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This refers to the lengthy speech you have delivered on your
country’s peace building efforts in Sri Lanka.
The crux of your self-contradictory speech has centered on several
points. In the course of your speech you claim that Britain’s interest
in Sri Lanka is to strengthen respect for human rights and good
governance, the war strategy is doomed to fail, only negotiations could
usher in lasting peace, the Tamil community has been discriminated,
power should be devolved, and the solution made for the Irish problem
could be suitably adopted to end the Sri Lankan crisis.
Throughout your lengthy speech, you have craftily avoided referring
to the fascist gang in the North of Sri Lanka as terrorists, akin to
what the BBC does, and referred to it only as the LTTE.
Despite your country’s listing of this terrorist outfit as a
terrorist organisation, you admit that it illegally raises money within
the diaspora in Britain, using extortion and threats.
The phenomenon of Tamil criminal gangs may be, directly or
indirectly, linked to its activities, you claim. Notwithstanding these
facts, why Britain has not taken any action against these extortionists
and criminal gangs?
If British Police can raid houses in the wee hours of the night,
manhandle and arrest people suspecting of involvement with other
terrorist organisations, shoot and kill innocent people in London on
suspicion of belonging to other terrorist organisations, why then there
is a duplicity being shown for the Sri Lankan terrorists and Sri Lankan
terrorists are allowed to openly indulge in political and criminal acts
against the people and the democratically elected Government of Sri
Lanka?
Your statements that the Britain would not support a despotic regime
continuing in the North and East, and Britain would support a single
State solution, and not a two State one are practised only in the
breach.
Blaming the Government for the closure of the A-9 highway itself is a
case in point.
The checkpoints on the A-9 was maintained by the terrorists to
continue with their despotic rule with heavy taxes and strengthen the
foundation for their claim that those checkpoints demarcated the
entry/exit points for their illusory separate State.
What prevented Britain from condemning these inhuman extortions? If
the Government did not use Naval and aerial routes to continuously
supply essential items and help transport the masses, even under death
threats, Britain would have taken the advantage to be in the vanguard to
condemn the Government for starving and placing the people beyond the
A-9 under siege.
When the Government started its retaliatory actions and shattered the
myth of the invincibility of the terrorist forces, and subjugated areas
and innocent masses are being liberated, there are cries from every
quarter about the futility of military actions, inability to defeat the
terrorists totally, and so on.
If war is not an effective measure to defeat terrorism why Britain,
the United States and other Western powers deploy several thousands of
their forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to defeat terrorism? How can it be
that what is correct in Iraq and Afghanistan, as per Western theories,
can be something erroneous in Sri Lanka?
You claim that the international conventions provide you the
privilege to strive for protection of human rights. If it is so why no
meaningful steps are being taken by yourself on a personal basis or
through the British High Commission to prevent gross human rights
violations being carried out in the areas under terrorist occupation,
which include denial of educational rights to the children and force
them in military training, denial of right to choice of vocation for
adult population and force them on at least 15 days a month forced
military related labour without any remuneration, denial of right to
travel to Government controlled areas even for treatment of ailments,
forced recruitment of minimum two children from each and every family.
We thank you for your concern about our country.But we welcome it
only if it is for saving and developing our country and not for driving
it towards segregation and destruction.
If you are really and truly interested in our country, unite all your
colleagues and draw up an effective programme to disarm the terrorists,
decommission the terrorist armoury, and initiate an international
tribunal to hear the charges of genocide and ethnic cleansing carried
out by the fascist terrorists against the Sri Lankan population,
including murder of several hundred Tamils.
A. A. M. Nizam
MATARA
Our ‘mournful martins’ are shedding crocodile tears over the non
arrival of the expected foreign tourists. I am sure that this is a
temporary phase due to the mischievous propaganda of the LTTE terrorists
and their supporters.
Why not make a vigorous thrust in the print and electronic media to
boost domestic tourism? Ours is a beautiful land and this must be
publicised as is now being done by the ‘Daily News’.
Others must follow suit quickly. Sad to say that some of our lads and
lasses in the cities, are so glued to their television sets that they do
not have the time to see a mountain! To make matters worse, I am told
that the geography of our beautiful land is not being taught in schools
now as was the practice about fifty years ago. This has to be corrected
soon.
Incidentally, I wonder why our poor schoolchildren are carrying such
heavy loads to and from school, like the Pettah ‘Nattamies’.
We should publicise little known corners of Sri Lanka because at
present, when one thinks of a holiday, it usually means Kandy, Nuwara
Eliya or Bandarawela.
W. J. SAMUEL
Rajagiriya
complaints by CAA
I purchased an energy saving bulb where the period of warranty was
stated to be 20 months in bold print on the warranty card.
However subsequently I observed that the period of warranty was
effective only from the date printed on the pack according to a
statement printed in small type on the same warranty card.
As the date on the pack was December 1, 2005, thirteen months had
already elapsed on the date of purchase itself.
I immediately brought this to the notice of the manufacturers, but as
there was no response from them I made a complaint to the Consumer
Affairs Authority on February 1, 2007. As there was no response I made
enquiry on telephone and was informed that my complaint had been
referred to a unit for investigation.
As there was no further response, I invited the attention of the CAA
on May 11, 2007 and I am yet to receive a reply. All my communications
were sent by registered post.
In this connection, as a retired public officer, I may mention that
in the post-independence period where procedures laid down by the
colonial administrators were still being followed, it was compulsory for
all letters to Government Departments to be acknowledged and replied.
Furthermore, an interim reply had to be sent if a final reply could
not be sent within a reasonable time.
This practice has now been done away with and letters to government
departments are neither acknowledged nor replied. It appears that the
CAA is also following suit.
However it is the duty of the CAA to keep the complainant informed
regarding the action taken since it is the CAA that calls for such
complaints.
D. A. C. H. TRIMANNA
Wattala |
