End of global LTTE network imminent - Prof. Rohan Gunaratna

by Manjula FERNANDO

Q: The Government today announced the seizing of three ships owned and operated by the LTTE leader Tharmalingam Shanmugam Kumaran alias Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) who is now in State custody. What is the background to this development?

A: The Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa understood that even if the LTTE is defeated in Sri Lanka, peace is not sustainable unless Sri Lanka dismantles the LTTE infrastructure overseas. Sri Lanka faces a risk of terrorism every day as long as the LTTE infrastructure is intact and the LTTE remains active outside Sri Lanka. As such, the Sri Lankan government worked with their foreign counterparts building platforms to monitor, detect and disrupt LTTE cells overseas that posed a threat to national security.

Even before Prabhakaran was killed, working with a small team of specialists, the Defence Secretary masterminded the operation to bring home KP, the designated successor to Prabhakaran. Since then, the Sri Lankan government has adopted a pragmatic approach of working with both KP and former LTTE leaders to abandon the LTTE’s violent ideology and build long- term peace.

Q: Were the LTTE ships seized and crew detained?

A: The LTTE ships were not seized. They were handed over after an intensive dialogue between the Sri Lankan Government and former LTTE leaders living overseas who see the futility of continuing the war. It was a voluntary act by former LTTE leaders who are pragmatic and do not want a return to violence. They want to contribute to the national development of Sri Lanka, build the broken bridges between the Tamils and the Sinhalese, and contribute to peace and stability. It is paramount for Sri Lanka to treat them with due care and give them a role in developing the North and the East that has suffered most.

Q: What was the use of the ships to the LTTE ? Did the tasks change after its battleground defeat? Reports said the LTTE ships formerly used for gun running were later used to smuggle out LTTE cadres?

A: The human smuggling activity is led by Kanagarajah Ravishankar, the head of the LTTE shipping network. A long time member of the LTTE, Ravishankar organized Princess Easwary (masquerading as MV Ocean Lady) that transported 76 LTTE members and others to Canada in October 2009. A recently naturalized Canadian citizen of Sri Lankan origin, Ravishankar studied navigation in Canada in 2003. The ships under Ravishankar’s control were responsible for receiving the weapons from North Korea and other supplies off Sri Lanka and discharging them to LTTE fast craft.

There are a few such LTTE leaders who are interested in criminality. Some are driven only by personal profit and others by both personal gain and perpetuating the fight. Even the LTTE political leaders overseas find it hard to control them. With the LTTE military defeat in Sri Lanka in May 2009, the LTTE lost central control of its international network. Even KP who was appointed as the successor to Prabhakaran could not control the entire LTTE international network. Today there is a segment of criminally oriented LTTE leaders overseas engaged in human smuggling, financial fraud (credit card, bank and cheque fraud) and a range of other illegal activities.

Q: KP said to have owned five vessels including the ships on their way to Sri Lanka, where are the other two? What has happened to the Agents of the seized craft? This is deemed as the second biggest blow to the terrorist outfit since the dismantling of its military wing and decimation of its leadership in May? How was this major feat accomplished?

A: For a period KP was sidelined in 2003 and LTTE shipping and procurement was given to Ponniah Anandarajah alias Aiiyah. Evading arrest in Asia, Ponniah Anandarajah is a US citizen and a double accountant and a former student of KP. Ponniah Anandarajah mostly purchased ships out of Japan and used the ships to bring weapons from North Korea to the equator where the goods were transferred in small ships and subsequently small fast boats.

When KP was reappointed by Prabhakaran in early 2009, KP could not take control of the entire fleet. By that time Prabhakaran had decentralized LTTE activities overseas and KP had limited authority. That is why when KP was captured in Malaysia in August 2009, the entire LTTE fleet was not under KP’s control. Today, Sri Lanka has developed a dual approach: one of hunting LTTE leaders unwilling to abandon violence and second of engaging and working with LTTE leaders willing to cooperate. With this initial victory, it is important for Sri Lanka to adopt a position of offering an amnesty to anyone in the LTTE willing to abandon violence and engage in developing Sri Lanka especially the war affected North and the East. After a careful and a detailed study of the LTTE, I had proposed to the government that for those who abandon violence, Sri Lanka should grant an amnesty, assure immunity from prosecution, and facilitate their active participation in the development of Sri Lanka. Such a move will demonstrate that government and the Sri Lankan President is genuine about winning the peace. Such an incentive is paramount to encourage others who are on the fence and sidelines to join the mainstream.

Q: How did the LTTE come to own such a large shipping fleet? What was their strength at its peak? What can we do to dismantle the fleet entirely?

A: The blue water shipping fleet was much bigger than the Sri Lankan national security community anticipated, Since the LTTE purchased its first ship Cholan in 1984, the LTTE procured over 50 ships and managed a fleet of two dozen ships at any given time. While most of the time these ships transported general cargo, on occasion they were used to move arms, ammunition, explosives and other dual user technologies to the LTTE. While the Sri Lankan navy has periodically destroyed LTTE ships in the lead up to final phase of the campaign, the other vessels both cargo ships and trawlers have come under the scrutiny of the international intelligence community.

The owners and managers of these ships are under pressure from the international security and intelligence agencies. Although they are registered perfectly and operated according to rules and regulations, governments overseas now know the identities and the front companies of those who manage the LTTE ships. In such an environment, the Sri Lankan government should engage them. Secretary Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has now created a path even for those who advocated, supported and participated in LTTE activities to abandon that road and usher in an era of national development. In moving towards genuine disengagement from violence, this informal process of mainstreaming those in the margins should be strengthened by legalizing it.

Q: Can the Sri Lankan Government seek legal redress from the countries the ships have been registered?

A: Yes, Sri Lanka should embark on a robust process to litigate against countries, institutions and individuals that knowingly supported terrorism.

The first step is to bring a law that makes this possible and makes it mandatory. This will deter those who support, advocate and participate in violence, even from a distance, liable.

There are such laws in the US and recently even other countries have adopted this practice.

Counter terrorism litigation is a very powerful instrument and it must be used by governments worldwide to create a counter terrorist environment.

Well versed on terrorism, the Sri Lankan Attorney General’s department under its very able Attorney General Mohan Peiris should look into the feasibility of adopting this powerful tool to fight terrorism.

Q: As far as Sri Lanka was concerned who were our biggest allies in dismantling the LTTE shipping network?

A: The Sri Lankan Navy dismantled the LTTE shipping network but with precise intelligence from the Sri Lankan military and initial leads from the U.S., and the Australian governments. To a limited extent, India and mostly the Indian navy helped.

Although some segments of these countries were lobbied by the LTTE, especially in the lead up to the final phase, Sri Lanka must not forget them. Many countries are working together with the Sri Lankan Government to monitor the remaining LTTE ships, their companies and individuals behind them. It is a question of time that the Sri Lankan government working with their counterparts will dismantle the entire network.

Q: Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said KP’s interrogation revealed the presence of 600 unidentified bank accounts. Have you any idea what is the total value of these accounts? Where are these accounts concentrated?

A: Most of the LTTE funds were collected in Canada, Europe, and Australia but were transferred through accounts in East Asia for procuring weapons from North Korea. Several million dollars worth of weapons were procured every year. The financial information has helped to track the donors upstream and the operational cells and activists downstream.

Under the guise of negotiating peace, the LTTE duped several NGOs and Western governments.

A very cunning organization, the LTTE used the goodwill of the West to build a vast infrastructure that enabled and facilitated a campaign of terror and violence in Sri Lanka. The LTTE raised more money during the peace process than when fighting. The LTTE procured and transported more weapons during the peace process than when fighting.

When the LTTE knew that militarily they had limitations, the LTTE diverted a proportion of funds to fund the campaigns of US and other politicians. The LTTE also created a special budget for human rights work - that is the LTTE used its activists to lobby Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and UN organs! That is how LTTE propaganda and data ended up in US and EU and other reports.

Q: Was KP the only individual who had access to LTTE funds ? If not who are the other custodians?

A: No, KP hardly handled LTTE money after 2003. There are many others and many of them are worried for their past deeds. The chief international accountant of the LTTE still lives in Europe. The chief LTTE international procurement officer lives in Asia. The chief LTTE shipping officer lives in North America. Many of them will be placed in Interpol red notices in the coming months. Sri Lanka needs to do a lot more work in collaboration with foreign governments to dismantle the LTTE network.

Q: How strong are the fund raising activities of the LTTE now?

A: LTTE fundraising has diminished. Many Tamils who took loans on interest from banks and contributed to the LTTE are now asking the LTTE fund collectors to return their monies. They want to send their children to school, care for their parents, help brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka, and save some funds for their retirement. They curse the LTTE fund collectors living in multi-story homes with three garages.

Nediyawan in Norway wants the fund raising to continue. Nediyawan believes that if he adopts the political track of Rudrakumaran, Tamils will not give him money. So, Nediyawan is still peddling the Tamil Eelam story and re-living Prabhakaran! On November 26-27, 2009, Nediyawan’s network from Canada to London, France to Germany, Switzerland to Scandinavia and from Australia to New Zealand raised funds.

Sri Lanka should strengthen the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank to work with their counterparts to track the funds. Counter terrorist financial investigations are a very powerful tool in the fight against terrorism. Investigations so far have revealed that the LTTE hired lawyers, retired diplomats, PR companies and journalists including in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and in other countries. The LTTE of the future will continue to do this until its superstructure is dismantled and its activists and fronts are prosecuted.

Until the LTTE superstructure overseas is dismantled, LTTE will survive both as an ideology and an operational group overseas. The investigative and intelligence agencies of the Sri Lankan government that had an inward focus should now focus overseas - the threat to Sri Lanka is coming from overseas.

Entrepreneurs

Q: What has happened to LTTE International since LTTE Domestic was defeated in May 2009? What is the thinking and strategy of the government on defeating LTTE International?

A: With Prabhakaran’s death and KP returning home, the LTTE International split. The LTTE Intellectual Faction led by Rudrakumaran in the US and the LTTE Criminal Faction led by Nediyawan in Norway developed serious differences.

While the end goals of both these factions are to create a separate state, Nediyawan driven by financial motives is still projecting Prabhakaran’s image, the Tiger flag and an armed struggle.

Although Nediyawan wants a return to violence, most Tamils are tired of fighting and see through the risk of joining these politically and economically motivated reckless ethnic entrepreneurs. Today, at least half of the LTTE leaders and activists overseas want to return to their home country and prevent another round of violence.

The Government of Sri Lanka approached and succeeded in convincing key LTTE leaders to participate in the social and economic development of the North and the East.

Instead of being trapped by the vicious ideology of the LTTE, some of these pragmatic Tamil leaders have decided to hand over the LTTE assets, including the ships, under their control. They do not see a point in contributing to another cycle of violence. Without any delay, Sri Lankan Government should give them an amnesty, assure immunity from prosecution, and facilitate their active participation in the development of Sri Lanka.

It is a bold political step essential to bring long-term stability and peace to Sri Lanka.

Q: Will some Sri Lankans fail to understand and disrupt this process of reaching out to segments of the Tamil community from abandoning Eelam and joining the economic and political mainstream?

A: Emerging from three decades of cruel violence, most Sri Lankans will be suspicious of former LTTE leaders who genuinely want to abandon their violent past. Some Sri Lankans will not understand why a Government that has militarily defeated the LTTE must take such a bold step of extending the olive branch.

We cannot continue to fight everyday. An eye for an eye will make the whole country blind. Without being trapped by Prabhakaran’s legacy of hatred, Sri Lanka should take a risk of working with every segment of society.

Unless Sri Lanka embraces those sons and daughters of Sri Lanka who want to enter the mainstream, we will always have an extreme, Unless Sri Lanka engages, works and facilitates their return home to rebuild the country that has suffered, the LTTE will co-opt them.

With this initial gain, every Sri Lankan must work hard to reach out to other communities. Without being trapped by the narrow ethnic nationalism in them, they must develop a Sri Lankan mindset.

If Sinhalese only speak for the interests of the Sinhalese and if Muslims only speak for the interests of the Muslims and if Tamils only speak for the interests of Tamils, there will be no Sri Lanka, let alone a united Sri Lanka.

There should be an unwritten code of conduct that politicians should not speak for their community alone but for the entire country. Unity of the Sri Lankan nation should not be taken for granted. In no country will unity come naturally.