‘Tigers’ adverse publicity managed to hoodwink int’l community’

Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

UK: President of the Sinhala Association in the UK, Douglas Wickramaratne said the adverse publicity perpetrated by the LTTE terrorists has successfully managed to hood wink international community

Wickramaratne was speaking at the UK’s Labour Party Councilors’ meeting in London Colney, Hertfordshire on Terrorism prevalent in Sri Lanka.

Wickramaratne’s speech concentrated on the degree of threat faced by people of Sri Lanka and the far-reaching damage caused to the reputation of a democratically elected Government as a direct consequence of adverse publicity perpetrated by Tiger terrorists, which has worked as an active enzyme over a period of three decades.

This very fact had over the years managed to successfully hoodwink the international community, international Non Governmental agencies and predominantly some of the British Members of Parliament to a greater extent by the Tamil Tiger sympathizers and supporters living and engaging in a well organised net work of activities in the UK.

Wickramaratne dealt with the fictitious propaganda at great length proliferated by Tamil Tigers and the way British were taken in for a ride in particular.

He also drew attention to the fact that not so long ago how a well organized Tiger swindle of cloning credit cards out of British motorists where millions of Pound Sterling had been pilfered to raise money for the LTTE coffers towards the purchase of arms and lethal weapons to kill, maim and destroy human lives indiscriminately.

The Sinhala Association is one of the oldest Sri Lankan groups established in the UK whose aim has been to safeguard and protect the reputation of their mother country. As much as upholding and propagating Sri Lankan traditions and culture in the UK, the group has been actively engaged in combating misinformation when the terrorists had a field day with a well organised false propaganda machine operating at its peak from London.

Wickramaratne, has once acted as the Honorary Liaison Officer for the Sri Lanka High Commission in London,’ appointed by the then Sri Lanka Administration to deal with the British media to counter all adverse reports spread by the LTTE when the officials appointed to London by the Foreign Ministry were noticeably seen as ineffective.

Consequently he has risen up to the occasion at every hour of need by appearing before British television cameras, participated at radio phone-in programmes and/or confronted LTTE supporters and sympathizers boldly at public meetings to fill the ‘publicity vacuum’ existed at the Sri Lanka High Commission.

Two years ago when the former Foreign Minister Kadirgarmar was assassinated Wickaramaratne happened to be the only Sri Lankan representative from London to appear live on BBC Television News, BBC 24 hours, SKY News and ITN interviews overages to say to the world boldly about the LTTE, terrorist activities, which was replayed on Sunday 12 August 07, at the London Selsdon Temple during a commemorative merit-transferring Puja organised by the late Kadirgarmar’s relatives in London where many Sri Lankans participated.

Being an orator, who is eloquent and articulate in English, having once being the Leader of the English Debating Team of Ananda College, Colombo, Wickramaratne has demonstrated his mettle not only with public speaking dexterity, but with unassailable statistics at finger tips he has always been able to crush his opponents.

He informed the British Labour Party Councilors present at the meeting how a significant number of Tiger supporters attempted to disrupt a meeting at the London University (SOAS), as far back as on 5 December 2004, when Ms Jo Becker, Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch presented a report which was exceedingly critical of the LTTE and highlighted its child abductions and killing of civilians, and how they even opposed a Tamil person (a victim of LTTE terror) to make a speech in Tamil (with an English translator ) denying his basic human right to speak in Tamil.

Wickramaratne was the only person who intervened, he said, at that moment on behalf of HRW to point out that it was an irony even their own kind were prevented from conducting a speech in Tamil by Tiger terrorist supporters.

At the end of the meeting which ended in an uproar, Jo Becker thanked the President of the Sinhala Association personally and expressed her horror and how she felt threatened at one moment.

She exclaimed such violent behaviour was the last thing she expected from an audience in London! A week later, HRW held a similar meeting in Toronto, Canada, and as expected the Canadian press reported how a large number of LTTE supporters disrupted the meeting which had to be abandoned despite a police presence there.

The Association President reminded and warned the Labour Councilors present at the meeting that the LTTE , NGOs and INGO mafia working with Sri Lanka will find anything and go to any length to create situations to discredit Sri Lankan Government prior to the forthcoming Human Rights Council meeting to be held in Geneva in September 2007.