CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

National Christian Council, NGOs and INGOs Call For Immediate Halt to War

By Darmitha-Kotte

Articles which appeared in the Sunday Times of 27 th August 2006 titled "NCC urges immediate halt to war," "The National Peace Council calls for immediate halt to war " and "Voices of the Humanitarian Agencies" and an article which appeared in The Island of 26 th August 2006 titled "Inspectorate wants Bishop to pressure Tigers" all have one theme in common- STOP THE WAR.

Not a single Sri Lankan citizen would want war & it goes without saying that war means suffering for the people. No war has ever "brought love" in any country or region, no matter what the cause of war happened to be! Nor would any single parent in this country want his/her children to be abducted by terrorists for them to be used as human shields in their "inhumane endeavours" while the children of the terrorists themselves, are enjoying luxurious lives abroad and enjoying birthday celebrations!

The National Peace Council (NPC) in their appeal say " According to humanitarian workers, the situation is as bad as it has ever been in the 20 years of war, or even worse. Over 160,000 people have become refugees since April this year, and the numbers are increasing rapidly day by day The National Peace Council demands that shoes who have been displaced and otherwise affected as a result of the fighting should be protected according to international humanitarian norms." Further on in the same article the NPC states "We condemn the air force bombing of an educational and training facility in Mullaitivu in which over a hundred teenage girls are reported to have been either killed or injured. We also condemn the execution style killing of 16 Tamil and one Muslim aid workers in Muttur in contravention of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law to which Sri Lanka is a signatory. " Again they state " The National Peace Council calls for an immediate halt to the war and to the killings and for the government and LTTE to re-engage in negotiations."

Almost all the incidents stated by the NPC in their article talk of incidents in which they implicate the armed forces as the perpetrators- not the LTTE that blasted a bus carrying innocent civilians where 64 persons were killed, not the Mawil Aru incident where the LTTE deprived civilians and crops of water which is also a contravention of Geneva Conventions, nor the 20 years of guerilla attacks by the LTTE on the Armed Forces of this country whose duty it is, to protect the country from terrorists! May be the Armed Forces are not human beings in the eyes of the NPC? The 7 security staff killed in the targeted attack on the Pakistan High Commissioner had to be mentioned as it was unavoidable for them not to do so!

Save The Children in their advertisement under "Voices of the Humanitarian Agencies" states " In our consultations with children over the last decade, they have placed peace, health and education as top priorities. Forced to leave their villages due to war, many children drop out of school, and these drop outs are often targeted by armed groups and more easily recruited. Save the Children has helped set up village level child protection committees as one protection measure for children from being abducted as families and communities are the closes to children and have the best ability to protect them. Through our reintegration programmes for former child soldiers, we take every effort to get these children back to school so that they will seek and see a better future. Due to our efforts, over 1300 former child soldiers are back with their families and receiving formal education or vocational training. "

Through their committed work, has the Save the Children been able to drive any sense into the minds of terrorist LTTE not to recruit children or to use them as human shields? They even refrain from calling a spade a spade when they state "…..armed groups………" without mentioning "LTTE terrorists!" They also state that they have rehabilitated 1300 children and sent them back to schooling or vocational training. Do they have any idea of how many thousands of child soldiers have been recruited (rather abducted) by the LTTE terrorists in their blood-thirsty 30 year war? Has the LTTE contravened any Geneva Convention or is it easier just to ignore the fact? Have they ever made the attempt to ask the LTTE cadres to put their own children also as human shields instead of sending them abroad to enjoy the luxuries that they are depriving the children of other Tamil parents?

The National Christian Council in their article states " The Council in a statement said both parties must realize that conflicts could not be resolved by violence that would only bring misery and hardships to civilians. The Council said scant respect for human dignity and the wellbeing of innocent civilians was evident in the full scale hostilities taking place in Muttur, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Mannar and urged both sides to show restraint. "

The National Christian Council needs to admit that if the LTTE did not commit atrocities, there would be no need for the Armed Forces to defend the country from terrorists! Who commenced the CFA hostilities-the LTTE or the Govt? When the LTTE continues to ignore all so called "humanitarian " or "Geneva Conventions" and when the National Christian Council has turned a blind eye to all the terrorist atrocities all this time, why are they calling on "both sides" to negotiate? There are no both sides to this issue- if the LTTE lays down their arms and becomes civilized in their behaviour—there is absolutely no need for the Armed Forces to be mobilized. I suppose the National Christian Council wants the GOSL and Armed Forces to sit back and watch all the blood baths that LTTE terrorists are leashing out on innocent Muslims, Hindu Tamils and Sinhalese.

In another article " Inspectorate wants Bishop to pressure Tigers" it states "The Police Inspectors' Association wants the Bishop of Mannar Rt.Rev.Rayappu Joseph to pressure the LTTE into ending child recruitment…………."

The Inspectorate would not appeal to Rt.Rev. Rayappu Joseph to put pressure on the LTTE if they did not know how much the Bishop was involved with the LTTE! The close association of the church with the whole LTTE terrorist movement, has been known to many for quite some time but how close Rev. Rayappu Joseph was to the terrorists became evident recently due to a number of incidents in which he openly went on Tamil Net. It is sad that as a civic conscious citizen of this country, Rt.Rev. Rayappu Joseph opted to stand on the side of the LTTE and point a finger at our Armed Forces who are there to protect our citizens from all crimes including terrorism!

The most prudent thing for the National Christian Council, the National Peace Council and all INGOs to do, is to confront the LTTE terrorists and tell them "STOP THESE ATROCITIES!" If and when the terrorists lay down their arms and come down to a democratic path of negotiations, then there will be no need for a war. Truthfully, everyone must acknowledge the fact that the 30 year war on our civil society was not initiated by our government or the Armed Forces. The GOSL is bound to protect her citizens as a prime responsibility and she must use the armed forces to do that if the country and her citizens are threatened. We cannot permit terrorists to rule the country and bring misery to everyone. It is also prudent to point out to the NPC,NCC and INGOs that all those who have suffered at the hands of the terrorists are ALL HUMAN BEINGS! They all need the same sympathy that the above organizations are showing the terrorists!

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