Friday, 17 June 2005

SPUR Urges International Donors to stop behaving like a ‘Colonial Cartel’ - Tsunami Money cannot Muzzle the Democratic Right of Citizens to Campaign against LTTE’s Terrorism

A message to Donor Countries 

It has been reported from Washington that Japan, Norway, the USA and the EU had issued a joint statement urging Sri Lanka to quickly implement an agreement to set up a Joint Mechanism to manage relief and reconstruction aid for tsunami affected areas in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Yasushi Akashi predictably said that the statement is aimed at supporting Sri Lanka’s President who is trying to implement the deal whilst facing stiff opposition.

The Society Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR), a 10-year-old human rights organisation operating from Australia, condemns attempts by donor countries to interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal governance and questions their sincerity in providing aid for tsunami relief.  We especially condemn the ongoing role played by the Norwegians in whitewashing the atrocities committed by the LTTE terrorists, especially, since there is overwhelming evidence to prove that they are colluding with the LTTE to subvert democracy in Sri Lanka.

For reasons only known to them, the donor countries have resorted once again to batter the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka and its people rather than hold the LTTE terrorists accountable for undermining democracy.

We present the following questions to the unholy donor alliance. 

1.   Would they urge Afghanistan’s government to enter into an agreement with Al Queda to provide humanitarian relief to the people in the Kandahar region?

2.   Are the LTTE not Terrorists because they have only killed Asians? ( including two national leaders). Why the double standard? This may be an offensive question to the donors as it has racial connotations, but they have to answer the question before occupying the moral high ground.

3.   Was the outcome of the "Peace Process" determined in 2002 when the Ceasefire Agreement was signed? The tsunami is then seen just as an excuse to accelerate the demise of the unitary Sri Lankan state?

4.   Have the donors considered the security threat to the southern part on India if the objectives of the LTTE are even partially achieved?

5.   Do the majority of the people of Sri Lanka (75% +) not have any choice in what happens to their country? It seems to be that the only voices heard in the media are either that of the Government or the foreign funded servile NGO’s. Where is the freedom of expression (a virtue proudly paraded in the donor countries) in Sri Lanka?

6.   Is there a precedence of donor countries withholding funding for humanitarian work seeking recognition of terrorists?

7.   Why does the Joint Mechanism with the LTTE extend to cover the whole North and the East when only two districts and less than 20% of the area illegally occupied by the LTTE is affected by the tsunami?

8.   Why does the donor countries advocate a racially based, LTTE dominated Joint Mechanism. Shouldn’t the Joint mechanism membership be based on capability rather than race?

We can see a similar pattern to what happened in Sudan in what is being planned for Sri Lanka by the donor nations lead by Norway. Absolute disintegration of the Hela Nation[1] is not too far away.

Public Opinion

The donor countries must not hold Sri Lankan citizens supporting democracy to ransom. They are not responsible for the predicament of Tsunami victims in LTTE occupied areas (10% of the affected area).  The donors should blame the LTTE for exploiting the sorry plight of the tsunami-affected people and for holding them hostage and leveraging off their misery. The LTTE has thwarted all attempts by the Government to access these areas to provide tsunami relief.

 SPUR appeals to everyone concerned, not to pressure the President of Sri Lanka to enter into a hurriedly constituted joint mechanism with the LTTE terrorists for distributing tsunami aid.

There is significant opposition to a joint agreement with the LTTE amongst the populous.  62% of the people surveyed by the Presidential Secretariat were against any deal with the LTTE terrorists.  A further 20% required more information before they could decide. They must also be aware of the campaign run by the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party with its deputy leader’s fast-unto-death only abandoned after a commitment given by the President to consult the Chief priests before signing the so called Joint Mechanism with the LTTE.  Another significant opponent to the Joint Mechanism is the JVP, which has threatened to leave the government over this issue. 

Sri Lanka’s public will not view their statement in favour of the Joint mechanism as a friendly gesture. It will be seen as a step taken by a bullying ‘big brother’ longing for colonial occupation. Their action, rather than strengthening the President’s hand will undermine her further by giving currency to the fact that she is nothing but a puppet of a Colonial Cartel that erroneously believes money can force compliance. They cannot buy our dignity and erase 2550 years plus  of written history.

We do not have to remind the donor countries that this kind of arrogance has no standing in modern democratic society.

LTTE’s Continued Terrorism

Unlike the President, the public does not have confidence in the LTTE that they will not use the Joint Mechanism as a vehicle to consolidate their now weakened military strength. There is corroborating evidence to substantiate the ‘common person’ view, with atrocities committed on a daily basis, given wide publicity in the Sri Lankan media.

During the last few months the LTTE has built an air strip, assassinated soldiers, smuggled arms and ammunition in preparation for war, abducted scores of children, killed Tamil civilians and politicians expressing opposing views, destroyed historic Buddhist archaeological sites and subverted democracy at every turn.

Forget the last month. Just look at the last two weeks.  Within the past two weeks, 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. Assassinated a top level serving military intelligence officer, Lt Col. Nizam Muthalif in Colombo

3. Abducted the anti terrorist intelligence officer Inspector T. Jeyaratnam from Colombo and moved him to a torture cell in LTTE controlled area in the Vanni. There are eyewitness reports today that he has been produced before an illegal LTTE court in ‘Mullawi’ in  the Vanni.

4. Assassinated a political leader Kannan of the EPDP on Saturday in Vavuniya together with a serving army officer Major E R Edward

5. Thrown a hand grenade killing one and injuring 15 grieving family members at Mr Shanmugam Selvarathnam funeral in the Pollonnaruwa distric. Selvarathnam was assassinated by the LTTE 3 days ago.

6. Abducted police constable S Priyantha in Kinniya, Trincomalee

The list goes on and on. Is this not Terrorism of the highest order or is there another more palatable definition to donor countries when these dastardly acts are carried out in developing countries like Sri Lanka?

If this is the repugnant behaviour of the LTTE prior to signing the Joint Mechanism, SPUR shudders to even contemplate what it would be like to live in the North and the East of Sri Lanka after a signed P-TOMS  "agreement" 

Uncharacteristic Militancy

Unless the international community takes immediate steps to curtail the actions of the LTTE and punish them for their brutal behaviour, the people in Sri Lanka will increasingly become disillusioned with democracy and be driven to militancy.  Early signs of this have been visible over the weekend when desperate Buddhist monks and laity took to the streets seeking a commitment by the President not to sign the Joint Mechanism with terrorists.

Without resorting to positive deeds that would build confidence, the LTTE has continued to indulge in terrorism exploiting the current Governments perceived impotency, with a vengeance.

Reading between the lines in Akashi’s Statement, the LTTE is to be rewarded for their ongoing terrorism as the President is being forced to adopt a joint mechanism with the LTTE terrorists to implement tsunami recovery action in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

This is preposterous, repugnant and inhumane as the LTTE are currently holding tsunami victims hostage in order to establish the joint mechanism, as a stepping-stone to achieving their racist despotic haven, the Tamil Eelam.

We urge you to reconsider your Statement given the irrefutable evidence exposing LTTE’s ongoing subversive behaviour. The following course of action is proposed as a democratic alternative.

A Democratic Alternative ~ SPUR’s DART Model

We urge you to:

1.      Decouple the peace process from Tsunami relief as the two  have nothing in common.  One is political and the other humanitarian. The latter is required immediately whilst peace processes takes time to achieve results. (The Israel – Palestine conflict is a good example)

2.      Limit LTTE involvement in tsunami relief in the uncleared areas in two districts (20%) and leave the Government of Sri Lanka to provide rehabilitation and reconstruction in other tsunami affected areas (80%) in the North and East.

3.      Inform the LTTE (through Norwegians) that any disruptions to tsunami relief initiatives in areas under Government control will not be tolerated by the international donor community.

4.      Take tangible decisive steps to bring the LTTE into line whenever, wherever they disrupt initiatives taken by the Government to provide tsunami relief. For example, the International Community can impose a travel ban on the LTTE if they continue to behave undemocratically.

Adopting these kinds of democratic principles will build confidence amongst the Sri Lankan community; including the Tamil community that has been affected by the tsunami that the international community is genuinely interested in the welfare of innocent Sri Lankan tsunami affected victims without giving currency to the views that some donor countries like Norway favour the LTTE terrorists.

SPUR has presented the Sri Lankan Government, the Opposition, its good citizens and the international community a model based on democratic principles for distributing tsunami aid within Sri Lanka, including the small areas controlled in the North and East by the LTTE.  We urge you to consider SPUR’s Distributing Aid for Recovering from the Tsunami (DART) Model as a viable alternative as it addresses most of the concerns raised by the opponents of the President’s P-TOMS arrangement.

We request the international community to provide the necessary leadership to provide tsunami relief within a democratic framework, defeat terrorism, usher in durable peace and deliver sustainable economic prosperity to all Sri Lankan citizens irrespective of geographic location, ethnicity or political allegiance.

Under no circumstances should they force the Government of Sri Lanka to adopt an undemocratic joint mechanism, which gives tacit recognition to terrorists.

We urge them to seriously consider adopting and supporting SPUR’s DART Model as a democratic alternative for providing tsunami relief in affected areas throughout Sri Lanka.

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

The URL of the Media Release is http://www.spur.asn.au/SPUR_20050619_Tsunami_Donors.htm

[1] Please refer to the “Oslo War Process" at http://emperors-clothes.com/gilwhite/oslo.htm for the full exposure of Norway’s treachery.