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Tamil Tiger extortions in Toronto?
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| EvilTree |
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...ernational/home
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Tigers feeding off Toronto kinsmen, group says
COLIN FREEZE
Globe and Mail Update
Tamil families in Toronto are faced with extortion from Tamil Tigers of up to $10,000 apiece, and Tamil entrepreneurs up to $100,000 each, according to a new report released by Human Rights Watch.
The New-York-based group says that Tamil Tiger fundraisers are increasingly strong-arming the Toronto Tamil community -- the largest Diaspora group outside of war-torn Sri Lanka — as their island nation once again girds for civil war.
Canadian Tamils who don't give money to the separatist cause, according to Human Rights Watch, face the prospect of being beaten or having family members being abused abroad. “Canada is not actually a democracy because we can't open our mouths against the LTTE,” one Toronto Tamil told Human Rights Watch.
Some Toronto detectives have long suggested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have “tithed” members of Toronto's 200,000-strong community, though few community members have spoken out about this practise.
Human Rights Watch says the fundraising is real, widespread, and has lately kicked into overdrive, as the LTTE prepare to wage a “final” war meant to win Sri Lankan Tamils independence.
Some Tamil leaders in the Toronto community deny widespread extortion, charging instead that Human Rights Watch is bent on smearing Tamils. “This report makes me sick,” said Canadian Tamil Congress spokesman David Poopalapillai in a statement on Tuesday. He said that Human Rights Watch “has its facts wrong.”
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day may take the document more seriously. He is studying the issue as the new Conservative government prepares to follow the lead of the United States and Britain, in formally declaring the LTTE a terrorist group. “We are aware of this report. The minister has a copy and he will review it for sure,” said Mélisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Mr. Day.
Last year, while an Opposition MP , Mr. Day said that the LTTE has “perfected the art of suicide bombing, they have done more suicide attacks than al-Qaeda, they have assassinated world leaders ... [and] they recruit children into death squads.”
Deplored around the world for the violence it has used to achieve separatist aims, the LTTE nevertheless controls much of Sri Lanka's north and east. Its ruthless leader, Vellupillai Prabhakharan, claims his group is the sole representative of the Tamil separatist cause, and has quashed all rival Tamil groups who would oppose him.
A ceasefire in 2002 gave Sri Lanka a respite from two decades of civil war, but the peace has looked to be increasingly fragile in recent months.
Last year, an LTTE spokesman in the rebel capital of Killinochi told a Globe and Mail reporter that the LTTE enjoyed “overwhelming support” from Tamils everywhere, including “our brothers” living in Canada. “It is the support of the Tamil Diaspora through which the Tamil people are able to live,” he said.
Human Rights watch says that as the drums of war began beating more loudly in Sri Lanka, the knuckles of LTTE henchmen began to rap more frequently on the doors of Tamils in Toronto.
“In Canada, families were typically pressed for between $2,500 and $5,000,” the report says. “While some businesses were asked for up to $100,000.”
Similar fundraising is said to be taking place around the world. “The assessed ‘rate' is often $1, £1, or €1 per day for the length of time they have lived in the West, so individuals who have been abroad for years may be asked for thousands,” Human Rights Watch says.
Through interviews, often with Tamils who said they were too scared to publicly reveal their names, Human Rights Watch says it has also learned that: There have been “systematic efforts by LTTE to take over the management structures of local [Hindu] temples” in Toronto, so as to better raise funds and circulate propaganda.
Fundraisers are said to be candid as to why they need money now. “‘This is your duty. You have to help your community from here. This is Mr. Prabhakaran's request. You need to help start the war,'” is what one Toronto businessman recalls LTTE henchmen saying when asked him for $20,000. He told Human Rights Watch he is too afraid to go to police.
The efforts have intensified in Toronto since December. “One Tamil ... said he knew of at least 70 or 80 people who had been asked for money and that the majority have given,” the report says.
The visits by fundraisers carry implied threats, according to the Tamils quoted in the report. They say that Tamils in Sri Lanka have been kidnapped after failing to pay up. Expat entrepreneurs say they fear their business will fail if LTTE supporters get wind that they are not onside.
“The people are living in fear in Toronto for two reasons. One is the fear of the LTTE, even in Toronto, the other is the fear of what will happen to relatives back home,” said Namu Ponnambalam in an interview.
The 40-year-old is one of the few Toronto Tamils who allowed his name to be published in the report. Many people, he said, share his fears about Tiger gangsters.
“The whole organization is like the mafia, they are behind him, and if I complain about him they come after me or my family,” he said.
In an interview, Mr. Ponnambalam said he had been asked to pay $2,500 to the cause but refused. He said he was threatened and told police, but was the force lacked the manpower to investigate.
Human Rights Watch suggests that police set up a task forces to investigate extortion. But a spokesman for the Toronto Police said that the force has not gotten complaints.
“People are not coming forward with accounts,” said Mark Pugash.
He quickly added that “That doesn't mean that it [extortion] is going on or it isn't going on.” Police, he said, would like to build trust and rapport with the community.
Some leaders in the Tamil community insist that complaints aren't coming in because the accounts of extortion aren't credible.
“This all based on innuendo,” said one Tamil leader who asked not to be named. He pointed out that there never been a successful extortion prosecution in Toronto. “At the end of the day, almost 15 years of allegations, not a single charge,” he said.
He added that “Human Rights Watch has forgotten conveniently that Tamils have been victimized in Sri Lanka for so long.”
The reports marks the second time in just over a year that Human Rights Watch researcher Jo Becker has infuriated Toronto Tamils. Her December, 2004, report on the LTTE's recruitment of child soldiers was also decried by some Tamil leaders as a rumour-driven smear on the community.
The Canadian Tamil Congress is planning a community meeting on Wednesday in Scarborough, Ont., to respond to the report.
In addition to saying he was sickened by Human Right Watches findings, CTC president Mr. Poopalapillai said that report “casts doubts about our integrity as law abiding citizens.”
In a statement, the group questioned Ms. Becker's training, her ability to conduct interviews in “multicultural settings,” and even asked whether the people she talked to were paid by Human Rights Watch.
For the record, Ms. Becker said yesterday that she never paid any sources and that her group — which is sounding the alarm on a variety of human-rights crises from Darfur to Damascus — never accepts money from any governments.
She stood by her findings. “We're not saying that every single Tamil in Toronto has been extorted,” she said. But “the reports we were getting were very consistent … this is widespread and systematic.”
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| Jayx1 |
The best is how they get guys to come on the news and call any allegations of tamil tiger terrorism groups as racist. What a great way to cover up and silence critics in Canada, just use the R word!
This is a big problem in Canada and needs to be addressed. As for the dispute itself, im neutral on it but i dont have any sympathy for terrorism. |
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| Tordan |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
The best is how they get guys to come on the news and call any allegations of tamil tiger terrorism groups as racist. What a great way to cover up and silence critics in Canada, just use the R word!
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That's so true. These so called tamil leaders are either part of the LTTE or are being threatened by them. Everything reported by Human Rights Watch is true. I'm not party of the tamil community but I've heard stories of people being victimised by the LTTE. If the US wants to find an "axis of evil" here's one of the biggest sources they should be sticking their noses into. |
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| El Kay Dee |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tordan
If the US wants to find an "axis of evil" here's one of the biggest sources they should be sticking their noses into. |
oh cmon...how can u say that?? the only country mostly affected by LTTE is India if anything...
in addition, whats in it for the US??peace and saftey of people around there??? nah not worth it |
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| chinaboy1021 |
| any tamil ligers? |
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| Tordan |
| quote: | Originally posted by El Kay Dee
oh cmon...how can u say that?? the only country mostly affected by LTTE is India if anything... |
Don't you mean Sri Lanka? India isn't really affected by them. In fact, before the LTTE turned towards expat tamils for funding most of it came from southern India.
| quote: | Originally posted by El Kay Dee
in addition, whats in it for the US??peace and saftey of people around there??? nah not worth it |
bingo... Sri Lanka has no massive oil reserves for the US to extort but it does have a lot of precious stones and diamonds but I highly doubt that interests them. |
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| El Kay Dee |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tordan
Don't you mean Sri Lanka? India isn't really affected by them. In fact, before the LTTE turned towards expat tamils for funding most of it came from southern India.
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well there have been a few bombings in chennai over the past few decades that LTTE has claimed responsibility for as well..but yea SL is more affected... |
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| Fir3start3r |
I just talked to my buddy across the desk from me who's from Sri Lanka.
His brother (who owns a business in Montreal) was threatened...:wtf: |
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| Dark_Archonis |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
The best is how they get guys to come on the news and call any allegations of tamil tiger terrorism groups as racist. What a great way to cover up and silence critics in Canada, just use the R word!
This is a big problem in Canada and needs to be addressed. As for the dispute itself, im neutral on it but i dont have any sympathy for terrorism. |
Big problem indeed. I used to live in Scarborough surrounded by Tamil Tigers. This whole issue is simply ridiculous. I remember how once there was a shootout in Markham across a highway, with several people getting injured, and I believe a few dying, because of a few Tamil Tiger idiots. |
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| hardcore trancer |
| God I hate those s so much.:whip: :whip: |
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| dc star |
| Damn memories of higschool in scarborough |
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| Tordan |
| quote: | Originally posted by dc star
Damn memories of higschool in scarborough |
no kidding!! I had to always watch my back because I'm part sinhalese which is the race they are at war with in Sri Lanka. :nervous: |
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