EXCLUSIVE TO SRI LANKA GUARDIAN
(March 18, Berlin, Sri Lanka Guardian) Rolf Lührmann, mayor of the German city of Borken in the federal state of Northrhein Westphalia, was under fire following his participation in a demonstration organised by friends of the LTTE.
A freelance journalist from the northern part of Germany broke the story criticising the mayor with an open letter pointing out Lührmann's naivety in joining a disguised LTTE demonstration. Numbers of regional newspapers picked up on the story, bringing much embarrassment upon the mayor.
In his open letter to the local press the German journalist asked: "Can it really be that the mayor of Borken has become a puppet on the string of the LTTE, which is banned in the EU as a dangerous, terror organization?”
The demonstrators in Borken openly expressed their sympathy for the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), in the presence of the mayor with placards and posters of the terror-supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, despite the fact that the LTTE is under the surveillance of Germany's Constitutional Protection Authority.
Speaking to Sri Lanka Guardian, Borken's mayor said two Tamil females visited the mayor's office and informed him about a solidarity demonstration for Tamils in Sri Lanka and against the war in Sri Lanka in general. They requested him to accept a letter during the demonstration, which they had written to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, collecting protest signatures to forward these to her. No word was mentioned, that the demonstration would be a pro-LTTE one.
The mayor on his part had not taken the least interest to inform himself about the true nature of the demonstration or the situation in Sri Lanka - but confirmed his participation nevertheless. And accordingly showed up at the site of the demonstration on March 7th- the main market place of Borken. (As shown in the picture)
When the obvious involvement of LTTE was published in many regional papers, the mayor called for an explaination from the organizer of the demonstration, Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar a Tamil women enjoying democracy in Germany. In an emailed response, she wrote to mayor Lührmann saying: "... It was not our intention, to bring you in to such an embarrassing situation; we are deeply sorry. Our only concern is about the suffering of the Tamils in Sri Lanka ...",.
But even in the apology mail Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar neglected to inform mayor Rolf Lührmann that the present suffering in the conflict zone is due to LTTE's hostage-taking of Tamil civilians as human shields and their shooting of Tamils who wants to flee the clutch of the Tamil Tigers. She also refrained from informing the mayor that LTTE is presently holding hostage UN-Aid- Workers who are there to help the Tamil IDPs, despite several demands from the UN and the international community to immediatley free both the workers and the Tamil civilians.
The majority of the more than 65,000 Sri Lankan Tamils living in Germany live in the federal state of Northrhein Westphalia. According to reliable Tamil sources, from this federal state there are a large number of front organisations operating on behalf of the LTTE and most of the fund-raising for the LTTE -Tamil Tigers in Germany comes from this area.
Speaking to a staff member of the Sri Lanka Guardian Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar said, that she "had only translated the text for the demonstration-application form." She declined to say, for whom she translated it. (As shown in the picture)
Asked whether she was a Member or Supporter of LTTE, Mrs. Jeevethaa Gunasekar neither said yes nor denied the question.
When asked, why she wrote the the apology to the mayor, if she was only the translator for someone else, if she had nothing to do with the demonstration, Mrs. Gunasekar hung up the phone.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Sri Lankan Tamil from Beckenberg, (a village nearby Borken) confirmed to Sri Lanka Guardian that Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar has been a LTTE activist in Borken for many years. She has organised and participated a number of events in support of the LTTE in the area.
The informant from Beckenberg further says as the demonstration mishap became public and landed Borken‘s mayor in hot water, Jeevethaa Gunasekar now attempting to do “damage control” by giving the impression that her peaceful demonstration was "forcebely taken over" by LTTE supporters.
But in fact it was the LTTE in Northrein Westphalia who chose her to be the front organiser in Borken. This is not the frist time LTTE has used individuals and organisations as “front operators” in Germany.
Mayor Lührmann stated to the Sri Lanka Guardian: “I did not position myself for a war party, but merely accepted a list of signatures against the 'genocide' and a letter to be forwarded to the German Chancellor, Mrs. Merkel. But as you can imagine, after the debacle I have obtained some information about the LTTE. These include the reports of the Constitutional Protection Authority of Northrhine-Westphalia”.
“I have nothing to add to those reports”.
“Regardless of the apology, now it is not my intention to submit the signature lists and the letter to the German Chancellor.
I will return the document to Ms. Gunasekar.”
Mayor Lührmann dismissed the accusation that he had become a puppet of the LTTE.
"I didn’t know the LTTE and do not support them either”.He added:
“Finally, I wish to reiterate that I never had the intention to demonstrate for this LTTE. I regret very much that this demonstration has misused my goodwill, I feel duped and betrayed by the organizers for exhibiting the symbols of this terrorist organization at the demonstration”.
Editor’s Note: According to German Law, Lack of knowledge of circumstances is not an excuse in court to avoid punishment.
Lalith Ganhewa is the Sri Lanka Guardian Correspondent in Germany.He can be reached at slgfrg@srilankaguardian.org
In his open letter to the local press the German journalist asked: "Can it really be that the mayor of Borken has become a puppet on the string of the LTTE, which is banned in the EU as a dangerous, terror organization?”
The demonstrators in Borken openly expressed their sympathy for the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), in the presence of the mayor with placards and posters of the terror-supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, despite the fact that the LTTE is under the surveillance of Germany's Constitutional Protection Authority.
Speaking to Sri Lanka Guardian, Borken's mayor said two Tamil females visited the mayor's office and informed him about a solidarity demonstration for Tamils in Sri Lanka and against the war in Sri Lanka in general. They requested him to accept a letter during the demonstration, which they had written to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, collecting protest signatures to forward these to her. No word was mentioned, that the demonstration would be a pro-LTTE one.
The mayor on his part had not taken the least interest to inform himself about the true nature of the demonstration or the situation in Sri Lanka - but confirmed his participation nevertheless. And accordingly showed up at the site of the demonstration on March 7th- the main market place of Borken. (As shown in the picture)When the obvious involvement of LTTE was published in many regional papers, the mayor called for an explaination from the organizer of the demonstration, Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar a Tamil women enjoying democracy in Germany. In an emailed response, she wrote to mayor Lührmann saying: "... It was not our intention, to bring you in to such an embarrassing situation; we are deeply sorry. Our only concern is about the suffering of the Tamils in Sri Lanka ...",.
But even in the apology mail Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar neglected to inform mayor Rolf Lührmann that the present suffering in the conflict zone is due to LTTE's hostage-taking of Tamil civilians as human shields and their shooting of Tamils who wants to flee the clutch of the Tamil Tigers. She also refrained from informing the mayor that LTTE is presently holding hostage UN-Aid- Workers who are there to help the Tamil IDPs, despite several demands from the UN and the international community to immediatley free both the workers and the Tamil civilians.
The majority of the more than 65,000 Sri Lankan Tamils living in Germany live in the federal state of Northrhein Westphalia. According to reliable Tamil sources, from this federal state there are a large number of front organisations operating on behalf of the LTTE and most of the fund-raising for the LTTE -Tamil Tigers in Germany comes from this area.
Speaking to a staff member of the Sri Lanka Guardian Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar said, that she "had only translated the text for the demonstration-application form." She declined to say, for whom she translated it. (As shown in the picture)Asked whether she was a Member or Supporter of LTTE, Mrs. Jeevethaa Gunasekar neither said yes nor denied the question.
When asked, why she wrote the the apology to the mayor, if she was only the translator for someone else, if she had nothing to do with the demonstration, Mrs. Gunasekar hung up the phone.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Sri Lankan Tamil from Beckenberg, (a village nearby Borken) confirmed to Sri Lanka Guardian that Ms. Jeevethaa Gunasekar has been a LTTE activist in Borken for many years. She has organised and participated a number of events in support of the LTTE in the area.
The informant from Beckenberg further says as the demonstration mishap became public and landed Borken‘s mayor in hot water, Jeevethaa Gunasekar now attempting to do “damage control” by giving the impression that her peaceful demonstration was "forcebely taken over" by LTTE supporters.
But in fact it was the LTTE in Northrein Westphalia who chose her to be the front organiser in Borken. This is not the frist time LTTE has used individuals and organisations as “front operators” in Germany.
Mayor Lührmann stated to the Sri Lanka Guardian: “I did not position myself for a war party, but merely accepted a list of signatures against the 'genocide' and a letter to be forwarded to the German Chancellor, Mrs. Merkel. But as you can imagine, after the debacle I have obtained some information about the LTTE. These include the reports of the Constitutional Protection Authority of Northrhine-Westphalia”.
“I have nothing to add to those reports”.
“Regardless of the apology, now it is not my intention to submit the signature lists and the letter to the German Chancellor.
I will return the document to Ms. Gunasekar.”
Mayor Lührmann dismissed the accusation that he had become a puppet of the LTTE.
"I didn’t know the LTTE and do not support them either”.He added:
“Finally, I wish to reiterate that I never had the intention to demonstrate for this LTTE. I regret very much that this demonstration has misused my goodwill, I feel duped and betrayed by the organizers for exhibiting the symbols of this terrorist organization at the demonstration”.
Editor’s Note: According to German Law, Lack of knowledge of circumstances is not an excuse in court to avoid punishment.
Lalith Ganhewa is the Sri Lanka Guardian Correspondent in Germany.He can be reached at slgfrg@srilankaguardian.org
 Rolf Lührmann, mayo...){kind=link}
It seems like this kind of deliberate duping goes on everywhere in Europe. See all the demonstrations in Geneva, Brüssels and London these days, not to mention those in CAnada...
What I don't understand with this story is, why the Sri Lankan Embassies in these countries do not use legal action against these pseudo-democratic demonstrators. And possibilities there are. LTTE is banned in Europe and in Canada and they are a known terrorist outfit.
As for the duped Buergermeister: at least he has the gut to admit he's been duped. There was a similar incident in the city of Landau/Pfalz where the mayor, Mr. Hirsch still thinks it was a good idea to let these brainwashed LTTE-supporters misuse the hospitality of their German home and demonstrate for their utopian, stricly antidemocratic Eelam.
In a way the LTTE's own excesses is what will be their downfall. The current 'war' is not only in the Vanni, as the global propaganda war has reached new heights. But they will destroy themselves with their own lies as they get found out. What baffles me is how they survived this long with their lies...I think money had a lot to do with it.
Well, SLG should publish more exclusives like this. hats off to the correspondent!!
I would also like to know whether Germany, Canada or any other Western country would allow support rallies of the Al Qaeda or Hamas to be held on their soil?
Are the Sri Lankan missions in those countries sleeping? All the good work our Sri Lankan forces are doing will be in vain, if the SL emabassies take up this complacent and lackadaisical attitude.
Post a Comment