CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

A response to Australian Paediatrician John Whitehall's interview with ABC radio

Dharmasena Liyanage

Dear Dr John Whitehall,

I read the transcript of the interview given to ABC radio on the affairs of Sri Lanka appeared in TamilNet dated 25/08/07, with some interest.

I normally do not read Tamilnet or waste my time by responding to the misinformation therein, since I am fully aware that the contents are nothing else, but the voice of Tamil Tiger Terrorists. Since I became aware of the highly misguided story of yours broadcasted via ABC, as an Australian citizen with Sri Lankan decent, I thought of writing this letter to correct some of grossly misconceptions therein.

I understand that you are a Paediatrician and Director of a Hospital's Unit and not a specialist in conflict resolution or a historian specialised in Sri Lanka or its region.

Considering your background, the content of your highly one-sided story, the period you have spent in Sri Lanka, the areas you said to have been visited and the personnel you said to have been associated, all I can see is that you have been used by the Tamil Tiger Terrorists to promote their propaganda in a similar way the terrorist used media men employed in vital broadcasting institutions throughout the world including BBC.

Dr Whitehall,

The Government of Sri Lanka is elected by the people of Sri Lanka, by ballot, similar to other democratic countries in the world and it represents all communities of Sri Lanka and not only Sinhalese as implied by your fictitious story. In fact the Government of the day is a coalition of all most all parties with Tamil and Muslim representations with the exception of TNA, a proxy of the LTTE. You may also may not aware that the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) is also defending the government for its actions against Tamil Tiger Terrorism. Although the President of the country is of Sinhalese descent, there are prominent Tamil and Muslim ministers in the Cabinet. The former Foreign Minister of Sri Lankan government who was brutally killed by your friendly organization, the LTTE, Mr. Laxman Kadirgamar was also a Tamil.

Since you have been to Colombo, you must have seen the population of Tamils in Colombo compared to the Sinhalese. The Tamil population in Colombo is now more than the Sinhalese and according to available records 65% of the Tamil population of the country is now living outside the Northern and Eastern areas, although you and the LTTE of yours are trying to demarcate Sinhala areas and Tamil areas. Your claim for North-East Tamil home land indicates your ignorance of the history of Sri Lanka and your contribution to the LTTE propaganda movement. Further, your figure of population of three million of Tamils in the so-called conflict areas indicates your ignorance of the current situation too.

The duly elected government of the people of Sri Lanka has the right to defend it territory from all forms of terrorism, the same way the British and the Australian government will defend, irrespective of the size of the country. Hence it is incorrect to state that the Government of Sri Lanka is that of Sinhalese and the government is terrorizing its citizens. I am sure you will not agree for a moment, if someone refers to the Government of Australia as 'the Government of Englishmen'. Just because the Australian government cancelled work visa of Dr Haneef of Brisbane for security reasons and sent to India immediately or the British government killed innocent tourist for suspicion of terrorist, I am sure, you will not support the claim that the Australian government or the British government is terrorizing against Muslims.

Dr Whitehall,

What is really happening in Sri Lanka today is that a 'blood thirsty racist' group led by some misled Tamils called LTTE is terrorizing against the Government of Sri Lanka and its people irrespective of their ethnicity with an intention of carving out a separate state.

There is no conflict as such between Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. In fact, the majority of the Tamil community lives in peace and harmony among the Sinhalese population through out the country apart from the Northern part of Sri Lanka. The entire Sinhalese and the Muslims population who lived in the Northern area for centuries were either killed or chased away completely by the LTTE terrorists. At the moment, not a single Sinhalese or Muslim is living in Jaffna, but, many thousands of Tamils are living in Colombo in peace with the other communities.

LTTE is responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent people, many leaders of political parties (including Tamils) ministers and even the President of Sri Lanka Mr. R. Premadasa.. The Leader of LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran is a wanted criminal by the Interpol for the atrocities committed by him including the murder of Rajiv Gandi, Prime Minister of India.

The LTTE is still abducting young Tamil children for the purpose of training them to kill people. During 2004, more than 1000 cases of new child recruitment were reported to UNICEF, a higher percentage of them were girls. As per UNICEF there were 40 verified cases of child recruitment of the LTTE within the first few months of Tsunami while you were said to be serving in Tiger held areas. The case of bombing of a school where 61 girls died, as claimed by you, were not school children but was a proven case of child soldiers although you were adamant to accept the evidence of child solders due to your apparent sympathy with the group. In actual fact, the LTTE has had killed more innocent Tamils than Sinhalese during their terror campaign for a fascist separate state.

You may be aware by now that the Australian government have charged, with credible evidence in hand, some Australian residents with Tamil origins for channelling Tsunami relief funds to LTTE and your assurance that none of the Tsunami relief money went to the Tigers is somewhat suspicious.

Finally, the claim for human rights violations and other matters mentioned by you are nothing new, but are part of the LTTE tactics used to avoid onslaught of the security forces whenever the outfit is in the verge of military defeat.

Thanks,

Yours Sincerely

Dharmasena Liyanage

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