TAMIL TIGER TERRORISTS TARGET
CIVILIANS IN SRI LANKA
MEDIA RELEASE January
6, 2007
SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Box 55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario M1P 4Z7 Canada
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has attacked civilian
passenger traffic in Nittambuwa and Seenigama in the south of Sri
Lanka on the last two days, targeting ordinary civilians from the
Sinhalese community travelling in buses, killing 21 and seriously
injuring a large number said to be in excess of 50 persons. The bus
at Nittambuwa was attacked with a time bomb hidden inside whilst the
other attack on the bus at Seenigama has been carried out by a woman
suicide bomber. Not surprisingly, the LTTE as usual denies any involvement
to plead their innocence in keeping with their standard response to
absolve themselves of any wrongdoing, which does not in any way fool
the knowledgeable observer. Details of the incidents could be accessed
at the following websites: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070106/wl_nm/srilanka_attack_dc_4;
and
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/06/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka.php.
The LTTE which launched their so called final war in 2005 to forcibly
carve out territory from Sri Lanka to establish their mono-ethnic
Tamil racist separate state called “Eelam” in the north
and east, comprising 30 percent of the land and 66 percent of the
coastline and adjacent territorial waters for Tamils residing in the
region making up around 3.5 percent, which is less than half of the
total Tamil community numbering about 8 percent of the island’s
population. They escalated their offensives in December 2005, but
suffered serious set-backs as their numerous assaults on land and
sea were effectively repulsed by Sri Lanka’s security forces,
causing the loss of a large number of their cadres and loss of terrain
illegally held by them.
The funds extorted from the Tamil Diaspora, arms smuggled with these
funds and a large force of terrorist fighters comprising a high percentage
of child soldiers who had been abducted and forcibly recruited were
all lost in this military adventure that was launched, whilst claiming
to adhere to the prevailing ceasefire agreement. It is in this context
that we see the Tamil Tigers resorting to the use of civilians as
human shields whilst carrying out mortar and artillery attacks against
the security forces and innocent villagers, conducting ethnic cleansing
massacres of Sinhalese and Muslims, abducting underage children for
forcible recruitment and targeting ordinary people using public transit,
transgressing all norms of engagement and seriously violating the
human rights of people going about their day to day activities. Strangely,
the international human rights advocates and other foreign based INGO’s
and foreign funded NGO’s who have been frequently voicing support
to the LTTE probably because they too advance a two state solution
as sought by the LTTE are noticeably silent and very late in condemning
these atrocities.
The world should wake up to the danger posed by the Tamil Tiger Terrorists
who are not only a threat to Sri Lanka, but a threat to the rest of
the international community, as they continue to smuggle narcotics
into their territories and also provide suicide technology and weapons
to other designated terror groups. Extracts of recent news items given
below clearly shows the threat posed by the LTTE:
“(LeN-Nov24, 1.30pm) Reports from Costa Rica in Central America
said that a strange locally fabricated submarine transporting three
tons of Cocaine was caught by authorities with a Sri Lankan national
Tamil, two Colombians and a Guatemalan. U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration agents, FBI and Colombian officials aided
Costa Rican authorities in the operation, Fernando Berrocal , the
Security Minister revealed.”
“The Indonesian police arrested a Sri Lankan Tamil wanted in
the United States for allegedly smuggling arms for use in terrorist
attacks in New York, on Thursday the 3rd of January, many international
media repots said. Pratheepan Thavarajah, 32, was arrested on Thursday
at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta just as he was
boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur, national police spokesman Anton
Bahrul Alam told reporters. It has been further revealed that the
suspect has been the main arms dealer for the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam or the LTTE, one of the world’s most ruthless terrorist
organization. A court in New York has issued an order for the arrest
of Thavarajah on arms smuggling conviction. If found guilty in arms
smuggling and abetting terrorism, the suspect could face 15 years
in Prison according to the US laws.”
We call on all states to take effective measures to closely monitor
the LTTE’s operations, and ensure that their fundraising and
illegal activities are stamped out in the interest of peace and security
everywhere.
Yours very truly,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
