Amnesty International strengthening terrorist efforts to embarrass Govt.
Ex-director of AI was LTTE rep. in Geneva

Courtesy The Island 06-04-2007 by Shamindra Ferdinando

The hotly disputed Amnesty International-led campaign, styled ‘play by the rules’, written on dummy cricket balls targeting the Sri Lankan cricket team, participating in the World Cup in the Caribbean, reveals the growing relationship between AI bigwigs and the LTTE.

Authoritative sources said that this was a part of a wider conspiracy against the Sri Lankan government. The sources accused the London-headquartered human rights watchdog of strengthening LTTE efforts to internationally embarrass Sri Lanka.

The sources said that the AI action was a continuation of an effort to isolate Sri Lanka and strengthen the LTTE’s case against the State.

The AI move coincides with the proposed Human Rights Council action against Sri Lanka. Although the HRC deferred its resolution on Sri Lanka’s human rights situation at the conclusion of its recent sessions in Geneva, the government is under heavy pressure to suspend the ‘offensive’ military action against the LTTE.

The inclusion of a former Amnesty International heavyweight in an LTTE delegation in October 2005 revealed the unholy alliance. Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois and a leading practitioner and advocate of international law had represented the LTTE at a meeting with the EU in Geneva. Boyle had served on the Board of Directors of AI (1988-1992).

The Geneva meeting took place against the backdrop of an EU decision not to invite LTTE delegations. But this did not bar V. Rudrakumaran, a New York based attorney-at-law and a member of the LTTE negotiating team at the Norwegian-managed peace talks during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the Premier.