Dear Ms Karen Parker I read your letter to the ‘All Party Parliamentary Group’ (APPG) of the British Parliamentarians requesting them to help de-list the LTTE as a terrorist organisation in the UK. You have reiterated your concerns in no different manner to that you have espoused in various LTTE front and legal platforms. I do not wish to give surgical reply to your letter but have decided to write to you in an overall context touching on some of the aspects of your letter.
To introduce me, you stayed with my family when you attended the LTTE conference held in London in 1988. This knowledge will indicate extent of my support for the arms struggle under the leadership of the LTTE in the past.
Humanitarian law that you rely to justify the legitimacy of the LTTE is not only violated by the Sri Lankan government but also extensively by the LTTE. LTTE cannot take cover as being extra judicial body of a combatant group. Whilst not condoning the conduct of the Sri Lankan government, I equally wish to condemn the LTTE for the gross violation of the international humanitarian and human rights laws. It is disgraceful to see the LTTE is subjugating its own people in Sri Lanka and internationally in the Tamil Diaspora and contributing towards disintegration and degeneration of the Tamil society as a whole.
LTTE, due to its modus operandi of ruthlessness in its appalling conduct cannot claim it is a legitimate combatant group to win the rights of the Tamil people. I will not hesitate in saying it has become an embodiment of a neo-fascist terrorist group. It is politically bankrupt and militarily is a terrorist organisation. As a Tamil, I am not scared or ashamed to portray this in a public way without any fear.
Your analogy and justification which we relied and took comfort until few years ago is no longer valid at the present political, legal and international context. Upholding such values could only further weaken the Tamil resolve to find meaningful, accommodative and permanent resolution to the conflict.
As a Tamil nationalist, I and many of my associates have given genuine and practical support to the LTTE over many years in the past. Despite seeing the ugly face of the LTTE in the Tamil Diaspora, glorifying in the terror money generated from the public, we supported the base level operations of the LTTE until I and my colleague A K Vivekananthan were exposed to the real LTTE, when we were incarcerated for idiotic reasons to spin money for their coffers and to deal with our unquestionable stand to resist the goon culture of the LTTE in the UK. Our incommunicado detention luckily to be spared because of genuine British government effort gave us good knowledge what is stored for the innocent Tamil civilian population under the gun-ho regime of the LTTE.
We can write pages and pages of our experience but unfortunately we have to main restraint to save the lives of those we have to quote in our writings. We are lucky to be spared and our thoughts are with the unfortunate many hundreds languishing in appalling circumstances in various worm and lethal insects infested dark cells in Vanni. Your rationale in scrutinising and attacking the Sri Lankan government must be equally applied to the LTTE as they are not God given angels to protect the physical safety and existence of the Tamil people.
You have appealed to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to help remove the proscription of the LTTE. Do you know the LTTE does not want the proscription removed in the UK? The effort spearheaded by me to carryout a Judicial Review on the Terrorism Act independently when it was introduced in 2001 was ridiculed and sabotaged by none other than the LTTE mentor Late Anton Balasingam.
In addition, during our incarceration, the LTTE leadership was categorical that they are not interested in removing the ban as they were confident that ‘they can control the Tamils in the UK by effectively taking over all the Tamil organisations in the UK’. This is part of the reason they incarcerated us to forcefully take over the temple we are managing in London. Their effort was spearheaded by the LTTE’s London agent Emdon Seevaratnam. He was the one time head of the international finance of the LTTE who paid for your trip to address the LTTE conference in the UK in 1988.
The Terrorism Act permits proscribed organisations to appeal against the proscription decision. Six years have passed and LTTE have not appealed. I am sure you could help LTTE to file an appeal and also ensure to incorporate persons like me to be witness in the appeal process.
Free thinking Tamils oppose and will campaign against de-proscription of the LTTE in the UK. De-proscription will only lead to strengthen violent campaign of fund raising, financial fraud, forceful takeover of Tamil organisations and many other illegal activities of the LTTE and will secure the LTTE as an organisation which will only help weakening the Tamil society as a whole.
In the last sentence of your letter you have stated: ‘I will closely follow your work’ to the APPG. When did you and who gave you the authority to be the watch dog of the APPG? With the writ you hold for the LTTE, this statement appear to intimidate the APPG and adduce the meaning to follow your line which is the paid job of speaking for the LTTE.
When independent Tamil democratic voices met the APPG Chairman recently, he assured ‘Tamil approach’ to their functions instead of limiting as a ‘LTTE functionary group’. The independent Tamil democratic voices will ensure this is maintained at all times in a transparent manner. Any deviation from ‘Tamil’ to the narrow ‘LTTE’ will be vehemently opposed under the present political context of the Tamils.
Finally, I note that you have not made any visits to Sri Lanka since you were engaged in the payroll of the LTTE. I appeal to you to make a visit with a group of Tamils independent to the LTTE including me and meet the LTTE leadership with the clear agenda to unearth the firsthand account about the legitimacy of the LTTE struggle. You may incorporate LTTE legal representative Visvanathan Rudrakumaran based in New York in the delegation as he too have not visited Sri Lanka since he left the Island’s shores. During our visit let us freely visit the LTTE controlled Vanni and cleared Jaffna peninsula. I am sure with yours and V Rudrakumaran’s influence with the LTTE we will gain permission to visit all the LTTE detention, child recruitment centres, training camps, bomb making factories, LTTE victims, hospitals, LTTE projects etc without any hindrance.
This unhindered access will give valuable insight into the situation prevailing for the Tamil people and trust that you will facilitate this process with safety guarantees from the LTTE for all those attending. I can on my part assure you that I will personally appeal to the President of Sri Lanka and the military establishment to ensure safety of the delegation whilst in Sri Lanka.
I await to hear from you with your public statement.
Yours sincerely
R Jayadevan
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