Doctor defends Tamil Tigers and says There is decades of State Terror in Sri Lanka

When talking to Michael McKenna of The Weekend Australian, PEDIATRICIAN John Whitehall who volunteered and worked in Sri Lanka, blamed Australia for ignoring State Terror in Sri Lanka and says, " "There are other forces of terror at work, state terror, persecution and human rights abuses against the Tamils that has been going on for decades and which we never hear about, and which governments, like that in Australia, seem to ignore.""

Doctor defends separatist group

• Michael McKenna

• May 05, 2007

PEDIATRICIAN John Whitehall's work with the Tamil Tigers has been a dangerous and secretive business.

But the arrest this week of two Melbourne men for their alleged support of the militia - which pioneered the use of suicide bombings in their campaign for an independent homeland - has prompted the doctor to launch a public relations campaign for the cause, which could put him in the sights of Australia's anti-terror laws.

Associate professor Whitehall, director of neonatology at Townsville hospital, last year spent three months training the Tigers' doctors and is now editing a book, to be published later this year in India, on the medical corp of the mainly Hindu organisation.

Dr Whitehall told The Weekend Australian he was willing to talk about his work with the Tigers in an attempt to counter the view that "put the organisation in the same bracket as al-Qa'ida and Osama bin Laden".

"Of course, they have exceeded the Geneva convention of orthodox warfare, but you should not see them as the only people doing that," he said.

"There are other forces of terror at work, state terror, persecution and human rights abuses against the Tamils that has been going on for decades and which we never hear about, and which governments, like that in Australia, seem to ignore."

Dr Whitehall said he was unaware he would be working with the Tigers, after years of humanitarian work in Sri Lanka, when he offered his services to a British-run charity last year. But when he arrived in Sri Lanka with his wife, Elsie, he was sent to Kilinochi, the Tigers' stronghold, and discovered he was training doctors working for the group.

"I was teaching them how to look after sick children, I felt I was doing the right thing," he said.

-The Weekend Australian 5-6 May 2007

Tamils reject ‘terrorism’ allegations - Chris Slee, Melbourne

Two leaders of Melbourne’s Tamil community have been arrested and charged with terrorism offenses. Aruran Vinayagamoorthy and Sivarajah Yathavan have been accused of diverting funds raised to help tsunami victims to assist the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE, which is fighting for self-determination for Sri Lanka’s oppressed Tamil minority, is considered a “terrorist” organisation by the Australian government and corporate media, although it is not on the Australian government’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations. The Howard government has chosen to ignore the state terrorism of the Sri Lankan government forces against the Tamil population.

Murugupillai Sivakumar, the president of the Eelam Tamil Association of Victoria, told Green Left Weekly that the allegations of aid funds being diverted to the LTTE are false. The aid has been used to help people in the north and east of Sri Lanka, areas devastated by decades of war, as well as by the December 2004 tsunami.

Sivakumar said that the aid funds have been used for specific projects such as building houses, water tanks and roads. Since 85% of the area is administered by the LTTE, much of the aid goes to LTTE-controlled areas, but this does not mean it goes to the LTTE.

Sivakumar said that the Sri Lankan government has been preventing the restoration of normal life in the north and east of Sri Lanka, and that international aid allocated for use in the north and east has been blocked. He argued that the Sri Lankan government wants a military solution to the ethnic conflict.

Sivakumar said that the Sri Lankan government is using its “propaganda machine in Australia” to portray Tamils as terrorists and silence the Australian Tamil community. Anti-Tamil groups in the Australian Sinhalese community have accused Australia’s Tamils of collecting funds for the LTTE and these allegations have been given uncritical media coverage. Similar allegations are being made in other countries, and Sivakumar said, “It seems like a coordinated effort”.

Sivakumar said that while Australian Tamils do not want to interfere in the judicial process, they cannot remain silent, because “the whole Tamil population is a target”.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/708/36791

மெல்போனில் கைதுசெய்யப்பட்ட சந்தேகநபர் 5 இலட்சம் டொலர் நிதி திரட்டியுள்ளார் - இந்திய ஊடகங்கள்

வீரகேசரி இணையத்தளப்பிரிவு

விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் ஆதரவாளர் என்ற சந்தேகத்தின் பேரில் கைது செய்யப்பட்ட செய்யப்பட்ட சந்தேகநபர் 5 இலட்சம் டொலர் நிதி திரட்டியுள்ளார் ஆரூரன் விநாயக மூர்த்தி என்ற தமிழ் இளைஞர் வேலையில்லாத நிலையில் நிதி திரட்டியுள்ளதாக அவுஸ்திரேலியா பொலிஸார் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

இவற்றில் 240,000 டொலர் மலேசியாவிலுள்ள கணகொன்றிற்கு மாற்றப்பட்டுள்ளதுடன் இதில் 24 தடவை பணம் மீளப் பெறப்பட்டிள்ளதாக அவுஸ்திரேலியா அறிக்கை தெர்வித்துள்ளது

கோவிலில நேத்தி வையுங்க..! :P

பூனைக்கு விளையாட்டு எலிக்கு சீவன்போகுதாம்..

Tamil Fund Raising used for genuine humanitarian and development purposes

Tamil relief organisation given seal of approval

In a statement released by the Australian Council for International Development

(ACFID), the Executive Director, Paul O'Callaghan states "Australians can be confident

that their donations to Australian non-profit agencies which are signatories to the ACFID Code of Conduct are being used for genuine humanitarian and development purposes". The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in Australia raised over a million dollars in tsunami relief aid in 2005 and continues to raise funds to assist with relief and rehabilitation work for the war- affected civilians / internally displaced people [iDPs] in the Northeast of Sri Lanka.

TRO Australia continues to be a full and compliant signatory to the ACFID Code of

Conduct and has submitted independently audited financials since its inception in 1995.

Director and spokesperson Dr.Easwaran Kanapathipillai says that: "Every dollar donated to TRO by the Australian public is completely accounted for and can be traced to humanitarian projects in Sri Lanka. Our donors’ funds are used by a Sri Lankan charity registered under the appropriate national laws."

In relation to the recent accusations levelled against charity organisations in Australia by some sections of the community and authorities, that tsunami funds may have been redirected inappropriately and illegally, Dr.Kanapathipillai says "At no stage did we transfer funds to any other than the specified relief and rehabilitation purposes.

TRO Australia has strictly adhered to the ACFID Code's principles of Integrity, Values & Accountability at all times and in particular the post tsunami periodical reporting by us were well received / acknowledged by ACFID”.

"We were simply overawed by the generosity of the Australian public in the aftermath of the tsunami and we have continued to honour the trust that Australians placed in us," he says.

In recognition of this support we launched our 2006 'Thank You Australia” campaign to demonstrate to the public how their money was spent.

For further information, contact:

Dr.Easwaran Kanapathipillai -Director/Spokesperson- Ph: 0413 506 183.

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Release Tamil activists Aruran and Yathavan immediately - Socialist Alliance Australia

Sue Bolton 0413 377 978 Dick Nichols 0425 221 565

The Socialist Alliance condemns the arrest of two Tamil activists, Aruran Vinayagamoorthy and Sivarajah Yathavan, under the “anti-terror” laws. This is another example of the use of such laws to repress political activity of which the government disapproves. The two are accused of being members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) , a group fighting for self-determination for the oppressed Tamil people of Sri Lanka.

This group is described as “terrorist” by the Sri Lankan government and its allies, including the Australian government, but it is not on the list of “proscribed terrorist organisations” decided by Canberra.

The accusation that Tamils living in Australia support terrorism has long been used by the Sri Lankan government to discredit the efforts of the Australian Tamil community to publicise the plight of Tamils in their homeland.

Moreover, those who use this term always ignore the state terrorism perpetrated on the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan government through its armed forces. These have murdered and tortured thousands of Tamils and have bombarded and economically blockaded Tamil villages, causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and become refugees in their own country.

The two arrested men have been active in Tamil community organisations in Australia. They have been engaged in peaceful political activity in Australia to draw attention to the situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka. They have also been helping to raise money for the more than 500,000 Tamils displaced from their homes by war and the December 2004 tsunami.

The two are accused of diverting money raised for assistance to refugees to fund the LTTE. The Sri Lankan government routinely uses this kind of allegation to disrupt the aid efforts of the Tamil diaspora to help their fellow Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Socialist Alliance calls for the dropping of the charges and the release of the two men. We call for the “anti-terror” laws under which they have been arrested to be repealed.

The Alliance also reaffirms its call on the Sri Lankan government to cease its war on the Tamil people and recognise the right of the Tamil people to self-determination. This is the precondition for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Sue Bolton 0413 377 978 Dick Nichols 0425 221 565

http://www.socialist-alliance.org/page.php?page=648