Lord Naseby lashes out at UK distortions:

No harassment of returning Tamils

Sandasen MARASINGHE

Lord Naseby, PC, Baron of Sandy and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka said that the allegation made by several Labour Party MPs that Tamils who come back to Sri Lanka from UK are being harassed, persecuted and not allowed their rights, was totally misleading.

He made this observation at a meeting with journalists at the Colombo Hilton Hotel.

Lord Naseby toured Sri Lanka during the past few weeks.

Lord Naseby said though certain British media outlets stated that the Tamils who come back to Sri Lanka from UK are being harassed, persecuted and not allowed their rights; this was totally wrong considering the ground reality in Sri Lanka.

He said British High Commission sources in Sri Lanka told him around 400 Tamils came to Sri Lanka from UK during the recent past.

He added that each of them is given a private telephone number to contact them in case of any need and so far none of them has complained about any such harassments by the government.

Lord Naseby further stated that the UK has huge problems with the Diaspora specially with the British Tamil Forum, Global Tamil Forum etc. The illegal money raising bogus charities are still in place in the UK and all this money is channeled to the Eelam movement which is unacceptable.

He further stated that he met the common Tamil people including fishermen, farmers, shop keepers, people in commercial activities etc in Jaffna and in the North and questioned if there was any investments by those forums in Jaffna or in North for rebuilding projects. He said all their response was negative. He added he was really disappointed and said he would raise this issue in UK to highlight that these people are staying in the UK for different purpose. He also stated that the common people told him those Tamil doctors never came to those hospitals except for a very few. He added that those doctors are being paid well in their country. He further noted he had many good Tamil language speaking friends in Sri Lanka who also invest here and they too were really disappointed with the behavior of these charities and forums.

Lord Naseby further said that he would write a formal letter complaining to David Miliband when he got back to UK with a copy to the government of UK for undermining the good work commissioned by the UN agencies, ICRC and the government of Sri Lanka during the last stage of the war for eliminating terrorism in 2009.

He said that the head of the ICRC told him food and other needy items were supplied to the North until the end of the first week of May, 2009. He said that he saw on television Miliband saying that food was sent until some date in April 4 or 20. Lord Nesby said that he obtained the written evidence of the ICRC documents and will take them back to the UK. He also added that he expect to have a debate in the floor of the House of Lords in the next month or two in this respect challenging and undermining of the good works by those institutions. Lord Naseby further stated that he witnessed a huge infrastructure change in the North. Electricity and water is being provided to the North.

A massive demining programme is in progress with a manpower of 700. It needs time. He added that he too was an IDP at the age of five during the second World War. He had to travel 180 miles west of London where he stayed for four and half years. He added that he went to Menik Farm where 300,000 people who had nothing were now settled. It was commendable that only 6,000 persons remain to be resettled after two and half years after the war.