Tamil gangs arrested in Toronto
linus
Tamils hailed for gang arrests
Police credit community in gun crackdown
By Peter Edwards - Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Strong support from the Metro Tamil community has helped police arrest 10
gang members in a string of violent attacks ranging from pistol-whipping to
murder, police say.
Police announced arrests for attacks in Scarborough and England.
``These people are not that bright but have -------------------------
access to high-powered firearms,'' Inspector `The community is totally
Roy Teeft of Metro police said of members of condemning this sort of
the VVT and AK Kannan gangs. thing (gang violence).'
Teeft said he hopes the arrests send a message - Thiru Thiruchelvam of
to both gangs and community members that police Metro Police's
aren't going to go away in the face of turf South-Asian Consultative
wars between crime groups. Committee
-------------------------
``We'll be out there every night,'' Teeft said.
Since November, 1994, there have been 18 Tamil gang shootings in
Scarborough, Teeft said.
``The Metropolitan Toronto Police Service remains concerned about the
escalating violence between these two rival gangs,'' acting Inspector Mike
Sale said.
``Citizens are advised to be alert, especially when attending
establishments open during the evening/early morning hours.''
Thiru Thiruchelvam of Metro police's South-Asian consultative committee
said the gang activity involves only ``a handful'' of the 150,000-strong
Tamil community in Canada, the vast majority of them in Metro.
``The community is totally condemning this sort of thing (gang violence),''
he said.
The VVT gang of Etobicoke takes its name from the village of Valvettithurai
in Sri Lanka while the smaller, Scarborough-based AK Kannan is named after
the AK-47 assault rifle and the name of a gang member.
Gangs have been hanging out in all-night doughnut shops as they battle for
more control of the drug trade and extortion and robbery money, Teeft said.
After two shootings last month in Scarborough, police set up a task force,
working alongside the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Peel Region police.
``The Tamil community has been extremely co-operative and supportive with
this investigation,'' Sale said.
Among those arrested was Ratravel Piragalathran, 27, of Scarborough and
Mississauga, wanted on an immigration warrant for a gang murder in England.
Saranavan Yogarajah, 19, of Scarborough, was charged with assault with a
weapon, aggravated assault and pointing a firearm.
Surbeshkumar Nadarjana, 29, and Kokittras Ratnasiegham, 20, both of North
York, were jointly charged with pointing a firearm and threatening death.
Akileswaran Thillararpanpalam, 20, and Sivathakaran Ariyarathnam, 22, both
of Scarborough, were jointly charged with assault with a weapon, assault
causing bodily harm and threatening death.
Jeyaseelan Thuraisingam, 31, of Scarborough, was charged with possession of
heroin.
Anton Manoraja Muthurajah, 25, and Marino Mahiliorajan, 36, of the United
States, were jointly charged with possession of heroin and possession of a
prohibited weapon.
Jeyakanthan Kandasamy, 26, of Scarborough, was charged with assault and
assault with a weapon.
Contents copyright © 1997, The Toronto Star.
User interface, selection and arrangement copyright © 1996, 1997
Torstar Electronic Publishing Ltd.
HELLA BALLA
linus wrote:
>
> Tamils hailed for gang arrests
Looks like the International Community is coming down hard on the
bastards.
Abimanyu singam
Yes, very true, Just read below!
03/05 0253 Sri Lanka monk jailed in Australia for sex crimes
PERTH, Australia, March 5 (Reuter) - A Sri Lankan Buddhist
monk who sexually assaulted two women seeking spiritual guidance
from him in Australia was jailed for four years on Wednesday,
after which he will be deported.
Pannasarra Kahatapitiye was found guilty on February 23 of
five charges of illegal sexual penetration and six of indecent
assault on the two unidentified women aged 27 and 29.
The offences were committed in July and August 1995.
The women had gone to Kahatapitiye's temple in the Western
Australia state capital of Perth to ask him to draw astrological
charts for them, the court heard.
District court judge Alton Jackson told Kahatapitiye, 53,
who had been in Australia on a temporary visitor's visa, that he
had disgraced himself and his faith.
"Sexual penetration is an invasion of privacy in the most
personal manner, in this case aggravated by your position as a
monk," Jackson said.
"People are entitled to trust men and women of the cloth,
and you have breached that trust. You are a disgrace to yourself
and the Buddhist order," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abimanyu singam | O see ye not yon narrow road,
Carleton University | So thick beset wi'thorns and briers,
Bio-Biotechnology | That is the path of Righteousness,
Email add.: asi...@chat.carleton.ca | Though after it but few inquires.
Forgive, but never forget- Ben Gurion| - Thomas the Rhymer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
spectator
This is what called stereo type. There are gangs all over the world.
Srilanka had these tamil and well as sinhallese for decades.
Just because there are some people who happended to be tamils involved in
gang violanace, you guys try to paint every tamil. Stupid Hala Bala, RCMP
is one of the famous, and this country has tackled gang related issues of
differnt communities for decades. They know what they are up to, so
throung this kind of mud on all tamils won't sell anywhere.
HELLA BALLA <h...@ubc.edu.ca> wrote in article <332A1F...@ubc.edu.ca>...
Umberto Gui
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Abimanyu singam wrote:
>
> HELLA BALLA (h...@ubc.edu.ca) wrote:
> > linus wrote:
> > >
> > > Tamils hailed for gang arrests
>
> > Looks like the International Community is coming down hard on the
> > bastards.
> Yes, very true, Just read below!
>
> 03/05 0253 Sri Lanka monk jailed in Australia for sex crimes
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0 plus SQ/ICADD Tables//EN" "html.dtd"
>
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>defenders</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><UL>
<LI><P><A HREF="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/umberto/Tamil.htm"
>Return to Home Page</A></P></LI>
</UL><HR><IMG SRC="comp.gif"><H1>Tamil Tigers</H1>
<H5>Article published in the IT magazine <I>Computing</I>on the 15th
February 1996</H5><P>A spokesman for the Liberation Tigers Tamil Eealam
(LTTE) has categorically denied that the group is involved in benefit
fraud, following <I>Computing</I>'s investigations into the issue ( 11
January).</P><P>Following publication of our revelation that more than
£1bn a year is lost to the DSS through computer related benefit
fraud perpetrated by political, criminal and terrorist groups, <I>Computing</I>
was contacted by members of the UK's Tamil community, anxious to
distance both the community and the Tamil Tigers from any systematic
abuse of the UK's welfare system.</P><P>Following a meeting with
members of the Tamil community, contact was made with a spokesman for
the LTTE who stated: ' I can assure you we have nothing to do with DSS
fraud.' The spokesman declined to put his claim in writing.</P><P> The
denials follow claims by benefit investigators that Tamil Tiger activity
has been detected during welfare fraud investigations. But LTTE claims
this cannot be substantiated adding that the organisation did not raise
funds in the UK.</P><P>The LTTE spokesman said the Tamil cause was
being targeted as part of a Sri Lankan government-funded smear campaign
being organised by one of the worlds leading PR agencies.</P><H3>COMMENT
BY UMBERTO GUI</H3><B></B><P><B>Why is it that the LTTE always use
the title " Tamil Community"? Do they think that people will not see
through their lies and deceptions? Perhaps they think that all of us are
so gullible as the poor innocents in Jaffna, whom they have led like
lambs to slaughter and into the abyss. When the chips are down the
"defenders of the Tamil people" abandon the Tamil people and run and
hide in the jungle. Now it is eelam in the jungle under the trees and
with the monkeys. I am sure the LTTE London office will be telling us
that this is their new super strategy and how they will stop the Sri
Lankan army coming into the jungle the same way they stopped it in
December.<BR> Is it not ironical that in the above article the "Tamil
Community" ( in reality the LTTE) has declined to put their denial in
writing? It is normal for the LTTE to make a protest without any valid
evidence to neutralise any opinion that goes against them as is
evidenced by their bullying tactics that silenced the Canadian
Independent Tamil Journal, the "Muncharie".After the above article
appeared in the <I>Computing</I> journal the LTTE bigots have been
telling everyone that the <I>Computing</I> journal had RETRACTED their
story about Tamil Tiger fraud. The LTTE was not aware that more than six
months ago an investigations officer of the Department of Social
Security mentioned to me in a private conversation that "the Tamils are
in the same league as the Nigerians when it comes to DSS fraud" and that
they were carrying out investigations. We are at present attempting to
obtain a copy of this investigation.</B></P><H5>The Sri Lankan army
should drive these LTTE barbarians back into the cesspits they crawled
out from. Long Live Independent Tamil opinion! Our struggle is to let
all Sri Lankans live in peace and harmony. This may be the begining of
an era of PEACE and PROSPERITY for the Tamil people away from tyranny.
</H5><HR><UL>
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>Return to Home Page</A></P></LI>
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--------------129C720C252B--
Umberto Gui
spectator wrote:
>
> This is what called stereo type. There are gangs all over the world.
> Srilanka had these tamil and well as sinhallese for decades.
>
> Just because there are some people who happended to be tamils involved in
> gang violanace, you guys try to paint every tamil. Stupid Hala Bala, RCMP
> is one of the famous, and this country has tackled gang related issues of
> differnt communities for decades. They know what they are up to, so
> throung this kind of mud on all tamils won't sell anywhere.
>
> HELLA BALLA <h...@ubc.edu.ca> wrote in article <332A1F...@ubc.edu.ca>...
> > >
> > > Tamils hailed for gang arrests
> >
> > Looks like the International Community is coming down hard on the
> > bastards.
> >
Two articles from the DE TELEGRAAF, Netherlands.
Translated into English.
FOOLED AGAIN BY THE TAMILS
Foreign High Official of Royal Police Force Jan Schultze Kool,
in '85, Closely Involved in Invasion of Refugees from Sri Lanka
by Charles Sanders
De Telegraaf, 8 March 1997
Photograph: Jan Schultze Kool, retired high official of the Royal Police
Force:
"The arrival of all these Tamils at Schiphol is a slap in the face to all
tax-paying Dutch nationals. When is this going to stop?"
On Friday the Chamber of Law Unity is going to make a decision on whether
or not Sri Lanka is safe enough to send the Tamils back, who fled to the
Netherlands. This is a hot item ever since the arrival of 173 Tamils with
Turkmenistan Airlines last month, and then the applications for asylum of
yet another group of Tamils last week, who arrived at Schiphol via
Bulgaria.
Last Saturday our journalist reported about the North of Sri Lanka, which
according to the Tamil refugees is still "very un-safe". The report
showed that Tamils are not being persecuted in their own country at all.
Today, this newspaper has a report by Jan Schultze Kool who was stationed
in Amsterdam-Harbour and at Schiphol as brigade commander of the Royal
Police Force for years, and who was involved with processing of thousands
of applications for asylum by Tamils: "After 1984 we were also fooled by
economic refugees. When is the Hague going to interfere, the silent
majority of the population is fed up."
Jan Schultze Kool is glad that he finally has a chance to speak his mind
without having to watch his words. Until 1990 he was one of the highest
ranking officials of the Royal Police Force, with key positions at
Schiphol and in the Amsterdam harbour.
Last week, the limit had been reached as far as the retired captain of
the Royal Police Force was concerned, when he read the article in this
news paper about the actual living situation of Tamil civilians in sunny
Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.
In his house of Hoofdorp, with a thick Tamil file in front of him,
Schultze Kool said indignantly: "I have had a career of 39 years with
Royal Police Force and I have always been in favour of admitting genuine
asylum seekers. That means people who flee to our country because of
political, racial or religious persecution in their own country. This is
the reason why I am so angry about this new inflow of Tamils who can live
in Sri Lanka without being persecuted. Even the famous Dutch tolerance
comes to an end because of this situation. With all the dramatic
consequences for genuine asylum seekers!"
Friends and acquaintances ask the retired official of the Royal Police
Force almost daily about the Tamil affair which has been keeping the
Netherlands busy for weeks. "People know that I was brigade commander and
in charge of a team which handled the cases of the first Tamil invasion
in the '80s" Schultze Kool explains.
With the knowledge and experience he has gathered in that time still in
the back of his mind, the 65 year old is getting more and more desperate
about the developments of the last few weeks. "We, and then I am
referring to the politicians in the Hague, will never learn it" Schultze
Kool says. "Even in 1985 the large majority of the Tamils who came here
had economic motives. I can prove that with hard evidence, which no
refugee welfare organization or lawyers of refugees can deny!"
FILE
From his files - numerous copies of police reports, messages, notes and
letters - he takes a telex which the Foreign Police Amsterdam sent to the
CRI and the posts at the border. The telex is about an arrest on 20 April
1985, when the exodus of the Tamils had reached its climax with sometimes
more than 100 applications for asylum at the same time in Amsterdam
alone.
"A German had been arrested in Amsterdam, who was under suspicion of
transporting Tamils from Germany to the Netherlands" Schultze tells us.
"The Tamils who were in his company told us that they had got into the
car of this Hans Jurgen W. in Willech, but the car in which they were
travelling was registered under the name Mohammed Nawaz M. This seemed to
be organized human smuggling. The Tamils stated that he had got off the
car just in front of the Dutch-German border, and following instructions
of the driver they had entered our country through the edge of the woods
and without identity controls. Behind the regular border control posts
the driver picked his load of Tamils up again..."
This is one of the many examples which convinced Schultze Kool during
that time that Tamils were not people who really had to be afraid for
their lives in Sri Lanka. The retired official of the Royal Police Force
was in Colombo himself, the capital of the former British colony, and
concluded at the time that life without threats was possible for groups
of the population on the popular vacation-island.
In Colombo, Sri Lanka, Peter Meijer, the Dutch director of the refugee
organization of the UNHCR said: " People who are not refugees can come
back. This is also shown by the Swiss deportation project. Of all the
hundreds of Tamils which have been deported by Switzerland during the
last years and who the UNHCR, among others, looked after, not one has had
serious problems with the authorities. Of course there is a war
going on here, and if you are stuck right in the middle by coincidence,
you are not safe. But there is definitely no strict, systematical
persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka. I do realize that many lawyers and
welfare organizations in the Netherlands do not like to hear this".
POWER
Former high official of the Royal Police Force Schultze Kool: "One is
getting the impression that a small but very strong lobby has more power
than the large majority of Dutch people with common sense. Why is
almost all of Europe sending the Tamils back, except for the Netherlands?
Why do even the Tamils in Sri Lanka say that it is safe there and why
does Secretary of State Schmitz refuse to believe it?"
Together with his wife he has travelled through all of Europe after his
retirement. They attach the caravan to the car and stay away from home
for months. And they are no longer worried about all the problems
Schultze
Kool had to deal with during his work. The fact that the Netherlands is
still Land of Leisure No. 1 for economic refugees in the world and
therefore has a magnetic attraction, is frustrating for Schultze Kool
even after his retirement.
"It is very sad" the 65-year old explains. "Because it undermines the
tolerance of our entire community on long term. I can already see it now.
People are no longer accepting this, they are fed up. First you find
another high bill from the tax department in your mail box, and on the
same day you read in the papers that a group of 173 Tamils, after having
used a clever trick to get into the country, are allowed to stay here for
a year at the expense of millions of guilders of community money. And a
little later you hear that most of these people
have disappeared. What are we talking about here, why don’t everybody see
this, except the immigration judges and the politicians?"
In the years during which Schultze Kool processed the cases of the
in-flowing Tamils, he wrote several reports on cases of these refugees
who are even described as "rich gold diggers" in Sri Lanka. The Royal
Police Force,
together with other institutions, urged to terminate the regulation which
provided a payment of one thousand Guilders net per month for each Tamil.
"This was a bizarre situation" Schultze Kool tells us, "which had an
incredibly attracting effect. I was working as brigade commander in the
Amsterdam harbour and Ijmuiden, when the Head of the Foreign Police in
Amsterdam asked us for assistance with this entire Tamil lunatic asylum.
There were days on which 109 Tamils a day were registered at the office
on Oosterlijke Handelskade. They were questioned briefly, photographed,
had a medical exam, were told that they had to report every week... and
received a gray card from the social service with which they could get
1000 Guilders!" This regulation resulted in so-called "1000 Guilder
trips" to Amsterdam by Tamils, who often already had a refugee status in
other European countries.
ASYLUM-COUNTRY
Again digging in his files, he adds: "One man was arrested on a train to
Germany. The man still had the thousand Guilders in his pocket, and he
was on his way to another asylum-country, where he had a job as a cleaner
where he had to work at 18:00 hrs in the same evening. We had to deal
with this type of crazy situations... Others came to the Netherlands for
a vacation. And when they wanted to go home,
they were provided with an expensive ticket for a regular flight to
Colombo... just in order to try the same thing again a couple of months
later."
Even then the police and the Royal Police Force was facing Tamils who
don't know anything, not how they travelled, who they travelled with, how
they had lost their passports...
"The only thing they could say is that they were threatened in their own
country and they were safe in the Netherlands." Schultze Kool adds: "We
never saw at least 60% of them again after the first interview.
They never showed up for the second, more detailed interview weeks later.
And just like today nobody knew what happened to them. Nothing has
changed over the years."
The effect of the '1000-Guilder-regulation' was clearly shown when it was
replaced by the 'bed-bath-bread-regulation'. Only three days after the
announcement that Tamils and other refugees would only receive 25
Guilders pocket money per week from now on, it became very quiet in the
registration centres.
Former brigade commander Schultze Kool: "From one day to the next the
Tamils moved away. On Monday there were still 109 of them, on Wednesday
only 12 and on Thursday only 3. This was proof to me and my men that
something was really wrong."
And he fears that this is the case now as well. According to him the
Netherlands is still the entrance to heaven for Tamils who are looking
for welfare and wealth. With Eastern Europe as stop-over, just like in
the '80s. Schultze Kool: "Then the Tamils were arriving in Eastern Europe
at Tempelhof Airport in East Berlin, and went on by car from there. Now
they are coming with East European airlines like Turkmenistan Airlines
and Balkan Airways via cities like Sofia. This is very frustrating for
the officers of the Royal Police Force at the gates of the airport. They
are doing what they can, but they are restricted to all sorts of rules."
According to the former high official there is one barrier which could
easily be put up against economic refugees: "Airlines and shipping
companies with destination the Netherlands should be obliged to pay
for the return trip of this type of refugees, even after investigations
and long procedures. And just like the Americans are doing, they should
have to pay a fine of 2000 Dollar for every refugee who is not admitted
to the country. You want to bet that Balkan Airways and Turkmenistan
Airlines will never again bring undesired visitors!"
RULING
The Chamber of Law Unity, which determined earlier this week that
North-Somalians can go back to their own country, will rule on Sri Lanka
on Friday, and decide whether Tamils can be sent back. Many are looking
forward anxiously to this ruling, Jan Schultze Kool as well.
"Why didn't they send a really independent commission to Sri Lanka much
sooner? Why is it possible for the 'Telegraaf' to reach the North of Sri
Lanka and observe the situation there, and it is not possible for
our own government? I really wonder what is going to happen on Friday. If
the judge rules that Sri Lanka still is NOT safe, we can just sit and
wait for the next Tamil-flight to Schiphol. This kind of news spreads
like a fire among economic refugees. I hope that the judge will rule
sensibly. Because by allowing this to continue, the large silent majority
in the Netherlands is being discriminated."
Refugees or Gold Diggers?
"De Telegraaf," Netherlands. 1 March 1997 translated into English.
Charles Sanders
The arrival of 173 Tamils in the Netherlands and the subsequent
disappearance of the majority of these 'asylum seekers' has caused great
indignation, worries and unanswered questions. Our journalist travelled
to Sri Lanka to look for the answers on the island in the Indian Ocean,
which is extremely dangerous according to the Tamils.
The surprising conclusion after interviews with staff members of
Embassies, high Government officials, social workers and many Tamils in
Sri Lanka is that the Tamils are free to go to any safe area, which
covers 95% of the island. A small portion of this former British colony
is still suffering because of the battle between the LTTE and the
Government.
In a revealing report Director General S Palihakkara, right hand of the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, said: "The arrival of these 'refugees' in
the Netherlands was most likely the work of the Tamil Tigers of the
LTTE. They had to collect money in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe
in order to finance the guerrilla war in the North and East of my
country. And the chance of more fake refugees is very big, because the
Tigers are in a difficult position now."
In the refugee camp New Nellukkulam - temporary shelter for more than
2000 Tamils - the children are playing with balloons, eating ice cream
and smiling cheerfully at us. 52 year old M Pillai said: "My family and I
have everything we need. We are getting 160 Rupees pocket money from the
Government every day, and we can manage very well with that. Next week we
are taking the boat back to Jaffna, the city where I was born, which we
left many years ago because of the violence of the Tamil 'Tigers. But it
is quiet there now. Things are going in the right direction in Sri Lanka.
"We arrived in Vavuniya. in the Northern province, after a six hour drive
from the capital Colombo.
After dozens of road blocks and extensive security checks, because the
area is on the border with the territory which is dominated by the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the guerrilla army of the Tamil
Tigers. At the moment about 13,000 homeless Tamils are staying in 11
refugee camps in the Vavuniya area. According to reports by Tamils who
have come to the Netherlands, even the Northern area is safe for
civilians. Although heavy fighting continues between the guerrillas and
the Government troops, in the area which is dominated by the LTTE, Tamil
civilians can easily avoid all problems by moving to other areas, where
nobody is going to touch them.
The group of 173 Tamils who fled to the Netherlands and who claim to come
from Jaffna, the city in the Jaffna Peninsula, have stated that their
lives were threatened there. But daily 500 Tamils are voluntarily
returning to a completely safe and quiet Jaffna.
P. Pathmanathan, a Tamil social worker in New Nellukkulam, told us
during a round trip through the camp: "From here the people are going to
the harbour city Trincomalee in the East, and from there they are taking
a boat to Jaffna. Three boats with one thousand passengers are going back
and forth. Peace and quiet have been restored in Jaffna and the Tamil
Tigers were driven out of town. Thecity is being rebuilt right now, and
the people want to go back to their own homes." Earlier this week in
Colombo, Peter Meijer Dutch director of the refugee organisation of the
United Nations (UNHCR) in Sri Lanka, had already told us that civilians
are not being persecuted in this Island.
Fear of discrimination
The UN top officer had said in his office in Horton Place: 'I hope the
Netherlands will screen these `Tamil refugees' well, because it is a very
bad thing if the international community is granting asylum to this kind
of people. It causes problems for real refugees from countries, where
civilians are actually in danger. I am an expert on refugees, but I am
afraid that the Netherlands has admitted these people for the time being
out of political and not humane motives. In the Netherlands there is a
strong lobby for all sorts of groups of social workers and help
organisations, and there is a lot of fear of being accused of
discrimination."
"I do admit that the Tamils are sometimes being discriminated here, and
they don't always have an easy life. But fleeing the country for reasons
other than economic reasons is not really necessary. The objective of
UNHCR is to create a situation in which people can stay in their own
country. That is what you can call help."
Therefore the refugee organisation of the United Nations is keeping an
eye on countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland,
which - contrary to the Netherlands - are sending Tamils back to Sri
Lanka if they arrive at their borders.
Peter Meijer: "since 1994 many hundreds of Tamils returned, and only
twice have returning Tamils been arrested by the Sri Lankan Police. But
even those two were released immediately and are now walking around
freely."
Of all officials from Embassies of countries of the European Union who
stated to this newspaper during the last few days that Tamil asylum
seekers are lying and cheating in order to get a new life in the rich
Western countries, MichaeI Morf of the Embassy of Switzerland has
provided hard evidence.
Swiss Consul Schonl said: "The report about the flight by Turkmenistan
Airlines to Schiphol was received with surprise here. Our Second
Secretary Morf has rented a large hotel in Nugegoda in Southern Sri
Lanka, for 1.2 million Rupees per year, where Tamils can stay after being
sent back to their own country from Zurich. And you know something? The
hotel is always empty. After failed attempts to build up a new life in
Geneva or Zurich, all the deported refugees are going back to their
families and their own homes immediately after arrival In Sri Lanka... I
am inviting the Dutch Embassy to participate in this project, because it
clearly shows that we are being cheated."
Canada
In the refugee camp New Nellukkulm in Northern Vavuniya we also heard
that economic motives are the main reasons for Tamils to flee the
country. 83 year old G. Benedict is telling us: "My son has succeeded in
going to Canada, where his children have better chances of a good
education and a job. He is sending me money every month. And my wife and
I hope to join them in Canada soon. We are from Kilinochchi in the North,
which is safe again, but no longer have a job or a house. Canada is our
dream."
In the meantime the news about the successful flight of 173 Tamils to
Schiphol, their stay in Schalkhaar and now most likely In other European
countries is spreading quickly in Sri Lanka. People who do not even know
where the Netherlands is, are telling us how nice and hospitable the
Netherlands is.
84 year old V. Ambalavanar in New Vavuniya, another refugee camp in the
Northern province said: 'I am hoping to go to Colombo instead of Jaffna.
Because Colombo has an airport. and that is the beginning of a better
life in the West." Sources of the police and the army in Sri Lanka state
that the ease with which the 173 Tamils were able to enter the
Netherlands, might have an attracting effect. In Colombo, shady agencies
are advertising jobs in Dubal and Saudi Arabia in the Sunday editions of
the Daily News and The Island, the two largest newspapers in Sri Lanka.
Once in Dubai or Saudi Arabia, after payment of more than 10,000 Dollar,
nothing can stop you to start a new life in Northern America or Western
Europe, the Tamils are being promised.
Director General S. Palihakkara of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
"The Tamil Tigers are losing more and more territory, especially since
the Jaffna district is safe again and 500,000 have returned voluntarily.
We are seriously considering the possibility that the LTTE is paying the
Tamils to go abroad. In this way these people can spread their message
in the Netherlands, and at the same time they can send money to Sri Lanka
to finance the guerrilla war. The Tigers have the most modern weapons,
which they are buying with the millions of Guilders which are collected
among the refugees in the asylum centres." The money is a pay-back for
the loans the LTTE has granted these people to bring them to Europe or
America. The money is collected by representatives of the Tigers, who
have been granted asylum all over the world at an earlier time. According
to Palihakkara, the Tigers do not hesitate to use blackmail or
intimidation.
"The worst thing is," the high official of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said, "that a nice and hospitable country like the Netherlands is
being cheated in this way. It is a worldwide strategy of the LTTE to
abuse the asylum policies. These `refugees' are gold diggers, not people
who are being threatened. The fact that the Netherlands has such a free
asylum policy is very convenient for the Tigers. I have even heard that
the asylum seekers in the Netherlands are free to walk in and especially
out of the asylum centres as they please."
Suicide actions
The civil war in Sri Lanka - 2.5 times the size of the Netherlands, with
18 million people, and 2 million Tamils among them - has been going on
since 1984 and has already cost the lives of 50,000 people. The fight of
the LTTE for an independent state involves the infamous Black Tigers who
have brought death and destruction with their suicide actions. They are
feared by all Sri Lankans: Tamils, Sinhalese, Buddhists, Muslims and
Christians.
It is 38 degrees outside, and we are talking to Reverend Father Hugo
Palihawadana in the St. Mary's cathedral in Grand Street in Negombo on
the coast of the Indian Ocean. The priest, kand loved in all of Sri
Lanka, said: "Everybody here lives like brother and sister, there is
complete freedom of religion, the country is trying to lift itself from
poverty. But it is impossible because of the guerrilla Tigers in the
North and East. This is exactly why it is such a pity that your country
has admitted a group of these run-always into the Netherlands. I suppose
that most of them have disappeared now, and the eyes of the Dutch have
been opened. Here, in my street, all sorts of people are living
peacefully next to each other. There is a cathedral, a Buddhist temple
and a mosque on the same side of the street, and nothing ever goes wrong.
I know thousands of Tamils who don't even think about fleeing, because
they don't have a single reason to do so."
The priest feels that the entire affair is like a slap in the face of
Dutch development aid to the island. "The Dutch are doing so much here,"
Father Hugo said. "And they are getting a couple of these smart gold
diggers on their neck as thanks. I am deeply ashamed. Sri Lankans should
only go to the Netherlands as tourists. And after two weeks they should
go back to their own island and offer resistance to the Tiger terrorists
and help to rebuild the country. That is what I am telling everybody at
mass on Sundays."
One of the development projects in Sri Lanka, which is financed and run
by the Netherlands and to which the priest is referring, is the Dutch
Welcome Village in Gonawila. Under the inspiring leadership of Herman
Steur from Monnickendam the village, entirely in old Dutch style,
provides shelter to elderly and poor Sri Lankans.
We spoke to Mr. Steur, who offered his own fortune to help the homeless,
in his simple cottage on the edge of the village: "I am not involved in
politics, but I do know that Tamils can live in Sri Lanka just as well as
everyone else. A lot of the Ministers and Members of Parliament are
Tamils. But then again, I have only been here for the last 18 years, and
in The Hague they know it better." In the Welcome Village, with street
names like Eelde, Meppel, Coevorden and Aerdenhouthuis, we met the Tamil
couple Sandia and Veronica Thomas, 63 and 76 years old. "We are from
Mannar, in the Jaffna district. When the war of the Tigers was most
violent we lost our home and came to the Colombo area. Herman Steur has
picked us off the street, and since then we are free, safe and happy. The
Tigers are dangerous, but you certainly do not have to leave Sri Lanka in
order to get away from them. If we old people can manage, then certainly
young Tamils can also manage, especially if they can afford to pay more
than 10,000 Dollars for a one-way ticket to the Netherlands...." R.Raman,
another tenant of the Welcome village: "There are 5,000 Tamils living in
the Gonawila area. They are working, have families and houses. If Tamils
are living in the war area, they can get special passes from the
Government to come to Colombo for example."
The authorities in Sri Lanka feel embarrassed that the country has become
the centre of attraction because of the flight of Turkmenistan Airlines.
The police as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still clings on to
the hope that the passengers are not Sri Lankans, but Tamils from India
for example. New strategy But Director General S. Palihakkara at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic Building in Colombo, says: "As far
as we can see right now, this action is part of a new strategy of the
Tamil Tigers. They are smuggling as many people out of the country as
possible, because the battle in Sri Lanka itself seems to be almost lost.
They are sending people to Canada, Germany and the Netherlands in order
to start an anti-Sri Lanka campaign, and they collect money which is used
to finance the LTTE war. Our Government is trying to convince friendly
countries like the Netherlands to take action against the illegal raising
of funds, but of course we may not, and we don't want to interfere with
the internal affairs of friendly nations. In Sri Lanka we also would have
allowed the plane to land, if it would crash otherwise, because it is
running low on fuel. And then we would have sent the plane back into the
sky as soon as possible."
The Sri Lankan police hopes to get information from the Netherlands in
order to tackle the organisers of this Tamil smuggle-line. But, lack of
understanding prevails at the heavily guarded Police Head Quarters in the
district of Colombo. In a partly underground bunker just outside the
Centre of the capital, chief Superintendent Gamini Wijesuriya’s reaction
was: "The biggest mistake is with the Dutch Government itself. These
people should have been sent back to us and the problem would have been
solved. And don't think that we would have locked them up in a dungeon
and only let them out again some time next century... More than 53% of
Colombo is Tamil; Colombo is a city with almost one million people. They
can live here, work, go to the beach and to the disco. But the thing
bothering me is the fact that they are still fighting against us from
Europe, with the money they are earning there or getting from someone. An
average family in Sri Lanka could live for 21 years with the 10,000
Dollar which these Tamils have paid for their flight. According to our
standards, these are not refugees, but millionaires."