Tigers, AI - play by the rules:

Keep politics out of sport

The Sri Lanka cricket team is going great guns in the Caribbean, winning five out of their six games so far. Having beaten Bermuda, Bangladesh and India in the preliminary round matches, Sri Lanka had the better of England and the hosts the West Indies.

Thus, the Lankans have virtually booked a place in the semi-finals. Their only loss so far in the 16-nation tournament was a narrow one-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa. Sri Lanka is down to play high-riding New Zealand today and defending champions Australia on Monday.

New Zealand and Australia are the only unbeaten teams in the Cricket Olympiad. Hence, these two games are of great significance for all teams.

But at this crucial juncture, LTTE terrorists along with their international godfathers, have smartly crept in to demoralise the Lankan cricketers. The Tigers are now making a desperate attempt to link their terrorist activities to sports.

In order to do that, they have tried to give a ‘human face’ to their ruthless terrorism under the guise of human rights. Together with the support of Amnesty International, the Tigers terrorists have now tried to spoil our sport, calling for a sporting boycott of the country.

Despite painting a different picture internationally, it was Amnesty International which violated the human rights of our cricketers by bringing a different ball game to world cup venues. Even the International Cricket Council, the world governing body for cricket, looked a toothless tiger, turning a blind eye.

By carrying out their infamous ‘Play by the Rules’ campaign at ICC World Cup venues at which Sri Lanka figured, the controversial Amnesty International has brought an undue mental pressure on the Sri Lanka cricketers and their supporters. That alone is a violation of human rights of our cricketers and their followers.

The LTTE terrorists have backed Amnesty International’s campaign that hurt the feelings of our cricketers and supporters, belonging to all communities, during the 2007 cricket World Cup.

The AI tried their dirty politics by making use of the Cricket World Cup for a campaign to build support for international human rights monitoring in Sri Lanka. Despite different political affiliations and interests, almost all major political parties made a quick response against AI’s highly unethical move.

Capitalising on the dirty move by the Amnesty, the LTTE terrorists have declared that the campaign started by Amnesty International will evolve into an international sports boycott against the Sri Lankan cricket team.

It is pity that an organisation like Amnesty International, which calls itself the godfathers of human rights, has stooped to such a low ebb of making use of sport to gain their shameless goals.

It is even more shameful for the handful of people who support this by various means. Even the people who call themselves the sole proprietors of free media, were quick to defend the AI and its move. In a controversial statement, they tried to show the AI’s move as a mistake.

All what I feel is that the media freedom we experience is the freedom enjoyed by the owners of various media organisations and the perks enjoyed by those who head unions under the guise of free media.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan expatriates in Britain will organize a protest rally against Amnesty International tomorrow. It will be held opposite the AI International Secretariat at 1, Euston Street, London at 1500 hrs GMT.

What is encouraging is that Mahela Jayewardena and his lads have been able to keep their cool. Despite the AI’s shameless acts and the LTTE demand for a sporting boycott, our cricketers have done Sri Lanka proud.

Sport is a great leveller. Irrespective of race, caste and creed, sport has no boundaries and has brought people in different continents to a common platform.

Despite the LTTE’s terrorist activities for over two decades, Tamils have lived with their Sinhalese and Muslim brothers and sisters in harmony. There was no exception in the field of sports.

When it comes to sport, fans are least bothered find out ethnic origins of their dream stars. Be it Muttiah Muralitharan or Sanath Jayasuriya, all our cricketers are equally admired and cheered by all communities here.

We must not let the interested parties and extremists to creep into our sports arena and spoil that. People of all walks of life and different communities equally back the Lankan team. Not only the people here but also their South Asian fans in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh would wholeheartedly back Jayewardena and his lads to win the World Cup.