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Friday, October 17, 2008 - 05.17 GMT |
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FM tells UN: List LTTE as international
terrorist group |
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Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama who is
currently on an official visit to Australia,
has called on the UN Working Group under the
Security Council’s Counter Terrorism
Committee (CTC) to consider listing the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as
an international terrorist group. He made
this call, while delivering an address to
the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI),
a prestigious, independent think tank in
Canberra last Monday (October 13).
Minister Bogollagama, speaking at the forum,
stated, “I strongly believe that the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
which has earned international notoriety and
opprobrium for its countless cold blooded
and savage acts of terrorism, targeting not
only high profile politicians and military
personnel, but ordinary civilians, designed
to cause maximum casualties and property
destruction, is a prime candidate for
consideration by the Working Group for
listing, as an international terrorist
group. The LTTE is pre-eminently qualified
to meet the criteria for such listing. After
all, the LTTE has been described as
“probably the most sophisticated terrorist
organization in the world”, by Dr. Magnus
Ranstorp, Chief Scientist at the Centre
Asymmetric Threat Studies of the Swedish
National Defence College”.
The Foreign Minister during the course of
his wide ranging lecture on the theme,
“Global Action on Countering Terrorism”,
urged the international community to pursue
front organizations of the LTTE, posing off
as charities and humanitarian relief groups,
which continue to raise funds to fill the
LTTE war chest. In this respect, he said
that the United States has taken a bold lead
in targeting the support network of the LTTE
by designating the Tamils Rehabilitation
Organization (TRO), which had long claimed
itself to be a charitable organization, as a
front to facilitate fund raising and
procurement of weapons for the LTTE.
The Minister stressed that the onus is now
clearly upon the international community to
support Sri Lanka, by taking tangible and
meaningful steps to eradicate terrorism from
the island, and help the government to
restore democracy and rebuild the damaged
infrastructure in the North and the East
Elaborating on the present military
operations in the North, Minister
Bogollagama declared that the Government of
Sri Lanka is deeply concerned about the
humanitarian situation of civilians in the
uncleared areas, as the military operations
enter a decisive phase to free these areas
from the terrorists. The Minister emphasized
that, as a responsible government, President
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration is
acutely conscious and aware of its
responsibilities towards all citizens of Sri
Lanka.
Referring to the situation of the internally
displaced persons (IDPs) in the Kilinochchi
and Mullaitivu districts, the Minister said,
“it is important that we bear in mind that
the situation of those displaced due to the
on-going military operations in the Wanni,
as previously in the case of the East, is
merely a temporary dislocation”.
In conclusion, the Foreign Minister urged UN
member nations to ratify all major UN
Conventions relating to terrorism. The
Minister noted, “Nothing short of this
commitment would suffice in the global
struggle to eliminate the modern day scourge
of terrorism, which has blighted the lives
of millions of people around the world”.
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