Promoting LTTE terrorism in New Zealand

(Media Release issued by the New Zealand Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka – SPUR NZ on 21 March 2009)

(March 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We have seen newspaper reports that the Tamil diaspora in New Zealand are out in the Auckland streets again, to express their support for Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.

This type of protests are being carried out by some Tamil groups in New Zealand since 04 February 2009. The observers claim that they were not just, as organizers claimed, an expression of support for Tamil civilians in war-torn Sri Lanka. More than a protest to support the civilians, they appeared to have designed as rallies to promote the LTTE. The LTTE ( commonly known as Tamil Tigers) is a terrorist group banned in USA. UK, Canada, European Union and India. Australia also have designated LTTE as a terrorist Organisation.

Many of the participants of these rallies carry red flags of the terrorist group LTTE that practices suicide bombings and abducts children to use as soldiers in addition to wanton slaughter of civilians including women, children and clergy, political assassinations, destruction of economic and religious institutions etc. Some of the banners displayed also depicted Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, a wanted mass murderer by the Interpol, who personally authorizes the acts of terrorism the group has committed over the last three decades.

Moreover, the Tigers have systematically coerced children into fighting in their ranks, dealt ruthlessly with dissident Tamils who opposed their brutal methods, and even used coercive tactics to extract financial "donations" from Tamils abroad. Some of these actions are covertly and overtly happening in New Zealand as well and it cannot be a secret to law enforcing authorities. When similar trends started to emerge in some other western countries, steps have been taken to curb such activities by officially designating the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group, a move that criminalized the group’s fund-raising efforts. In that context we appreciate the NZ Government’s recent decision to establish the “Counter Terrorist Tactical Assault Group—CTTAG, as an anti terror squad responsible for domestic security.

Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has now reached an important milestone in its efforts to establish normalcy in the whole country by defeating LTTE militarily. About thirty years ago, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) created a status for themselves as the sole representatives of Tamils in Sri Lanka. They declared that a separate state for Tamils would be established in Sri Lanka through an armed struggle. In the process they killed almost all moderate Tamil leaders. Therefore, the successive Sri Lankan Governments had no other option but to negotiate with LTTE, although they have resorted to terrorism. It is a well known fact that LTTE used all previous ceasefire periods to arm themselves with more and more lethal weapons.

Finally in 2006, the present Sri Lankan Government decided to crush the military strength of the LTTE . Within two years, the extent of the LTTE controlled areas diminished from 15,000 sq. km to about 25 sq. km. During the retreat the LTTE forced thousands of civilians to move along with them to be utilised later as a human shield to escape from the final assault of the Sri Lankan Government forces. They are now trapped into a small area called Puthukuttuyiruppu ( PKT) in the Northern province of Sri Lanka. We are now witnessing the final phase of the Sri Lankan Government’s legitimate operation of liberating the innocent civilians from the clutches of the terrorist LTTE. The Sri Lankan forces are moving forward very cautiously and the LTTE is losing their men and military hardware steadily. The only available escape route for the LTTE appears to be moving out of the combat zone by mingling with the civilians, in a ceasefire situation. As witnessed by us on previous occasions, the world wide propaganda machinery of LTTE is now in full gear to portray the current situation as a genocide committed by the Sri Lankan Government. They work hard to obtain a ceasefire. What is happening at present in New Zealand with the connivance of some NGOs is part of that exercise.

When a government finds itself locked in combat with a guerrilla/terrorist force that fights from amidst a civilian population and uses human shields — as the Tamil Tigers are now doing — innocents inevitably die. In contrast to the propaganda machine of the LTTE most of these people die due to the actions of LTTE themselves.

The UN under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. John Holmes, who visited the conflict zone stated in his report to the Security Council in February 2009, “I called in particular on the LTTE to let the civilian population leave freely, amid credible reports of shootings of some trying to flee, and to stop forced recruitment, especially of children.”

The recent newspapers reports in Sri Lanka say that the civilians entrapped have now started attacking the LTTE carders and coming out to the government controlled areas. It is reported that last Wednesday and Thursday more than 2000 people have come out.

An opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Vino Noharathalingam, who is representing the area of the present conflict, has commended in Parliament on 19 March 2009, the government’s effort to resettle all IDPs in the recently liberated North from the hands of the LTTE. He has personally visited the Kadiragamapuram Welfare Village and witnessed the manner in which the Government was taking care of the displaced persons. The MP has said that he had observed how people were living free without fear since they had been provided with all the necessary facilities under the present circumstances including vocational training programmes. This Tamil MP has made above remarks in the Sri Lanka Parliament after witnessing the situation himself. Naturally, we would like to request you to believe him than the spokespersons of Tamil organizations in New Zealand, who have not visited Sri Lanka for years.

We would like to emphasise to the New Zealand public that the New Zealanders are now witnessing a part of the world wide publicity campaign unleashed by an international terror group LTTE. In all countries, along with the publicity campaign they raise funds. The cash contributions solicited from Tamil owned businesses in the suburbs of either Auckland or Toronto are being used to buy bombs to blow up civilians 10,000 miles away. If you take the view that an innocent human life is an innocent human life, no matter where that human is located, then New Zealand has a moral duty to criminalize Tiger fundraising. The whole point of the international war on terror is that civilized nations must band together to fight all terrorist groups, not just the ones that directly target them.

We recognize the sense of empathic anguish many New Zealand Tamils feel as the Sri Lankan government closes in on the last Tamil Tiger enclave in northern Sri Lanka. Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the affected area, and several hundreds are believed to have died already. We whole heartedly agree that these people deserve the world's sympathy. But, at the same time we know that only a very few New Zealanders are going to be moved to express such sympathy if they open their newspapers and see the pictures of New Zealand Tamils waving the flag of a terrorist organization banned by the friendly countries such as USA, UK, EU and India.

Finally, we urge the New Zealand general public not to be mislead by the false propaganda by the world wide network of LTTE and its’ sympathisers.

Although the LTTE terrorism could be suppressed in Sri Lanka they could emerge from somewhere else. Tomorrow it could be the turn of New Zealand. So we all have to be watchful as one single community. International terrorism has no borders.

-Sri Lanka Guardian