Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama has asked help from the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the largest and only security mechanism in the Asia-Pacific region, to stop Sri Lankan rebels from smuggling arms to other terrorist groups, including the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.
At the end of the 14th ARF at the Philippine International Convention Center Thursday, Bogollagama said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a rebel group in Sri Lanka, had shipped weapons to the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, through contacts with an al-Qaeda cell based in Pakistan in 1995.
“We’ve been able to prove this and we have evidence to show this,” he said during a press conference.
In a speech before foreign ministers of the ARF, Bogollagama said the LTTE owns and operates ships for the smuggling of humans, drugs, arms and military hardware.
Majority of the narcotic shipments, he added, were destined for western markets.
In 1995, the LTTE transported a cache of arms and ammunition at the behest of Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Pakistan for use by the Abu Sayyaf operating in Southern Philippines.
Disguised as Pakistanis
Police Chief Supt. Rodolfo “Boogie” Mendoza told the Inquirer that three years ago, they received an unconfirmed intelligence report on the alleged entry of Tamil Tiger rebels in an Abu Sayyaf camp in Southern Mindanao.
Mendoza, who is familiar with the history of Abu Sayyaf, said the Tamil rebels had disguised themselves as Pakistani. However, he stressed that they were not able to verify the authenticity of the information.
Bogollagama said the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, in its publication “Military Balance 2007,” also cited the “commercial links” between the LTTE and al-Qaida.
LTTE had also been listed as a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the member states of the European Union and Canada, he stressed.
“So long as funds are raised by these groups in some countries to commit acts of terror in another, this world of ours will never be safe,” Bogollagama said.
An economic downturn caused by a single terrorist act in one part of the globe, he said, would have an instant domino effect in markets far removed from it.
“It is no longer an option to feel ensconced on the basis of acts of terrorism taking place in some part of the world far from our shores. Sharing of intelligence information assumes a sense of importance as never before,” he added.
Addressing terrorism
Bogollagama said the inclusion of Sri Lanka as the 27th participant in ARF would enable his country to effectively address the problem of terrorism.
He stressed that Sri Lankan rebels continued to move weapons in and out of the country using its fleet of small boats, and that Colombo (commercial capital of Sri Lanka) was able to destroy some of these vessels during the last two years.
Sri Lanka has been fighting a civil war with the LTTE, guerrilla organization that seeks to establish an independent Tamil state, Eelam, in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, for over two decades.
Formed in 1972 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE is one of the world’s most sophisticated and tightly organized insurgent groups.
Although a ceasefire exists on paper, the rebels have ruled out peace while President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in office.
At least 4,500 people have been killed last year alone over the war for an independent Tamil homeland. Since 1983, the fighting has killed nearly 70,000 people.
During the press conference, Bogollagama asked ARF members, particularly India, China, Australia, Japan and the United States, to help Sri Lanka police its maritime borders to prevent the smuggling of people, drugs and weapons.
“They have attacked on land and from the skies, they’re now moving into attacking in the waters,” Bogollagama said.
He said his government was willing to resume peace talks with the Tamil Tigers if they end the violence and show sincerity.
“We can resume talks tomorrow. They should stop violence and give up terrorism,” he stressed.
Global effort
At the end of the ARF, ASEAN foreign ministers renewed their call for a more concerted global war against terror by adopting without delay the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). The 10-nation bloc is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
During the ARF meeting, ASEAN ministers stressed the need “to continue the strengthening of the international legal foundation in countering terrorism.”
They said that terrorism, “irrespective of its origins, motivations or objectives, constitutes a threat to all peoples and countries, and the common interest of the international community in ensuring peace, stability, security and economic prosperity.”
Blueprint
At the same time, the ministers reiterated their strong condemnation “of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
They said terrorism should not be associated with any particular religion or ethnic group and expressed support and further called for “continued international efforts to promote and enhance dialogue and broaden the understanding among faiths, cultures and civilization.”
The ASEAN ministers were also unanimous in expressing their commitment “to prevent, suppress and eliminate international terrorism consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and other universally recognized international law.”
ASEAN leaders adopted the ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism as a blueprint for its war against terrorism in the region during the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu last January.
(http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=80511)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment