What I was told in 2004 by a Sinhala businessman in Anuradhapura who traded along the A9 at that time.

From Sinhala retailers in government controlled areas he takes cash, never cheques. Can’t trust them he says. But one exception is Eelam Bank (EB; could be Thamileelam Bank, I cannot recall precisely; but I have seen the branches with my own eyes) cheques.

If an EB cheque is dishonored he tells EB. A cadre will travel in his vehicle to the source of the bad cheque. Discussion will ensue between cadre and bad cheque writer. The cadre will close the shop and give the wronged party the money. The cadre will not get in the vehicle after this, but will make his own way back to base.

The offending shop will remain closed until satisfactory arrangements are made with EB.

BTW, there are EB branches in Vavuniya, a govt controlled area.

I admit – the devil is not much of an option to the deep blue see – but we’re trying to find a happy medium here.

HP – where do you find your weed? Obviously its very good.

See Aadhavan – this is the problem. Despite not for a moment doubting your bona fides with regard to reaching a negotiated settlement, your stubborn refusal to acknowledge the atrocities of the LTTE is worrying. It is symptomatic of the majority of Tamils. It’s as if they can’t choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. Get pushed around physically and mentally by the LTTE or suffer the discriminatory practices of a non – representative government.

Wouldn’t the latter be greatly appeased if the former were denounced unequivocally?

The following is from a post is by The Benevolent Dictator on Indi’s previous post.

“Aadhvan, the LTTE is no longer a freedom fighting outfit fighting for the rights of tamils. You have to be delusional to believe they care about anyone more than themselves. Please go on the A9 route to Jaffna and experience the mindboggling service you get from the LTTE cadres, the sheer arrogance of 13-15 year olds with guns who bully and intimidate the very people they’re supposed to fighting for. My aunt returned in a different van to which she went to Jaffna in due to an emergency. She was told to get down and wait for the next bus at 5 AM at the LTTE checkpoint just before Omanthai. An old gentleman who protested at this was slapped and was asked that since he only had a few more years to live, whether he wanted to speed his exit. Some bloody freedom fighters. The LTTE has morphed into a criminal organisation.”

In case you missed it, The Benevolent Dictator is a Sri Lankan and a Tamil. “Subtle coercion”, my ass.

first, i for one cannot see how disproportionate and intentional killing of wrong ppl, mostly innocents can be rationalized as ‘justice’ by anyone but the most blinkered. may be that is just me ( even the godfather was proportionate he says after the quotation cited to one of his underlings giving the job to carry out the ‘justice’,
“i want reliable people; people that aren’t gonna be carried away. i’m mean, we’re not murderers, despite of what this undertaker says.” )

second, such rationalizations cut both ways. can you imagine what happens if some sinhaleses chauvinists try to mete out supposed ‘justice’ (and as usually with with ltte to innocents) under the perception that government does not. but ordinary sinhalese have learned it is not tamils but the ltte. a realization some ltte appeasers have yet to learn.

third, reality demonstrates this rationalization as false.
in reality vast majority of ppl do operate within the system and are satisfied enough to work with in it. they do not go around taking law in to their own hand, killing ppl etc.. when a horrific crime happens it is front page news it is not routine.
in reality tamils do not live in constant fear of being lynched, as past 20 + years have shown sinhalese are not chauvinists ready at any moment to kill tamils (vast majority of ppl killed on those years in the south were sinhalese) in return for ltte horrors.( this is what ltte counts on when killing civilians or military. it hasn’t worked nor will it work) . that assumption is wrong factually and morally.
it also ignore the reality that other minorities work within the system and they will continue to do so. so will tamils if given the chance. to accuse them of seeking ltte for ‘justice’ is wrong. it is not different from janpathi’s claim that tamils support terrorists. that assumption is also wrong factually and morally

it is however correct that ppl (not just tamils) live in fear. same fear that prevented tamils from voting, same fear that makes ppl hesitate when traveling to colombo. same fear that grips tamils when stopped at a necessary military checkpoint. fear created by terrorism.

sooner we get rid of the actual and very real cause of it the better (through negotiations or by force as the case and resources and circumstances allow ).
what we should not do is appease terrorism. or even justify or rationalize it. that kind of thing may help some ppl sleep better thinking that they are doing the right thing by appeasing it, but it does not help those who live in fear of it in the real world.

I was back from the NE and at the regimental base, waiting for my medical leave to come through. Guy in my battalion got back from Colombo and told us a story. He was a senior sergeant at the time, had just completed an extended tour with SF, and was now on the CO’s bodyguard, so he was allowed to carry a pistol at all times. Said he was in the White Horse (the old one, on Chatham Street), having a drink on a Friday. There were a bunch of twenty-somethings in a cubicle (six or seven, men and women), being noisy. One of the guys pulls out some sort of little revolver and starts showing it around and trying to impress the chicks. Sarge has been well into the Mendis and pulls, walks over, and shoots revolverhead. Cops and MPs pile in, but sarge says the victim was waving a gun around and he thought he was going to shoot. Bartender backs him up. They let him go, don’t even confiscate the pistol. Bar manager gives him a bottle of JW Black and tells him never to come back.

Vices of a community will eat up its members whether they like it or not, as long as they choose/are forced to be part of it.

I was unaware that the LTTE sort out cheques, and they will respond to the grievance of even an individual Tamil. Are you sure about this, or were you being metaphorical?

The LTTE is like the Mafia in the fact that it relies on Italian civilians for it’s own protection the way that the LTTE do. However, unlike the Mafia, they don’t end up getting their own people killed as result of this action.

And, just like the Mafia’s protection money racket, they extort money from their own people, and terrorize them. Here is a very Mafia-story-like account from the Human Rights Watch’s report which was published recently (which subsequently led to the EU ban).

Full report avalaible at:
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/ltte0306/ltte0306web.pdf

PRIYA’S STORY.
Priya (not her real name) left Sri Lanka in the early 1990s and now lives in the Toronto area. In mid-2005, she made her first visit back to Sri Lanka in more than ten years, traveling by road from Colombo to visit a parent and siblings in the North. She told Human Rights Watch:

At the checkpoint, they told me that each family had to get a pass and pay 1,000 rupees. I was told that was the rule. Then once you get to [town], within three days you have to go to the LTTE office and give all your details there. I paid the 1,000 rupees and gave my name and passport number.

On the second day, I went to the [LTTE] office. They asked how long I had been living abroad and if I had contributed any money while abroad. I said I hadn’t. I told them I was living on welfare and had children. I said it was very difficult, so I didn’t give money.

The LTTE told me, “When you go back, you should give money. You should help our struggle. It is your obligation to help us.” I agreed that when I got back I would give money month to month. I felt I had to agree, because I was in their territory. I was afraid that if I refused, they would demand the money then. They asked for $50 per month. I said I couldn’t afford $50, but would pay $30. They finally agreed on $40 a month and said I should pay it to the World Tamil Movement.

They asked me to fill out a form and sign it. It included my home address, name, and the amount I had agreed to pay. When I was there [at the office], for most people, they were demanding money right then, but in my case, they said paying later would be okay. Maybe it was the way I was talking to them.103

Priya said that at the time, she felt she had little choice but to report to the LTTE office and sign the pledge. “If I didn’t go to the office, they would have come to look for me. At the checkpoint they asked me where I would stay. If I had argued with them and refused to give the money, I might have had problems.”

After signing the pledge, the LTTE office put a seal on the pass she had received at the border checkpoint and instructed her to present it when she left LTTE-controlled territory to return to Colombo.

After returning to Toronto, Priya said that representatives from the World Tamil Movement started calling her within a week. “They left three or four messages, but I didn’t pick up the phone. If my children answered, they told them I was at work.”

Shortly afterward, a man came to Priya’s home. Priya said, “He had all the information, including my passport number. He said, ‘I’m from the World Tamil Movement. You said in Sri Lanka that you would give money. I am here to collect it.’ He had a printout and I could see other peoples’ names. It had my name and children’s names, my passport number, and my address.”

Priya told the man that she had managed to make the trip to Sri Lanka by taking out a loan, and that she could not afford to pay any more. “He said, ‘People who only make $6 or $7 an hour are giving, so you have to give the money.’ I tried to argue with him and ask him to come back after a few months. I told him I couldn’t afford it. He said, ‘All these people who are much worse off than you are giving, so you have to give.’”

Eventually, Priya agreed to pay the amount she had pledged. When she spoke to Human Rights Watch several months later, she indicated that she was thinking of stopping the payments, but was afraid that if she stopped paying, “they would probably come and harass me, and come and constantly knock on my door.” She was also concerned that if she did not keep up the payments, she would not be able to return again to Sri Lanka to see her family. “If I don’t pay the money, next time I go, they will demand the entire [accumulated] amount. I can’t afford to pay that much.”

When speaking to Human Rights Watch, Priya became visibly upset. She indicated that one of the reasons why she did not want to give money to the LTTE was because of their practice of recruiting children as soldiers.

My brother’s children are in the Vanni. The LTTE is collecting money here and using the money to train children to fight and die with the [Tiger] army. The people who collect the money here are living a very good life and drive a nice car. They don’t seem to care that it is the children there who are forced to fight and die. My children are here. I will never let them join or fight or die. Nor would any other Tamils in Canada let their children fight and die. But there are children there who are being used as fighters. How can they accept that? I worry about my nephews and nieces.104″

Priya’s experience is not unique.

Full report avalaible at:
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/ltte0306/ltte0306web.pdf

I believe Mi6 will be around soon enough… your ability to hide your identity is amazing…

BTW are you in SL or Aussie?