Open letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa Requesting Presidential Commission

Asoka Weerasinghe (a patriotic expatriate domiciled in Canada) Gloucester . Ontario . Canada

Saturday, April 21, 2007

His Excellency, Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 1
Sri Lanka

_Open letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa_

_ _Your Excellency:

_ _On April 20, 2007, The Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka (SPUR) and World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) in a media release announced *“A Presidential Commission is demanded to investigate the links between the Norwegian Government and the LTTE Tamil Tiger terrorists.”*

Your Excellency, there is currency in this serious request and they have rationalized why such a Presidential Commission should be established to make it easier for you to make a decision to honour this request.

No doubt you may have been briefed of the substance that came out of the Seminar on ‘*Norwegian support for LTTE Terrorism’* organized by World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS), Sansadaya and Norwegian Against Terrorism (NAT) on April 20th in Colombo. They have meticulously laid the ground work for such a Presidential Commission for you to draft the reference for an impartial and a factual investigation. However, Your Excellency, this inquiry should not be a Road Show of deception just to placate the concerned Sri Lankans, and to appease the international community who wishes that Norway continues as a facilitator over this separatist feud.

This amazing and bone-chilling story in chronology, as related by the gutsy Norwegian, Mr. Falk Rovik, a former Board Member of the Oslo Chapter of Amnesty International, stripped the seven veils of treachery of the Norwegian government in the presence of over 750 concerned patriotic Sri Lankans. It is likely that every one at the seminar would expect and support a decision by you to establish a Presidential Commission to explore the validity of what was established that Norway is indeed an agent of Tamil Tiger terrorism. This has a direct bearing on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and the well being of her citizens. And I with many others will have difficulty to appreciate that this request would be ignored and rejected by you.

Mr. Falk Rovik has just confirmed with authority what we all suspected of Norway’s duplicity in her involvement in Sri Lanka as a facilitator of the peace process between your government and the LTTE with the blessings of the international community. I have concluded that this Nobel Prize giver has not been noble when dealing with the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. You ought not to let these waffle eaters waffle on this very serious issue, nor dance their polka around you while playing their Hardanger fiddles. Mr. Rovik has already stripped her seventh veil, and Norway doesn’t seem to be embarrassed but in a fighting mood to whitewash the sullied façade launched an attack on Mr. Falk Rovik, the Messenger of Hope for Sri Lanka. This should not be condoned.

Now that the ground work has been firmly establish that Norway is working in favour of the LTTE, here are twelve good reasons why you should call for a Presidential Commission as requested by these peace loving groups who have every intention to help you, your government and your peoples:

1. The LTTE is banned by the USA, Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia and
25 EU countries, and Norway still insists that the LTTE is not a terrorist group. Why?
2. Norway has supported the LTTE financially and with equipment and has made every effort to make this terrorist outfit a “legitimate”
negotiating partner of equal status with the democratically elected, legitimate Government of Sri Lanka. Why?
3. Norway has participated in smuggling of high-tech communication equipment to the LTTE in 2002, including V-Sat equipment used in satellite communications. Why?
4. General Trygve Tellefsen, who was leading the Scandinavian Monitoring Mission in Sri Lanka leaked information about Sri Lanka’s Navy’s pursuit of a LTTE arms smuggling ship to the LTTE allowing them to escape. Why?
5. Norway has also invited the LTTE to Norwegian military camps to see Norwegian military demonstrations of their skills and equipment. Why?
6. Norwegian Ambassador Jon Westborg speaking with Duleep from the LTTE, in a wiretap revealed the Ambassador giving information about the communication equipment and information that the Norwegian government will pay the added costs. Why?
7. Another wiretap revealed that a conversation between General Trond Furuhovde and LTTE political leader Puleedevan, that sensitive information was given to him by the General coaching Puleedevan to place the blame on the latest terrorist action to a “third party” with stolen uniforms. The General also states “I’m using all their resources to calm down the Sinhalese part of the population.” Why?
8. The Norwegian Government through the Norwegian Agency NORAD funded the LTTE front organization the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) to the value of 15 million Norwegian kronor, and the monies were paid through the Norwegian Foreign Office. Why?
9. Norwegian Minister of International Development Eric Solheim gave 16 million Norwegian kronor to Anton Balasingham immediately after signing the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in Oslo. Karuna was an eye witness. Why?
10. Norwegian ex-Special Forces personnel have been used to train Sea Tigers to attack Sri Lanka’s Navy, using Thailand’s Andaman coast as the marine training-grounds. Why?
11. In 2005 former Minister in the UNP government Milinda Moragoda received 8.4 million Norwegian kronor (1.2 million US dollars) from his friends in the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, and also the National Peace Council received more than 2 million Norwegian kronor (300,000 US
dollars) from the Norwegian government. Why?
12. To establish a good reason why the Norwegian Government should be allowed to continue to act as a peace facilitator when it has been supporting the LTTE, and still is, thus establishing itself to be an agent of LTTE terrorism inimical to the interests of sovereign Sri Lanka.

While Norway and her Minister of International Development Eric Solheim stand guilty in my eyes for their treachery over Sri Lanka, and culpable enough to be brought to be prosecuted in an international court for their duplicity in supporting Tamil Tiger terrorism, I sincerely hope you would do the right thing for Sri Lanka as well as for her citizens by executing the will of the people and establish a President’s Commission to look into these allegations. I feel positive that the results of this Commission will give you enough reason to dismiss Norway in its involvement in Sri Lanka’s affairs. This would also provide you the solid reason of necessity for this dismissal to satisfy the international community during your deliberations with them.

I wish you strength in your search for a lasting peace, upholding dignity for all communities in Sri Lanka.

Yours truly
Asoka Weerasinghe
(a patriotic expatriate domiciled in Canada)