Wednesday, 20 April 2005

SPUR Appeal to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ms Christina B. Rocca

LTTE Must be held Accountable for Continued Killing of Sinhalese, Muslim and Tamil Civilians and Abducting Innocent Tsunami Affected Children 

The Society Peace Unity and Human Rights of Sri Lanka (SPUR), a 10-year-old human rights organisation operating from Australia welcomes initiative taken by the United States of America to eradicate global terror.

SPUR appeals to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ms Christina B.Rocca to publicly condemn recently atrocities committed by the LTTE under cover of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed with the Government of Sri Lanka.

Within the past month, the LTTE terrorists have:

1.      Continued to provide training and small arms to the Assam Guerrilla movement as observed in the South Indian parliament by the chief minister Ms Jayalalitha Jeyaram 

2.      Forced expatriate Tamil communities in many countries to unite against draconian summary imprisonments and executions carried out by the LTTE. A good example is the recently formed Tamil Democratic Forum in Denmark

3.      Imprisoned and tortured the leader of the Tamil Hindu Temple in London, Mr Rajasingham Jayadevan. His ordeal has been recorded blow-by-blow in the Asian Tribune, a Tamil Journal article published on 19 April 2005

4.      Abducted, as reported by UNICEF, more than 1600 innocent children affected by the Tsunami as child soldiers

5.      Shot at Government naval crafts injuring members of the Cease Fire Monitoring Mission

6.      Assassinated Tamil government servants such as Mr D N Thavarajah, the Thirukovil Divisional Secretary for removing a photo of the terrorist leader Prabhakaran

During the last few months the LTTE have built air strips, assassinated soldiers, smuggled ball bearings to use in bombs, abducted scores of children, killed Tamil civilians and politicians expressing opposing views, destroyed historic Buddhist archaeological sites and subverted democracy at every turn.

Unless the internationally community lead by the democracies such as the American Government takes immediate steps to curtail the actions of the LTTE and  hold them responsible for their brutal behaviour, the people in Sri Lanka will increasingly become disillusioned with the paper peace agenda.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission recently reported on the third anniversary of the signing of the Cease Fire Agreement that the LTTE had violated the Agreement more than 2000 times when compared with a small number of violations by the Government.

We urge Ms Christina Rocca to impress upon the Sri Lankan Government to commission an independent report on compliance with the CFA by an eminent person such as the Secretary to the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC) prior to any further movement in the peace process. 

Full implementation of the agreed steps and an independent report on the GOSL and the LTTE’s compliance would go a long way towards establishing the credibility and the commitment of each party to peace. Such a report by a widely respected independent third party would restore public confidence and reassure the international community and expatriate Sri Lankans that the LTTE terrorists are indeed not serious in their commitment to peace.  

A gradual withdrawal of privileges enjoyed under the CFA should be seriously considered without fear or favour as a means of forcing compliance from either party.

We urge the American Government to provide the necessary leadership to defeat terrorism, usher in durable peace and deliver sustainable economic prosperity to all Sri Lankan citizens irrespective of geographic location, ethnicity or political allegiance.

Yours faithfully,

Dr D Jayasuriya

President

Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka (SPUR)

Reg No. A 003 07777 M

PO Box 4066

Mulgrave    VIC 3170

Australia