By Dushy Ranatunga in London

The political advisor of the LTTE, Anton Balasingham, has warned Britain that if that country bans the LTTE they would not come for peace talks but would "really become terrorists".

The LTTE theoretician issued the warning referring to Britain’s proposed anti-terrorism laws expected to be enforced early next year.

Balasingham, addressing a gathering in London in Tamil on the occasion of "Tamil Heroes’ Day" said, "we have also told the British Government that if you lay a hand on us we will not come for peace talks. Whether it is peace initiatives by the European countries or any one else’s attempts to bring peace, we will close the door for peace.

Thereafter we will really become terrorists!"

His speech in London has been described as being pedestrian as it was full of innuendo and laced with racism.

Several Tamils who attended the event held at the London Arena commented ‘We went thinking that he was a big man in the LTTE and would make an important speech in view of the peace initiatives, but what we got was rubbish. Some Tamil people even left before the end of the speech."

Another Tamil who attended the event commented "I think this might be their last Heroes’ Day celebration in London" in anticipation of a US style British listing in Spring 2001 of the LTTE in Britain as a foreign terrorist organisation.

An influential and leading figure much respected in the Tamil community commented ‘Power has gone to his head. He was a nobody in London, a left wing activist who was struggling alone, and now for the first time in his life he is addressing large expatriate gatherings and it has all gone to his head. How else could you explain him saying things like "ignorant Sinhalese" and such racist garbage? Its just like the Sinhala racists saying "ignorant Tamils". He was saying crazy things.

An official at the London Arena confirmed to ‘The Island’ that between 5000 and 7000 had attended the LTTE event and that over £ 10,000 had been paid for the use of its facilities.

The leaflet advertising the event stated that a £5 entrance fee would be levied on the participants at the Heroes’ Day event.

It received wide publicity in the LTTE controlled media. The LTTE controlled satellite radio station IBC (International Broadcasting Corporation) gave live five-hour coverage to the event that began at 3.00 p.m. broadcasting all over Europe via the Astra satellite. There was also Medium Wave coverage on MW 558 from 7.00 p.m. till 9.00 p.m. when terrorist propaganda and a fund raising event was broadcast into British homes in and around London. TRT ( Tamil Radio and Television Network) recently taken over by the LTTE also gave live five-hour TV coverage via the EUTELSAT satellite broadcasting into Europe and Reunion Islands, etc. reaching out to Tamil expatriates of both Sri Lankan and Indian descent.

The LTTE pursues a policy of radicalising expatriate Tamil communities of Sri Lankan and Indian descent in the hope of mobilising them for the LTTE cause.

TRT had a subscription base of approximately 7000 world-wide, but after the LTTE; take over, large numbers of Tamils have deserted the station and subscribed to Deepam TV, another rival Tamil Satellite TV broadcaster.

Both IBC and TRT controlled by the terrorists are broadcasting under licence from the British Government. By broadcasting a terrorist fund raising and propaganda event they are blatantly breaching the British Broadcasting Act and encouraging other fanatical groups such as Hezbollah and Osama Bin Laden’s group to set up front organisations to register radio and TV stations and broadcast terrorist fund raising activities and propaganda into the homes of Britain’s sizeable Muslim population.

Currently the LTTE is training with both Hezbollah and Osama Bin Laden’s group.

British authorities NGOs operating in Sri Lanka and others interested in the Sri Lankan conflict monitored Balasingham’s speech last weekend and universally disapproved of his tone and stance.

A Sri Lankan diplomat in London commented "We would have expected something like this from a Palath Sabha (village level) politician".

A British NGO commented this week over lunch "The LTTE have come under pressure in the UK from Tamils living here. Most of the Tamil expatriates are from Jaffna and this is the first time that the front line has moved into the heart of the Jaffna peninsula and it is effecting them. They are not happy with the LTTE advance on Jaffna".

In his speech Balasingham insulted the Sri Lankan President referred to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister as a "medicine man", branded the entire Sri Lankan cabinet as thieves, called the Sinhalese ignorant, and even referred to this correspondent, stating that I may be in the hall with the other 7000 or so LTTE supporters and how articles of this correspondent has woken up Tamils.

This was an attempt to minimise the impact of the British Charity Commission’s raid on the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), the LTTE’s premier fund raising organisation’, as a result of an investigative report in ‘The Island’ and the recent article in the ‘Sunday Telegraph’ in London of the LTTE’s use of British schools for propaganda and fund raising which was also exclusively exposed in ‘The Island’ newspaper in Sri Lanka.

For the first time this year the LTTE have introduced their own form of censorship by banning the use of cameras and video equipment at LTTE events. It seems that they have somewhat got nervous after this correspondent photographed key LTTE activists in Geneva, Switzerland at a book launching event when Fr. Emmanuel launched Balasingham’s "Politics of Duplicity".

Since then leaflets advertising the LTTE event held in several European cities had prominent text prohibiting still and video photography. While criticising the Sri Lankan government’s censorship in order to score propaganda points, the LTTE, a terrorist organisation listed by the US state department is quietly imposing its own form of censorship after getting camera shy.

LTTE propaganda in relation to human rights, press freedom, etc. are not based on concern for the issues or to enhance human rights and improve the quality of life of Sri Lankans, but to damage the Sri Lankan state and to impress upon their fanatical supporters that they cannot live in Sri Lanka, and that they must all strive to establish an ethnically pure Tamil enclave in Sri Lanka called "Tamil" Eelam.

Balasingham acknowledged the possibility of the LTTE being listed in Britain as a terrorist organisation and dismissed it by saying that it will have no effect. He stated that the ban in the US has resulted in more money being raised in the US to finance terrorism and challenged the United Kingdom that a UK ban would not stop the flow of funds out of the UK. He stated that the LTTE has crooked lawyers and accountants who can circumvent any UK ban and get the funds out. At one point he even threatens Britain with terrorism as a response to a ban.

A few years ago, when President Kumaratunga attended the Commonwealth Head ,of State Conference in Edinburgh, the LTTE hired a train from London to Edinburgh and packed it with their supporters in order to transport them to Edinburgh for a major protest against the President. During the journey and in Edinburgh the LTTE began compiling a list of names and addresses of LTTE supporters who were participating in this protest. This list with the names and addresses of LTTE supporters disappeared. ‘The Island’ has learnt that to date the LTTE has not recovered that list.

This was a major breach of security on the part of the LTTE, which may have resulted in a list containing the names and addresses of their supporters falling into the hands of a security agency.

When the LTTE cannot safeguard the names and addresses and other details of their own supporters, one wonders how Balasingham can confidently say that the LTTE’s crooked accountants and lawyers can collect more money and move it out of the UK.

Britain has the best intelligence services in the world as acknowledged by both the Americans and the Russians. Balasingham, a British citizen and an ex-employee of the British High Commission in Colombo may be somewhat complacent in his confidence of the abilities of the LTTE, when he himself admits that LTTE lawyers and accountants are crooks. Crooks have the habit of selling information, even lists with names and addresses of LTTE supporters.

Balasingham’s speech made last Saturday is an important one, which reveals the true nature of the LTTE, a terrorist organisation which is deeply rooted in fascism, that arbitrarily assassinates its own people who democratically oppose them. The speech has exposed the LTTE to the world, displaying its racism, its irresponsible attitudes and continuous betrayal of the Tamil people by leading them down a suicidal path of self destruction.

Balasingham’s speech was in Tamil. The speech was made in spoken, colloquial, Jaffna Tamil.