I very strongly condemn the recent brutal killing of innocent civilians in the Eastern and Northern Provinces and the claymore mine attack on army personnel resulting in the loss of about twenty innocent lives within a couple of days. The victims are ordinary civilians going about to attend to their day to day work and two batches of soldiers, virtually confined to the barracks under the ceasefire agreement, taking food for their friends on duty. At a crucial time like this I call upon all Members of the Sinhala Tamil and Muslim communities to show utmost restrain and not to play into the hands of the perpetrators of these ruthless crimes, by helping them to achieve their aim. The aim of the offenders is obviously either to spark off a communal riot or to provoke the army to recklessly attack the civilians. The civilians, whatever community they belong to, know very well that communalism is long dead in our country and the people neither want a repetition of what happened in 1983 nor do want to participate in enacting such a tragedy again. The Sri Lankan Army too has tamed itself to such an extent that they now conduct themselves with restrain in-spite of the various provocative acts organized by the L.T.T.E. through its front oranisations.
No one can deny that the Public-Army relationship today has become very cordial unlike in the bad old days. I seek no pardon for saying this. We should not forget that the soldiers had to face large crowds, gathered under pressure from the LTTE, incited by them to jeer, hoot, and to throw stones at them. We do not have Gandhians in our army, but there may be one or two black sheep in every organisation. However I plead with the Army men to show extreme patience what ever happens and not to attack the poor innocent civilians for no fault of theirs, but to fight their enemy in the proper way.
It is very strange that the L.T.T.E. had denied any involvement in any of these killings. The whole world knows that even the so called cleared areas supposed to be under the control of the Government have now come under their control and all Government Servants are also taking orders from them. Therefore if the L.T.T.E. denies any knowledge of the culprits, then it is their duty to trace the culprits and help the army to arrest them. The L.T.T.E. should take the responsibility for all the happenings in both the Government held areas and areas under their control. Any amount of denial is not going to exonerate the L.T.T.E. from these crimes. The International community too will not take it lightly and they cannot be hoodwinked.
The L.T.T.E. is making the biggest mistake in their dealings with the Muslims. Killing of innocent Muslims by the L.T.T.E. for no reason, results in the retaliatory killing of an innocent Tamil. I strongly condemn both. Whether Tamil, Muslim or Sinhalese they have no right to kill one another. A Tamil killing a Muslim is like cutting his own limb. Tamil is the mother tongue of both the Tamils and the Muslims and the contribution of the Muslims to Tamil Language and Literature is not second to that of the Tamils. The assassination of Divisional Secretary Mr.Mohamed Faleel apart from being great loss to his family and others also a great loss for the Tamil Literature. The L.T.T.E. should take note of this also.
V.Anandasangaree,
President-T.U.L.F.
No one can deny that the Public-Army relationship today has become very cordial unlike in the bad old days. I seek no pardon for saying this. We should not forget that the soldiers had to face large crowds, gathered under pressure from the LTTE, incited by them to jeer, hoot, and to throw stones at them. We do not have Gandhians in our army, but there may be one or two black sheep in every organisation. However I plead with the Army men to show extreme patience what ever happens and not to attack the poor innocent civilians for no fault of theirs, but to fight their enemy in the proper way.
It is very strange that the L.T.T.E. had denied any involvement in any of these killings. The whole world knows that even the so called cleared areas supposed to be under the control of the Government have now come under their control and all Government Servants are also taking orders from them. Therefore if the L.T.T.E. denies any knowledge of the culprits, then it is their duty to trace the culprits and help the army to arrest them. The L.T.T.E. should take the responsibility for all the happenings in both the Government held areas and areas under their control. Any amount of denial is not going to exonerate the L.T.T.E. from these crimes. The International community too will not take it lightly and they cannot be hoodwinked.
The L.T.T.E. is making the biggest mistake in their dealings with the Muslims. Killing of innocent Muslims by the L.T.T.E. for no reason, results in the retaliatory killing of an innocent Tamil. I strongly condemn both. Whether Tamil, Muslim or Sinhalese they have no right to kill one another. A Tamil killing a Muslim is like cutting his own limb. Tamil is the mother tongue of both the Tamils and the Muslims and the contribution of the Muslims to Tamil Language and Literature is not second to that of the Tamils. The assassination of Divisional Secretary Mr.Mohamed Faleel apart from being great loss to his family and others also a great loss for the Tamil Literature. The L.T.T.E. should take note of this also.
V.Anandasangaree,
President-T.U.L.F.
