UK recognises Lanka’s right to fight terrorism

The UK condemns the activities of the LTTE and recognises the Government of Sri Lanka’s democratic right to fight terrorism, said Bill Rammel, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, participating in an Adjournment Debate on the situation in Sri Lanka in the House of Commons yesterday.

He said: “It is important not to forget that the LTTE is a ruthless terrorist organisation, which is responsible for serious human rights abuses against civilians throughout Sri Lanka.”

The UK Minister also said: “The LTTE has no democratic mandate to represent the Tamil population.

It is reported to recruit civilians, including children, into its ranks forcibly, to extort food and money from an already impoverished people, to abduct and kill Tamil civilians who disagree with its views or methods and to break all norms of international humanitarian law by preventing civilians from leaving conflict areas, effectively holding them as a human shield.

The LTTE has conducted a terrorist campaign across the whole of Sri Lanka for nearly three decades, deliberately targeting thousands of individual civilians, as well as assassinating Government figures.”

Here are some excerpts from the debate in the House of Commons:

“With great international concern about the humanitarian and human rights situation in the north of Sri Lanka, it is timely to hold a debate on that country. Like many people in Britain, the Government is deeply concerned about the worsening conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and its impact on the welfare and human rights of Sri Lankan citizens.

“The lack of access by non-governmental organisations and the media to the conflict zone makes an objective assessment of the conflict impossible, to put it bluntly. Many alarming reports have emerged, speculating about the extent to which both parties’ activities conform with international humanitarian law. Those reports need a sober and measured analysis based on the evidence available, and I will try to provide that.

Concern for civilians in Sri Lanka and the primary responsibility of the Government of Sri Lanka to protect them means that the LTTE’s role in the conflict is sometimes overlooked.

It is important not to forget that the LTTE is a ruthless terrorist organisation, which is responsible for serious human rights abuses against civilians throughout Sri Lanka.

The LTTE has no democratic mandate to represent the Tamil population.

It is reported to recruit civilians, including children, into its ranks forcibly, to extort food and money from an already impoverished people, to abduct and kill Tamil civilians who disagree with its views or methods and to break all norms of international humanitarian law by preventing civilians from leaving conflict areas, effectively holding them as a human shield.

The LTTE has conducted a terrorist campaign across the whole of Sri Lanka for nearly three decades, deliberately targeting thousands of individual civilians, as well as assassinating Government figures.

The UK condemns those activities and recognises the Government of Sri Lanka’s democratic right to fight terrorism.”