on false pretexts. CFA was forced on us as we were very weak. We should not have mono ethnic areas such as exclusive Tamil areas in te North or East as these areas will become launching pads for Tamil racists, local and Indian to invade and capture the rest of Sri Lanka. My fear is that some Tamils still have a tribal mentality and view the North and East as captured areas, captured by Cholas and recent ethnic cleansing and want to use the North and the East as a base to capture the rest of Sri Lanka . Remember that Prabakaran used a Chola emblem and had links with racist Indian Tamils such as Vaiko and Seeman. This potential threat from some Tamils should not be ignored. There should be no mono ethnic schools and the aim should be for racial integration.  Sri Lanka should not allow any Tamil groups to form with the intention of dividing the country. LTTE obtained funding and weapons for terrorism from foreign sources. Its support base was mono ethnic Tamil areas. Any mono ethnic Tamil enclaves is deadly to the Sinhalese, as these areas become safe heavens for potential terrorists. We must strengthen our security forces and intelligence and always keep a close watch of any arms smugglers sending arms across the Indian Ocean . We should have our civil defense forces trained and alert so that our enemies would think twice before invading us. We should be self reliant on defense and energy. We also have to remember that Tamils may be used as proxies by our enemies to wage war against Sri Lanka . Prabakaran may have wanted Sri Lanka exclusively for Tamils and perhaps as an extension to Tamil Nadu. We have to be aware of threats from people, who may have a mindset similar to Prabakaran. Sri Lanka should be for all it citizens and not just for Tamils. Whole` of Sri Lanka has been the home land of our ancestors. The home land of the Tamils is Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately from time to time Tamil war lords invaded our only homeland and caused massive destruction. In fact the destruction of our ancient hydraulic civilisation has been attributed to the destruction caused by invading Tamils who destroyed our irrigation system. The main reason for the conflict has been our inability to defend ourselves and not dealing firmly with aggressors. That is the past and our present day Sri Lanka belongs to all its citizens. However, we have to remember that the Tamils were used by Indians to destabilise Sri Lanka . Later the Tamils were used by Western nations to carryout a proxy war against Sri Lanka . We must never forget that Tamils may be used to carry out proxy wars against Sri Lanka , and any strengthening of Tamil war capability will simply bring forward the day we have another deadly war. The Sinhalese have not denied the rights of other citizens. However some Tamils live in the past and want to treat part of Sri Lanka as a part of the Chola empire. I do not think this is acceptable to non Tamils. Any organisation that is racist and promoting division of the country should be banned, with intelligence services keeping a close eye on potential trouble makers. Indian consulates in Jaffna and also Hambantota are serious threats as it was India that organised, trained and funded LTTE terrorists and it was India that landed the invasion force IPKF, under false pretexts. Having friends and relatives of various ethnicities, I am happy that modern Sri Lanka is multi ethnic. ALL need to care and share with all groups and should not yield to temptation of Tamil racism or emulation of Tamil empire building.With an organisation as destructive as the LTTE, there are always bound to be some elements who would want to re-group and we must be wary of such possibilities. I believe protecting our coastline should be a priority now. If our beaches were secured previously, the Tigers could not have smuggled in weapons in such large quantities and they wouldn’t have grown in to the monstrous organisation that they were. Similarly the vast jungle terrain in the Wanni must be dominated. it is this land that the LTTE exploited to the maximum during the early stages of its campaign to wage guerrilla warfare.My view is Sri Lanka is for all its citizens and not just for Tamils. I would appreciate if readers forward my article to appropriate authorities, including the lessons learnt commission.Yours sincerely,

Ben Silva

 Part 2

Com. of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation

24- Lakshman Kadir: Inst, no 24, Horton Pls, Colombo 7Dear Sir,Role of Tamils in UK and terrorism – Lessons to be learnt  Part 2 I wish to make the following submission for your kind consideration. It is essential to identify the cause of the conflict and eliminate the root cause. If this is not done, then the cycle of violence will continue. In a nut shell, conflicts that we experienced with Tamils and other foreign invaders, throughout our history of Lanka, has been the aggressive nature and empire building aim of invaders and the passive nature of some Sinhalese. In my submission given below, I will focus on fund raising and propaganda. For a terrorist organisation to operate successfully, it needs the following ingredients:Funds

Bases

Weapons

Supply chain

Training

Supporters

Propaganda The riots in 1983 was fully exploited by LTTE and its sympathisers to bring in a large number of bogus refugees to UK . LTTE was extremely good at networking, and LTTE network provided assistance to the bogus refugees , not only with guidance on obtaining legal aid, but also how to milk the system. LTTE network through lobbying which included, one to one communication, through exhibitions, through using performances, through entertainment, using gifts and bribery etc managed to have considerable influence over British MPs. Both Hon Simon Hughs and Hon Keith Vaz have been accused of sympathizing with the terrorists and doing their propaganda in exchange for votes. LTTE appears to have bought off Mr Vaz and Mr Hughs. LTTE engaged in its propaganda warfare in a very professional manner and countering LTTE propaganda also requires professional level competence. A lesson to be learnt, is to have effective machinery to counter LTTE propaganda, as GOSL badly lost the propaganda war.LTTE and its fronts made a very simple scheme, and a sure fire method , to generate funds , given below:Claim for refugee status on wild false allegations against Sri Lanka .Obtain free state benefits given to refugees, including housing, living expenses, education and healthcare.Contribute part of the benefits to LTTE or their fronts. The money given to LTTE or their fronts can then be used for propaganda against GOSL or the terror war effort.In short, the UK tax payer was funding the terror war in Sri Lanka . There is also a link between benefits fraud and bogus refugees. References [1] and [2] give a clear unbiased evidence of UK funding terrorism and how funds were raised in UK for terrorist activities in Sri Lanka . One main lesson to be learnt is to have a mechanism to counter LTTE propaganda and also have a communication channel to deal with the decision makers in UK , with media, with politicians and the public. Those nations that funded terrorism should be made to compensate the victims. Violent nature of Tamils are given in refetences [8],[9,[10],[11].. [15]. The video clip by Ross Kemp [15] is particularly interesting and shows the violent, lawless nature of Tamils.Media reports indicate that a TAMIL family ripped off council tax payers to the tune of £168,000 but drove a Mercedes, a BMW and a Porsche [4]. A common scam is to claim for a family member as a fake tenant.Tamils have been trying to seek refugee status in UK and Canada , which is thousands of miles away, bypassing India ’s Tamil Nadu, just a few miles away, where 65 million of their Tamil brethren live. Tamil Nadu actually means land of Tamils . Seeking refugee status in UK , bypassing Tamil Nadu is clearly a fraud.The view expressed by Mackenzie Institute on illegal immigration related to Canada is “as a nation we have been behaving very, very stupidly. Moreover, the primary engine driving our current policy is nothing more than short-sighted political gain, and not — as we are so frequently assured — by economic considerations. “Ref: http://www.mackenzieinstitute.com/2003/terror050303.htmThe view expressed by the Mackenzie Institute applies to UK as well, as some politicians have been campaigning for bogus Tamil refugees in exchange for votes. This practice is immoral and unjust and unfair to the Sinhalese and breaches equal opportunities laws in UK .Comments made by Martin Collacott, which is applicable to UK bogus refugees are also given. Martin Collacott is a former Canadian ambassador and now a senior fellow in immigration studies at The Fraser Institute. He was appointed Canada ’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka from 1982-86. Comments made by Collacott, CTVca News Staff, Thu. Aug. 12, 2010, with reference to Canada , but equally applicable to UK are given below:“Refugees are given state-funded lawyers, welfare and health care, which leaves the Canadian system as “the Rolls Royce of claiming refugee status,”. The Tamil Tigers have made “particular use of the refugee system to get in their supporters, they have operated a lot of the people-smuggling that got people in over the last 20 years.” if you can get to Canada to make your claim, it’s like winning the lottery.”SummaryThe Tamil terrorist organisation LTTE, has abused UK systems to get in their supporters, and have operated a lot of the people-smuggling schemes that got Tamils to UK unfairly. UK Government has subsidised terrorist supporters and both UK and Canada have been exporting terrorism.Asylum system should be examined and changed so that bogus refugees cannot exploit the weaknesses in the system and cheat the UK tax payer. It is unfair and immoral to give UK or Canadian residency, only to people who are prepared to lie through their teeth. As for Tamils, mere bypassing Tamil Nadu and arrival in UK or Canada indicate that the application for refugee status is due to economic reasons. It is also well known that these bogus refugees get lawyers on state aid to defend the possible bogus refugees. It is indeed a nice earner for these lawyers at state expense. It is also known that the whole asylum is a gravy train for those involved at the tax payers expense.. This is a drain on the tax payers money that should be plugged. The fact is due to careless decisions of officials and politicians in UK , Sri Lankans, specially the poor Sinhalese had to undergo 30 years of hell, due to terrorism, that was supported from funds that originated in Western countries.One main lesson to be learnt is to have a mechanism to counter LTTE propaganda and also have a communication channel to deal with the decision makers in UK , with media, with politicians and the public. Those nations that funded terrorism should be made to compensate the victims. Yours sincerely,

Ben Silva