Brand UK terrorist state, Lanka tells US
P. K. Balachanddran (Colombo, April 13)

PRESENTING AN impressive array of facts to buttress its case, the Executive Intelligence Review (EIR), has appealed to the US Secretary of State to list Britain among states sponsoring terrorism across the world.

The January 21 issue of the US-based publication points out that Britain harbours a multitude of international terrorist organisations, including those banned by the US.

Six of the groups banned by the US, such as the LTTE, the Hamas and the Kurdish Workers’ Party, have their headquarters in London. The EIR further says that 16 other groups in the State Department's list either receive funding or get military training in the UK and among these is the Kashmir group, Harkat-ul-Ansar.

The Labour Government in the UK is in the process of making it unlawful to sponsor or support terrorism whether inside or outside the country and the bill is currently in the House of Lords. But going by ministerial utterances, the law may well be selectively applied. On April 11, the House of Lords was told very categorically that it would not be applied to supporters and organisers of terrorism in Kashmir. Responding to fears expressed by some peers, including Lord Ahmad of Pakistani origin, the Home Office Minister, Lord Bassam, said:

“Our intention is not to catch a latter day Mandela, a Green activist, a GM-crop protester or peace protesters or indeed, those in support of the Kashmiri cause.”

In December, 1999, Ahmad Omar Sheikh, a Kashmiri terrorist who was freed in December, 1999, following a swap to end the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu, wanted to be repatriated to the UK. The British Government was only too glad to take him back because he was a British national and also because he was not facing any charges in the UK. The EIR points out that this was despite the fact that Sheikh was convicted in India in November, 1998, for participating in the kidnapping of four UK nationals and one American in 1995.

The publication states it is the LTTE's headquarters in London, which gives the “marching orders” for terrorist operations in the Indian sub-continent. The LTTE, it says, has conducted a “decade-long terror campaign” leading to the death of 130,000 people, including former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Premadasa.

According to the EIR, the LTTE’s suicide squad, and also the Air Tiger squad, are led by two London residents, Pampan Ajith and Dr Maheswaran, respectively.

The EIR points out that at least 10 countries have asked the UK to take action against or deport terrorists, but to no avail, because the UK has always held that nothing can be done until they break a UK law. The British also say that it cannot be proved that fund-raising is directly aiding terrorist acts abroad. Hamas was let off on this plea. Abou Farres, wanted for the bombing of Algias airport in France, was given a resident visa.

The MED TV in the UK had called for terrorist actions in Turkey and Germany, but official protests from these countries only fell on deaf ears.

However, the Daily Telegraph on November 20,1999, admitted that the UK was home to a bewildering variety of Islamic terrorists. And Lord Avebury even went to the extent of justifying giving shelter to militant groups by saying that they were working against “tyrannical regimes” and were in a sense “aiding UK policy.”