Wednesday, 31 April 2006

http://www.spur.asn.au/SPUR_20060531_Ethnic_Cleansing.htm

Tamil Tiger Terrorists Practice Ethnic Cleansing in the East of Sri Lanka

  SPUR Urges the International Community to Isolate and Quarantine the Tamil Tiger Terrorists

                                    Photo curtsy of Associated Press – shot by Gemunu Ameresinghe

Stop this Ethnic cleansing of the Sinhala people

The LTTE responded to the EU ban and the statement released by the Co-chairs of the peace process by kidnapping and executing 12 Sinhalese labourers building an irrigation dam at Omadiamadu, a remote hamlet which borders territory held by Tamil Tiger rebels, about 228 kilometers northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka, near Valachchine.  Hands bound and blind folded, the Sinhalese labourers were each executed by a shot to the head and thrown to a pit in a scene mimicking the Nazi executions of the Jewish people. The two Sinhalese labourers who escaped the execution with injuries gave a vivid account of how they were asked to line up near a pit and plead for mercy. They escaped by running in to the jungle whilst the LTTE was busy executing their colleagues.

SPUR unreservedly condemn this ethnic cleansing practiced by the LTTE against the Sinhalese.

Stop the Ethnic cleansing of the Muslim people

On the same day LTTE auxiliary, Thamil Eela Meetpu Padai (Tamil Eelam salvage Force), in a handbill issued through out Muthur area on Tuesday morning ordered all the Muslims to vacate the area in the next 72 hours.  The handbill claimed regaining Muthur as the first phase of regaining the racist Tamil Eelam. The posters stated that all the Muslims in Muthur should leave their houses and stay in refugee camps so that they would understand the grievances of the Tamils who live in refugee camps.

It is worthwhile remembering that the LTTE ensured an exodus of the entire Muslim population from Jaffna in 1991. After this ethnic cleansing of the Muslims from the North, more than 100,000 northern Muslims remain in refugee camps in Puttalam and in other areas hoping one day to regain what was once their cherished land. According to historical records, Muslims have coexisted with Sinhalese and Tamils in the Muthur area in the East of Sri Lanka for centuries.

SPUR unreservedly condemn this ethnic cleansing practiced by the LTTE against the Eastern Muslims.

The EU ban and the Co-chair meeting

On 29 May 2006, the European Union classified the LTTE as terrorists and imposed strict restrictions on their nefarious practices and intimidations of innocent Tamil civilians living throughout Europe. The ban when strictly applied would freeze monies belonging to the LTTE and its front organisations, thus delivering a critical blow to LTTE’s ability to strengthen itself militarily. The LTTE is now considered by the international community as a dangerous group of murderers and human rights violators, lead by a megalomaniac racist hell bent on ethnically cleansing the Sinhala and Muslim people from the North and East of Sri Lanka.

SPUR welcomes the EU ban and consider it long overdue.

On the day that the EU imposed the ban on the LTTE, the co-chairs sponsoring the peace process met in Tokyo and released a statement directing the Tamil Tiger terrorists to begin peace talks with the Sri Lankan Government, warning that imposing sanctions on the Tamil Tiger rebels could be on the table unless the rebels halt their violence against the Sri Lankan government. Akashi made the remarks during a news conference which was joined by representatives of the three other parties to the meeting, Norway, the United States and the European Union.  U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher, meanwhile, reminded that the LTTE is a ''terrorist group and should be treated accordingly and they should come to the negotiating table without wearing a suicide belt”.

SPUR welcomes the statement by the co-chairs and urge the development of mandatory conditions for the LTTE to abide, prior to any future international contact.

Our plea

SPUR urges the Government of Sri Lanka to immediately withdraw from any further discussions with the LTTE terrorists until they totally desist from violence and stop ethnic cleansing. As a first step, the Government of Sri Lanka should insist that any discussions on the effectiveness of the SLMM should be held in Sri Lanka under the auspices of the co-chairs.

The international community must immediately impose sanctions as promised by the co-chairs and minimise contact with the LTTE and its front organisation such as the TRO.  Development aid and work should be suspended in LTTE controlled areas until cessation of violence.

SPUR also puts the LTTE on notice that their ethnic cleansing crimes will not go unpunished, and its leaders including Balasingham and Thamil Chelvam will be hauled one day  in front of the World Court in the Hague to face justice.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Dr Dasarath 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 this Media Release is http://www.spur.asn.au/SPUR_20060531_Ethnic_Cleansing.htm