India reconfiguring its military policy toward Sri Lanka

India's renewed focus on relations with Sri Lanka appears to be a course of action designed to strengthen Indo-Sri Lankan ties due to an expanding Chinese presence in the South Asia region.

The country is reconfiguring its military policy toward Sri Lanka and is exhibiting a more supportive stance toward the government's efforts against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In March, India invited Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka to visit and tour Indian operations along the India-Pakistan border. The Sri Lankan general also met with Indian Army General Deepak Kapoor as well as Defense Minister AK Antony, and there was discussion on security measures to eradicate terrorism as well as talks on possible cooperation between India and Sri Lanka.

The visit promoted India's anti-insurgency capabilities while highlighting the common themes and culture that the two militaries share.

Fonseka also visited with India's Lieutenant-General KS Yadava, commander of the Indian Infantry School and both leaders shared information on new warfare strategies. Prior to his departure, Fonseka visited with Sri Lankan Army Officers involved in training at India's Army War College in Madhya Pradesh.

Due primarily to reported human rights violations and a large and supportive Tamil population within its own borders, the Indian government has refrained from directly supporting the Sri Lankan military with offensive weapons systems for use against the LTTE. Instead, it has chosen to provide Sri Lanka with certain defensive military capabilities such as critical intelligence information and radar systems for use in detecting LTTE aircraft.

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LTTE breakaway party should not be forced back to the jungles, say Sri Lankan ministers

Several ministers of the Sri Lanka government said today that the Pilliyan group, a LTTE breakaway party that "came out of the jungle", must not be forced back into the jungle.

Speaking at a press briefing at the parliamentary complex today, a group of senior government ministers said that the allegations leveled against the Pilliyan group are false and fabricated by the United National Party (UNP) to justify its “inevitable” electoral defeat.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the two victims of election-related murders that have been reported so far were also Pilliyan supporters. Therefore, he said it was not the Pilliyan group that committed violence but was subjected to violence. He added that the election itself is a great victory for the government.

Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa charged the UNP with setting up a bogus election-monitoring mission to spread fallacy on election violations. He alleged that the said group, which is comprised of fulltime UNP supporters, is trying to hoodwink the world as an independent group and is engaging in false propaganda.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/May6191928JR.html

Voters lists 'most disturbing' items seized in Tamil raids, documents say

Precisely how Elections Canada voters lists ended up in the offices of an alleged terrorist front group is a lingering mystery that Canadian officials say they will likely never solve. But privacy officials now say they are auditing federal practises with an eye to plugging such leaks.

An RCMP affidavit revealed this week in Federal Court states that federal voters lists were among the "most disturbing" items seized in raids on the World Tamil Movement's Toronto offices in 2006. Police said the lists were the type that are sent to federal candidates and ministers for elections, and yet they turned up in the office of the non-profit group, the surnames of ethnic Tamils highlighted in yellow.

Such lists were once publicly posted, but they are now distributed only to Elections Canada officials and candidates' campaigns. They are released expressly to help advance Canadian democracy, and misusing them is an offence under the Elections Act that can lead to a $1,000 fine or three months in jail.

The RCMP investigation seeks to prove the non-profit was a fundraising arm for foreign rebels who have been known to use child soldiers and suicide bombers in their bid for a separate state in Sri Lanka.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080507.wxtamilssb07/

LTTE forced Canadian Tamils to sign pre-payment forms

Canadian police have seized documents showing Tamil Tigers leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran soliciting money from Tamils here for his armed struggle in Sri Lanka.

The documents, seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in raids on the offices of the World Tamil Movement in Toronto and Montreal, show a 2002 letter by Prabhakaran, asking Tamils in Canada to send him 15 of the ``100 crore'' rupees he needs for his armed struggle. Fifteen crore Sri Lankan rupees is equal to about three million Canadian dollars.

The World Tamil Movement (WTM) is the alleged front organization in Canada for raising funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).

Apart from coercing the local Tamils to pay it, the WTM (read the PTTE) also made Canadian Tamils visiting the LTTE-held territory in Sri Lanka to sign pre-payment forms.

The WTM first came under the scanner in 2002. After a long probe, its offices were raided in 2006. The police also raided its Toronto and Montreal offices last month after a Toronto-based Tamil Prapaharan Thambithurai was held in Vancouver for raising funds for the LTTE.

The RCMP produced the seized documents in a federal court seeking forfeiture of the WTM's funds and assets as it raised funds for terrorist financing which was banned in Canada in 2001.

The documents, which made public Friday, show that the WTM serves as a foreign branch of the LTTE for raising money for it.

Listing how the WTM raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and sent them abroad for buying weapons for the LTTE, the police also revealed its modus operandi.

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wanni oparation 04.05.2008

Source,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fs2z4FmYXw

RCMP has 'definitive evidence' of group's links to Tamil Tiger

The RCMP has uncovered what it calls "definitive evidence" that money collected in Canada is bankrolling guerrilla violence in Sri Lanka, according to newly-unsealed police documents.

Tuesday, Crown prosecutors handed defence lawyers hundreds of pages of documents and photos outlining the results of an RCMP investigation into alleged Tamil Tigers fundraising around Toronto.

Included among the papers was a letter seized from the Toronto office of the World Tamil Movement. Written by a senior Tamil Tigers official, the letter is a thank-you for earlier donations it says were "invaluable in retaining our military strength."

"Every cent you gathered by going house to house enabled us [to] defeat the enemy in the battlefield, and we look up on you with gratitude," says the letter, on Tamil Tigers letterhead and signed by V. Manivannan, who heads the rebel group's International Secretariat.

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http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=496633

A.C.Shanthan, LTTE Leader in London rearrested in connection with the terrorist funding and procurement activities

Confirmed reports revealed that Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, alias A.C.Shanthan (51) the de-facto leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the United Kingdom has been re-arrested in connection with terrorist funding and procurement activities.

Wiltshire Police sources said, “The 51 year old man was arrested by the anti-terrorist units of the metropolitan Police together with Wiltshire Police at Swindon in the Wiltshire Constabulary, today at 6 a.m. at a pre-dawn raid.”

He was re-arrested after three more people were taken for questioning on 29 April.

Shanthan was arrested originally on 28 June 2007, before being released on bail with Golden Lambert later on 22 November 2007.

Shanthan was alleged to have been operating with Anton Balasingham very closely to build up the outfit in London.

He is expected to be produced at a court soon.

Extracted from,
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/10968

Troops capture another LTTE stronghold "Palampiddi Bridge" - Vavuniya front

Troops on offensive operation in Vavuniya front on Wanni theatre of battle have gained control over an LTTE's stronghold in general area Palampiddi this afternoon, May 06.

According to the sources, troops have captured Palampiddi Bridge following a fierce gun battle which lasts in hours. By monitoring LTTE communication it is confirmed that enemy suffered heavy casualties.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets have launched close air support mission targeting an LTTE stronghold in the same area this afternoon. Air Force sources said that an LTTE stronghold located 1Km north of Palampiddi junction was targeted around 3.40 pm.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080506_07

Sri Lankan Drug Lord Held In Tamil Nadu - While Playing Cricket

One of Sri Lanka's biggest drug lords has been finally arrested in Tamil Nadu after Indian authorities, who had been pursuing him for years, nabbed him while he was playing his favourite game - cricket.

Indian official sources are describing the Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) arrest of K. Gunasekaran, 42, as a major development and say it is sure to hit the flow of heroin from Pakistan to Sri Lanka.

Guna, as he was widely known, was sought in Sri Lanka, where he reportedly enjoyed close ties with "political bigwigs", links that helped him establish a network to supply drugs to Colombo and other places.

Sri Lankan authorities questioned him after a bomb attack blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in December 1999 killed 26 people and partially blinded then president Chandrika Kumaratunga. The authorities wanted to know if he had links with the LTTE.

Guna continued to operate in Sri Lanka but fled to India in 2004. He settled down in Tamil Nadu, ostensibly to merge with the large community of Sri Lankan Tamils in the sprawling state.

He came on a false Sri Lankan passport, which identified him as Prem Kumar. This helped him carry on his narcotics business - remaining a step ahead of the Indian authorities.

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http://newspostindia.com/report-52837

Tamil Tigers using electoral list, RCMP say

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans living in Canada have been funding the Tamil Tigers' terrorism campaign through a secret strategy of profiling carried out using Canada's electoral database, the RCMP allege.

In what amounts to the most detailed examination of alleged terrorist fundraising ever filed in a federal court, the national police force claims as much as $50,000 a month was being drawn from bank accounts in Toronto and funnelled to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.

The Tigers' operation in Canada, responsible for providing 15 per cent of global funds for the secession movement, identified potential donors by postal code and used a "sales team" of locals to extract the cash, alleges the 400-page police affidavit unsealed in the Federal Court of Canada this week.

The affidavit suggests the Toronto offices of the World Tamil Movement - a non-profit organization - may have been generating funds for the Tigers. The RCMP says it has also obtained a significant letter sent to Toronto from the head of the Tamil Tigers. Velupillai Prabhakaran, one of the world's most sought-after fugitives, is said to have urged that Canadian Tamils commit about 15 per cent of the global contribution to his cause.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/

Tigers sought $3M from Canada

RCMP counterterrorism investigators in Toronto have seized a letter signed by the leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers guerrillas directing Canadian Tamils to send him $3-million, according to police files released yesterday by the Federal Court.

The rebel leader's letter, found during a search of the Toronto office of the World Tamil Movement, discusses the need to "intensify the struggle" and ensure that Tamils are "strong enough" to fight "with our full breath," according to the newly unsealed files.

Velupillai Prabhakaran adds that he looks "forward to receiving substantial contribution from the displaced people of Tamil Eelam" and advises the "Canadian office" to provide 15 of the 100 "crores" he needs. A crore is the equivalent of just over $200,000.

The RCMP cited the 2002 letter as evidence the WTM is the "Canadian branch" of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group fighting a civil war against Sri Lankan government forces. The Tigers want an independent ethnic Tamil state.

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http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=494174

High stakes for Rajapaksa in Eastern Province polls

Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province will, for the first time in 20 years, hold provincial council elections on May 10.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is a front-runner, has high stakes in the elections. Rajapaksa has to win to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the nation and the international community.

By all accounts, the contest is neck and neck. But political pundits believe that the UPFA and its ally, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), will likely win. Indeed, the UPFA-TMVP combine is very strong, but it is also feared that it may use every stratagem and resource to get the desired result, given the importance of the poll to it.

If Rajapaksa wins, he will have proved that he has the support of all the three ethnic communities in the East for his project to rid the province of the Tamil Tiger terrorists and separatists, and to restore democracy.

Though predominantly Tamil-speaking, the Eastern province comprising the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, is ethnically mixed. The Muslims constitute 39 per cent, the Tamils 36 per cent, and the Sinhalese, 25 per cent.

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LTTE: Rising Desperation

Two light aircrafts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out an air attack on the security forces (SFs) forward positions in Welioya, 280-kilometre northeast of Colombo in the morning of April 27, 2008, but no injuries or damages were caused in the ‘air raid’, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara disclosed, adding, "The LTTE planes have returned safely to their hideouts in the Wanni after dropping three bombs."

Earlier, the LTTE took control of the Madhu Catholic Church and asked the priests to remove the famous statue, known as ‘Our Lady of Madhu', from the shrine, leading to the vacation of the church for the first time in 400 years – on April 3, 2008. However, the Tigers left the Church Premises on April 24, after realising that they had been surrounded by the SFs. The Church was finally handed over to the Mannar Bishop on April 26.

The capture of the Church failed to yield desired result – as a base to launch attacks on troops as well as to defame the Government if it attacked and damaged the Church in its bid to throw out the militants – since the LTTE had to evacuate it. But, with the failed air raid, these remained symbolic of the sheer desperation that is creeping into the rebel leadership because of the SFs continuous advances into the LTTE-controlled areas of North, the loss of public support in the East and the global onslaught targeting the organisation’s fund raising and arms procurement agenda and infrastructure across the globe.

The SFs, which gained effective control of the Eastern Province in July 2007, have now been pushing the LTTE further north in their endeavour to completely wipe out the rebellion. The Army has made substantial gains in the battle fields of Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya.

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http://www.ict.org.il/apage/28755.php

Tamil terror group's manual revealed

Inside the school auditorium, the Tamil Tiger flag had been raised in a solemn ceremony and the audience of 600 people had heard a taped address from the terrorist group's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Then an undercover RCMP officer watched as "a Caucasian male" approached the podium.

"The male praised [Foreign Affairs Minister] Maxime Bernier and spoke about the position of the government, which is to favour the nonviolence, diplomatic solutions to the conflict, etc.," says an RCMP affidavit made public on Friday by the Federal Court.

When the speaker drove his Mercedes away from the Martyrs Day celebrations organized by Montreal's World Tamil Movement last Dec. 1, a surveillance officer noted the licence plate. It belonged to Maurice Brossard, the Conservative candidate in the riding of Brossard-La Prairie on Montreal's South Shore.

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http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=492287