Monday 20, October 1997
Letters to the Editor
The world has at long last realised that the LTTE is nothing but a cowardly bunch of terrorists who have perfected the technique of suicide bombings into a `fine art'.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the October 15th bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a ``terrorist attack'' whilst the German Foreign Minister described the blast as a ``cowardly and senseless attack''. Similar sentiments of outrage were expressed by Britain and the USA who only last week officially listed the ruthless yet cowardly LTTE as a `Terrorist Group'.
One could only hope that all other nations who have hitherto turned a Nelsonian Eye to the barbaric atrocities perpetuated by the LTTE to join the USA. After all hasn't the LTTE now the dubious distinction of being tagged as the `most ruthless' (sic) and indeed the most cowardly by their `stamp' of killing unsuspecting civilians and political leaders by `human bombs'.
On the threshold the new millennium when nations of the world are joining hands and becoming regional and economic `blocs' on their ultimate and sensible goal of `globalisation' could or should that tiny, natural resource laden, beautiful tropical isle be divided, `Cyprus Style'?
The self-styled `champions' of the Tamil speaking people is the tag that the LTTE wish to be associated with. However in truth the `Tigers' a.k.a LTTE are a mere group of hardened terrorists who have a penchant, perhaps because of their political bankruptcy, to recruit teenagers of both sexes and even pre-teenagers to join their so-called cause-those `tots' however end up as `Gun-Fodder' and/or on to the ranks of their suicide cadres where they are brain washed into believing that killing political leaders or as many civilians as possible leads to martyrdom!
Most Tamils who constitute just 18% of the population of 18 million Sri Lankans live and work happily side by side with the majority Sinhalese. Personally I have found my Tamil friends to be decent, balanced and hard working individuals. It is a fact that a significantly greater proportion of the high net worth individuals and the elite property owning class in and around Colombo are non-Sinhalese. They would never even think of moving over `lock stock and barrel' to an outlandish outpost in the arid north.
The truth of the matter, as observed by that British journalist Penelope Willis who was incarcerated by the LTTE themselves for a year around 1989/90 said that the so-called cry for Eelam (a separate nation) was only a facade that sounded good for those outside the theatre of war who had romanticised their quest for a separate state. Ms. Willis stated quite emphatically that the LTTE's ulterior motive and ultimate goal is to DESTABILISE the entire nation of Sri Lanka and to ultimately establish a `Red-Fortress' and then expand their tentacles `Hitler Style' to Tamil Nadu, Kerala Karnataka.... and who knows even to Malaysia and Canada where is a sizeable Tamil population.
Hitler also had Gobbels that inveterate liar who invented stories and made them into `truths' and made official denials after planning and executing each atrocity - just like the LTTE's office in the safe haven of London!
Isn't it time that Britain together with France, Germany and Canada follow the USA and totally ban the LTTE from operating on their soil?
After all hasn't the LTTE monster become a worldwide menace? And shouldn't a menace that threatens humanity be wiped off?
D. A. SENEVIRATNE
Via e-mail