http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=Sri_Lankan_Tamils_wont_commit_suicide_for_Prabhakaran_20130309_01

 

Sri Lankan Tamils won't commit suicide for Prabhakaran's cause - Shavendra

Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva said yesterday that since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, not a single Sri Lankan Tamil had committed suicide in Sri Lanka or abroad calling for an international war crimes investigation targeting the government.

Regardless of unsubstantiated allegations against the government by politically motivated elements, those who had been saved from the clutches of LTTE were now enjoying peace and stability, Ambassador Silva said.

The former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 58 Division, responsible for the execution of the unprecedented civilian rescue mission on the Vanni east front in early 2009, was responding to media reports of a person belonging to the fishing community at Nallavadu, Chennai setting himself ablaze on the afternoon of March 4 demanding war crimes probe against Sri Lanka.

Ambassador Silva was speaking before returning to New York. He said that there had been at least one previous case of self-immolation in Tamil Nadu since the end of the war. A section of the media was building up a frenzy and using the suicide to justify the ongoing anti-Sri Lanka campaign at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva, the outspoken official alleged, emphasizing the need to examine the circumstances leading to cases of self-immolation in South India.

The Indian media identified the deceased as L. Mani, a social worker. Mani died of excessive burn injuries in the Kilpauk Medical College in Chennai on Monday night. The Maj. Gen. recollected media reports of mass scale suicides in the event of the LTTE losing Kilinochchi, the nerve centre of terrorist operations.

Maj. Gen. Silva said that those inquiring into Mani's suicide should closely examine a partly typewritten and partly handwritten note left at the scene of the suicide attempt declaring his support for the US resolution scheduled to be moved against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. The Indian media quoted Mani as having declared, in his note, that his suicide be considered as the first vote for the Tamils to get a separate Tamil Eelam.

The frontline military commander alleged that the LTTE rump remained extremely active on the 'media front' with special projects timed for the annual UNHRC sessions in Feb-March, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November and UNGA sessions in September.

Asked whether the government had been overwhelmed by the high profile relentless LTTE media onslaught, the Maj. General said that it hadn't been able to influence the vast majority of Tamil speaking people living here or abroad. He pointed out that there hadn't been even a sustained public protest campaign in the Northern Province since the eradication of the LTTE because people were no longer terror driven and they only wanted to get on with their lives in freedom.

Those who had undergone hardships during different stages of the conflict, including the period when the LTTE battled the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), would never support separatist sentiments, the Gajaba Regiment veteran said.

Ambassador Silva said that Sri Lanka's victory over the LTTE had brought an end to despicable use of girls and women as cannon fodder as well as strategic tool of war. Unfortunately, those celebrating International Women's Day on March 8 had conveniently forgotten Sri Lanka's achievement, he said, recalling the deployment of women for suicide missions and combat operations. Those well-funded NGOs and Western powers should examine the plight of Tamil women during the LTTE's reign of terror, the soldier said. There couldn't be a similar example in any other part of the world, he said, adding that those concerned about post-war plight of women living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces never bothered about girls as young as 12 being thrown into the battlefield. There had never been any protests in the country or abroad when the LTTE held over 300,000 men, women and children at gun point, he said.

"Let those trying to drag us before an international war crime tribunal speak about former internally displaced persons as well as over 11,000 LTTE cadres, both men and women released after rehabilitation. We are confident they'll never contribute to despicable Diaspora efforts to raise communal feelings among the communities," the ambassador said.

Maj. Gen. Silva said that in spite of LTTE propaganda, those who fought for the group as well as ordinary people had faith in the army. The large community of ex-combatants and their families were the living proof of a well-disciplined army, Maj. Gen. Silva said, adding that international armies had an opportunity to get to know their Sri Lankan counterparts now deployed in Haiti under UN command.

Courtesy : The Island