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Sisira Pereira, Panadura, Sri Lanka

In the Geneva conventions of war, a legitimate military target is defined as follows;

“Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives. Insofar as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.

In case of doubt, whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used”

It needs no UNESCO expert to know that the terrorist LTTE had been using their broadcasting facility in Thiruvaiaru to propagate nothing but terrorism over the years. The LTTE had used that facility exclusively to achieve their military objectives, while spreading disinformation to the civilians that they keep under virtual arrest within the LTTE confines of Wanni and Mulaitivu.

Mr. Director of the UNESCO,

The LTTE (if you did not know until now, it is banned in many countries as a terrorist organization) was not using the facility to entertain the civilians with baila, kafrinna. The Wanni people will vouch for that themselves. The circumstances ruling at the time was such that there should not be any doubt about it. And the attack was strictly a military objective, it was not to destroy some stupid rap music CD collection of a rival group!!

The Geneva conventions allows attacking targets that have been militarized, and indeed VOT was militarized, and the destruction of that facility will definitely offer a military advantage to the Sri Lankan defense forces fighting a two and a half decade long battle against the ruthless LTTE terrorism. As you may know, Mr. Director of the UNESCO, war has different sides to it, not just fighting face to face with a gun and a bomb.

Thus, the military advantage is very well known to the Sri Lankan defence forces that has been fighting the LTTE terrorists for decades now, may be not to you who has not.

It is true that the LTTE broadcasting facility was camouflaged to be non-military in nature and the location of it was close to civilian settlements. However, it was used for the purpose of making an effective contribution towards the LTTE’s war against the successive Governments of Sri Lanka, brainwashing the Tamil civilians under the LTTE jackboot, to develop and nurture an anti-Sinhalese mentality among the innocent Tamil children and adults. May be you, Mr. Director of the UNESCO, also had the chance to see the real-time video of such an LTTE-brainwashed woman blowing herself up inside Minister Devananda’s office in Colombo a few days back killing civilians at point blank. And apparently she did not look to be someone who had been listening to any baila, kafrinna in the Wanni for sure through the VOT .

(Mr. Director, if you had not have time to see the video, please drop the Geneva Convention book for ten minutes and log onto the youtube!, if you hate to log on to the Defence.lk site to view the original).

Therefore, in this instance, where the SLAF bombed the terrorist facility to smithereens, there was not a wee bit of doubt as to the legitimacy/illegitimacy of the target. It was not a knee-jerk reaction by the SLAF but a calculated attack against the terrorist establishment with years of collected intelligence.

And I do not think that you have your own counter intelligence to deny it!

In addition, the terrorist facility was neither a place of worship (at least it is not so to the millions of innocent people of Sri Lanka who have suffered at the hands of the LTTE for far too long anyways! may be it is a place of worship for people like you, Mr. Director of the UNESCO!), a civilian house nor a school (even though the LTTE used it to “school” the children and adults with their disinformation about a mythical separate state within the confines of Sri Lanka and their spin-doctor versions of Sinhala vendetta against the native Tamils). And If there were any civilians working there, it was the tactic of the LTTE terrorists, which is called a human shield, which in fact is a crime according to the Geneva Conventions!

However, as the UNESCO Chief, you have been shell-shocked by the loss incurred by the terrorists, we understand. Otherwise, you would have also issued similar statements each time the LTTE terrorists attacked civilians and killed them in the past, now wouldn’t you?

We can understand why, Mr. Director of the UNESCO, but there is no excuse. In our book, Terrorism is terrorism anywhere in the world (and we know that Ms. Hilary Clinton doesn’t think so for some reason with the elections at hand, and perhaps you are on the same wave length with her for some reason of your own too). Or may be you are reading a new version of Geneva Conventions written by the Pro-LTTE coolies who may frequently call your office line or knock on your UNESCO office door to drop in and have some small talk with you.

And if that is the real case, you, Chief, have a right to be confused!!

We all know how distorted these stories of pro-LTTE coolies really are. They are just like the VOT transmission itself! Out of the real world!

Thereby, you, Chief of the UNESCO, seem to be convinced that the LTTE broadcasting facility was not a military target. Or may be you are doubting whether it actually was, and we can tell you that you are doubting something even the laymen in Sri Lanka knows as the back of their palm to be the truth.

So, I am just curious, Mr. Director of the UNESCO, just let everyone know,

how many times have you listened to the Voice of the Tigers to know that it was just an innocent civilian–run radio station and not a terrorist media unit? Or may I re-phrase, were you a fan of the frequencies?

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