Tamils fear being swept up in anti-terrorist net

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Tamils settled in New Zealand fear money they send back to Sri Lanka could mean jail under tough new anti-terrorism laws.

Security agencies are investigating allegations that the Sri Lankan separatist movement, the Tamil Tigers, has links in New Zealand.

Investigators are tracking any suspicious movements of money.

Laws to be passed next year as part of the Government's response to the American-led war on terrorism will make it illegal to knowingly contribute to terrorist organisations.

It will even be illegal to "recklessly" hand over money that winds up in terrorists' pockets.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have become a feared force since the 1980s, specialising in suicide bombings as part of their fight for independence.

More than 60,000 people have died in the struggle, and the group has been linked to the 1991 murder of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

But New Zealand-based Tamil community leaders say the Tigers should be deemed freedom fighters.

Officials refused to comment this week, but the Tigers are expected to be labelled terrorists, putting money transfers to Sri Lanka under suspicion.

The president of the NZ Tamil Society, George Arulanantham, denied that anyone in New Zealand directly funded the Tigers but said many members of the community regularly sent money home.

"There is concern in the community that if we are going to send money through any organisation, this organisation may fall under the category as a terrorist organisation."

Many Tamils in New Zealand were refugees who had borrowed large amounts to flee their country.

In the course of paying that money back, or sending money to family members left behind, "there could be a misunderstanding", said Mr Arulanantham.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff this week introduced regulations making it illegal to raise funds or recruit for the Taleban or Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. They are an interim measure until the Terrorism (Bombings and Financing) Bill becomes law next year.

Under the bill, it will be a crime punishable by 14 years' jail to knowingly raise money for terrorist attacks. Recklessly providing money to an organisation that turns out to have terrorist links could earn a seven-year term.

It will also be illegal to recruit members for any terrorist group.

A report by the select committee considering submissions on the bill says the laws are designed to deal with fundraising or recruiting for terrorist groups in New Zealand.

"They [are not] intended to prevent New Zealanders from sending funds overseas to movements of national liberation or advocacy groups that do not engage in acts of terrorism."

Apart from the bin Laden groups, the Government has not indicated which organisations will be outlawed. But the United States has already put the Tamil Tigers on its banned list.

Mr Arulanantham hopes New Zealand will take a more sympathetic view.

"We think there is a difference between terrorists and freedom fighters. We feel [the Tamil Tigers] are freedom fighters."

The United Sri Lanka Association, which promotes Sri Lanka as a single sovereign state, supports the legislation.

It has also informed the Government about the alleged activities of the Tamil Tigers in New Zealand.

"We are aware of, and have brought to the attention of the Government many times ... the activities of the LTTE in New Zealand," the association's president, Chandra Wijesekera, wrote to the Government.

New Zealand had to act or risk becoming a safe haven for "these terrorists ... who are far more accomplished suicide bombers than even bin Laden's group."

A spokesman for the association, Dr Upali Manukulasuriya, said small groups of Tigers were suspected to be in New Zealand.

"I don't think for a moment that any group here would be able to give millions, but certainly they can aid and abet."

Green MP Keith Locke said New Zealand had to be careful about condemning groups as terrorists when they might well be viewed differently in the future.

"I'm worried that we then become arbiters of what are good liberation struggles."

* eugene_bingham@nzherald.co.nz