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Government Gazette

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

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