tamil tijgers

Een vijfde deel van 'het gezegende eiland' wat de vertaling van Sri Lanka is, behoort aan de Tamils. Voor de Portugese kolonisatie was dit een van de vier koninkrijkjes op het noordelijk deel van het eiland. Na de verzelfstandiging voelen de tamils zich onderdrukt door de Singalese bevolkingsgroep. Vanuit het noordoosten proberen ze nu de rest te terroriseren.
Hier in Doha zijn er nogal wat jongen jongens die als tea-boy/schoonmaker/of tuinman werken. Veelal komen ze uit India /Nepal of SriLanka. In de laatste twee gevallen is moeten ze vaak bij terugkomst geld afstaan aan het leger. Hoewel ze hier in armoedige omstandigheden leven sparen ze toch geld voor thuis. Opsturen kan niet dus zijn ze gedwongen om toch eens in de twee/drie jaar naar huis te gaan met baar geld.Een onthutsende situatie.

lees ook
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_tijgers

Vandaag in de Gulf news een stuk hierover.


THE SRI LANKAN Tamil rebels are still “extorting” money from fellow Tamils in Qatar, a visiting minister has alleged. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting for a separate state for Tamils in the majority-Sinhala country, “are still raising funds” in Qatar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hussein A Bhaila said in Doha yesterday.
The matter has been raised with the Qatar government, said Bhaila, who is here to attend the 8th Doha Forum on Democracy, Development, and Free Trade, opening this evening.
In the past the Qatar government has assured the Sri Lankan authorities that strict action would be taken if presented with evidence.
The Qatar government also had pointed out that the state had very strict rules on movement of funds and hence there was a very low chance of money being sent from Qatar.
Chances of detection are very high, the Sri Lankans were told.
Still, Bhaila said, there had been reports of forcible collection of funds by LTTE and “the mission is strongly looking into it”.
Answering another question, Bhaila said the condition of Sri Lankan workers in Qatar had improved after the signing of a minimum wage agreement between the two countries earlier this year.
After the agreement, the minimum wage had been raised from the “unofficial” QR600 to an official QR920 a month.
According to the Ministry of Interior figures, there are some 132,000 Sri Lankans in Qatar now.
The higher wages hadn’t affected the employment chances at all, he said.
“In fact, we are receiving more enquiries, especially from the construction field”, Bhaila said.
Exploitation of workers, he said, was not a big problem in Qatar. There had been only isolated cases, which were manageable.
In addition to the recent labour agreement, many more bilateral accords were expected to be signed during a “high level visit” to Sri Lanka, expected “hopefully” this year.
They included a tourism promotion agreement and a cultural exchange agreement, Ambassador S B Atugoda said.
HH the Emir had been scheduled to visit the island on December 18 last year. But the visit was postponed after the day was declared as Qatar’s national day.
Bhaila said he was “very optimistic” that the separatist problem on the island would be resolved, especially now that the government had adopted a two-pronged approach.
The policy dealt with “giving the people what they want and fighting the terrorists, who were now on the back foot”.
The deputy minister said the peace process was progressing well. Local government elections had been held in Eastern Sri Lanka without any incidents and nominations had been invited for the provincial council.
The Eastern Province was unique as none of three major communities – Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims – had a majority there. “The elections would be a real test of the political will of the people there”.
In the north too, elections would be conducted as soon as possible, he added. There, the Tamils would be able to elect their own representatives.
Bhaila will be addressing the conference on democracy tomorrow on projects and new trends. He returns on Thursday.