(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[Tamil Tigers] In an interview with Ny Tid, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera asks the Norwegian government to ban the collection of money in Norway for the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
- Norway must take this fundraising for the LTTE seriously. This is their lifeblood. LTTE's terror campaign is based on this collection of money, says Samaraweera, who was on a visit to Norway from 12 to 15 June.
The minister should preferably see that Norway listed the Tamil Tigers on its terror list. He nevertheless acknowledges that it will be impossible for Norway to be the facilitator in the peace talks between the parties, if Norway blacklisted the guerrilla organization.
- At the same time as Norway keeps the door open for peace negotiations, the authorities must crack down hard on the collection of the LTTE. We have more than enough evidence that the LTTE terrorists use threats to bring in money from Tamils abroad. Norway must have a more proactive attitude to this, says Samaraweera.
At the end of February this year, police director Ingelin Killengreen told Ny Tid that the police would take a closer look at the reports of complaints from Tamils in Norway in relation to the LTTE's fundraising in this country.
- We have disseminated the information that appeared in Ny Tid in our system. But it is difficult to follow up individual cases as long as there are no specific reports, says Runar Kvernen, department director in the Police Directorate's information unit.
Rashasingam Sivarajah, a Tamil resident of Oslo, told Ny Tid earlier this year that he had been threatened with weapons outside his home by what he believes were envoys from the Tamil Tigers. His report of the case to the Oslo police was dropped because he had no witnesses to the incident.
