Friday, 27 February 2009

Hearings of the USA Foreign Relations sub Committee on Sri Lank was a trial at bar without the Accused being called to defend.


The Great American Nation has been awakened. The American people wanted a change to what it had been during the past 8 years. For that change the American People have elected a new President with a New Vision for America. He is the President Barrack Obama. The 44th American President. A President of America, the people of the world looked forward to have.
The Great American Nation has been awakened. The American people wanted a change to what it had been during the past 8 years. For that change the American People have elected a new President with a New Vision for America. He is the President Barrack Obama. The 44th American President. A President of America, the people of the world looked forward to have.

President Barrack Obama spells change. He does not want America to be aggressive, but friendly, He dos not want America to be proud and arrogant , but humble and generous. He does not want an America dictating terms to the world, but an American that listens and understands. He does not want an America aloof and indifferent, but cordial and caring.

But old habits are difficult to change. The President Barrack Obama extended his hand to his friends and foes to unite with him not for his own sake but for the sake of the American people.. But the Republicans remain chillingly indifferent. They do not want change. They are still arrogant and intolerant.

The world too expects this change the President Barrack Obama had promised, reflected in all dealings the American Administration has with the Nations of the World. But unfortunately this change was lacking in the recent hearings of the Foreign Relations Sub Committee on recent developments in Sri Lanka.

The Sub Committee was Chaired by Robert Casey Jr. the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Sub Committee. He was Assisted by two Senators. The Committee had called as witnesses to recent developments in Sri Lanka a former Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Jeffrey Lunstead,the Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists Mr.Bob Dietz, and Ms.Anna Niestat of the Human Rights Watch.

The three witnesses are persons prejudiced against the Government of Sri Lanka, and well known for their stand against the military operations of the Government of Sri Lanka against a ruthless group of terrorists, banned in the USA itself. Watching the session of hearing by the Sub Committee, one wondered what good it is establishing Diplomatic relations with America, if the American Administration on an hearing by the Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on an important issue concerning Sri Lanka did not see it fit to invite the Sri Lanka Ambassador to USA to hear his view of the situation, or at least as an observer !

The hearing was a condemnation of the Government of Sri Lanka for its military operations to eliminate terrorism, that caused misery to its people of the North and East and massacred the civilians of the south by claymore bomb blasts and firing at buses and trains carrying civilians and caused irreparable damage to land and material.

The ex-Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead had perhaps been invited for his having served as the Ambassador of America in Sri Lanka from 2003 to 2006. But today three years after the situation in Sri Lanka has dramatically changed and the Ambassador’s experience then cannot be related to what is happening now to be admitted as a reference to the recent developments in Sri Lanka.

Mr.Lunstead did not make a statement for the Sub Committee to make it understand the present situation in Sri Lanka, but made a virulent attack on the Government and the President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka, without mentioning for once that the Government Forces are fighting against a group of terrorists, the FBI it-self had defined as a “ruthless group of terrorists”.

Ms. Lunstead’s contention was that the Government was using terrorism to wage a war against the minority Tamils denying them their rights as the citizens of Sri Lanka. . He did not mention the word “terrorists” thus shrouding the reality of the recent developments of Sri Lanka with contentious arguments of discrimination against the Tamil people.

His knowledge of the situation of Sri Lanka is confined to his past memories as the USA Ambassador in Sri Lanka who moved with the upper class Society without any personal contact with the ordinary people, and the information he had been fed by the “influential” Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora in America.

The Tamil diaspora had been financing the terrorists in Sri Lanka and was responsible for the modernisation of the terrorist forces with the purchase of modern arms and ammunition and transferring what ever technological assistance they could get from USA, to the terrorists. These are the informants of Mr..Lunstead, as well as the other two witnesses at the hearing -Ms. Niestat and Ms. Dietz.

As a leverage to force the Government of Sri Lanka to stop harassment of the minorities, and stop the military operations and give the Tamil people their political rights Ms.Lunstead suggested the American Government to withhold any American Aid that would be required by the Government of Sri Lanka to reconstruct the war torn country. The suggestion contradicts USA President Barrack Obama’s call for a change, to be generous, not to be arrogant, jumping to punish nations for being different, without understanding their problems and the solutions they have for the problems.

Next it was Ms. Anna Niestat of the Humanitarian Watch. She started a harrowing story she had heard from another. A woman, after artillery fire, putting her head out of a bunker in which she was hiding, saw a woman lying on her stomach dead, with a dead child besides her, and another decapitated, and half a body of a child on the branch of a tree. She stopped either to thinking of more harrowing details to add, or to dramatise the instance of horror. She then continued what she had heard from others . She said that about 200,000 Tamil civilians are concentrated in a small area and they have neither food nor medicine. The civilians who are trying to get away into free zones were indiscriminately shot at by the army. She had been told that the hospitals have been bombarded.

She complained that the Tamil Civilians entering into the Government controlled areas are herded into camps in which they are kept.


Women soldiers helping the refugees

They are not allowed to go out and contact people. Some refugees are taken away by the army and there is the fear that they may not be seen again. The ICRC, she said is not given a list of names of the people separated and taken away from the camps. The camps are guarded by armed paramilitary groups. The Army which is in charge of the camps she said does not allow foreign aid workers to come. She said the International Community should assure a presence in the area to control that there is no violation of human rights of these Civilians in the camps.

Most of her statement was based on hearsay. The human rights watch is also dependent on the Tamil diaspora for their information. Karen Parker is an instant in question. She mocks and ridicules the Sinhala people their flag and the President of Sri Lanka. Ms.Niastat gets her firsthand information from the Tamil diaspora. Ms. Niestat and Karen Parker are of course doing their job and it is the continued existence of conflict situations in the world that keep them in business. So it is quite natural for them to seek prestige in appearing in high-power forums like the Foreign Relations Sub Committee to condemn governments as the cause of conflicts.

But Ms.Niestat’s statements were not substantiated by facts. It was a sort of “ my word against yours”. That type of hearing does not give much credit to the Foreign Relations Sub Committed which would at the end of these hearing make a statement, perhaps accusing the Government of Sri Lanka for the “ recent development”, on uncorroborated evidence. The whole story of the bombardment of the Hospitals were unfounded mere hearsay. The Government showed photos of these hospitals intact in many Government Websites.

The Government of Sri Lanka is engaged in military operations to eliminate a group of terrorist. The Government Forces carried out a very successful military campaign in which they were able to recapture a large part of the territories that had been under terrorist control . The terrorists are now cornered in a small area of about 150 sq.km of land and continue to fight against the armed forces keeping a large number of the Tamil civilians as a human shield. The Government Forces opened a no-fire Zone within the area and requested the Tamil civilians to come into it to be taken to the Government controlled areas.

But the terrorists do not want the people to leave the area as it would open them to Artillery fire of the army. In order to dissuade the Tamil Civilians from leaving the area in which the terrorists are cornered, the terrorists shot artillery fire into the free zones into which the civilians had come, killing and wounding many of them. The Government Forces are not firing into the Free Zone, but the Human Rights watch which accepts the version of the terrorists, that it is the Government Armed forces that are shooting into the free zone repeats it in her turn to get the American Government to intervene.

The Government Forces are on the verge of terminating the military operations against terrorism, and do not want to enter into a cease fire now as the terrorist would make use of a cease fire to gather force and re-organise them-selves to fight back the Government Forces. This they had done during several cease fires declaration before.

The human Rights Watch had been from the beginning of the Governments military operations against the terrorists, had acted with sympathy towards the terrorists, and now the terrorists are on the verge of being eliminated for good, the Human Rights Watch is going all out to defeat the aim of the Sri Lanka Government to end terrorism, thus trying to give a lease of life to terrorism in Sri Lanka.

The Refugee Camps to house the Tamil civilians coming from the terrorists controlled areas are under surveillance as terrorists infiltrate into the camps along with the refugees, and endanger the lives of large numbers of people who have gathered into these Refugee Camps.

There were already two terrorist suicide cadres who had exploded themselves within the camps killing many civilians including children and members of the armed forces. The Army personal after questioning the refugees coming into the camps , separate the suspected terrorists from the genuine refugees. The suspected terrorists are taken way for further verification. Some of them have already informed the Government forces of plans by the terrorists to explode claymore bombs, and described areas where explosives are hidden.

The humanitarian workers- the so called NGO’s have been proved to have helped the terrorists to build air strips, bunkers, submersible boats, make bombs and transferred lot of material meant for the Civil population that were affected by the tsunami , for the benefit of the terrorists . Therefore, the Government does not want to send NGOs once again to war affected areas as they have forfeited the trust and confidence placed upon them by the Government. The number of persons still in the areas controlled by the terrorists is far less than 200000 mentioned by Ms.Niastat. And, the Government of Sri Lanka sends regular stocks of dry food and medicine to the terrorist controlled areas through the UN Office in Colombo.

Medical Facilities are avilable in the Refugee Camps

The last witness to give evidence was M.Bob Dietz Coordinator of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists. Of course on the Agenda was the assassination of Lasantha Wickramatunga. Mr. Dietz described how the assassination was carried out and how the assassins in their motor bicycles disappeared in to the barracks of the Army. He said that though there was no direct accusation against the President of Sri Lanka for the assassination the hand of the Government in that killing and the killing of many other journalists before and after that incident cannot be written off.

His evidence too was based on the stories related to him by other journalists. The Government had no interest in killing Lasantha Wickramatunga, as the News Paper that he edited is not a popular journal, and posed no danger to the government . The Police is investigation into the killing and evidence so far found does not connect the assassination to the Government Forces. In a war situation the news papers have to be careful of what they report. Therefore warning the News papers not to publish false information concerning the military operations is justifiable.

In that hearing the presence of a terrorist group in Sri Lanka had faded into the back ground. They referred to the terrorists as the LTTE, speaking of them as a mere political group. The Government's point of view was considered unimportant.

EU pressures the Government for a ceasefire, they may also withhold aid to Sri Lanka on the issue of a non existent violation of human rights. The donor states too consider some sort of sanction. Is that how the developing nations should be assisted when they suffer for decades under terrorism ? Is that what the USA President Barrack Obama spoke of as a new world order ? The fact that the terrorists in Sri Lanka are not a threat to USA, does not make them any less terrorists than al-keida.

This is not the change that the President Barrack Obama expects. I am sure the USA President will call for a more balanced credible hearing with the presence of a representative of Sri Lanka, if he receives a biased negative report on the recent developments of Sri Lanka, from the Foreign Affairs Sub Committee.

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

The European Union calls for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka.


I thought that the Members of the EU are intelligent people who could correctly evaluate a situation where a group of terrorists, who have been causing untold damage to the country and practiced a ritual of killing and massacring innocent people of Sri Lanka, all their opponents, Presidents , Government Ministers, and so on, are being successfully driven away from the country, to end their thirty years of terrorism.

But no, the EU Parliamentarians seem to be utterly incapable of understanding the reality of the situation. They do not seem to understand that the government is fighting against the terrorists, who have no respect for life. A group of ruthless terrorists who cannot be trusted to honour a ceasefire. The Government is determined to end this war now at what ever human and material cost so that the terrorists will not come back again to kill our people and damage our country for another thirty years.

The government of Sri Lanka which had carried out a successful military operation under most difficult circumstances, having sacrifices many of its youth should be allowed to see and end to the terrorism with out being interfered into by the European Parliamentarians and human right activists who understand nothing at all of the situation . What they know of the situation of Sri Lanka is what they have heard from the Tamil diaspora, who are also outsiders to the real problem in Sri Lanka.

The terrorism should be ended now or never, and the EU Parliamentarians cannot understand that reality, and calls for a cease fire when the terrorists are on the verge of being eliminated.

The Government of Sri Lanka is more deeply concerned than the EU, and is quite capable of safeguarding the civil population of the country. The EU should not attempt to give a lease of life to terrorists as it was a few days ago that the terrorist went into a Village and killed and wounded hundreds of villagers by shooting at the people, the children, the young and old men and women.

While EU is trying to intervene in Sri Lanka calling for a cease fire when the government is about to end terrorism for ever in Sri Lanka, encouraged by the sympathy of the EU, terrorism seems to be overflowing into France. It was yesterday that a French policeman was killed by a group of Tamil men who are members of the Sri Lanka terrorists Group. The French Police has arrested 19 of them in France.

Therefore, the EU should re-examine their wisdom in intervening in Sri Lanka to call for a cease fire in the military operations against terrorist.

Terrorists are terrorists, in what ever country they carry out their terrorist activities. In making a wrong calculation by the EU to intervene in Sri Lanka to call for a cease fire, the EU is indirectly helping proliferation of terrorism in neighbouring India, and in to the Western Capitals.

Therefore , EU is really playing with fire and putting their own countries in danger in showing sympathetic consideration to the terrorists of Sri Lanka, by calling for a cease fire instead of calling the terrorists themselves to lay down their arms..

The EU does not seem to know the extent to which the humanitarian workers the INGOs had supported the terrorists in Sri Lanka providing them with technical assistance, helping construction of bunkers and air strips, neglecting the civil Tamil population, who they were supposed to have taken care of.

The Government of Sri Lanka will in future restrict access of Western humanitarian workers to the people and territories in the North and East of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka has its own people who could help the Tamil population in the North, East, as well as in the south.

Without the EU having to say it, the Government of Sri Lanka is quite aware that defeat of terrorism requires giving attention to other factors to unite all Communities of Sri Lanka.

The necessary action in this respect has already been taken and our President is very wise and capable of finding the appropriate action to be taken to ameliorate the political, social and economic situation of the country, after terrorism.

Friday, 20 February 2009

Tamils of the diaspora should come out of their July,83 mind set to become Sri Lankans

The Tamils of the diaspora have subjugated their intelligence, academic achievements, and experience in living in foreign lands to follow the philosophy of an unschooled terrorists Prabhakaran.

Prabhakaran’s statements to press, his homeland concept, his indoctrination of youth for supreme sacrifice for the cause of a homeland, are his “ Dhamma” the divine parole; mutilations, torture, murders, snatching of children from families to train them as sacrificial lambs , extortion and massacres are the sacrificial rites- the “ poojas” for Surya Deva Prabhkaran !

The Tamil diaspora had given Prabhakaran a Divine Status. He is for them an avatar –a “Divinity”- Sun God incarnate in human form.

Narapalasinghams, Kumar Davids , Pakiasothys, Jeyrajs, and many like them and those of the anti-war lobby the Kumar Rupasinghes, Jehan Pereras, Jayadeva Uyangoda and many more are Prabhakaran’s disciples. His words are divine. They repeat every word of his heroe’s day speech as divine words, calling him the leader of the Tamil people. The Tamil Net, Tamil Week, Transcurrent, SriLankaGuardian, Lankaenews, Sunday Leader, BBC, Boston Post, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International are some of his Kovils.

The Tamil Diaspora is responsible for the present situation in Sri Lanka where the terrorists emboldened by the financial support of the Tamil Diaspora, and depending on them to seek International support through Karen Parkers, Bruce Fein, Evans, Martins, Solheims and now MIA the Rapper. The Tamil diaspora is also responsible for the continued harassment of the Tamil civilians in the small area in Mullativu into which they have been confined by the terrorists putting their lives in danger using them as a human shield.

The ordinary Tamil people in Sri Lanka cares less for Prabhakaran. They know Prabhakaran as an ordinary bum, a mad man, a paranoiac, a raksha, kidnapper of children, ruthless killer whose hands are soaked with the blood of the innocent people . The ordinary Tamil people of Sri Lanka do not accept him as their leader. They fear him, they detest him, they hate him. They know that all their problems stem from him, and they have no love for him.

Prabhakaran is a Tamil hero raised to Divine Status, by the Tamil Diaspora blindly followed by the DMK and PMK politicians of Tamil Nadu, who pray for him as the Sun God to grant them as well a possibility of being a part of his Eelam.

The International Community blindly following the Tamil Diaspora, consulting them and for some unknown reason fall in line with them to support the terrorist Prabhakaran against the Government of Sri Lanka. They take the Government Forces as the force of evil fighting against a deified terrorist Prabhakaran acclaimed by the Tamils of the diaspora as their thalaivar - the Sun God.

This tragicomedy has to stop, and the Tamil Diaspora come to their senses to see Prabhakaran as a terrorist, that should be detested and destroyed for the good of the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka. The suffering of the Tamil civilians in Mulativu could be understood only by the people living here in Sri Lanka , but not by those Tamils living outside.

The suffering people are not the terrorists. The terrorists are those who inflict suffering on the Tamil civilians. In mixing up the terrorist with the Tamil people of Sri Lanka the Tamil diaspora as well as the International Community is causing lot of confusion to the detriment of the Tamil people and the Government of Sri Lanka.

If the ICRC is doing what they are expected to do in a “war torn” country they should do it without taking side with one party or the other to the conflict. If they cannot do that then they should get out of the country. ICRC is not their to create new problems to a Government who is doing its best in the interest of its civil population who had been suffering for nearly thirty years under a ruthless terrorism they never wanted.

It is the same with the United Nations System, Amnesty International, and all Human Rights activists. They should intelligently look at the problem of a country that had gone through pangs of sorrow and untold human suffering because a ruthless terrorist, aided and abetted by a rich Tamil diaspora wanted to set up a Tamil Homeland; which the ordinary Tamil people of the Country do not want.

The International Agencies and Human Rights Activists should know that it is their bounden duty to trust a democratically elected government rather than a Tamil Diaspora which had been for three decades financing a demoniac Tamil Man who became a terrorist to divide a country and its people.

The NGOs and INGOs have aggravated the problem of Sri Lanka, by taking sides with the terrorist against the government of Sri Lanka providing them with funds, technical knowhow, and technology and equipment, to enable the terrorists to break away a part of our country to set up a separate homeland.

The evidence of this abuse of confidence placed on the NGOs and INGOs by the Government, is being discovered by the Government Forces. There is clear evidence that the INGOs had been in someway helped the terrorists in the construction of 7 air strips, workshops for construction of submarines, air planes, underwater scooters,
and supplying them with earth movers and tractors, bullet proof vehicles, and the construction of bunkers. which the majority of the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka does not want.
Sri Lanka is an example for other developing countries to understand that the INGOs who come pretending to help the countries have in reality other motives. Therefore as far as possible INGOs should not be given free access into their countries in future without taking from them an “oath of confidence”. If they are accepted they should not be allowed to work on their own without being controlled by the Governments.

But what more often happens is that the foreigners who come in the guise of Aid Workers are accepted by the people of developing countries with considerable confidence and respect believing they have honest intentions . Once accepted these worthless beings abuse the confidence placed on them by the governments to damage the country and its people by getting involved in politics, without remaining Neutral. In Sri Lanka the NGOs and the foreign media take life from the Sri Lanka Tamil Diaspora and are greatly influenced by it.

The Tamils of the Diaspora should stop fanning the “Tamil sentiments “ of the people. It is they who could help to solve the so called “ethnic problem” of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora though educated and intelligent are still living with the hatred of “ July 1983” As long as they continue to live with their “July 1983” mind set they will not see the present reality of the Sri Lankan problem. Once they get out of that 1983 mentality they will understand that the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka is different from what it was in July,1983. The confusion will persist to exists in their minds as long as they think of them selves as Tamils and not as Sri Lankans.

It is time that they realise that in a foreign country they are always referred to as Sri Lankans and not as Tamils. Therefore they should cultivate themselves to be Sri Lankans, or of Sri Lankan origin, with out thinking in terms of being the children of the Tamils who left their motherland in 1983. 1983 is the past; what remains of it is the fading memory. The second and third generation Tamils from Sri Lanka should grow up to be what they are now just of Sri Lankan origin.


MIA the Rapper should refuse to be a part of the terrorists. She is a Sri Lankan. She should not defend the cause of the terrorists. The Sri Lankan situation is too complicated for her to understand its ramifications. The Sri Lanka Tamils are different from the Terrorists in the north. When MIA speaks for the 20 percent as she says of Tamils, she should leave out the terrorists and understand that the Government Forces are fighting against the terrorists and not her 20 percent Tamils.

In this modern times when human beings are sent to the Moon, and even proposing to colonise the planets with human beings, the Tamil Diaspora should stop their continued attempt to create communal dissension in Sri Lanka thinking of themselves as Tamils who left Sri Lanka in 1983, therefore different from those living in Sri Lanka. It is time they think of themselves as Sri Lankans and nothing else.

Sunday, 15 February 2009

No Amnesty to terrorists, No Ceasefire with terrorists, No Negotiations with terrorists.


The image shows Brown and Browne discussing how to mess things in Sri Lanka still standing on their heads

The terrorists, had terrorised our country for the last three decades. At no point had the International Community and India demanded the terrorists to lay down arms and come for a negotiated settlement with the Government. Instead they had through out the period put the terrorist on equal terms with the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka , demanding “both sides” to come to a negotiated settlement.

The International Community and India did not demand the terrorists to lay down their arms, but connived with them, allowing them to build a strong armed force to fight the Government Forces. Hence the International Community and India are both responsible for the large number of deaths during the three decade of terrorism in Sri Lanka.

In their effort to help the terrorists, rather than to dissuade them from their nefarious brutalities, the International Community used Ranil Wickramasinghe , the Prime Minister of the UNF government of Sri Lanka-the weakest political leader Sri Lanka ever had the misfortune to have, as their puppet, getting him to sign a CFA prepared by the Norwegians in consultation with Prabhakaran- the leader of the terrorists.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe hands over the signed ceasefire document to Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Jon Westborg, in Vavuniya on 22 February,2002.

This CFA gave the terrorists of Sri Lanka the distinction of being a parallel terrorist regime in the territories left under their control. The CFA opened new avenues for the terrorists to collect funds from the diaspora and purchase arms and heavy military equipment of all sorts and transport them in their own fleet of 12 Ships.

Norway which acted as the mediator between the terrorists and the Government, arranged peace negotiations with the government delegations, and the terrorists, giving the terrorists a military status by assigning to them military ranks such as Colonels , Lieutenants, Captains, and Political Commissars. That was how “Norway” insulted our Government Forces.

The International Community provided the terrorists of Sri Lanka a respectability designating them as “ rebels” making them suitable political negotiators, putting them on equal terms with the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka, while declaring to the world that the terrorists against their own countries will have no place around their negotiating tables.

The terrorists were so emboldened by this singular treatment by the International Community that they once even refused to attend the negotiations arranged for them by Norway in Oslo, as the Sri Lanka delegation was not led by a Minister of the Government !!!

The foreign media falling in line with the International Community referred to the terrorists as LTTE or rebels. The CFA gave the terrorists additional power- sort of an independent political status by demarcating territories to be kept under their control to which the government security forces or government officials were refused entry.

But, on the other hand the CFA gave the terrorists free access to Government controlled areas for “political work”. That right under the CFA was utilised by the terrorists as a licence to kill, assassinate, and massacre the civilians in the government controlled areas and then escape into areas under their control which was interdicted to government security forces, and the police.

Hence, while the Amnesty international and every pro terrorist media, and International Agencies accused the government of abductions of Tamils by using a “white van”, the terrorists had the access to kidnap, kill and commit mass murder in the Government controlled areas and escape into areas under their control in the White Van , motor bicycles and three wheelers.

The foreign Minsters and representatives of foreign governments went directly to Killinochchi and “ wined and dined” with the terrorists, establishing cordial relations with them.

Their relationship was so strong that a woman Ambassador from Netherland who was to leave Sri Lanka after her assignment made a special visit to Kilinochchi to bid farewell to her terrorist friends before leaving !!!

That was the situation into which the International Community brought the Sovereign state of Sri Lanka by its manoeuvrings to make the only solution to terrorism a political negotiation to cede the North and East to the terrorists for a Tamil Eelam State. The International Community virtually created a separate Eelam State for the Terrorists under the CFA that Norway deftly manipulated Ranil Wickramasinghe a weak Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, to sign without consulting the then President or the Parliament.

All the while the foreign government representatives, the visiting dignitaries, American Senators, Ambassadors, the Blakes and Chilcotts, UN and EU representatives were wining, dining and finding bodily comfort in Killinochci, these very sociable terrorists sent their pistol gangs, grenade lobbers, snipers, suicide human bombs, to kill all their opponents, assassinate Presidents, Ministers



, Government Security Officers, Army Officers and massacre civilians by detonating claymore bombs targeting buses, trains, mosques,

temples, and crowded markets in the south.

There were no Blaires, Browns and Brownes, or Evans, to speak to the terrorists and demand them to stop killing and lay down arms and negotiate with the government. But the “respectable” International Community, UN, India continued to issue statements demanding both parties-the terrorists and the Government to negotiate for a peace settlement.

That was how it was until 2006, when a leader rose from amidst us, who the western media called a hawkish President. It is the present President Mahinda Rajapakse .

From the time he was sworn as the President of Sri Lanka, he called out for peace . He invited Prabhakaran the leader of the terrorists to negotiate for a settlement of the conflict that had been continuing for well over two and a half decades. Prabhakaran refused a personal meeting but agreed for a meeting to negotiate a peace settlement through his reprsentatives.

The negotiations that were held in Oslo were broken half way with the delegation of the terrorists walking out of the negotiations. Thereafter, Prabhakaran true to his uncompromising attitude sent his agents of death to blast a claymore bomb targeting a bus carrying civilians in a place called Kebethigollewa in which 64 civilians were killed and 75 injured.


The terrorist Prabhakaran and his followers were determined to set up their Eelam State. He was sure he could depend on his friends from the International Community who share his wine and dine in style with him, to pave the way to make his dream come true. The terrorist Prabhakaran sure of himself and his mighty military power, and the backing of the International Community decided to take the Government head on for the decisive Eelam War determined to set up his Tamil Eelam State.

The government took up the challenge. The Government of the President Mahinda Rajapakse, with great foresight withdrew from the CFA on the 3 January, 2008, and commenced military operations against the terrorists. The brave Government Forces lead by the Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, supported by able Gotabhaya Rajapakse, single handed without any help from any foreign government brought the terrorists to their knees.

The International Community who never expected the government to win in the military operations against the terrorists, thought the terrorists will make a surprise come back to defeat the Government Forces……. and still continue to believe in a terrorist spring back and UK’s attempt to force Browne to interfere, and India’s call for amnesty seem to be a part of this belief.

That expected surprise from the terrorists still not forthcoming, the Browns, and Brownes and all the international humanitarian crowd who had not come forward in defence of the government, to demand the terrorists to lay down arms, are now coming against the government blaming it for every incident of killing and shooting by the terrorists as acts of genocide being committed by the government.

They speak of hospitals bombed by the Government Forces, when those hospitals still stand intact !!! They speak of 300,000 civilians kept as a human shield by the terrorists, when no body knows the total population of Kilinochchi and Mulativu which had not come under an official census for more than three decades !!!

We cannot expect any thing different from the present accusations by the International Community who seems to be bent on saving the terrorists at any cost. However, Sri Lanka cannot give up the military operations the Government Forces had started since the Mavil Aru incident


without a final military victory over the terrorists.

We have lost far too many of our brave soldiers, to turn back now to allow the terrorist leaders to go scot free. There cannot be a cease fire. We cannot give amnesty to the brutal killers the terrorists who had caused so much of damage to our country and its people. The terrorists even if they surrender now cannot be a party to any negotiation after the end of terrorism.

The terrorists did not represent the Tamil people, and having made the Tamil civilians suffer keeping them as a shield to save their skins and shooting at them to stop them from entering into the free zones, the terrorists have confiscated their right to speak for the Tamil civilians.

The UK is responsible for the thousands of deaths in Sri Lanka caused by the terrorists, first by having kept a very active pro terrorist Tamil diaspora within its territory, two for not stopping their continued activities in favour of terrorism in Sri Lanka, and three, for having not forced the active Tamil diaspora in UK to demand the terrorists to release the Tamil Civilians in their clutches, instead of accusing the Government of Sri Lanka in its rightful defence of its country and its civilian population.

Friday, 13 February 2009

An attempt to keep Sri Lanka poor, insignificant and divided in communal conflict.

Situation in Sri Lanka is very serious to-day. There was already a serious problem with the terrorists, but as that problem is coming to an end a greater problem begins to loom over Sri Lanka . The problem may well aggravate even before terrorism ends, as the tense uncertainty reins, it becomes the propitious time for the gathering clouds of danger to reach its climax.

Therefore, now is the time, more than it was ever before, for all political parties in Sri Lanka, to set aside their differences, to join hands with the government, not to save the government but to save Sri Lanka. It is also the time for all civil societies, agencies and institutions to unite to save Sri Lanka from falling into the trap that had been set a long time ago, by external forces getting ready to pounce on us with all the cunning they have in store.

What we are facing is the effort of external forces that gather themselves in unity to stamp the efforts of not only us, but all small developing nations to be independent and challenge the rich and mighty who are seeking to rise into being a group seeking global domination. They seek to dominate the world of nations not only in the field of economy and technology, but also domination through a global religious culture, while dominating the world as a military power with the atomic bomb as its ultimate military superiority.

These external force are the member nations of the International Community consisting of the Western countries including USA. They were seeking to claim their place as the world leaders when Japan, India, and China rose to challenge them seeking a place among them as equal partners.

The countries of the International Community cannot any longer disregard India and China who are economic powers of their own. India with its own nuclear power and a tested Atomic bomb has to be sooner or later taken into the fold of the International Community. They are also the new stake holder of space, with satellites , and with capability of using space for military purposes.

The sudden arrival of Iran into the midst of the rich Nations was unexpected by the International Community. The International Community still has the advantage over Iran in the ownership of the Atomic Bomb. In order to stop a further challenge to their global power the International Community is determined to stop Iran from developing its nuclear capability to produce the atomic bomb. Iran while denying its intention to use its knowhow to produce an atomic bomb, has adventured into the space, therefore whether they like it or not the exclusive nuclear club has to enlarge its membership to include Iran as a member of it or split its world domination sharing with another power group like Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, and India

Where does Sri Lanka come in all these schemings of the International Community to dominate the world. The days are over when the countries are controlled as Colonies dependent on the richer states as Colonial rulers. Therefore, the International Community is preparing a plan different from what the conquering Nations did in the past to claim world leader ship by conquest and setting up Colonies. There “doctrine” of globalisation is to brings all nations under the power of the selected few nations having the nuclear superiority. But the fear of the International Community is having to share their own superiority, with another group such as Russia, Iran, Pakistan and perhaps North Korea coming forward to challenge them.

Pakistan which has not reached the economic status to claim its place in the International Community along side India and China is nevertheless the possessor of the Atomic bomb-the ultimate challenge to the military superiority of the West.

In this polarity a country like Sri Lanka in its geographic situation, and its very forceful diplomatic engagement, with all countries takes a special place. Sri Lanka is not a weak ”banana state”, willing to play the puppet of the International Community. Sri Lanka’s very close ties with Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and China is a challenge to the West and its intention to dominate the world nations.

An Indian political analyst, had recently said that Sri Lanka is a country less developed compared to India- which has better human and material resources with a highly diversified economy. Sri Lanka he said is still a three-item economy state- with tea, rubber and tourism.

Despite that handicap, Sri Lanka has all the potentials to rise above its economic limits to influence other states and challenge the forces that would claim themselves as dominating powers, by perhaps creating a division among them.

The formidable ability of Sri Lanka to give leadership to its immediate neighbour States, was seen in the recent organisation of the SAARC in Sri Lanka. That conference turned out to be a great success. The International Community could not have failed to observe the importance of the event and how since then the Countries of the SAARC have been meeting almost regularly. Therefore, the SAARC has become a dynamic Community of small Nations. The President of Sri Lanka gave a new impetus to SAARC’s rise to importance.

These activities of the President of Sri Lanka and his government are no doubt the reason why the International Community with its humanitarian activists, media Forums, International Agencies, INGOs., are all out to break up Sri Lanka to weaken it politically and bring discredit to the President and the Armed Forces with accusation s of violation of human rights, and committing genocide.

Canada has jumped the gun to come out openly to speak against the Government of Sri Lanka. Parliamentarian Jim Karygiannis even suggests establishing the International Community as the Administrators of the North Part of the Island.

The Canadian Parliamentarians have no idea of what exactly is happening in Sri Lanka. They are informed by their constituencies with a large population of the Tamil diaspora. The Tamil diaspora in Canada are mostly pro-terrorist who contribute large sums of money for the terrorists in Sri Lanka. The Canadian Parliamentarians who had been speaking on the issue were therefore speaking for their vote base taking a pro terrorist attitude.

It was only the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minster of Foreign Affairs Mr.Deepak Obhrai who spoke knowingly of the situation giving a sense to the debate. John McKay seems to think of Tamil tigers as a group of Boy Scouts, and laughs out at the government saying that it is under an illusion that eliminating Tamil tigers or driving them to the sea will end the conflict.

They are all of the view that the government should come to a peace settlement with the terrorists-the LTTE tigers, which is an unthinkable proposition when the terrorists will soon be an extinct species in Sri Lanka

In the mean time UK with its Colonial mind set sends Des Browne to meet both parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka to decide on a cease fire. The International Media is doing its best giving credence to a “fairy story “of Genocide being committed against poor Tamil population by the Sri Lank Armed Forces. The International Community is doing its best to give a lease of life to terrorism in Sri Lanka.

They turn a blind eye to the terrorists shooting at the civilians coming into the safe zones setup by the government, and suicide human bombs that exploded in the army camps and areas where the Civilians running away from the terrorists had gathered.

The Government is protecting the camps where the IDPs have been temporarily housed against the terrorists entering into them in the guise of civilians. The Times Online website has already started depicting IDP Camps as Concentration camps.

The Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that is on the verge of ending terrorism from its territory. The International Community is attempting to halt this elimination of the notorious group of terrorists, in order not to upset their agenda of dividing Sri Lanka and keeping it poor. So that it will not influence the other developing nations to rise above their poverty stricken status to form a block of developing nations against the manoeuvres of the International Community.

The intention of the International Community is to stop the further development of Sri Lanka into a powerful small Nation State with its great potential even to intervene in International Conflict Zones as a mediator. Sri Lanka has contacts with all Nations and established diplomatic ties with them. Even in Palestine Sri Lanka is an accepted friend. The President Mahinda Rajapakse has a personal “magnetism” that had won him friends in different international power blocks.

In the meantime the International Community seems to be unleashing the religious fanatics the Evangelists, and other religious conversion movements-another arm of the International Community, to intervene to spiritually divide and destabilise Sri Lanka.

Therefore it is time that the Sri Lanka media, the politicians, the intellectuals, religious communities, anti-war lobbyists, and local peace mongers take into account the present situation that is being hatched by the International Community to keep Sri Lanka a poor insignificant country divided and in communal conflict.

Let us all bury our differences to rise to the occasion to defend our country against all forms of foreign interventions. Down with Terrorism, Down with Foreign interferers.

Long Live Sri Lanka.

Sunday, 8 February 2009

Reflections on Mr. B.Ramans interview to a Russian Journalists on- INDIA'S MOMENT OF TRUTH

Mr.Raman, I read your interview to a Russian Journal on India’s Moment of Truth. I read it once. Then when I started writing an article about the International Community and the threat it poses to Sri Lanka in its development in to a modern State. I thought of reading it again and reflected on it.

Undoubtedly Sri Lanka has to go some way further to compare itself to India. But Sri Lanka though it depends on an agro economy, it has the potential to develop into a diversified economy if it could attain self sufficiency in its food, which drains much of the country’s assets. Sri Lanka with the population it has compared to India has a rich stock of human resources.

The Sri Lankans as a whole have the capacity to acquire technical skills, and there is still unexplored material resources which could be harnessed under a correct leadership to forge into advanced technology, which would be of enormous advantage to a small country like Sri Lanka.

Now more than ever before, Sri Lanka has the correct leadership in President Mahinda Rajapakse. The capabilities of the Commander of the Army Sarath Fonska, the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse have no doubt provided the essential victory over terrorism giving Sri Lanka the much needed peace, and the ability to divert savings on military expenses to open doors to diversify its economy. They have cleared the space necessary to enable Sri Lanka to develop into a modern State.

While tea, rubber and paddy are mostly in the South, paddy, and many agricultural products come from the North, and East as well. Tourism is a hitherto unexploited area to be developed in the North and East. Sri Lanka has still to explore the export of canned fish, making improvements to the fishing industry. There is a large foreign market for exotic fruits, and fruit juices. Therefore opening large scale plantations of fruits of all sorts would add to its export industry.

As you have correctly pointed out the Government of Sri Lanka under its President Mahinda Rajapakse has pursued “ an aggressive” foreign policy, going into areas that had been hitherto left out. Pakistan and China had always been good friends of Sri Lanka. Russia too had always stood by Sri Lanka. Iran, the Middle East and the former states of the USSR are new States with which Sri Lanka has opened diplomatic relations.

India has not contributed much to Sri Lank as a neighbouring state. It had rather an ambivalent relationship with Sri Lanka. India is a “pretentious” political partner which prefers to take side with the West rather than pally with the “poor next door neighbours “. India has adopted a cold standoffish attitude towards Pakistan, rather than one of being friendly and accommodating. I never understood why after the Mumbai terrorist attack India thought it fit to accuse Pakistan, even before the heat had died off.

The Present Sri Lanka Political leadership is friendly and cordial toward foreign states. Sri Lanka is more firm in its relationship with Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and even with India. China, Pakistan, and Iran are more dependable friendly States of Sri Lanka. That may be one of the reasons why the International Community at the present crucial time is attempting to divide Sri Lanka.

India’s aid to Sri Lanka is half hearted, not dependable. It has already problem with its different States and more with Tamil Nadu. Therefore, India does not speak with one voice. Though India is seeking leadership in Asia, its weakness is evident. It has no firm authority, over its different States, being dictated to by one state or another, and lives in fear of a breakaway of States. That is the fault of its Federal Constitution.

Sri Lanka has a tradition of being friendly with India. It has also a cultural and a religious affinity with India. The tradition of friendship between the two countries strengthened in modern times with Shri Jawaharlal Nehru becoming the Prime Minister of India, while Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike became the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

To what extent that cordial relationship exists today is doubtful. An inherent quality of Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse is his sincerity, and being faithful to his friends. His father too was a man of the people loved dearly by the people of the south. The Rajapakse family has inherited that inane human quality.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse’s determination to crush the LTTE is not for his dislike for Tamils. He is not basically a racist. He is humane, kind and open. He was ready to find a “terrain d’entente” with Prabhakaran, but Prabhakaran is not a man for dialogue. He is secretive, and is not ready to establish contact with any one beyond his immediate contacts, suffering undoubtedly from a chronic inferiority complex.

Even to you who has followed the terrorism in Sri Lanka it should be evident that terrorism has to end, for Sri Lanka to progress in all fields of development. Terrorism of Prabhakaran had come to a situation that it had to be a fight to the last where one should perish- “ a combat a mort.”

Though he is a clever war strategist, he has no political philosophy other than a call for an Eelam State for Tamils. He has not prepared a political cadre to take over the leadership after him. Prabhakaran was an idealist without a political platform . He was able to raise the racial sentimentality of the Tamil diaspora and the Tamils of the Tamil Nadu, but had no political vision. He was far too long in the business of “killing” to transfer his fanatism to a meaningful political end.
The President Mahinda Rajpakse has a profound political philosophy. It cannot be compared to the dream of a ruthless terrorist. It is wrong even to compare one with the other.

It was not after 2006 that the President Mahinda Rajapakse knew that he cannot depend on India. India had a different agenda. You know it Mr. Raman, the terrorists were taken charge of by the Indian intelligence Agency and trained as guerrillas in secret camps in Tamil Nadu. India had been plotting to divide Sri Lanka. IPKF came after the India began dropping” parippu” when the terrorists were on the verge of being eliminated by the Government Forces.

When thousands of soldiers of the Government forces were besieged in Jaffna, without transport to take them to safety, India refused to come to the help of the Sri Lanka Army. It was Pakistan, who came to the rescue.

As recently as in June,2006 the Indian Government not only refused to sell defensive military equipment to Sri Lanka, but also asked not to buy them from China or Pakistan. Therefore, how can Sri Lanka rely on India as a friendly nation to com to its assistance when it is in need. Pakistan had always stood by Sri Lanka when ever it was in need of help.

You cannot therefore say, “Thus, the strategic space for India in Sri Lanka is slowly getting reduced due to the increasing presence of not only China, Pakistan and Iran, but also the US”

Because India had distanced itself long time ago, leaving other political players to take the space left behind it.

You had not discussed these matters at the interview you had with the Russian Journalist.

Even since Dr. Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister in 2004, the Indian foreign policy has not changed much. India is now a leader state and its concerns seem to be less with its immediate neighbours, and more with the rich nations of the International Community.

I cannot understand why Mr.Raman says that, “ As a result of the victories of the Sri Lankan Army, there has been an increase in Sinhalese pride and chauvinism”. The chauvinism apart there is certainly a pride that the victories had been won by the sweat, blood, and lives of the Sinhala youth, and marvellous discipline of the army inculcated into it by the Commanders, ,and the political leadership. But beyond that it is a victory won for the country for all its people the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and others to live in peace, and have the opportunity to develop the country.

When Tamil Nadu drove the central government into tantrums on the Sri Lanka issue, it was like a “cat on a hot tin roof”, not knowing what to do and where to run. The Federal Constitution of India is certainly a dangerous instrument when the States decide to challenge the authority of the Central Government.

It is certainly not the model constitution for Sri Lanka. There is no Sinhala extremism but there is the Sinhala common sense which would not accept a Federal Constitution on the Indian model.

I think it is also wrong to conclude that, “ Of all the Tamil organisations in Sri Lanka, the LTTE was the most motivated. Many of its young cadres, who fought ferociously against the SL Army, joined it long after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991”.

The LTTE you speak of was a killing machine, its determination was the “determination of Prabhakaran”. It was the fear that made its cadres fight ferociously. They had no clear political vision, and their cause was the cause of the “thalaivar” the leader.

Perhaps you regret not the LTTE leadership or the cadre “who had no role in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi” but its potential and usefulness to India in future as a political strategic asset.

As much as you think first of the advantages that India could draw from the Sri Lankan situation, we think of finishing off with terrorism to divert attention for other projects vital for the development of Sri Lanka. Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse did not depend , as you say on Indian support (which was not forth coming) and ambivalence to destroy the capability of the LTTE for terrorism.

The Sri Lanka President provided wise leadership to his government and the armed forces and had the determination to pursue his object to the end. That was the reason for the victory over terrorism.

Any activity which is morally wrong, however it is carried out, has to end in failure. That , Mr.Raman, is a universal truth.

Saturday, 7 February 2009

Dr.Karen Parker's Reply

My Reply to Karen Parker



A lawyer seeking compliance with human rights and humanitarian laws should not only sympathise with the party that is suffering , but also try to understand those who he thinks had inflicted that suffering. With out understanding the cause that led to the suffering no effective solution to eliminate such suffering could be found. The duty of a lawyer is quite different from one who is trying to apply humanitarian laws.

Tamils of the diaspora are strangers to the Ordinary Tamil people living in Sri Lanka, they had been cut away from their native land for far too long to know the existing Sinhala-Tamil relation ship in Sri Lanka.

There are many humanitarian activists from the member states of the International Community who pretend to know the situation in Sri Lanka more than the Sri Lankans themselves. The present problem in Sri Lanka, which is identified by the Tamil diaspora as a conflict between the Sinhala and the Tamil is not the truth. The present problem is between a group of terrorists who had been terrorising the people of Sri Lanka for nearly thirty years and the Government of Sri Lanka who is trying to stop their continued terror.

Even yesterday a Tamil woman terrorist had blown herself in a Military Camp receiving Tamil Civilians from the terrorist held areas, and killed 28 and wounded many civilian men women and children.

You are not aware of the history of the Tamil politics in the North of Sri Lanka that was dominated by the high caste Tamils, though you say know every thing concerning the political history of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

You are too deeply engaged with once side of the problem, and therefore prejudiced against the other side . According to you there is no terrorism or terrorists in Sri Lanka. You think it is some thing imagined by the Sinhala people.

You are unable to appreciate the real situation in Sri lanka today, as you have been misled about the correct situation .

I think further discussion on the subject will lead us know where. I wish you success in your future activities with regard to the application of humanitarian laws.

Charles
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Karen Parkers Reply to my email below- No:3

Hello Charles Perera. "war" and "armed conflict" are synonymous terms in int'l law. The LTTE meet the int'l law tests for combatants. Either as civil war or war in the exercise of self-determination. Al Quaeda does not. It is NOT an military force. Neither are crime syndicates or gangs(Mafia) A number of other situations that you allude to do not or did not meet armed conflict standards. Some did. I don't make up the rules, I merely apply them. The United States "resolved" its problems with the British by engaging in armed conflict. The United States has also engaged in a civil war. Not to mention countless int'l wars and interventions into civil wars. It would be nice if all internal difficulties could be resolved without resort to armed conflict, but alas, history is full of wars. In the UK as well.

In Sri Lanka the Tamil people tried to resolve difficulties with the Sinhala (Lion flag) majority for many many years. Alas, peaceful solutions did not occur or did not take hold. I have many Sinhala friends, with whom I have worked for years to try to resolve the conflict. One was a UK barrister (now passed away), others both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. They are all aware that the "offers" made to the Tamil people and their leadership were drastically inadequate.

None of them now think the Sinhala rulers will come even close to an acceptable agreement. For the life of me, I cannot see why the Sinhalas have been so intent on denying the Tamil people sufficient autonomy to enable them to live in peace and prosperity. Even a "Quebec" of "Switzerland" solution is unacceptable to them. What would you propose. I am not an interested party in the sense of siding with one side or another. My goal is to seek compliance with humanitarian and human rights law. Full compliance would necessarily require a "fair deal" for the Tamils. This does not mean a "bad deal" for the Sinhalas.

Unfortunately we are now dealing with a Sinhala government that is unsurpassed in Sinhala chauvism and corruption. Again, what would you offer the Tamils? K
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My Reply to Karen Parker's e-mail 2 below:

I am a Barrister of the Lincoln’s Inn, and I have done International Law without specialising in it. But I have a keen interest in politics, and political struggles of developing countries against dominant powers thwarting that struggle through apparently well meaning interference. Therefore, I understand your keenness and the effort to understand and contribute to the cause for which you have a specialised legal interest.

The definitions of terms we use to identify armed confrontation between two groups of people, between a group of a people, and a Sovereign State, or between two Sovereign States, shadow the reality of the conflict itself. There have been tribal wars, racial riots, and apartheid. These had all been confined to less developed countries, which were in fact the “teething problems” of emancipation into independence, freedom and development.

All these cannot be put together under the definition of wars.

This applies more so in the case of a conflicts between a group of people, and a Sovereign State, where a group of people who have taken up arms , belongs to the same Sovereign State. These are not freedom fighters. Freedom from the State should be sought through dialogue, instead of resorting to an armed rebellion. Therefore each struggle should be identified differently.

Use of arms in a conflicts does not make it an armed struggle, because such an act by itself is a criminal act instigating uninstructed persons to join together resorting to terror to coerce a government to cede. That for me is terrorism though no one has still found an acceptable definition of terrorism. All forms of extremism could give rise to terrorism, whether it is extremism of the right, the left, religious fanatism , or fundamentalism.

I do not think I said that the armed conflict in Sri Lanka between the GOSL and the LTTE is a war. If I had said that it was wrong. For me terrorism cannot be given respectability by calling it a war, specially when the terrorist LTTE uses very inhuman methods such as using women and children as human bombs causing death and terror. Or the al- Queida getting human beings to commit suicide by flying Air plains loaded with passengers into twin towers.

Terrorism cannot be given any other name, because the terrorist have uniforms and carries the most modern arms and artillery against the Government forces. Terrorism is terrorism whether it is committed in America, Germany, England, Russia , India, or in the jungles of Colombia, what ever is the cause for which they are fighting. Call it what ever you my, but terrorism is not a war. A government fighting against terrorists are not in war with the terrorists, but carrying out military operations to weaken the terrorists and stop their terrorism.

Yesterday the 9th February,2009 , a woman terrorist exploded her self as a human bomb killing 28 persons and wounding many more. On the 8th of February,2009, a young girl of 13 was sent to an army camp with explosives strapped onto her, and exploded by a terrorist with a remote control device. Are these acts of war in defence of which humanitarians laws should be applied, and the clauses of Geneva Convention should be cited ?

I very much regret the physical attacks to which you had been subjected. But those are the risks we take in our desire to “ fight” for causes which we think are correct. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Lumumba, Che Guara and many more were not only manhandled but assassinated for the causes they were defending. Even Jesus Christ was nailed on to a cross for pronouncing the God’s words of love.

Even if being subject to fanatic mob attacks, if you can still sympathise with them for their being mislead from what you think is correct, and harbour no animosity towards your attackers, you are then a great human being.

If you do you are not attempting to understand them. Because in your attempt to apply humanitarian laws to all human struggles, you are only fighting for a cause, without taking side with one party or the other. But , if you were to take sides, one party can accuse you as belonging to the other. If you take sides, you are no more an independent investigator but an interested party attempting to justify the cause of the terrorists, or the Sinhala Government.

I am afraid, even if this e-mail is going to be long I cannot help but point out to you that your concept of verbal assault is wrong. I, who am trying to point out to you that the cause that you are fighting for has another side to it, and in all politeness possible putting forward arguments in its defence is a “ verbal attacker” (to take your own words, “I have also been verbally assaulted every time I have had any letter, report or other communication made public. Every single time. Now from you “ )

When you are defending an accused in a court of law, you would not say that the prosecuting counsel who argues against you is verbally assaulting you !

The people are the same whether they are Sinhala, Tamil, American, French or whatever. But they act differently according to which cause they are fighting, and which side you are taking. If you were defending the GOSL you would have been attacked by the Tamils. That is why if you do not belong to any one side you should be objective in you investigations and presentations.

The new President Barack Obama is trying to collaborate with every one to put forward a an economic plan, it had been passed by the Senate, and still awaiting to be passed in the Congress. Every days delay sees more Americans out of employment. But the Republicans are holding up the bill. Isn’t that also some sort of assault against Democrats for their attempt to implement the “Obama Plan” ?

What I notice in you is a prejudice against the Sinhala, in you attempt to implement Humanitarian Law. I plead you to please be objective. Please forget about the Tamils and Sinhala. Think only of the problem that has caused the present situation in Sri Lanka, not of the people involved in it.

There is terrorism, You cannot deny it. Terrorism has to be stopped where ever it is and who ever the people are involved in it.

There are the Tamils, and there are the Sinhala. They have to solve a problem if they have by entering into a dialogue.

It is as simple as that. Rest of the arguments only complicate the issue, hiding the reality behind words.

Your defence takes value only if you defend the problem, without getting involved with the parties to the problem – the Sinhala or the Tamil.

Charles.S.Perera
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Karen Parker replies: 2

I have been involved in the armed conflict in Sri Lanka because I specialize in armed conflict law. I also address a number of other situations that are armed conflict. A huge problem in the application of humanitarian law is that the US (the Bush administration and others that the US persuaded) has converted armed conflict to "terrorism/counter-terrorism" and has used Sri lanka in this regard. As a lawyer, my career is about compliance with the Geneva Conventions and all other rules of humanitarian law. The armed conflict in Sri Lanka is between the GOSL forces and the LTTE. You indicate that it is a war. Of course it is!! Multi-barreled rocket launchers, tanks, etc. This is not "box-cutters on an airplane." Both sides are armed forces in uniform, using the instrumentalities of war, with a chain of military command. A situation cannot be BOTH a war and "terrorism/counter-terrorism." LTTE is nothing like Al Qaeda, who hide out and are not in uniform. For "daring" to mention that humanitarian law should be complied with in Sri Lanka, I have twice been physically assaulted by Sinhala mobs-- once in Sacramento when 7 months pregnant where the police had to come to my rescue and once in Geneva in front of the Palais des Nations, and the UN Security Head at the UN gate had to call Geneva Police. At a Conference in Australia with MPs and judges, the Police there had to cordon off a Sinhala mob. I was nearly assaulted in Norway by Sinhalas at a session with the Norwegian Labour Party and the Norwegians had to call the police. I have also been verbally assaulted every time I have had any letter, report or other communication made public. Every single time. Now from you. For the past 26 years. I know of no situation in which Tamils have either physically or verbally assaulted Sinhalas. There was not a single Tamil protester (or counter-demonstrator at the Sinhala event in Geneva when I was assaulted. No person will ever erase these incidents from my mind. Note that the Geneva authorities will not give a permit to Sinhala demonstrators since that event. I think you may be living in a Sinhala cocoon, and do not understand the situation in its fullest. What possible reason do the Tamils have to be forced to submit to Sinhala racist regimes? Sorry. I do not get where you are coming from. The Tamils in the north, supposedly "liberated" are in detention camps. The ICRC had spoken out about the attacks on the hospitals -- war crimes under humanitarian law. I cannot believe that you do not accept that these events occurred? Attacking the "messengers" will not solve the issue. What do you want for the Tamils? If your goal is for a united Sri Lanka with full rights for all, you are not going about it usefully. Rather, this appears to reinforce genocide of Tamils. You should be urging the GOSL to call off the genocide and negotiate a realistic proposal that the Tamils might accept. Sorry, that is how I call it. Karen ps By the way, the massacre of Tamils by Sinhala mobs in 1983 was not the only one.

Karen Parker Replies: 1.
I have covered the conflict since the massacres by Sinhala against Tamils in 1983. Since the war began, there have been over 100,000 casualties, the vast majority Tamil civilians. This is a figure released by a highly respected medical group in the UK. I also have photographs of Buddhist monks verbally attacking the Tamil people (in their view, Sri Lanka is a Sinhala, Buddhist State). Anyone who expresses any sympathy with the Tamil people or their aspirations is verbally attacked -- whether a UN official, the ICRC, Norway, other gov't figures or NGOs. The legal age for combatants is 15. That is why I have never taken on the Government for "child soldiers." I have never taken a penny from the LTTE, and consider that your allegation that I have is libelous. No one in the Tamil Diaspora has ever "prompted" me on any statement I have written. As the government of Sri Lanka has made similar charges against me, I assume you are paid by them. I address a wide array of war situations, not just this one. I specialize in armed conflict law, so this explains that. No one except the Sinhala gov't attacks me, with the exception of the regime in Burma. While I have many friends who are Tamil, many of whom I have known for 20+ years, I also know a fair number of Sinhala people, including Bahu and others, most of whom agree with me on the situation. For a country that claims to be "ethnically neutral" it is most puzzling why the flag depicts the Sinhala lion. G. Rajapakse's statement that it is ok to attack hospitals that are not in "safety zones" is preposterous, as the cornerstone of humanitarian law is the absolute protection of all medical facilities for both combatants and civilians. What exactly is your agenda? Mine is compliance with the law. Dr. Parker

Reply to Karen Parker.

Year 1983 you refer to is not unknown. But unfortunately the casualty figures given by the Medical Group you refer to are exaggerated. Any way that is past history.

Sri Lanka is a country like any other. Sinhala consists of 78 percent of the population. But the Sinhala people do not go round telling that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala country. But each Community may say that Sri Lanka is their country, there is no restriction.

It is the motherland of every one of us- the Sinhala, the Tamils, the Muslims and all the rest.
A Sinhala Buddhist monk can call Sri Lanka a Sinhala Buddhist State. He does not mean by that, it does not belong to any one else. If an American Indian were to say that America belongs to Red Indians, he is not denying that it also belongs to others who are living there now.

It is not true to say that in Sri Lanka any one that sympathises with a Tamil person is verbally attacked. But if you sympathies with the terrorists, then of course people will say that you are a terrorist sympathiser, and therefore an anti Sri Lankan.

There are terrorists in Sri Lanka Ms. Parker, perhaps you are not aware of it and therefore mixing up Tamil civilian people with the terrorists- who are of the Tamil origin. They are two different categories. The Government of Sri Lanka is not against the Tamil civilians , but definitely against the terrorists led by a man called Prabhakaran.

Sri Lanka Army has no child soldiers. It recruits persons above 18 years of age as soldiers.

I never accused you for having taken money, from the terrorists, I had written that you may have been sponsored by a wealthy Front Organisation of the terrorists in USA. Even if you are paid, as a lawyer it would be a retainer fee. According to a website Bruce Fein is paid a retainer of US$ 1000 per day by a Front Organisation for terrorists.

If you had not been prompted by an anti-government pro-terrorist Tamil person of the diaspora, the information you have gathered I do not know from where, is totally wrong.

Not only the government but any body reading your appeal to the UNHCHR Ms.Pillay, including Ms.Pillay herself will know you have got the wrong information.

I have no doubt you have addressed a wide array of war situation, but what you have addressed on the situation in Sri Lanka is based on wrong information. If your Tamil friends are anti-Sinhala and anti government, they will undoubtedly support the wrong information you had given in your letter to Ms.Pillay.

Bahu is a Marxist theoretician and an anti government politician. If , you write against the government it would please him, what ever the facts you had given to accuse the Government of Sri Lanka.

With regard to the flag of Sri Lanka it has a long history. The flag, with out the two stripes one green and the other orange, was the flag of the old Sri Lanka which was pulled down by the British when Sri Lanka was declared a British Colony in 1815, and hoisted the Union Jack in its place. When Sri Lanka became Independent on the 4 th February, 1948, the old lion flag of Sri Lanka was once again hoisted in place of the Union Jack, which was taken down.
Later on in the State Council of the Independent Sri Lanka, it was decided by the representatives of the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim Communities that two stripes should be added to the lion flag- the green representing the Muslim Community and the Orange representing the Tamil Community. The whole flag represents the whole Nation of Sri Lankans.

If you would go to the website ( http://www.mawbimanews.com/) and watch the Video: “Sri Lanka: Aerial Photos of the Puthukkudyiruppu Hospital shows no damage nor cluster bombs” , you will see for yourself that the Hospital in question has not been touched by any artillery fire or cluster bombs.

These are the misinformation fed into the different Pro-terrorists websites to mislead the International Community to attract their sympathy to the terrorists, and raise anger against the Government.

My Agenda is to counter the misinformation publicised by the terrorists, and to keep intelligent persons from the International Community informed of the correct situation in Sri Lanka.

Friday, 6 February 2009

Reply to Karen Parker’s open letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

There is a new intrusion into the already crowded interfering international political and non-political moralists trying to hamper the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka, defending its people and its country unaided by any foreign governments, to ditch overboard a group of ruthless terrorists that had for thirty years terrorised its people, assassinated best of its leaders , politicians, senior army and police officers, massacred innocent civilians, Buddhist Monks, Buddhist pilgrims in the precincts of the sacred Bodhi Tree in the Sacred City of Anuradhapura, and Muslims praying in their mosques, tortured , kidnapped and brutalised the people.

The new intruder is Karen Parker representing an Association of Humanitarian Lawyers in USA.

Undoubtedly she too is sponsored by a wealthy Front Organisation of the terrorists in USA, which is evident from the false information she had been fed by them which she admirably presents to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, quoting her dignified status of the Chief delegate of the International Educational Development (Roster)
President, Association of Humanitarian Lawyer.

Her presentation of the case against the Government of Sri Lanka, is full of irrelevancies and unverified information presented as facts. First she refers to her previous contacts and communication for the last 26 years seeking to bring the long” conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sinhala forces and Tamil people and their forces”, to a peaceful and equitable conclusion.

With regard to her reference to “the conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sinhala forces, and Tamil people and forces”, it appears that she has not done her home work to study what really is the problem in Sri Lanka, who are involved in it, and why the situation has deteriorated from being serious to being catastrophic for the Tamils.

Karen Parker refers to a statement made by the UNHCHR Ms. N.Pillay on 29 January,2009, regarding the dire situation of Tamil civilians in the North of Sri Lanka. Karen Parker does not seem to have grasped the underlying meaning of the statement made by the UN High Commissioner.

Therefore, let us take a little time to educate Karen Parker on the situation in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka there are three main Communities not to mention the other smaller Communities. The three main Communities are the Sinhala 78 percent of the population, the Tamils 13 percent of the population, and the Muslims 7 percent of the population (census figures for 2003).

Of this 13 percent of Tamils, more than 55 percent of them live in the South among the Sinhala, Muslim, Malay and other Communities. There is a larger distribution of the three Communities in the South than in the North and East. The Sinhala people have no conflict with the Tamil people in the South, in the North, or in the East. The UN High Commissioner is quite aware of this, and that is why in her statement of the 29 January,2009 referred to by Karen Parker, she had referred to “Tamil Civilians” in the North of Sri Lanka.

In other words in the North there is a problem created by a group of “non-civilian Tamils”, that has put in danger the lives of the “Tamil Civilians”. The problem with Karen Parker is that she puts all Tamils into the same basket, and for 26 years she had been seeking to end a non existing problem, when the real problem is elsewhere. The problem, Ms. Karen Parker is with the “non-civilian Tamils”

Now Who are these “non-civilian Tamils” ?

They are the combatants, in other words the terrorists. The terrorists are a group of youth who in 1979 took up arms against the government, demanding a separate territory in the North and East as a homeland for the Tamil people. They were encouraged and taken charge of by the Indian Intelligence section (RAW) with the full knowledge of the Indian Government, and trained in guerrilla warfare to fight against the Government Forces of Sri Lanka to set up their separate State.

After training the terrorists lead by Prabhakaran went back to the jungles of the North of Sri Lanka from ,where they began their guerrilla war against the Government Forces, and began a campaign of terror against all the Tamils, assassinating one by one the Tamil politicians who opposed them. They in fact killed more Tamils than the Sri Lanka Government Forces. I will not go into further details as I do not want to make this post too long.

However, it may be sufficient to say that this Group of terrorists led by Prabhakaran started as a small group. But soon they were financially assisted by the Tamils of the diaspora who were interested in the terrorist’s demand for a separate homeland for the Tamils. The Tamil diaspora organised themselves forming Terrorist Front Organisations to collect contributions and send them directly to the terrorists in Sri Lanka. As years passed the collections made by the Tamil diaspora took great proportions, reaching 200 to 300 million Dollars per year. With these money, helped by a CFA agreement signed by a previous government, the terrorists acquired most modern weaponry , bought 10 ships in which they imported shiploads of arms and ammunitions, got involved in illegal human cargo, and in drug sales earning large sums of money.

They bought journalists, bribed people, they are said to have even used the services of diplomats for purchase and transport using their diplomatic immunity, sophisticate communication material, parts of planes to be assembled later by them. They kidnapped young children and trained them as suicide bombs called the black tigers. It was one of these black tigers that exploded herself before the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, killing him and many who were with him.

These terrorists have no respect for human life. The young men and women kidnapped by them are trained to explode themselves targeting politicians , army commanders or civilians in crowded places. They carry jackets with explosives under their blouses or shirts and detonate them in the presence of the selected target.

These “living suicide bombs”, before they are sent on a mission to assassinate some one, are given the opportunity to sit with their leader the “thalaivar” Prabhakaran who for them is the Sun God. The ruthless brute he is, Prabhakaran sits for a meal with the black tiger, who he knows is going to die exploding a bomb, for his dream, know that she was having her last meal and that she would never to come back again. That is the type of brute that Karen Parker is directly or indirectly defending. That is the story that her informants of the diaspora have not disclosed to her.

The terrorists built such a great military force and organised themselves so well, that many thought that the Government Forces will never be able to defeat them. Many governments tried to end their terrorism first by military operations, then by negotiations but the end result was their gathering force, and equipping themselves each time a cease fire was declared.

Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse was elected the President of Sri Lanka on 17 November2005. He was determined to settle the problem of terrorism that had lasted two and half decades and taken a toll of 60 000 lives. He immediately invited the terrorist leader for a negotiated settlement. The terrorist refused and instead exploded several claymore bombs massacring large numbers of civilians, and attempted to assassinate the Commander of the Army.

Finally in July, 2006 with the close of a sluice gate in Mavil Aru , by the terrorists depriving water to thousands of farmers, the President was forced to take a military solution to end terrorism. In the successful military operations his Government Forces many areas that was kept under the control of the terrorist were liberated.

The present position is that the terrorists have been pushed in to a small area of 300 sq. km. The terrorists when they were driven by the Armed Forces into this area they now occupy, forced the Tamil Civilians in the areas that were under their control , to follow them. These Tamil Civilians amounting to between 50,000 to 100,000, are now kept as captives by the terrorists using them as a human shield to protect themselves. The government cannot carry out the military operations against the terrorists without putting the civilian population in danger.


The government Forces which wanted to protect the Tamil Civilians cleared a safe area, and demanded the Tamil civilians detained by the terrorists by dropping leaflets, and making loudspeaker announcements to escape into the safe area to be conducted to safety. But the terrorist who fear that the escape of Tamil Civilians who now serve as a human shield to protect them, will be sitting ducks for Army artillery fire, do not allow the civilians to escape.

Those civilians who had the courage to defy the terrorists, and escaped into the safe area were shot at by the terrorists killing some of them and wounding many. This had been done deliberately by the terrorists to put the blame on the Government Forces ,and attract the attention of the International Community, pointing it out as a violation of human rights by the Government Forces by shooting the civilians who escaped into the safe area.

An intelligent observer would of course d pose the question as to why the Government Forces should clear a safe area and then shoot at the civilians escaping into it. One has to be really “stupid” to accuse the government Forces for such an act.

The terrorists are inhuman, ruthless and they have no limit for their lust for blood. They are demoniacs who train young Tamil boys and girls as suicide bombs. Ms. Karen Parker does not seem to understand that the Government Forces are humane, though they carry out military operations to save both their motherland, and the people. They had through out the military operations avoided damage to Tamil Civilians.

Now if the Armed Forces were to act inhumanly and force in with artillery fire into the small area where the terrorists are closed into, the terrorism could be finished with in few hours. But the Armed Forces have a duty to save the Tamil Civilians, who are not their enemies.The President has given strict instructions to the Army Commanders to avoid danger to the civilians. Therefore, the Government Forces are manoeuvring to get the civilians out into the safe areas first, before they attack the terrorists, even if it would take more time for a final raid into the area under terrorist control to capture them, and force them to surrender.

Many Tamil websites and certain interested parties are trying to create the impression that the death of civilians, and damage to hospital in the area have been caused by the Government Forces. They also accuse the Government Forces for using cluster bombs. The Government has time and time again assured that they have not used these bombs, and they have not bought these bombs. This can be verified by the ICRC instead of blaming the Government Forces who have been fighting an unmerciful, inhuman group of terrorists, in which they have sacrificed the lives of many of their brothers in service, and continue to risk their own lives.

That is the real situation. Karen Parker’s anti Sinhala hysteria is prompted by the Anti-Government terrorist Front Organisations who had been her principle informnts. The law is one thing terrorism is another thing. Terrorism cannot be terminated in Sri Lanka or in any other Country by citing legal statutes, giving legal definitions to acts of terrorism, or quoting the Geneva convention. Terrorism is a pitiless massacre of people young and old by fanatical idealists.

In evaluating the situation in Sri Lanka Karen Parker should understand that there are two parties to it, the terrorists, and the Government. Therefore, to understand the reality of the situation she has to listen to both parties before coming to conclusions. Karen Parker being a lawyer should no that basic fact. In the present case of her accusing the Government of Sri Lanka she had not thought it necessary to get the point of view of the other party to the conflict. She relies completely on the anti government Front Organisations for Terrorists, for her information, therefore her views and conclusions are both lopsided.

The civilians who have escaped from the terrorist held areas, are provided temporary accommodation. Ms. Karen Parker does not seem to have any first hand knowledge of terrorists and what terrorism represents to a people in a country which had suffered under terrorism for three long decades. The terrorists are not liberators, they are killers who want to wrest what they want by force. The government of Sri Lanka is not fighting a “war “ against the Tamil people, but are carrying out military operations to rid the country of terrorists.

The terrorists have nothing to loose, they have no respect for human life, and only the people who had dealt with the terrorists understand who they are and what ruses they are capable of using to infiltrate into army camps, or crowded civilian areas to create mayhem. Therefore, the civilians who are escaping into the government controlled areas could be used by the terrorists to send along with them terrorists pretending to be innocent civilians. Once they come they could get their contacts to provide them with suicide jackets and go into a military camp as a civilian seeking protection and detonate themselves. That is why even the civilians who have taken refuge in the government areas are advised to remain inside the camps.

The Government with the help of the UN and the ICRC send weekly food rations and medicine into the terrorist controlled areas, which are also utilised by the terrorists. Therefore to say that the civilians are not supplied with food and medicine is false. The picture Ms.Karen Parker is painting about the Sinhala army and the situation of the Tamil Civilians who have escaped into areas controlled by the Sri Lanka Army is not that bleak.

In Sri Lanka there is no “genocide”, which has become a vogue word utilised by the terrorists to bring international sympathy towards them. If there is a”genocide” it is to eliminate the terrorists for ever from our Island, but so far as the Tamil civilians are concerned they are Sri Lankans who had been living with the Sinhala and Muslim Communities for generations. The Sri Lanka army is definitely not “carrying out a genocide” against the Tamil people.

The Sri Lanka Government does not disown the Tamil people, they are part and parcel of Sri Lankan Nation. The ordinary Tamil people want to live in peace, among the rest of their compatriots the Sinhala , the Muslims and the rest. They do not want a separate homeland, because they accept one motherland for all communities. They are not asking for political rights and a Federal Constitution. The devolution of power, and change of Constitutions are all the amalgams of the Sri Lanka Tamils of the diaspora and the ambitious Tamil politicians who want to dominate the poor Tamil civilians dividing them according to their castes, and class.

Therefore the only way to save the Tamil people and ensure that their full rights are afforded, is by those who do not know the problems, traditions and way of living of another people of another culture, keeping away from interfering into what they do not know or know less about and allow the sovereign state the elected government of the people of Sri Lanka decide what is best for the country and its people.

If the people of Sri Lanka the Sinhala, the Tamils and the Muslims are dissatisfied with the government, they will replace the government with another at the next election in two years. There is a healthy democratic system prevailing in Sri Lanka, and finally it is the people who decide.

Ms.Karen Parker pleads the UN High Commissioner for Human rights to seek out representatives of the Tamil people in the very large Diaspora and to meet with those who seek an audience. These are Ms. Karen Parker’s informants , who had given her a distorted view of the Sri Lanka situation. It is not the Tamil diaspora living in clover in their comfortable homes away from the din of claymore bombs detonated in buses , trains and market places by the terrorists, who had suffered from the atrocities of the terrorism. They are merely making up stories about “genocides” to give a life line to the terrorists, who had promised them a homeland, for which they had contributed large sums of money.

All those who are in the Diaspora did not flee from Sri Lanka after racial riots, which they keep on repeating, but many of them left in search of a better life quoting the “oppressive Sinhala regimes” as a reason for seeking political asylum. The views of the Tamil diaspora is not the view of the ordinary Tamil people living in Sri Lanka.

Therefore the High Commissioner for Human Rights knows best who to consult and who to believe as she is already aware of the situation in Sri Lanka, more clearly than the clouded view presented by Ms.Karen Parker.

Therefore we request the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to inform Ms. Karen Parker, that the situation in Sri Lanka is being taken care of by a an alert and a kindly President and his government in the interest of the Tamil Civilans as well as in the interest of the other Communities living in Sri Lanka.


Sri Lanka Gu rdian Website :http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/02/sri-lanka-international-community.html