CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Eliminate terrorism and annul supreme court order to improve security -Open Letter To Hon Parliamentarians in Sri Lanka

Ben Silva

To: Hon Parliamentarians Sri Lanka
Dear Sir,
Eliminate terrorism and annul supreme court order to improve security

This letter deals with 5 issues that are interlinked: The issues are matters that need the attention of Sri Lankans. The issues are:.
" Terrorism and security situation in Sri Lanka
" Propaganda war by LTTE
" Funding for terrorism
" Discrimination against the Sinhalese and favouritism to Tamils by Western countries.

Terrorism in Sri Lanka is threatening the basic human right of right to life of many Sri Lankans. Already the lives of many innocent women and children have been taken away by the ruthless terrorists.

The basic human right of right to life of the public has to be protected and has to be given top priority. The courts interpret the laws and the parliament pass laws. If the current situation demands new laws, then there is an urgent need to pass new legislation or create statutory instruments to deal with the current security threats facing the country. The running of the country, in this war like situation is the responsibility of the executive and the legislature. The Judiciary should not interfere in matters they do not fully comprehend, but merely interpret the laws passed by the legislature.

The supreme court order to reduce the security checks should be annulled or appealed immediately in the interest of civilians falling victim to LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorist attacks.

The Supreme Court currently has no jurisdiction in WANNI, which is controlled by the terrorist group LTTE. If the Supreme Court gives into demands of terrorists or their sympathisers, then there is a possibility that the whole of Sri Lanka may be lawless like Vann. It is essential that the security forces are given appropriate powers and the tools to carry out their job, rather than obstructing their work. What has happened now, is that the Supreme court has obstructed their work, resulting in a massive increase of deaths due to terrorism. This fact needs to be brought to the attention of the judiciary.

It is rather sad that some members of the judiciary do not realise that Sri Lanka is facing a terrorist threat funded by external organisations. The situation we face is grave and the terrorist appear to take advantage of the relaxed security conditions imposed by the Judiciary. Many may feel that, if the increased terrorist attacks. is due to relaxed security, imposed by the Judicial system, then those that imposed relaxed security should bear responsibility to the increased deaths due to terrorism. There could be even be a case of criminal negligence. I hope that judiciary show that they are able to grasp reality and exercise common sense. It is also essential that, Sri Lankan law is enforced in all its territory, including the WANNI area.

It has to be recognised that Sri Lanka is attacked by one of the deadliest ruthless terrorist groups in the world. The Judiciary should recognise this and its conduct has to reflect the grasp of reality. If any one overrides the judgement of security experts, then those people should be made financially responsible for the damage done and taken as criminal negligence if any deaths occur. Authority and responsibility should go together.

If anyone has the authority to override the judgement and knowledge of security experts, then that person should be held responsible for the damage done. Protection of human life should have a higher priority than inconvenience to a privileged few, or the self interest of a bogus human rights group.

If terrorists know that night time checks are minimum then, terrorists are likely to make use of that and are likely to carry out their illegal activities during the night. Surely any one with common sense, would be able to work that out We could perhaps encourage the use of transparent containers, for transport of items, in public places.

.The masses and the general public should be educated about the threat we face. The home guard could be expanded to include cities, so that the army is not distracted from its main job of defeating terrorists. There is a need to improve communication facilities using the internet, and to give military training to volunteers as a matter of urgency. The public should be encouraged to be the ears and the eyes of the state. There is a big responsibility on our Tamil brothers and sisters to report any LTTE agents amongst them. Further, Western countries should be informed of their responsibility if they allow fund raising for terrorism.

Funding for terrorism is sustained by propaganda of LTTE and their disinformation campaign. Therefore, an investigation into the methods used by LTTE may be beneficial..

Propaganda War

At the moment LTTE appears to be winning the propaganda war. This was shown by the lack of support Sri Lanka obtained during the recent debate initiated by well known LTTE sympathiser Hon Simon Hughes. We have to ask the question why British MPs knew so little about the situation in Sri Lanka.? What can we do to inform them of the true situation ?

As a matter of urgency, video evidence, Photographic evidence, translated statements of families` of victims need to be obtained and circulated worldwide. A communications unit is required that will disseminate information produced by various authors and websites to the audience that matters, for example politicians, MPs, world leaders and so on. Perhaps, existing staff at various missions abroad could be part of this unit. In view of the Tigers attacking civilians regularly, communicating their atrocities to the world need to be given top priority. Although it is visible that many good articles have appeared in the media, there is evidence that the contents have not reached the people that matter. This situation need to be addressed and reversed.

Sri Lanka could even investigate, if it is feasible to obtain compensation from countries that allow LTTE to fund raise, carry out its propaganda without hindrance. Bogus Human rights organisations such as HRW, should be informed of the conduct of their darlings, the LTTE terrorists.
When GoSL aid is delivered, it is essential that the Tamils in Sri Lanka be informed that it is from GoSL and that Tamils are members of the Sri Lankan family. The presence of Sinhalese helping our Tamil brothers and sisters would be beneficial.

There could be exhibitions in cities exposing LTTE terrorism. Another idea, which I expressed before is to make professional looking Power Point Presentations produced and circulated to MPs and world leaders. This could be produced by the Media dept in Sri Lanka, to keep the cost down, but the distribution and delivery of presentations can be done by our missions abroad.

LTTE is doing the following for their propaganda war:
" Hold exhibitions, that propagate malicious disinformation against Sri Lanka.
" Petition the Prime Minister.
" Organise meetings with multiparty MPs, and do a performance to win the sympathy of MPs.
" Visit and lobby MPs.
" Entertain MPs.
" Invite MPs for various events and functions.
" Carry out disinformation campaign, through paid campaigners.

With a profit in excess of 200 million dollars per year LTTE can afford to do the activities given above.. In the case of Sinhala expatriates, their numbers are tiny, in comparison to Tamils, they do not get free hand outs from Western Governments like the Tamil refugees get and therefore unfortunately not in a position to counteract LTTE propaganda that is carried out in a grand scale.

Clearly LTTE 's propaganda campaign is handled in such a professional manner, similar to the way the fraudsters if the Irish International University carried out their campaign. The victims of the LTTE campaign, the targeted MPs such as Mr Hughes may not even realise that they have been taken for a ride.

There is certainly, some thing GoSL and our foreign missions could learn.
GoSL and our missions abroad need to think of strategies and tactics to defeat LTTE in their propaganda war. There is much to learn from LTTE methods. What is clear is that they have a professional approach to their propaganda war.

There is already a large volume of information available at various web sites such as SPUR, Lankaweb, Sinhaya, Amarasara etc. These need to be appropriately backed up and indexed so that this information is easily available to researches. Two excellent sources for research material are Lankaweb and SPUR. websites.

As the wisdom of many is better than the wisdom of a few, there should be channel to communicate the excellent views produced by many writers for the decision makers in the world. GoSL could have a communications coordinator for this purpose.

There is an urgent need to arrange for video and photographic evidence, including statements from the families of victims of these atrocities to be made available to MPs, World leaders, HR organisations, UN, NGOs and other interested parties as soon as possible. Also public in India and Pakistan need to see them. LTTE may even loose support in Tamil Nadu, if the evidence is shown in India. We need to get statements from Sri Lankan Tamil leaders condemning the atrocities of LTTE.

Propaganda war, terrorism, and fund raising for terrorism are closely linked to discrimination against the Sinhalese and favouritism to Tamils by Western countries. Let us briefly investigate this issue.

Discrimination against the Sinhalese and favouritism to Tamils by Western countries
It is well known that funding for terrorism comes from bogus refugees. To claim refugee status, the Tamils, with the help of LTTE, created canards and carried out a vicious disinformation campaign against Sri Lanka, which prepared the ground work, for a large influx of bogus refugees. These bogus refugees funded terrorism and created a cycle of violence that benefited LTTE. Not only, did the bogus refugees benefit from free housing, education, training, health care, living allowance and other welfare benefits, they even had the ear of the MPs .Sinhalese were not allowed to gain residency in similar numbers to Tamils and as a result they were not in a position to counter Tamil propaganda.

In a nutshell, Western Governments have indirectly funded the terror war and therefore, it is natural justice that they compensate the victims of terrorism. Western Governments also should remove the massive discrimination against the Sinhalese..

We ought to think of a campaign for Right to Compensation (R2C) for the victims of terrorism. funded by Western Countries. It is amazing that the favouritism to Tamils and discrimination against Sinhalese and the bogus refugee scam has been allowed to go on for such a long time without being challenged.

Conclusion
There is an urgent need to pass new legislation or create statutory instruments to deal with the current security threats facing the country. The supreme court order to reduce the security checks should be annulled or appealed immediately in the interest of civilians falling victim to LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorist attacks.
.
There is a serious threat to Sri Lanka from foreign funded terrorists. .Sri Lankans need to take responsibility for the defence of Sri Lanka, as no one else would care or do the job for them. It is absolutely essential that large scale defence industry is created, with the help of foreign friends such as India, Pakistan and China, for a local defence Industry. It is essential that we seek the help of many friendly countries including Israel and Philippines.. Sri Lanka has had to endure the suppression by western and south Indian conquerors for more than 1000 years. It is time we learnt a lesson and took defence seriously and to have a sustainable defence industry.

LTTE is able to wage war against Sri Lanka because of the funding raised from Western countries. Therefore Western countries must be held responsible and liable for the death and destruction in Sri Lanka. Western countries need to be informed that their apathy is responsible for the deaths and destruction in Sri Lanka This issue needs to be discussed with authorities in Western Countries.

Globalisation is there to stay and it is important that we forge links with many friendly countries in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Silva

References

1. Why Sri Lanka is losing propaganda war
http://www.island.lk/2008/02/04/features4.html

2. Defeat the malicious propaganda war ......

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items06/160806-1.html

3. Self reliance on defence and the defence industry

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items07/040907-2.html

Appendix A

Extracts from ref 1
How can the electronic media improve on its news broadcasts and gain the attention of the international viewer and community? Why do they repeatedly fail to expose the cruelty of terrorists? An objective look at how the electronic media and the government spokesmen have behaved over the years shows us why Sri Lanka has failed vis-a-vis LTTE propaganda. ....
The local news media did not highlight the basic facts, for example, the perpetrators of this massacre. Thus, the foreign audiences were left with no clear idea as to who the perpetrators were....
A master at this form of TV communication was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He would appear on TV immediately after any terrorist act and make a statement consisting of two or three sentences, purely for the consumption of the international media.
Of course, he knew his script well. He had a few catch phrases woven cleverly into his message that made it attractive to any audience. Thus, he would sell his version of the event to the world easily.
The need of the hour is to have a highly placed person (but not a politician who has little credibility in the eyes of the international audience) who is dedicated to the job and would come within minutes of any terror related event, look straight into the camera and give a succinct and accurate account of the happening. Since it is an international audience he faces, the mastery of English is essential.
The third point is that the international audience must be reminded repeatedly of the message the government intends to convey.
When the LTTE struck in Buttala, there was no mention of the geographical location of that township. The international audience was not make aware of the ethnicity of the victims. Contrast this with the effective news reporting by the LTTE. If one bothers to read the Eelam literature or websites, one will see how each and every action is 'ethnicized'. Thus they consistently and repeatedly write about the 'Sinhala Army' and the 'Sinhala Government murdering innocent Tamil civilians in the traditional Tamil homeland'.

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