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Light Refractions by Lucian Rajakarunanayake

Anton Balasingham, the so-called theoretician or ideologue of the LTTE, fondly referred to as Bala or Dr. Anton, by some journalists and more NGO wallahs here, was in no mood for the phone call he received one night last week.

A reporter from the Daily Mail of London asked for his comments on Human Rights Watch report detailing Tamil Tiger extortions from the Tamil Diaspora.

"What watch did you say? I only wear a Rolex Gold watch?" was his first response.

"It's the Human Rights Watch in the United States. It has issued a detailed statement on how the Tamil Tigers, of which you are reportedly the ideologue, is busy on a campaign of extortion from the Tamil Diaspora to fund the final war against the Sri Lankan Government," said the reporter.

"Who the hell takes a US-based Watch seriously? This must be part of the US State Department propaganda against the LTTE. I think they are on the wrong watch."

"You mean the Tamil Tigers don't extort funds from Tamils living abroad, especially in Western countries?"

"We don't carry out any extortions from Tamils anywhere, period", replied Balasingham firmly.

"But the HRW report is very comprehensive. All the allegations in it cannot be dismissed by the mere statement that the LTTE does not carry out extortions. The incidents reported are very credible," the reporter said.

Balasingham was very blunt in stating he disliked this invasion of his privacy by the media. "I am living in my English home, which is my castle and I don't want to be disturbed here and at this time, not even by the British Press."

"You may not like being disturbed in your English castle, but the contents of this report are very disturbing to anyone who reads it, especially all the details it gives about how the Tigers are forcing Tamils to contribute to building the Tiger armoury. I shall report what you said," the reporter responded.

Balasingham quickly contacted the TamilNet operators here via satellite phone and barked at them for not killing the HRW report. "What is the use of all your propaganda training if you can't shred that report?"

"We're doing our best. We must also seem credible. That's part of the propaganda we know" they said.

"Dammit, we must insist it is one big lie, put out at the instance of the majoritarian chauvinist Sinhala Government in Colombo. Carry the attack into the camp of Human Right Watch, linking them with Sinhala chauvinism. With so many international NGOs supporting us all these years, we can't let some damn Watch like this and blow it all to pieces," the Tiger ideologue said angrily.

Balasingham spent the night planning damage control.

To his horror the Mail next day led with the HRW report and his comments. "Tamil Tigers on Money Prowl" was the typical Mail headline. It described the LTTE as terrorists. His answers to the Mail reporter were given verbatim, in a prominent box headlined "Don't disturb me in my castle" - says Tiger leader in London".

There were even worse developments for the Tigers in Canada, where most of the extortions were reported from. Two leading Canadian newspapers asked the new Canadian government to keep to its election pledge and ban the LTTE as terrorists.

Pulisekeran, one of the Tiger leaders in that Greater Jaffna named Toronto, arranged a press conference to deny the HRW charges. But he and his colleagues at the head table had a tough time with the media there. "How come you can just bluntly deny such a detailed report" one journalist asked.

"Because its so-called details are all cooked up," said Pulisekeran.

"You mean all these details of tapping on doors and demanding money with threats described by so many people have all been cooked up by HRW?" asked another reporter.

"Yes, yes. These NGO types are very good and cooking up figures whether it is their own accounts or in reports that will bring them much publicity," said Pulisekeran.

"Although you accuse NGOs of cooking up their accounts today, have they not been among your strongest allies all these years. How come you have suddenly fallen out with them after this report?"

"Not all NGOs are in agreement with this Human Rights Watch" was all that Pulisekeran could say.

The next day some other Tamils in Toronto had enough courage to issue a statement under their names confirming what the HRW report said. They gave their names, despite the ever present threat of reprisals by the Tigers.

It was clear that HRW had given more than an infection of Avian flu to the Tiger outfit abroad, with confirmation of its report coming from many other Tamil organisations too.

The infection struck Colombo, the NGO proxies for the LTTE who brand themselves as the peace lobby, are yet to issue a single clear statement on what the HRW report exposed.

They were meeting to discuss means of downplaying the importance of the HRW report. At the time this was being written they were preparing a statement saying HRW was undermining the peace process by issuing such a report before the next Geneva round of talks.

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