A GROUP of almost 3700 Sri Lankans living in various parts of the world urged the United States to support the Sri Lankan government’s fight against LTTE terrorism.
Full text of the petition: "Mr. Barack Obama, the President of the USA, Mrs Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the State, USA, Mr. Robert Blake, US Embassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Dan Clune, US Charge D’Affaires, Australia,
We write in reference to the recent statement made by the Secretary of State Mrs Hillary Clinton stating that the Whitehouse is disappointed with the Sri Lankan government for not agreeing to a ceasefire with the LTTE to prevent further civilian casualties and that the Sri Lankan Government is not concerned about the civilian casualties.
Mrs Clinton has herself acknowledged the fact that civilians are being used as human shields against their wishes by the LTTE terrorists and are not allowed to leave the LTTE controlled areas. The LTTE has responded to any attempts by civilians to leave the area by shooting at them. As Mr Gordon Weiss, the UN spokesman mentioned recently, there are also credible reports of clashes between the LTTE terrorists and innocent Tamil civilians who tried to prevent their children from being recruited to the LTTE and those who resisted have been beaten or shot.
As you are aware, people in Sri Lanka of all ethnic groups including Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims suffered from the LTTE terrorism for more than 25 years. Their pain was solely born by themselves and successive governments in Sri Lanka have witnessed it. We have had a number of ceasefire agreements brokered by various parties and implemented by successive Sri Lankan governments. It was and it is very obvious that the LTTE is not genuinely interested in any peaceful resolution to this conflict. We strongly believe that the Sri Lankan Government is absolutely correct on the stand it has taken now on the current crisis. There are only two solutions. The LTTE has to lay down their arms and surrender before commencing any peace talks. If this is not possible the Sri Lankan Government has no other option but to defeat terrorism. This approach is quite consistent with your policy towards any terrorist group operating in the world. We are also confident that you are aware of the fact that that the LTTE has ties with the Al-Qaeda.
As it was demonstrated to the entire world time and time again, any pauses in fighting or ceasefire arrangements will only prolong the suffering of the civilians. Even the UN acknowledged that the LTTE prevented the civilians from leaving the conflict zone more vigorously during the recent two day ceasefire period declared by the Sri Lankan government.
What the Sri Lankan government needs at this juncture is the support and the encouragement from countries like yours to wipe out terrorism from Sri Lanka and from the world. We believe that this is quite consistent with the foreign policy of the United States.
In our view, Mrs Clinton should have first expressed her concern and disappointment with the LTTE, for not allowing civilians to leave the LTTE controlled area for their safety. In this instance we refer to the statement made by the UN asking the LTTE to surrender arms and renounce terrorism. Also, we request Mrs Clinton to appeal the Tamil diaspora living in the US to use their influence to ask LTTE not to prevent safe passage of civilians.
Any attempt to save the LTTE at this juncture would only bring further misery to Sri Lankans of all ethnic origins. If the LTTE is saved from extinction it would result in the deaths of further hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans of both present and future generations.
Therefore, we earnestly request you to consider the above and use your good offices to support the Sri Lankan government in eradicating brutal terrorism and human sufferings from the beautiful island of Sri Lanka, as per the wishes of the peace loving majority."
Petition demands to = provide unequivocal support to Sri Lankan government to fight the war against LTTE terrorism;
=appeal to the Tamil Diaspora living in the US to influence LTTE not to prevent safe passage of civilians from the no - fire zone and to convince the LTTE to renounce terrorism;
=not to negotiate or encourage any attempts to save the LTTE terrorism from extinction, especially not to negotiate escape mechanisms for LTTE leaders, which would result in more deaths and agony for hundreds and thousands of Sri Lankans of both present and future generations. (Courtesy: The Island)
