"Peace’ or a 'Ceasefire’ that cannot prevent political killings and abductions cannot be considered as true ‘peace’ or ‘ceasefire.’ We believe that the Sri Lankan Government and the International community should accept this reality, although it is late now. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure the security and the ‘right to live’ for the people of this country. The International community should also pressure the LTTE to stop these brutal killings and abductions rather than restrict their responsibility by issuing statements," a joint statement, issued by the heads of the forum of political parties and civil organisations, against political killings and abductions said.
The joint statement was issued at the first meeting of the Forum held yesterday at the BMICH with the participation of five political parties and six civil organisations.
The statement said: Political killings and abductions have become the order of the day in most parts of our country today. It is well established beyond any doubt that the LTTE is responsible for most of these killings and abductions, which are taking place not only in North and East of the country but also in places like Colombo and its suburbs. Members and supporters of Tamil political parties or any Tamil civilians who do not subscribe to the policies and ideologies of the LTTE are being systematically murdered. Further, there have been frequent reports confirmed by international Human Rights watch groups that school going children are being abducted and forcibly recruited for military training and activities of the LTTE.
Muslim and Sinhala citizens in the North and Eastern province are also being victimized by the LTTE. It has become very common for the LTTE to abduct or kill civilians of this area who refuses to pay extortion as demanded by them.
All these political killings and abductions are committed by the LTTE since signing of the Ceasefire Agreement, which has taken away the right of all other Tamil Political Parties to carry arms for their self defence, except the LTTE.
More than one hundred people have been murdered so far by the LTTE in this manner and thousands have been victims of their atrocities. The list includes former Members of Parliament, sitting and former Pradeshiya Sabha members and Chairman and political party heads and organisers. Former Member of Parliament Kingsley Rasanayagam was killed by the LTTE recently in the Government controlled area in Batticaloa District. A female LTTE cadre had made an attempt for a suicidal attack on EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda, in July this year. Had that attempt been successful, the country would have lost a prominent Tamil political leader.
In short, to date the LTTE has failed to abide by the conditions of the Ceasefire agreement.
The Ceasefire Agreement, signed between the then Government and the LTTE, has almost given free licence for the LTTE to murder Tamil politicians and civilians who are not in agreement with them or defy to abide by their dictum.
From the start, the Ceasefire Monitors have been silent spectators over these incidents. Unfortunately, in order to avoid any breakdown in the peace process, the Sri Lankan Government was avoiding any situation that would antagonise the LTTE thus placing the Government in a difficult position in carrying out its responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country. This has resulted in a situation - where none of the law enforcing authorities was prepared to take any effective measures to prevent these political killings and abductions. This has lead to widespread fear and distrust amongst the people.
‘Peace’ or ‘ceasefire’ that cannot prevent these political killings and abductions cannot be considered as true ‘peace’ or ‘ceasefire’. We believe that the Sri Lankan Government and the International Community should accept this reality, although it is late now. It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure the security and the "right to live" for the people of this country.. International community should also pressurise the LTTE to stop these brutal killings and abductions rather than restricting their responsibility by issuing statements. We strongly believe that any party that is genuinely interested in establishing peace in this country would come forward to do so.
Our objective is to create conditions conducive for the people of this country to live with their right to exercise fundamental freedom. We have joined in a mission to generate public momentum against the atrocities and brutality of the LTTE. We are dedicated to bring peace to this country based on the principles of democracy, human rights and pluralism. We would work hand-in-hand with political parties and civil organisations to achieve this goal. We invite political parties and civil societies with similar objectives to join hands with us. We wish that every citizen in this country would pay attention to those voices that is clamouring for their "right to live" and feel the urgency in this regard.
A statement signed by V.Muralitharan better known as Karuna, Joint President of the Tamileela Ikkiya Viduthalai Munnani (TIVM), read out by P.Rajarathanam said that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran continued to kill innocent Tamils who do not toe the line of the terrorist outfit.
He emphasised that Tamils must end paying taxes to Prabhakaran’s Wanni Tigers. Prabhakaran makes use of the 22 TNA MPs as his mouth piece, the TIVM leader said. He charged that several Tamil daily newspapers were encouraging terrorism.
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Tamileela Ikkiya Viduthalai Munnani (TIVM) Patriotic National Movement (PNM), National Bhikku Front (NBF), National University Teachers Alliance (NUTA), Neganhira Uadanaya, People’s Artistes, and Students for Human Rights participated in the first meeting of the Forum.
