UNP must prove Australian Tiger terrorist funding allegations or
resign en-masse
AUSTRALIA: As an Australian organisation which has been
actively countering LTTE misinformation, and calling for its
proscription in Australia, the Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights
for Sri Lanka (SPUR) deplores the baseless allegations made by the
United National Party that the Sri Lankan Government and its President
Mahinda Rajapaksa provided funds to LTTE operatives in Australia for the
purchase of weapons to be used against Sri Lankan Defence Forces.
While SPUR is not at liberty to comment in detail on a case which is
currently before an Australian Court of Law, it is sufficient to say
that the recent raids in Melbourne and Sydney, and the charging of two
men for involvement in terrorism related offences follows a painstaking
investigation of LTTE activities by Australian law enforcement
authorities over several years. This fact is well known to Sri Lankan's
living in Melbourne.
It is also useful to recollect that a number of houses and businesses
occupied by alleged sympathisers of Tamil Tiger terrorists were raided
by the Australian Federal Police in 2005, before Mahinda Rajapaksa
became the President of Sri Lanka. The members of the UNP are either
ignorant of these facts or suffering from selective amnesia.
The charges against the accused were made in an open court, and were
widely reported in the national and international media. It is therefore
ludicrous for the UNP to call for a Parliamentary Select Committee in
Sri Lanka to 'produce the copies of court cases filed against the Tigers
in Australia'.
The UNP must immediately reveal all they know about terrorist funding
because it is a matter of National Interest for Sri Lanka and Australia.
There is also a well known saying in Australia that those making
allegations must either 'Put Up or Shut Up'.
If UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella, who appears to be spearheading the
misinformation campaign (or any of his party colleagues) have evidence
pertaining to this case, they must front-up at the next hearing against
the alleged LTTE men in the Melbourne Courts, and give sworn evidence.
The UNP owes this to the people of Sri Lanka and Australia. If they
cannot do so, they must immediately withdraw their allegations,
apologise to the people and resign from their seats in Parliament.
In contrast to the likes of Kiriella and his party leader Ranil
Wickremesinghe, a number of patriotic Sri Lankan leaders headed by
former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, as well as sections of the
Sri Lankan Diplomatic Corps have made a major contribution towards
exposing LTTE activities overseas, and raised the awareness in the
International Community of the true nature of the LTTE.
Furthermore, SPUR and Sri Lankan expatriates of all ethnic groups
have made numerous submissions to Western Governments and intelligence
agencies, organised protest rallies, and kept the media informed of the
campaign of terror waged by the LTTE in Sri Lanka as well as the global
threat posed by the LTTE.
The recent claims of the UNP are despicable at best and treacherous
at worst, and are a gross insult to all of these organisations and
individuals who have battled the LTTE over the past two decades.
We must also add that the Ranil Wickremesinghe led UNP has a shameful
record in countering LTTE's terror and propaganda. His infamous attempt
in July 2002 to whitewash LTTE terrorism during a speech to the Woodrow
Wilson Centre in Washington characterised his style of 'appeasement'.
Who can forget the treacherous exposure of the Sri Lanka Army's elite
LRRP Unit at Athurugiriya, and the subsequent decimation of Tamil and
Muslim defence personnel by the LTTE, often in broad daylight on the
streets of Colombo?
What about the supply of high-tech satellite communication equipment
to the LTTE, and the container loads of that were allowed to pass
through unchecked from the Port of Colombo directly to Kilinochchi?
A former top UNP Defence Ministry official visited terrorist leaders
in hospital with bags of apples, and forcibly seated top-brass of the
Sri Lankan defence forces alongside self-styled terrorist Colonels for
cheap political propaganda.
We also recall the UNP regime's cavalier attitude towards the gradual
encirclement of the strategic Port of Trincomalee by LTTE camps such as
Manirasakulam, despite repeated warnings by defence analysts and
patriotic sections of the media.
In its desperation to gain cheap political advantage over the
hardworking and well respected Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,
the UNP has dragged in the names of former military officers who have
served the country with distinction. These divisive tactics only serve
one purpose, namely to help the enemies of Sri Lanka, its security
forces and its people.
The section of Sri Lankan people who supported this once-respected
party will no doubt be appalled by the antics of the current leaders who
have taken the party from one defeat to the next, mainly because they
have lost touch with the sentiments and aspirations of ordinary Sri
Lankans.
At a time when the LTTE and its front-organisations are coming under
increasing international pressure, decimated militarily in East and
criminal charges are being filed against their supporters in a number of
countries, the politically motivated claims by the UNP, however
implausible, serve only to provide breathing space to the LTTE.
The UNP's repugnant behaviour of making false accusations against the
Government and denigrating Sri Lanka internationally is insincere and
unpatriotic and hence, must cease immediately. Continued behaviour of
this nature would be seen as evidence of insipid leadership.
We call on patriotic Sri Lankans of every community, including those
overseas, to totally reject the stand taken by the current UNP
leadership, and join hands to overcome the threat of LTTE terrorism, and
bring about a lasting and equitable resolution to the conflict that has
plagued our beautiful nation for the past three decades.
Dr Dasarath Jayasuriya, President SPUR |