AMBASSADOR GOONETILLEKE RESPONDS TO NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke in a response to an Editorial in the 25 October 2006 New York Times titled “Monitoring a little-noticed war,” has agreed with the editorial on the need to “choke off funding” from overseas Tamils to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, adding that the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization and the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America are well documented as L.T.T.E. fund-raising fronts.

The following is the full response from Ambassador

October 24, 2006
Sri Lankan Rebels

To the Editor:

Re “Monitoring a Little-Noticed War” (editorial, Oct. 18):

We agree with your view on the need to “choke off funding” from overseas Tamils to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization and the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America are well documented as L.T.T.E. fund-raising fronts.

Sri Lanka faces a terrorist problem, not a religious conflict. In 1997, the United States designated L.T.T.E. as a foreign terrorist organization and recently arrested 18 L.T.T.E. agents trying to buy weapons.

You refer to a “Buddhist-led government” and a “Hindu separatist group.” The government is democratically elected and consists of Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian cabinet ministers.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa established an all-party conference to evolve consensus for a negotiated settlement.

The government is equally concerned about human rights and has invited an international group of eminent persons as observers, including from the United States.

International shame will not deter terrorists, but international pressure will. It is vital to persuade the L.T.T.E. to engage in meaningful negotiations and not walk away, as it has done on five occasions since 1985.

Bernard Goonetilleke
Ambassador of Sri Lanka
Washington, Oct. 18, 2006

Click here for the Ambassador’s response

Click here for the The Editorial in the New York Times of October 18, 2006