An open letter to Ban ki-Moon, Secretary General of United Nations

Dear Mr Ban ki-Moon,

I am writing this letter to you on behalf of the people of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, mainly on behalf of the youths, the ones affected by war when they were supposed to be enjoying their childhood, the ones who thought they would not make it past their teens due to the civil war, but now can see a brighter future, a better chance at survival.

I am writing this letter to share with you my opinion, which I believe is shared among the people of Sri Lanka. The opinion is that we believe our nation has been the target of scrutiny by many powerful states, we find this unjust as it interferes in the path of our development.

The world has faced many obstacles these past few years from natural disasters to nations on the verge of an economic crisis. The European Union is facing a huge crisis which can cause the downfall of many countries, and already Greece, Italy and France are heading towards financial recession.

The 'Arab Springs' swept in changes to the Middle East, while the oil sanctions imposed on Iran have inflated the price of oil. The Libyan dictator Gaddafi was captured and killed by the rebels who liberated Libya from the hands of tyranny.

The leader of Al-qaeda, Osama bin Laden, was eradicated by the US Special Ops. The United States, under President Barack Obama, withdrew their Forces from Iraq.

The earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand took the life of more than a thousand people and cost millions of dollars in damage. The Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Giglio and took many lives. To sum it all up, this fresh decade has already been plagued by many problems and there have also been positive outcomes.

The United Nations, formed in 1945, has promoted peace and security and has helped many countries in many different ways. It has over 180 members and has provided support for less fortunate nations. The organizations such as UNESCO, WHO and UNICEF have proved to give invaluable assistance to citizens of numerous countries.

The UN also has provided great help to war-torn countries by means of sending Peace-keeping Forces from the Army of other countries. When the United Nations introduced Women Rights it gave freedom for women and conferred to them equivalence with men. Child Rights gave the abused and maltreated children hope of a better home and alleviated lives of children around the world. The United Nations has been able to keep strong for more than 60 years and I hope keeps shining as the beacon for peace.

For 30 years, Sri Lanka was in turmoil, the civil war raged on and destroyed my nation. The civil war which was started by a terrorist organization, which called itself the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and was led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, took the lives of thousands of innocent civilians and captured the North and some parts of the East of Sri Lanka.

They stated that they fought for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the same Tamils they massacred whenever they would set explosives or the same Tamil families whose children they took, to train as child soldiers/humanshields.

They impeded the progression of Sri Lanka and tarnished the reputation, prestige and honour of my country. They were facilitated from global communities who were blinded from reality, by the farce of the LTTE.

They were the sole reason behind the assassinations of Indian political figure-head, Rajiv Gandhi. Some attempted assassinations are: Robert O Blake Jr, United States ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Pio Mariani, Italian ambassador to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka lost thousands of her sons, a few to mention are Ranasinghe Premadasa - former Sri Lankan President, Neelan Thirichelvum - eminent Tamil scholar, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle - former Highways and Road Development Minister and the list goes on. In my eyes, the LTTE did one of the most immense crimes of all, they annihilated hope.

Former LTTE child soldiers

They crushed the hope of parents wishing to witness their children become lawyers, doctors, engineers etc by seizing them from their parent's desperate clutch. They routed the hope of students, how could they dream of inventing or bringing a change when they acknowledged the fact that they may not even exist tomorrow? The hope of the Sri Lankan soldiers, who knew they were seeing their loved ones for the final time.

The worst of all, they destroyed the hope of the youths, they planted fear and anxiety into young minds, and they were made to feel terror when they heard a bomb detonated in a bus, assuming their parents, siblings or relatives might have been in that bus.

A young girl, victim of war, from the Tamil minority said “I was born in a terrorized country, I was raised in a terrorized country but I do not want to die in a terrorized country.” How does a bird fly free when its wings are clipped?

On May 2009, the LTTE was finally defeated with their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was shot by the Sri Lankan Forces. The greatest humanitarian rescue operation the world had seen was accomplished, by the combined efforts of the Sri Lankan Army, Sri Lankan Navy and Sri Lankan Air Force under the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the saviour and hero of our nation. The end of the civil war brought on changes to the nation. Tourism is growing once again, development is taking place around the nation and our economy is rising. But yet again, we face obstacles, this time from global communities.

Why? These communities state that we violated the human rights, during the civil war of the LTTE. The same terrorists who didn't care about their own lives and were willing to suicide bomb and take hundreds of innocent lives with them, the same terrorists who kidnapped children and trained them, to become child soldiers or humanshields.

The same terrorists who were the reason my nation was split apart. Do they forget? Do they forget that the LTTE caused so much terror and shed the blood of so many innocent civilians? Do they forget about the Kattankudy mosque massacre, where 147 Muslims were killed while they were praying?

But, what would these global communities say if we funded Al qaeda/Taliban? What would they say if we censure them for violating human rights, when they liberate a nation from terrorism? What would they do if we protest and attack their diplomats? What would they do if we supply weapons, training or shelter the soldiers of terrorist organizations? On September 25, 1961 John F Kennedy addressed the United Nations; he said “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind” and is that not what we did?

All we ask is that the United Nations and certain international communities not to interfere in our internal affairs.

They were not there to help us when we needed it most, when we had a lack of troops and supplies, when we were in financial turmoil and divisions of our country were under the control of the LTTE. So I hope to persuade the certain global communities to sojourn impeding my nation from being able to develop and flourish into a significant state, I humbly request the world to let us move on, for three decades we have been in strife; and I believe that we have had enough struggles, now that we can breathe air without the hint of blood.

Regards, Mohammed Ashmal Naleemudeen (14-years-old)