Box
55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario M1P 4Z7 Canada
Website:
www.sluna.org
E-mail: sluna@idirect.com
Media
Release: August 15, 2007
Honourable Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister of Japan
Cabinet Secretariat
1-6-1 Nagata-cho
Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8968
Japan
Honourable Prime Minister,
On-line
Petition by the Australians for Human Rights for the Voiceless (AHRV) Seeking
stoppage of Japanese Humanitarian Assistance to Sri Lanka
We refer to the subject petition being canvassed on-line by an unknown group in Australia who are apparently supporters of the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The main objective of the petition is the stoppage of humanitarian aid provided by Japan to Sri Lanka, in support of which a whole list of unfounded allegations including genocide of the Sri Lanka Tamil people have been cited by AHRV.
The armed conflict that has been thrust on the government and people of Sri Lanka by the Tamil Tiger Terrorists from as far back as the 1980’s is in pursuit of their extremist goal of a mono-ethnic racist Tamil separate state in the northern and eastern regions comprising nearly 35 percent of the island’s land and 67 percent of the coastline and adjacent territorial waters for resident Tamils numbering less than 4 percent of the country’s population. Despite a ceasefire being in place, the LTTE launched attacks immediately following the election of His Excellency, Mahinda Rajapakse as the President of Sri Lanka in December 2005, hailing it as their final war of liberation to break up the unitary state by force of arms. As the LTTE’s war efforts faltered causing them to lose ground illegally held by this terrorist outfit including their total eviction from the eastern region, organizations such as AHRV, various INGO and foreign funded NGOs have been attempting to prop up the retreating Tiger Terrorists through bogus petitions and other means, using their ample resources to intervene in Sri Lanka.
There
has not been any act that could be considered as being tantamount to
genocide of the Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka’s history.
The Tamil minority which numbered 12.8 percent in 1981 since
estimated to be around 8.0 percent following large scale immigration to the
western countries, have always been a privileged minority.
They benefited from the largesse extended by the British colonial
administration under their divide and rule policy,
whereby they came to virtually dominate the 78 percent indigenous Sinhalese majority. The Tamils were not prepared to give up their dominant role even after independence was granted by the British in 1948, advocating separatist policies which caused friction with the majority Sinhalese community to whom power was restored via the ballot. As a result, disputes arose between the two communities, as the newly independent nation took steps to elevate the educational, health and living standards of the needy population, the bulk of whom belonged to the hitherto neglected majority community.
The riots of 1983 were a direct reaction to the civil disobedience campaign conducted by the Tamils resulting in the forced eviction of 27000 long resident Sinhalese living in the predominantly Tamil north, the closure of the Sinhalese stream at the University of Jaffna established in keeping with the multi-lingual system of education in the universities and the evacuation of 400 Sinhala students from the Jaffna campus in the same year, culminating with the killing of 13 security forces personnel in a landmine attack in July 1983, which became the breaking point during a period of tense confrontation. It was unfortunate that the authorities were unable to quickly bring the mob violence under control, causing the loss of life estimated around 400 Tamil citizens and large scale destruction of property. The Tamil victims were paid compensation and they were able to return to their homes and livelihoods in the city of Colombo and elsewhere, and they continue to live without any fear of reprisals despite deliberate provocative attacks carried out by the armed Tamil groups on sacred Buddhist places of worship in Anuradhapura and Kandy, and massacre of innocent Sinhalese farming communities eking out an existence in remote villages. Our association and other Sinhalese groups have publicly apologised to the Tamil community for the unthinking acts of a mob out of control, including Sri Lanka’s leaders who have done so at international forums for the harm done during the riots.
The
petitioners speak of atrocities against Tamil civilians, abductions,
tortures and human rights violations by the Sri Lankan authorities.
They also cite the killing of students, journalists and
parliamentarians. These are the
very acts of which the LTTE referred to as the Tamil leadership is guilty
of, based on reports issued by Tamil groups that have given up the violent
path and entered the democratic process, and furthermore, confirmed by
reputed international organizations such as the SLMM and UNICEF who closely
monitor all violations on the ground. The
government too has admitted to some wrongdoings by members of the forces in
the height of armed confrontations, but steps are being taken by the
authorities to deal with the offenders if any through the judicial system in
place. The LTTE for that
matter are not answerable to anyone, and are the perpetrators of 99 percent
of the crimes, acting as judge and jury in their attempts to frame their
criminal acts on the Sri Lankan authorities or unknown third parties.
Even international human rights bodies such as HRW have held the LTTE
responsible for abduction and forced recruitment of both children and adults
plus extortion, whilst Amnesty has held the LTTE and its break away
responsible for the climate of intimidation and violence against civilians
in their report of February 2006.
Our two nations have been nurtured by eastern philosophies that give the highest place to humane values and peaceful co-existence. Sri Lanka could probably take credit for introducing the sublime Teachings of the Buddha to your great country via China from as early as the 5th century. It was Sri Lanka’s delegate to the San Francisco International Conference in 1950, the Hon. J.R. Jayawardene, who quoted a famous saying of the Buddha calling on the assembled nations to act through love and forgiveness instead of pursuing an agenda of hatred in their attempt to extract retribution from Japan that touched the heart strings of those who sought revenge.
We are most grateful to Japan for her services as a co-chair of the Sri Lanka Peace Process, and most of all for her very generous development and humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, which is struggling to overcome the destabilising effects of the armed insurrection of separatist Tamils who have resorted to every form of violence including brutal terrorism to dismember our tiny island homeland. You are no doubt being fully appraised by Hon. Yashushi Akashi, Japan’s Special Envoy, who has made every effort to bring peace to Sri Lanka through a negotiated settlement, which has not materialised as the LTTE has used the peace talks to buy time to re-build their forces and renew hostilities. We would be glad to discuss every issue raised by the petitioner in detail if needed. We trust that you would take all factors into consideration and make the right judgment in Sri Lanka’s case.
We would like to conclude by wishing the people of Japan continued success, peace and happiness in the years to come.
Yours very truly,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
Copy to: Hon. Taro Aso, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“ “ Hon. Yashushi Akashi, Special Envoy
“ “ Hon. Yoriko Kawaguchi, MOFA
“ “ Japanese Media
“ “ His Excellency, Mahinda Rajapake, President of Sri Lanka
“ “ Sri Lankan Media
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