Diplomats of Muslim countries condemn LTTE terror attack

The High Commissioners for Bangladesh and Malaysia, as well as the Indonesian Ambassador on behalf of their respective Governments, have strongly denounced the suicide bomb attack carried out by the LTTE on March 10 at the Godapitiya Jumma Mosque in Akuressa, targeting a peaceful procession led by Government Ministers to celebrate Prophet Muhammad's Birthday, held under State patronage.

Participating in a discussion chaired by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the Ministry yesterday these diplomats expressed their solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka in the wake of this terror attack and wished the Government success in its current endeavour to defeat terrorism.

The Minister of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development, A.H.M. Fowzie and the Minister of Disaster Relief Services, S. Ameer Ali, who had a narrow escape in the bomb blast, as well as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hussein A. Bhaila and Foreign Secretary, Dr. Palitha Kohona were associated with Minister Bogollagama at the discussion held to brief Heads of Mission of 14 predominantly Muslim countries based in Colombo on this ruthless act of terrorism perpetrated by the LTTE.

Ministers Fowzie and Ameer Ali recounted their own harrowing close encounter with death in the suicide bombing.

The Foreign Minister took the opportunity to brief the diplomats of the historical antecedents of the targeting of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka by the LTTE for their strong opposition to the separatist agenda espoused by the LTTE. In particular, he highlighted the massacres of Muslim worshippers at the Meera Jumma and Husseniya Mosques in Kattankudy in August 1990, as well as the systematic slaughter of Muslim civilians in remote Muslim hamlets in the Eastern Province. He also drew the attention of the assembled diplomats to the wholesale ethnic cleansing of the entire Muslim community of the Northern Province in October 1990, which the LTTE carried out with cold blooded and clinical precision.

Minister Bogollagama called upon the international community to extend their support and understanding to the Government of Sri Lanka at this critical juncture, when the Security Forces are engaged in the final phase of their humanitarian operation to eradicate the menace of terrorism from every square inch of the country.