Statement to Associated Press
June 7,2008 and Media Release
Safeguarding Civilians - June 9,2008
Ira de Silva London, Canada
Mr. Jehan Perera
Executive Director
National Peace Council
Sri Lanka.
Dear Sir:
Re: Statement to Associated Press June 7,2008 and Media Release Safeguarding
Civilians - June 9,2008
I refer to your statement of June 7, and am writing to object to your
continued bias against the government and people of Sri Lanka and your
continued moral support and cover-up of LTTE atrocities. While everyone
who is aware of the work of the National Peace Council in Sri Lanka
knows that it is a foreign funded organization paid to be a life support
of the Tamil terrorists, it is getting to the point that the question
should be asked by the people of Sri Lanka whether your "work" is contributing
to the death and destruction being carried out by LTTE. Your statement
to AP on June 7,2008 that the bombings in the south are "tit for tat
kind of retaliation" by the Tamil Tiger terrorists indicates that you
are aware that the bombings in the south have been carried out by the
Tamil terrorists. The use of "tit-for-tat" conveys the impression that
this is some kind of childish play rather than a matter of life or death.
Further by this statement you have unwittingly indicated that you are
privy to the thinking and planning of the LTTE and that you have also
taken on the role of spin doctor/spokesperson. Only you would know what
you mean when to say to AP that "the government must also be careful
with its own operations”. If you are implying that the government forces
intentionally target civilians, then that too indicates that you are
merely providing "spin" to the LTTE falsehoods as statistics of casualties
in operations by the government clearly indicate that the security forces
take every possible care to minimize the impact on civilians and that
it is the LTTE who use civilians as human shields.
The media release states that your council "welcomes statements by government
leaders who appealed to the people to remain calm and to be law abiding."
This is nothing new - the government has always done it's best to protect
the people of the country in the face of gave provocation by the LTTE
who are doing their best to cause unrest and promote violence in the
areas outside the Wanni. You state "more public education on prevention
and early detection and swift action on warnings are also needed". If
you had any interest in doing anything positive for the country perhaps
you should divert the foreign funds you are spending to create dissension
to "more public education on prevention and early detection and swift
action on warnings". Your organization spent much on seminars for so-called
conflict resolution which you did not take to the one place they were
needed, namely Killonichi to "educate" the leaders of the LTTE which
is called the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world. In
previous correspondence to you I asked why you had not done so if you
were intent on doing something positive for peace in the country. The
fact is that you can not bite the had that feeds you so you continue
your work, which is to pander to the LTTE and criticize the government.
There will be no foreign funding should you be of any real help to the
people of Sri Lanka in their search for peace.
It is noteworthy that you are concerned about reports of claymore mine
explosions that have taken the lives of civilians in the LTTE controlled
areas. Perhaps it would not be in your best interests to point out that
the LTTE have never held back on killing people anywhere in the country
if it would give them world-wide publicity against the government which
could then be orchestrated by organizations such as yours. It was just
last week that Nadesan of the LTTE stated to the BBC that they do not
kill civilians or political leaders which all Sri Lankans know is a
blatant lie. The fact is that the LTTE never acknowledge any of their
killings although they have been in the thousands. As for political
leaders, after fifteen years the LTTE finally acknowledged killing Rajiv
Gandhi only when they wanted help from India which had in better days
provided bases, military training and arms to the LTTE.
Finally, your call that the government should consider modes of de-escalating
the conflict is another "spin statement" on behalf of the beleaguered
LTTE who are doing their best to get relief from the successful operations
of the government security forces. All attempts over the last twenty
five years to stop the conflict have been of no avail because the LTTE
only use them to buy time, arms and ammunition to carry on their terrorism
to achieve their goal of dividing Sri Lanka. Further the so-called trusted
intermediaries, local or international have also proved that they have
no interest in peace in Sri Lanka as peace would result in them being
out of work, the National Peace Council being one of them. Therefore
the NPC's call on the government to de-escalate the conflict could be
interpreted as another plea to protect the LTTE. If the NPC has any
genuine interest to "de-escalate" the conflict, I would suggest a trip
by the NPC to the Wanni to obtain an assurance from the LTTE that it
will lay down arms and enter into meaningful negotiations for peace.
Yours truly,
Ira de Silva
London, Canada
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