Re: Tamils launch first air attack

Asoka Weerasinghe

Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1

March 26, 2007

The Editor (Letters)
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

Sir:

On March 15, 2005, Britain acknowledged that the Tamil Tigers owning an aircraft was a very dangerous development and a matter of great concern. British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, mentioned that the British government understood the danger of an unauthorized aircraft in the hands of a non state party in the dangerous context of terrorism today. But they did sweet nothing about it.

The then Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgama who was assassinated by the Tamil Tigers, informed members of the security council, the United States, UK, France, Russia, China and also India, Japan and EU about Sri Lanka’s concern of the new development of the Tamil Tigers acquiring an air capability. And they did nothing about it.

On March 8, 2005, Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga strongly protested to Norwegian Prime Minister K. Bondevik as well as informed US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice about the acquisition of two Czech-built Zlin Z-143 aircraft by the Tamil Tigers, and having an air-strip in Tamil Tiger held Iranamadu, which was a complete violation of the Ceasefire Agreement signed in February 2002. And they did nothing about it.

One June 3, 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced “concern”
while US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice “took serious note” during separate briefings in Washington by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry officials. But nothing happened.

In light of these purchases when Sri Lankan government requested the Canadian government to ban the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization in June 2005, our Liberal party Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew, ignored that request.

On March 9, 2005, I wrote a letter to the Editor of The Ottawa Citizen, which was not published, and in it I said, “What is worrying the Sri Lankan government are possible kamikaze attacks by the two bomb-loaded planes, perhaps on the parliament building when the parliament is in session, thus wiping out all of the country’s lawmakers in one attack, or an attack on power installations, et cetera. The two-seater fixed aircraft surely is in no position to chase fighter Kfir jet planes and fighter helicopters.” That was my crystal ball reading two years ago.

Now the world has seen the first aircraft owned by a terrorist organization, the Tamil Tigers, dropping two bombs at Colombo’s International Airport at Katunayake in the early hours of Monday, March 26, 2007. This incident will go into Terrorism historical archives, with a foot note saying that the international world who was supposed to be fighting international terrorism made this happen and has to take some responsibility, other than constantly griping of human rights violations in a country that is at war with the most ruthless terrorist group in the world, the Tamil Tigers.

Asoka Weerasinghe