Tamil Tigers raise funds for renewed struggle

Velvettithurai, Sri Lanka It's been 14 months since the Colombo government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ending Sri Lanka's bloody 37-year civil war on the island, but the fight with the Tamil separatists is far from over.

"We are taking the fight for our rightful Tamil homeland to Toronto, London and Australia," said one former LTTE fighter now back working and living in Jaffna.

Speaking from a Toronto-area shop, Somy V. told Gulf News Tamil groups in the Toronto communities of Scarborough and Brampton are actively raising funds for a new phase in the military struggle despite Canadian government attempts to thwart the fundraising.

Security on the Jaffna peninsula is tight with the military allowing few foreigners to travel to the war-scarred region.

Red Cross officials in Jaffna told Gulf News nearly 200,000 Tamils remain in displaced persons camps awaiting resettlement. During a four-day stay in Jaffna, Gulf News was refused access to the camps by military officials.

This village on Jaffna's northern coast was home to Velupillai Prabhakaran, the late leader of the LTTE. And locals said they are still committed to the Tamil cause despite 100,000 being killed during the civil war.

"You will not see the LTTE as it was before," one fisherman said. "Our struggle still continues ... but it will not be fought from here. We will carry on the struggle from overseas. That is where the struggle will be fought from."

"Remember this," he told Gulf News. "Some days the hunter gets the tiger. Some days the tiger gets the hunter."