The U.K. will stop illegal fundraising by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that serves only to prolong Sri Lanka's civil conflict, Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said.
Security agencies in the U.K. are moving to ``counter the bullying, threats and acts of fraud that are used regularly to extract money from the Tamil population and others in the country,'' Howells told Parliament in London yesterday.
Intelligence officials have revealed that ``widespread fraud scams'' may be providing funds to the LTTE, he said. The Tamil Tigers last month denied allegations by Sri Lanka's embassy in London that they're involved in an operation to clone credit cards.
Fighting in Sri Lanka escalated last year as two attempts at peace talks in Geneva between the government and the LTTE failed to restart a peace process to end two decades of conflict. More than 600,000 Tamils have fled the country to escape the violence, more than half of them going to the U.K. and Canada.
``The ability of the LTTE to raise funds oversees helps to sustain its ability to carry out violent acts and reduces the incentive to move away from the path of violence,'' Howell said, according to a parliamentary transcript.
The U.K. will continue to designate the LTTE as a terrorist group until it renounces terrorism ``in deed and word,'' he said. The U.S., India and European Union also proscribe the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization.
False Accusations
Sri Lanka's government is trying to distract international attention from the human rights abuses of its armed forces by alleging Tamil Tiger involvement in illegal credit cards, S.P. Thamilchelvan said April 22, according to TamilNet. The Sri Lankan embassy said employees at U.K. gas stations cloned credit cards and pin numbers to withdraw funds from accounts.
The government is ``making false accusations of LTTE responsibility of criminality in other countries,'' Thamilchelvan said. ``We also urge Tamil activists among the diaspora community to cooperate fully with the law enforcement authorities in their host countries.'' More >>
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