SRI LANKAN AMBASSADOR COUNTERS SO-CALLED PEACE GROUPS

Questions Groups Allegiance to LTTE’s Global Propaganda Network

In response to wild accusations against the government by potentially terrorist front groups, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, , counters these groups who remain silent about the terrorist actions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated terrorist group by the U.S. Government.

“I find it a bit ironic that these so-called peace groups raise the flag of the LTTE - a banned terrorist organization - even at their rallies of peace,” said the Ambassador in reference to a rally today in Washington. “They have no shortage of accusations against the government, but never make a single allegation against the desperate actions of the terrorists. It certainly calls into question the groups allegiance to the LTTE and its global propaganda network.”

The FBI has referred to the LTTE as among the most dangerous and deadly extremist organizations in the world. For perfecting the suicide bomb and inventing the suicide belt, the FBI stated that the LTTE’s “ruthless tactics have inspired terrorist networks worldwide, including al Qaeda in Iraq.”

The LTTE has also perfected the soft weapon of propaganda through the systematic dissemination of misinformation through its global terrorist network and litany of front groups that are closely linked to organizations already deemed as part of this network by the U.S. Department of Treasury. Just last week, the U.S. Department of Treasury, under Executive Order 13224, designated another front group, the Tamil Foundation, as a funding organization for the LTTE. A similar designation has been given to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), a group with a similar purpose.

In addition to perfecting the suicide bomb - the latest suicide attack took place last week within a government center where innocent civilians had come to receive humanitarian assistance and medical treatment in a reckless attempt to intimidate other civilians from seeking safety and security - the LTTE terrorists are holding civilians hostage, shooting at those who try to seek safety in the government safe zones and recruiting child soldiers to continue their desperate tactics.

The United Nations and Human Rights Watch have issued statements that explain that the LTTE are holding Tamil civilians hostage and not allowing them to enter the Government safe zones. In addition, the UN’s statement said that civilians that are trying to leave for the safe zone are being shot and sometimes killed.

UNICEF’s chief in Sri Lanka has stated that UNICEF has received clear indications that the LTTE has intensified forcible recruitment of civilians and that children as young as 14 years old are now being targeted. In his statement expressing grave concern for the safety of children in conflict areas, Philippe Duamelle said, “We have clear indications that the LTTE has intensified forcible recruitment of civilians and that children as young as 14 years old are now being targeted. These children are facing immediate danger and their lives are at great risk. Their recruitment is intolerable.”

Further, the Human Rights Watch stated in a recent report that the “LTTE has been responsible for deploying their forces within densely populated areas and deliberately firing on civilians to prevent them from fleeing to safety. There is also evidence that the LTTE has used civilians as ‘human shields.’”

The report continues, “The LTTE practice of forcing civilians to retreat with its forces, rather than allowing them to flee to safer areas, has meant that LTTE forces are increasingly deployed near civilians in violation of the laws of war. When military forces deliberately use civilians to protect their positions from attack, it is considered to be ‘human shielding,’ which is a war crime.”

Embassy of Sri Lanka
Washington DC
USA

20 February 2009