To: [email protected], [email protected]
Dated: 2006/03/15 12:12 AM (GMT-05)
Dear Sir/ Madam:
RE: Tamil Tigers on fundraising drive to finance renewed civil war
I have read the article titled “Tamil Tigers on fundraising drive to finance renewed civil war” on Canadian newspaper National Post dated March 15, 2006.
I’m a Tamil living temporally in Ville Saint-Laurent, QC. I was living in Ottawa, ON before. My relatives live in Toronto, ON. To the extend of my knowledge there was no incident like you have described anywhere. I am deeply concerned about how much damage your article is going to do to our [Tamils] freedom struggle.
Freedom fighters never force people to finance. There are situations where people willingly finance. You must get the opinions of many Tamils, instead of interviewing only few of those hardcore Sri Lankan government/ Sinhalese supporters. Majority of Tamils live in Toronto within 3,00,000 Tamils in Canada. I urge you to see the big picture of our freedom struggle.
I have read the report Human Rights Watch. It talks about LTTE is asking money to visit Tamil Eelam. What is LTTE does different than any other democratic countries do? Isn’t it we have to pay to get visa to other countries? Even though Canada is the neighbouring country and partner in NAFTA, we still have to pay for visa if you are not Canadian citizen. Even if a Tamil from France has to visit Canada, Canadian government needs a reference letter from the Canadian. UK needs a security deposit. In all cases, there are some form of precaution. The people who are returning from Canada, holding a Canadian citizenship, to another country [Tamil Eelam], have to pay to stay in another country [visa]. What HRW has suppressed is that no money was asked if they hold a Sri Lankan passport. What is wrong in that?
Also read about meeting LTTE representatives inside Tamil Eelam. When a Canadian goes to Sri Lanka, they have to go to Canadian embassy before returning to Canada. So again, what does LTTE do different than a democratic country [Canada] does? The process of meeting LTTE representatives and getting “visa” for the period of stay is the same process that people take before going into another country. Since Tamil Eelam doesn’t have embassies around the world yet, that process is now happening inside Tamil Eelam.
In conclusion, I feel that HRW have missed many realities of Tamil Eelam and the struggle. USA had fought British to get freedom and I can list so many. The point is, as somebody said, “Its okay, if you do not help; but at least do not do any damage”. Financing could have been done in Canada, but it’s absolutely not a forced financing.
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CAPital
