13 November 2012, 1:12 am
By Hemantha Warnakulasuriya
In Italy, like in other Western countries, the LTTE
had established a very powerful network of agents and was carrying out a
massive campaign of misinformation which helped them to collect funds. Their
headquarters in Italy was situated on the island State of Sicily, in the
southernmost part of Italy. The capital of that State was Palermo. It was
estimated that there was a Tamil population of more than 15,000 in Sicily. The
LTTE worked hand in glove with the Sicilian Mafia. They were responsible for
transporting drugs for the Mafia and were involved in money laundering
operations. Information received revealed that the LTTE was very close to one
of the biggest Mafia families in Sicily, known as the Greco family.
The LTTE chose Sicily for two reasons, firstly, their
connection to the underworld and secondly, the ancient shipwreck laws which
permitted a person rescued from a sinking ship to plead his cause and obtain a
temporary resident permit. Many Tamils and Sinhalese, who came to Italy as
economic refugees, were loaded on an old boat and taken near Sicily and the
boat destroyed so that the people in the boat could swim or be rescued by the
Coast Guard and brought under the ancient law as the old boat had been
destroyed.
Enormous amounts were charged by the LTTE to arrange
their papers. After the applications were processed, according to the
connection they had in Italy, most of them were taken to Regio Emilia from the
South to the North. From the time they land in Italy, they had to pay a huge
ransom to the LTTE, who forced them to pay the money from their menial jobs
they did as housemaids, caregivers and the men as laborers in plantations and
factories. There was no reprieve for them from the LTTE. They were forced to
participate in anti-government rallies and pay for the war effort in Sri Lanka.
As I said, in my previous article, they were warned not to have any dealings
with the Sri Lanka Embassy and not to interact with the Sinhalese.
One of the most important dates in the calendar of any
foreign mission is the National Day of its country. Most missions, even those
of countries with meagre resources, organise a grand National Day at a five
star hotel. This is considered the barometer of the popularity of their mission
and their country.
At most Sri Lankan Embassies, the Independence Day is
a lacklustre event as they, due to financial and other constraints, hold the
ceremony in the Embassy premises. In Rome, generally the 4th of February is the
coldest day in the year and the Ceremony is held in the Embassy premises itself
and the majority of participants are Sri Lankans in Rome.
The LTTE is also concerned with our National Day.
Their main focus was to disrupt the National Day ceremony. One year, they
attacked most of the Sri Lankan Embassies in Europe ad even destroyed the
Embassy in Norway. It was customary for them to demonstrate a few yards away
from the Embassy by hoisting black flags and having megaphones blaring, burning
the Sri Lanka flag and hoisting the Tiger Flag to attract more media attention
than the ongoing event in the Sri Lanka Embassy. I was determined to stop this
LTTE scheme and prevent any demonstration being held anywhere near the Embassy.
The main propagandistic theme of the LTTE, which lured
the governments of the West, was that they were striving to liberate their
people from the tyranny of the Sinhala-Buddhist Army. They cleverly portrayed
that the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka were dominantly Catholics,
and the Sri Lanka Sinhala-Buddhists were killing the Tamils. The Sinhala
Buddhist government was not only engaged in a racial war but also a religious
war. Most foreigners and even knowledgeable diplomatic officers believed the
LTTE propaganda without questioning its veracity. Such was the hold the LTTE
had on the West. Unlike the Sri Lankan missions abroad, the LTTE had unlimited
amounts of money, which they lavishly used for bribery and corruption and even
to intimidate and throw lavish parties for the media and buy them tickets to
travel to Sri Lanka and write adverse reports about the country.
On the 15th of June 2006, the Kebithigollawa massacre
took place. The gruesome photographs and video footage were mailed to us by the
Foreign Ministry. I took them and the video and other media footage on the
killing of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, where the severed head of the
Minister was photographed. Those were pictures that would have aroused the
emotions of even the most staid law enforcement officer. My first meeting with
Dr. Antonio Borerelli, the Chief-of-Staff of the DIGOS (Secret Police) and Dr.
Antonio Sbordone, Director of the Secret Police, was extremely fruitful in my
mission to obtain the help of the Police to cripple the activities of the LTTE
in Italy. I took with me the video clips and a power point presentation was
made of the brutality of the LTTE in relation to the Kebithgollawa and other
massacres. I knew that the Italians with their more than 3000 years of culture
and civilization, which had been mainly instrumental in changing the entire
West from a Feudal backward and barbaric society to its present civilized form
and that rethinking and remaking of the Western culture and basic foundation of
Civilization was laid by the Romans and the Italian women had a very important
place in their qusai-matriarchal society. In their families the love they have
towards their mother and the superior position the mother held in the family is
remarkable, even for a person who came from a Sinhala-Buddhist background. The
respect they have towards women is unbelievable and similarly, the protection
of children and their rights was an inalienable right that is protected to the
utmost.
Therefore, the Kebithigollawa massacre, with bodies of
women and children mutilated by this horrendous act of terrorism, mellowed and
melted the emotions of the most senior directors of the DIGOS. They told me
that no liberation movement, with any norms, would kill women and children in
this fashion. They agreed to appeal to their Government to establish a Special
Unit at their Headquarters in Rome with three officers who would monitor the
LTTE activities, not only in Italy but also in Europe.
(The Writer a Presidents Counsel served as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to
Italy)
