A.A.M.NIZAM ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” MATARA.

Britain goes to poll on 6th May to elect 650 Members of Parliament for its House of Commons. Population statics of Britain indicate that the Tamil populations in Britain amounts to over 300,000 persons and of which around 200,000 are Sri Lankan Tamils.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ Most of these Sri Lankan Tamils are economic refugees settled down in Britain during and after the 1983 progrom unleashed by the J.R.Jayawardene government.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ These Sri Lankan Tamils have become a significant voting bloc in many electorates in Britain and the Tamil Diaspora operating under the agenda of Global Tamil Forum (the new substitute of the LTTE) is reported to be playing a crucial role in the Election to ensure that the Sri Lankan Tamils vote enbloc to elect as many MPs as possible who are sympathetic and supportive to the separatist cause and who would take an anti-Sri Lankan stance in the international forums.

There were several pro-LTTE Labour Party MPs in the outgoing Parliament who intensely campaigned for the LTTE and made every attempt to rescue the terrorist leadership and prevent it getting annihilated, despite BritainƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s public policy against terrorism. The role played by the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband for and on behalf of the terrorist gang during the last stages of the war and during the post war period is most despicable and disgraceful. Another despicable anti-Sri Lankan character was the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden Ms. Shobian McDonagh who took time off her election drive to join the Sri Lanka boycott campaign launched in mid April by the pro-terrorist diaspora elements. Addressing this event she urged the consumers to step up pressure on the Sri Lanka Government by sustained economic boycott of Sri Lankan products. It is not only these two wicked MPs who have worked and continue to work against Sri Lanka but there were many such rotten characters in the outgoing Labour Government who included Lord Malloch Brown, John DcDonnel, and Keith Vaz to name a few.

This gang of heinous Labour Parliamentarians was also responsible for castigating Sri Lanka in the annual human rights report for 2009 released by the British Foreign Affairs Committee on 17th March.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ The report alleges of serious conflict violations, as well as deteriorating status of the rule of law and freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.

Due to the considerable size of Sri Lankan Tamil voting population in many constituencies not only the Labour Party but the Conservatives as well as the Liberal Democrats are openly courting the Tamil population to support their candidates. The Labour Party has made an explicit reference to Sri Lanka in its Manifesto saying “We strongly support reconstruction and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We believe that both the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka must be held to account for the loss of civilian life, and we will continue to urge the Sri Lankan Government to fulfill its commitment to a full and fair investigation into war crimes committed in the final months of the civil war. The references made in the Manifesto constitute a direct and blatant accusation on the Sri Lankan government, as there is an LTTE no more for their so-called investigation.

The Conservative Party leader David Cameron marked the Tamil New Year in April with a pointed gesture appreciating the contribution made by Tamils to British life. Conservative candidates have increasingly spoken at Tamil political and cultural events, and Senior Tory leaders have held discussions with representatives of Tamil groups. The Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague of the Conservative Party also addressed the inaugural conference of the Global Tamil Forum held recently.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ There are also reports of many Conservative Party election offices opened up in heavily concentrated Sri Lankan Tamil residential areas.

Similarly the Liberal Democrats who have traditionally been more outspoken against what they call Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s violence against the Tamils are reported to be intensely wooing Tamil voters posing as their new saviours. There are a number of Liberal Democrat MPs who have taken clear and consistent positions on the Tamil issue against the Sri Lankan government.

The Tamil Diaspora elements are reportedly urging the Tamil voters to pick the candidate in each constituency who is the best on the Tamil issue, without making their decision on the basis of party platforms.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ They have claimed that voting by candidate rather than on a party basis would ensure a strong cross party voice for Tamils in the next parliament. They have said that Tamils should support candidates who will become effective voices on the Tamil issue not just in parliament but also within their own parties, and those candidates who have worked hard to lobby their own party leaderships in support of the Tamil issue should especially be supported.

Under these circumstances the next British Parliament is certainly going to be a jumble of many Parliamentarians antagonistic to Sri Lanka. It is a well known fact that due to the inaction and the ineptitude of the former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka the Tamil Diaspora grew in strength politically and was capable of making many foreign countries to stand against Sri Lanka and even to make powerful western countries either to remain neutral or vote against Sri Lanka at international forums.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ It was due to the ineptness of the former Foreign Minister that in crucial times the President was forced to dispatch special emissaries to foreign countries and international forums to present/explain the governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s stand and on the fallacy of agitations being made by Tamil Diaspora and their supporters.

There were stern criticism about the former MinisterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s extravagant lifestyle and overseas family sojourns at the expense of the government.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ The “Island” editorial on 20th April, writing on the choice of a Foreign Minister said ” the new Minister should be a man who will desist from wasting precious forex to feather his nest and see the world in the company of his spouse and children. The public must not be made to pay for birthday cakes of Foreign Ministers’ pampered progeny and flowers for their shrewish spouses occupying expensive suites in foreign capitals”. Obviously it was due to these reasons that the intelligent voters of the Colombo District desisted from electing the former Foreign Minister as a Member of Parliament in the recent General Election. In the meantime, there were many newspaper comments and articles by former diplomats and academics welcoming the appointment of the new Minister of External Affairs, and expressing their confidence that the new Minister will be capable of attending to the tasks and responsibilities falling under the new Ministry.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ The prime task the new Minister has to shoulder would be curbing the global influence of the Tamil diaspora and restrict their overseas activities totally and prevent the terrorist gang raising their ugly heads once again in any form through international mediation and intervention.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ .

We earnestly hope that the new Minister will make expeditious and continuous efforts to rebuild the image of Sri Lanka as a hospitable and friendly nation and rescue the misguided overseas resident Tamil population from the clutches of the anti-Sri Lankan extremist and vicious elements of the Tamil Diaspora, unlike the blunder he made on the issue of restoring the GSP+ facility.ƒÆ’‚£ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¡‚¬ If he cannot successfully arrest the looming problem of the Tamil DiasporaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s vicious attempts to resuscitate the terrorist appendage internationally, it is better to graciously leave room for the President to make a replacement with an able person for which Sri Lanka has no dearth of, since the country cannot under any circumstances embroil in a brawl for several decades once again.

A.A.M.NIZAM

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” MATARA.