Save Sri Lanka From The Terrors Of A Fascist, One-Man Regime

Ven. Mahanayake Theros,
Church and other religious leaders.
H. E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Hon Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition,
Leaders of all Political Parties

We, the citizens and expatriates of Sri Lanka,

Recalling the repeated failures of the LTTE to respond positively to the Ceasefire Agreement signed jointly by the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and representative of the International Community, Erik Solheim;

Considering the fact that 95% of the terms and conditions of the Ceasefire Agreement were violated with impunity by the LTTE;

Recalling that the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement, approved by the Tamil leadership and accepted by the Sri Lankan government, too failed primarily because Velupillai Prabhkaran, the leader of the LTTE, rejected the idea of being a Chief Minster in Provincial Council

Regretting that the ethnic cleansing of the LTTE since 1995 has displaced over 100,000 Muslims and Sinhalese;

Regretting that thousands of Tamil families too are displaced as a direct consequence of the Jaffna-centric violence endorsed in the Vadukoddai Resolution of 1976

Regretting that the leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been allowed to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity with impunity;

Regretting the failure of the Churches to bring both communities together, despite its roots in both communities;

Noting that the LTTE has declared unilateral ceasefires followed almost immediately by unilateral declarations of war on flimsy excuses;

Noting that the LTTE has walked away from peace negotiations conducted by the international community headed by Norway clearly signalling that they do not have any intention of pursuing non-violent approaches to restore normalcy to the war-weary people of Sri Lanka

Seeing that the liberation of the east has opened up avenues for the resurgence of democratic institutions to function for the betterment of the Tamil and other communities who were oppressed by the Nazi-style racist regime of the LTTE;

Noting that the success of democratic institutions in the east has been recognized by the international community even though it is under threat by terrorist attacks of the enemies of peace;

Deploring the foreign-funded NGOs which in the name of peace-making have exacerbated the peace process by overtly and covertly promoting a political agenda which, in effect, has worsened the crisis and prolonged an unnecessary war;

Condemning the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi-style racist regime in Vanni, which include:

(a) The forcible recruitment of under-aged children to fight in the futile war to prop up Velupillai Prabhakaran’s regime
(b) The inhuman action of dragging out Tamil patients before they could recover fully from war injuries and throwing them into the war fronts of the LTTE;
(c) Forcing elderly men and women into the front lines of the LTTE
(d) Denial of basic democratic and human rights of the Tamils living under the Nazi-style regime
(e) Denial of the right of children to pursue their education by being recruited into the LTTE cadres while educating Prabhakaran’s children abroad;
(f) The establishment of a Police state which keeps individuals under permanent surveillance
(g) Liquidation of the Tamil leadership;
(h) Committing the war crime of suicide bombing, targeting non-combatant civilians etc.

Noting that LTTE is determined to pursue its unattainable goal of Tamil Eelam through violence;

Noting that the LTTE has killed more Tamils than all the other forces put together, as stated by V. Anandasangaree, the UN peace award winner, and will continue to do so in pursuance of its unattainable goal of a racist Eelam;

Noting that nothing short of the elimination of the LTTE from the political equation is the lasting solution to peace, stability, progress and the establishment of democracy, however flawed it may be and

Emphasising the urgent need to achieve national and international consensus to support the current efforts of the Security Forces to liberate the areas still under control of the one-man Nazi-style racist regime;

We earnestly appeal to you To:

1. Insist on the LTTE laying down arms monitored by international observers drawn from SAARC countries before entering into any further negotiations

2. Insist on the LTTE renouncing violence and the claim to a separate state before entering into any further negotiations;

3. Insist on a time frame to begin and conclude talks on the core issues without getting bogged down in peripheral issues;

4. Pressure the LTTE to abandon the fiction of being “the sole representative of the Tamils” which would open up democratic space for other Tamils to function democratically and freely without fear of being liquidated

5. End the interference of outsiders in working out constitutional reforms that would meet the aspirations of all communities and not just that of one armed group; and

6. Resolve to devolve power within a unitary state without pandering to ethnic claims of only one armed group.

We wish also to urge the International Community and the SAARC Governments to come forward as guarantors to a solution worked out with the consent of all communities for a just and lasting political solution, safeguarding human rights of all.

We place our hope and faith in the religious and cultural traditions of our peoples and we trust that these traditions would be an inspiration for the resolution of this long drawn conflict, the saving of human lives of all civilians of all ethnic communities, and the promotion of economic development with an equitable distribution of the benefits of growth among all our peoples.

We appeal to the religious leaders, the peoples’ movements of men and women and the mass media to support this appeal by bringing their influence to bear on the political leaders for a negotiated peace, based on the five conditions stated above, with justice to all.

Yours Truly

Ranjith Soysa
Spokesperson
World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka

President - Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka
President - Sri Lanka United National Association (SLUNA) of Canada
President - Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights of Sri Lanka (SPUR),NSW
President - Western Australian Society for Peace Unity and Rehabilitation, (WASPUR) in Sri Lanka
President - Sri Lankans Against Terrorism- NSW
President - Sinhala Cultural and Community Services F. Vic
President - Apey Shakthi- New Zealand
President - Canadian Association for United Sri Lanka-Canada
President - Sri Lankan United National Association-Canada
President - Sinhala Centre- U.K
President - The International Campaign for the Liberation of the Sinhala Nation- U.K
President - Sinhala Association of Sri Lankans in the U.K
President - New York Society of United Sri Lankans-U.S.A
President - United Sinhalese Association in Italy- Rome.
President - Pacific Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka, Vic (National Office), Australia
President - Alliance Against Tamil Domination, UK
President - Veera Parakramabahu Foundation (VPF), NSW, Australia
President - First Society of Sri Lankan Professors in American Universities
President - First Society of Sri Lankan Professionals in Japan
President - Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights of Sri Lanka (SPUR), UK
President - FOSUS - FRIENDS OF SRI LANKA in US
President - New Zealand Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka-SPURNZ
President - New York Society of United Sri Lankans and Consortium of Sri Lanka Expatriates