The press conference was called at a short notice and at the end of the conference a Press Release was circulated. It has become a practice for the LTTE men to announce meetings at short notice to avoid the news reaching the wider circle and receiving bad publicity. The anti-LTTE pen gunners were kept away and even those who knew did not have the time to the link the conference to the LTTE.
Three elderly faces were put forward by the BTF to handle the Press Conference. This was done to camouflage any LTTE involvement. The invitees too were very selective and they did not turn up. But the media men took the Press Release sent to them on the face value and gave some publicity to the content. However, the LTTE media was fully geared and all the publicity about the event was given by them.The BTF needed some respite, as it had come under greater scrutiny of the authorities following its involvement in conducting the LTTE’s ‘Hero’s Day’ celebrations in London in November 2007. The event caused problems for Rt Hon Keith Vas MP as he had acted as the back bone of this organisation.
In order to improve its sullied image, the BTF engaged the elderly professionals to conduct the Press Conference. These elderly professionals were involved in the activities of the former British Tamil Association (BTA) and maintained relative silence until this press conference of the BTF.
One wonders what the BTF is going to achieve from its boycott campaign against Sri Lankan Airline. Instead of using the LTTE front media’s to campaign against the Sri Lankan Airlines, they decided to target the non-Sri Lankans. A propaganda stunt indeed!
There is very much doubt how this type of little thrashes will hinder the passenger level of the Airline. If the intent was to get the Tamils to boycott the Airline, the organisers would not have taken the trouble to engage in this razzmatazz in the hotel. Instead the three wise men appeared for BTF would have gone with their walking sticks to the people personally.
Sri Lankan Airlines is a popular airline for the Tamils and it will remain popular so long as it can continue with its good service delivery. It is known that very many LTTE activists fly on Sri Lankan Airlines and they have not encountered any problems at any time.
Some pro-LTTE activists are leading ticket agents for the Sri Lankan Airline. If they give up their agencies on BTF’s request with the view to achieve their goal of separate state of Tamil Eelam, they know very well there are very many Tamils waiting to grab the opportunity to become direct agents.
Unfortunately, the LTTE men are loosing their senses in a progressive way. They are living like the frogs in the well. Thirty years of LTTE’s existence has proved that it is progressively failing to feel the pulses of the people whom it claims to exclusive represent at gun point.
BTF in its Press Release states: ‘some 30,000 Tamils travel each year to Colombo to visit their relatives. It is reckoned that Sri Lankan airlines earns, about £12million a year in foreign currency revenue from Tamils travelling from London and this adds to the war chest of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). Sri Lanka is bathed in the blood of innocent Tamils. It is a 25 year old military war waged by the Sinhala nation of Sri Lanka to gain supremacy over the Tamils who comprise a separate historical nation. 70,000 Tamils have been killed in this unconscionable war without witness and 1.0 million ruthlessly driven away from their homes into internal exile. A further 1.0 million Tamils have sought refuge in foreign countries. The Sri Lankan government has abandoned all pretence of observing a ceasefire while resorting to an escalating war on the Tamils corralled into an ever tightening military cordon in their traditional homeland’.
The Tamil people know very well that LTTE is also ‘bathed in the blood of innocent Tamils’ and is soaked in their blood as well and is pointing its finger at the government only to project that the LTTE is God given angel. Of the 70,000 Tamils quoted as killed, how many of them were killed by the LTTE? The 70,000 is not an exclusive count of killing by the Sri Lankan government forces. Further, the LTTE is not a saint organisation and it had killed and driven its own people and the Tamil speaking Muslims from their homes for being Muslims. This speaks volume of its unconscionable war of attrition against its own people.
When BTF tries to claim moral high ground by accusing GOSL, it stubbornly hide the fact that LTTE too is the cause for the abrogation of the CFA. If they did not undertake provocative acts to attack the forces in the Jaffna peninsular in the early 2006 claiming that it was done by ‘Makkal Padai’ (Peoples Force), bomb with their clandestine airlines and carry our suicide bombings they could have earned the due respect.
The argument put forward herein against the LTTE is not in any way exonerate the GOSL for its appalling record against the Tamil people. Both LTTE and GOSL have done everything bad against the Tamil people. Both are good at mudslinging at each other by calling each other spades. When the people of Sri Lanka throw these spades once and for all, then only they can live a decent human existence in that country.
On the fate facing the Sri Lankan Airlines the disaster that could befall on it will be its current state of affairs, due to political interference in its management. It is showing tendencies to become a white elephant of the government due to its inability to follow corporate governance without unnecessary political interference. The impending takeover by the government could cause serious problems for the Airline. This is expected to cause serious dent for the Airline and both Sinhala and Tamil passengers only will wither away from the air line then.
In order to improve its sullied image, the BTF engaged the elderly professionals to conduct the Press Conference. These elderly professionals were involved in the activities of the former British Tamil Association (BTA) and maintained relative silence until this press conference of the BTF.
One wonders what the BTF is going to achieve from its boycott campaign against Sri Lankan Airline. Instead of using the LTTE front media’s to campaign against the Sri Lankan Airlines, they decided to target the non-Sri Lankans. A propaganda stunt indeed!
There is very much doubt how this type of little thrashes will hinder the passenger level of the Airline. If the intent was to get the Tamils to boycott the Airline, the organisers would not have taken the trouble to engage in this razzmatazz in the hotel. Instead the three wise men appeared for BTF would have gone with their walking sticks to the people personally.
Sri Lankan Airlines is a popular airline for the Tamils and it will remain popular so long as it can continue with its good service delivery. It is known that very many LTTE activists fly on Sri Lankan Airlines and they have not encountered any problems at any time.
Some pro-LTTE activists are leading ticket agents for the Sri Lankan Airline. If they give up their agencies on BTF’s request with the view to achieve their goal of separate state of Tamil Eelam, they know very well there are very many Tamils waiting to grab the opportunity to become direct agents.
Unfortunately, the LTTE men are loosing their senses in a progressive way. They are living like the frogs in the well. Thirty years of LTTE’s existence has proved that it is progressively failing to feel the pulses of the people whom it claims to exclusive represent at gun point.
BTF in its Press Release states: ‘some 30,000 Tamils travel each year to Colombo to visit their relatives. It is reckoned that Sri Lankan airlines earns, about £12million a year in foreign currency revenue from Tamils travelling from London and this adds to the war chest of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). Sri Lanka is bathed in the blood of innocent Tamils. It is a 25 year old military war waged by the Sinhala nation of Sri Lanka to gain supremacy over the Tamils who comprise a separate historical nation. 70,000 Tamils have been killed in this unconscionable war without witness and 1.0 million ruthlessly driven away from their homes into internal exile. A further 1.0 million Tamils have sought refuge in foreign countries. The Sri Lankan government has abandoned all pretence of observing a ceasefire while resorting to an escalating war on the Tamils corralled into an ever tightening military cordon in their traditional homeland’.
The Tamil people know very well that LTTE is also ‘bathed in the blood of innocent Tamils’ and is soaked in their blood as well and is pointing its finger at the government only to project that the LTTE is God given angel. Of the 70,000 Tamils quoted as killed, how many of them were killed by the LTTE? The 70,000 is not an exclusive count of killing by the Sri Lankan government forces. Further, the LTTE is not a saint organisation and it had killed and driven its own people and the Tamil speaking Muslims from their homes for being Muslims. This speaks volume of its unconscionable war of attrition against its own people.
When BTF tries to claim moral high ground by accusing GOSL, it stubbornly hide the fact that LTTE too is the cause for the abrogation of the CFA. If they did not undertake provocative acts to attack the forces in the Jaffna peninsular in the early 2006 claiming that it was done by ‘Makkal Padai’ (Peoples Force), bomb with their clandestine airlines and carry our suicide bombings they could have earned the due respect.
The argument put forward herein against the LTTE is not in any way exonerate the GOSL for its appalling record against the Tamil people. Both LTTE and GOSL have done everything bad against the Tamil people. Both are good at mudslinging at each other by calling each other spades. When the people of Sri Lanka throw these spades once and for all, then only they can live a decent human existence in that country.
On the fate facing the Sri Lankan Airlines the disaster that could befall on it will be its current state of affairs, due to political interference in its management. It is showing tendencies to become a white elephant of the government due to its inability to follow corporate governance without unnecessary political interference. The impending takeover by the government could cause serious problems for the Airline. This is expected to cause serious dent for the Airline and both Sinhala and Tamil passengers only will wither away from the air line then.
 LTTE’s front British Tamil Forum (BTF) hurriedly organised a Press Conference on January 15th at C...){kind=link}
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