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Mr. Santow's dialogue with S. Walgampaya on the Tamil civilians
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by Suranee | April 21, 2009 at 11:12 pm
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Simon Santow of The World Today discussed the treatment of the Tamil civilians by the Sri lanka military with Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Senaka Walgampaya while on an official visit to Fiji.
The LTTE was also discussed during the meeting.
One of the questions Mr. Santow asked was whether it was true or not the civilians are being used to walk through minefields by the military so the military is not endangered?
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Senaka Walgampaya, spoke to The World Today's Simon Santow while on an official visit to Fiji."Well our President has given them [Tamil Tigers] an ultimatum. They have asked the rebels to lay down arms and surrender. The ultimatum has now expired but the Government will perhaps extend the ultimatum," Mr Walgampaya said.
Simon Santow: Now the Sri Lankan military in the process of carrying out these operations is being accused of doing exactly what you are accusing the rebels of doing and that is using civilians as human shields. What reassurance can you give that that is not the case?
Senaka Walgampaya: Well that is very uncalled for. The Government is making every effort to allow the civilians to come into the government-controlled areas. The Government is not using the civilians and the Government is making every effort and endeavour to allow the civilians to come out.
Simon Santow: What about the areas, High Commissioner, where there are thought to be minefields? Can you give a categorical answer on whether or not civilians are being used to walk through those minefields by the military so the military is not endangered?
Senaka Walgampaya: No, certainly not. The Government wants to clear the minefield and then only allow civilians to go out with absolutely.... the civilians to clear the minefield is absolutely false.
Simon Santow: There is criticism of the Sri Lankan Government that there is no independent monitoring going on at the moment. That there are no aid agencies, even the United Nations or the media allowed in this area.
Senaka Walgampaya: The Government has been providing food, medicines and all medical assistance to the field and to the... and there were some programs there on the ground. They are saying that the Government is not allowing them but media personnel have also been allowed to go in but they are not encouraged to stay because we cannot guarantee their safety and security so for the security of the media, the Government is not permitting them to go into the conflict area.
Simon Santow: If indeed, we are near the end of this very, very long running conflict what guarantees can you given though that the Tamil Tigers will not just concentrate on some of their other tactics like assassination, suicide bombs, those sorts of things?
Senaka Walgampaya: There are certain theories that suggest that will come out and then they will turn into guerrilla and that also it is said that the escape from Sri Lanka, they could well go and join other terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda.
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Suranee
Ratnapura, Sri Lanka
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 07:11 on May 4th, 2009
I think this is a really difficult situation for the S/L government! After all, they can't afford to let the LTTE move out, and they can't afford to shoot too much when so many refugees are still there. What are they to do? I don't understand why the S/L navy can't attack from the coast or at least try to rescue some of the refugees. or is that nauve of me?
at 19:07 on May 4th, 2009
No Gerrypopplestone, it's not naive of you to think so because I too wonder why the SL navy were not capable of going in and rescuing the refugees. Another thing that I'm confused about is how did all those refugees escape to Tamil Nadu and Australia via the boats through the Sri lankan waters without getting detected by the Sri lanka navy.
The LTTE should allow the civilians to go and stop using them as human shields. This is a battle between the SL military and the LTTE. I personally think that the LTTE are nothing bunch of cowards for holding the civilians against their will.
As for the SL government and its military, well, they will continue the fight and will not stop until they finish the LTTE and it does not matter how many civilians they kill.
More than the Sri lanka government and military, I feel it's the civilians who are wondering "what are they to do."
at 19:25 on May 4th, 2009
Suranee, The Civilians who manage to reach TamilNadu by boat gave interview at Hyderabad hospital ( No Sri Lankan army gunpoint). They were telling good opinion about LTTE and they were not kept as human shield as sri lanka keeps telling. Among those who survived from starvation there was a 8 month old child whose mother fed the baby all the way, drinking sea water and died on the way. All are telling they will never go back to sri lanka again until the tamils get their rights.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1094421
at 19:40 on May 4th, 2009
Senthil,
How can you say that the LTTE were not keeping civilians against their will when there were civilians who have personally said that they were kept against their will. Even the UN had stated so. I understand your concern for the civilians but please be fair. The LTTE are nothing but a bunch of ruthless murderers.
As for the Sri lankan government both past and present, they were never concerned about the plight of the Sri lankan Tamils. If they were, this injustice that has been meted out to the Tamils would not have happened for more than 60 years. The only hope that the Sri lankan Tamils had to help get their rights were with the Tamil parties who the LTTE assassinated.
The LTTE has to be rid of once and for all. Next, the Sri lanka government should change the constitution so that it benefits all communities in Sri lanka, and not just the Sinhalese.
Thank you for the link.
at 20:31 on May 4th, 2009
The LTTE has done ruthless murders mostly to protect freedom and rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka. You can only see the viability of a rebel force within the context of the oppression they are fighting. The Sri Lankan government has denied any other form of Tamils' voice in Sri Lanka; the current government killed 4 Tamil MPs and 14 journalist within last 4 years.
LTTE cadet went on Hunger Strike after 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka accord that meant to solve Tamils' oppression issue in Sri Lanka. However, that ahimsa method of protest was turned a blind eye on from the Sri Lankan government and interfered Indian Government at that time.
If LTTE wasn't there to fight with violence to protect Tamils from the ruthless Sri Lankan state terrorist government, then all Tamils in Sri Lanka would have perished by now in total silence.
Even after protesting and resisting the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the world is too slow is reacting to genocide. The UN has proved itself to be a organization in quesiton after the leaking documents that prove that UN very well knew what has been going in Sri Lanka regarding death toll of Tamils and regarding war crimes of Sri Lanka. UN itself alerted the world Sri Lanka is a Red Alert country to be on the verge of genocide in 2008 in a UN genocide prevention convention. However, in 2009, it does not want to act save the lives of the Tamils civilians.
As for the claims of LTTE holding civilians hostage in the "safety zone", now that there are thousands of IDPs in the detention camps, why not these IDPs talk to vast media and tell all? If these IDPs are given proper protection under foreign aid agencies, then they would talk freely. However, the Sri Lankan government has continuously denied access to free media or aid workers.
Karuna, a Former colonol of LTTE, is an MP and a pro government armed group now. This Karuna group is extensively used by the Sri Lankan government to tarnish LTTE's efforts. Tamils sources and reporting very differently from within the "safety zone" and LTTE has repeatedly denied charges of holding civilians hostages. Tamils civilians, LTTE and Tamils Diaspora are asking for independent media reporting in the zone, however the Sri Lankan government has continuously denied that. Only independent and vast media reporting from the regions can shed light on the actuality on this particular news. Even UN is not in the position do this claim as the Sri Lankan Government has been holding UN aid workers (who came from the "safety zone") in detention camps and has denied access to UN officials to talk/see these workers.
Considering the behavior of all parties involved, the main culprit of the current humanitarian crisis is utterly the Sri Lankan state terrorist government.