EU voters reject pro-LTTE candidates:
Ambassador calls for new EU-SL relations
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU Ravinatha
Aryasinha has said the rejection by European voters of those who
campaigned on a pro-LTTE platform at the recently concluded European
Parliamentary elections, should encourage the EU to “re-calibrate its
relationship with Sri Lanka” and “engage in a constructive manner in the
post-LTTE context”.
Ambassador Aryasinha made this observation when he addressed the
cross-party ‘Friends of Sri Lanka’ group of the European Parliament,
held on the sidelines of the inaugural session of the newly elected
European Parliament in Strasbourg last week.
The Ambassador thanked members of the group who acted as “voices of
sanity” in the early part of this year, when a few within the European
Parliament sought to embarrass the Government of Sri Lanka during the
last stages of its operations to defeat LTTE terrorism.
He said these detractors were wrong in their “diagnosis of the
problem” believing that the LTTE had the capacity to transform, as they
were in their “recommendation of a solution” in demanding that there
should be a ceasefire.
He said the Embassy would engage the full spectrum of political
groups in the new Parliament with a view to keeping them abreast of
post-conflict development in Sri Lanka and looked forward to
constructive engagement with members interested in Sri Lanka on a
sustained basis.
The MEPs were briefed on the action being taken by the Sri Lanka
Government to meet the needs of the displaced persons in the aftermath
of the elimination of the LTTE leadership.
Reminding them that it was less than 8 weeks since the guns fell
silent in what was a 30 year long terrorist conflict, the Ambassador
said as much as the Government would like to, they could not overnight
restore normalcy to the lives of the 287,000 persons displaced, who were
placed in this predicament due to the LTTE moving them from place to
place to be used as human shields in the fighting.
He said it was clear from the many thousands within the welfare
villages who had surrendered and others who had been identified as LTTE
cadre, that there continued to be a danger of at least some inside being
trained LTTE cadre, who could pose a serious security threat and
undermine the present peaceful environment.
The Government was in the process of separating them from the
civilians displaced. The widespread undocumented landmines placed by the
LTTE in the areas from which the displaced persons came, also need to be
cleared.
Additionally basic infrastructure was being put in place in the areas
long affected by terrorist action ahead of the return of the displaced
civilians.
The Government’s target was to resettle a bulk of them within 180
days and already three batches of the displaced had been re-settled or
released to their families.
Responding to questions raised by MEPs about recent adverse news
reports on conditions within the welfare villages, the Ambassador
acknowledged that the needs were substantial and was stretching the
capacities of not only the Government, but also the 4 International
organizations, 21 international NGOs and 26 local NGOs working within
the welfare villages.
However, he said recent reports such as the one about 1400 deaths in
the welfare villages were without basis. He said the total number of
deaths over the past month was only 163, an average of 5.6 deaths per
day, which according to Sri Lanka’s Secretary/Health Dr. Athula
Kahandaliyanage was well below the internationally set upper “sphere
guidelines” of 13.2 per day, for a population approximating that
presently within the welfare villages. Ambassador Aryasinha said such
motivated reports were an insult to a lot of good people, both local and
from abroad, trying to manage a difficult task with admirable resolve
and skill and large numbers of Sri Lankans in other parts of the country
who were collecting food and other material to be sent for distribution
among the displaced persons.
He detailed the food and nutritional supplements, water supply,
sanitation, education, health, counselling, vocational training,
religious and recreational facilities that are being provided within the
villages. He also refuted allegations that the ICRC had been asked to
end their operations in Sri Lanka, noting that all they, as well as
others, have been told is to “scale down” their operations consistent
with the changed circumstances resulting from the ending of the armed
conflict.
He said previously the ICRC was involved in accompanying food
consignments, transporting patients and transfer of bodies of those
killed in combat between the security forces and the LTTE - requirements
that ceased since 19 May 2009.
He added that the public clarification the previous week by 5
government medical doctors who made false statements on civilian
casualty figures and attacks, at the dictates of the LTTE in the last
period of operations, should be instructive on the need to avoid being
gullible in believing the propaganda of the LTTE and its agents abroad
and making policy pronouncements based on such propaganda.
Reminding his audience that while the military capacity of the LTTE
had been destroyed in Sri Lanka their international network,
particularly in Europe, remained well in tact, Ambassador Aryasinha said
unless the EU acts urgently to arrest this trend, the situation could
get worse, initially for the hosts. He impressed on MEPs the need for
the EU and member states to use whatever influence they had on Tamils of
Sri Lankan origin, a majority of whom still remained in the category of
“refugees”, to support peace in Sri Lanka.
The Ambassador noted that while addressing the immediate needs of the
displaced persons, the Government was also paying attention to the more
medium and long term challenges of creating amity, restoring democracy,
expanding infrastructure and generation of livelihood opportunities in
the previously terrorist dominated areas which have for decades seen no
development beyond local arms manufacturing and construction of bunkers.
22 political parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had
responded to a recent call by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and had
constituted the Committee on Development and Reconciliation earlier this
month, while the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) was
completing its task of seeking to arrive at a consensus on political
reform. He also informed members that local government elections will be
held in Jaffna and Vavuniya in August, and that as done in the Eastern
Province following the eviction of the LTTE from the area, normalcy will
be rapidly restored in the Northern Province as well. |