Thursday, October 23, 2008

Welfare of Tamil people furthest from LTTE policies - Government

The LTTE, by launching an attack on merchant vessels carrying foodstuff and other essential items to inside Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North, has once again demonstrated that the well-being of Tamil people it claims to stand for is furthest from their anxiety, the Government said yesterday.
A Government communique said: "This morning the LTTE mounted a planned attack using suicide skill on two merchant ships, "Ruhuna" and "Nimalawa" in the seas off the Northern coast. This is the second attack targeting a food group reaching the Wanni civilians in recent times.
On the 16th of this month the LTTE launched an assault targeting a group of fifty lorries transport food and necessary items, including medicine plying, under the UN banner. The items had been dispatched to be dispersed among the IDPs in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts. The terrorists fired weaponry and heavy mortar attacks targeting the convoy.
The Government notes that the LTTE has continuously done everything likely to subvert all relief events to these people, the most destructive strategy being that of by force deploying them to act as a human shield in the face of advancing security forces, overcrowding their movement to secure areas wherever possible.
The Government of Sri Lanka has been using air and sea routes as means of transporting necessary food items and ferrying civilians. Focusing on the plight of civilians in North, the Government has taken swift events to dispatch food and essential items as an immediate relief measure. Accordingly, the Government has organised a regular flow of caring supplies to the entire North, ensuring there are no shortages.
Further, the Government is confident that the international community, and especially those who have expressed concerns about the plight of civilians in the Wanni, will be further convinced as to the logical necessity of employing all means necessary to eliminate the terrorist threat and secure the release of people trapped in the open prison that the LTTE has turned the Wanni into.
The Government also emphasizes that this act of the LTTE is a crime next to humanity and it should put to rest any illusions that anybody may have entertained that the LTTE represents the concerns of civilians.
Indeed, it puts into viewpoint new concerns that have been spoken concerning the Government's efforts to ensure that essential items are sent to the Wanni.
The Government reiterates the sentiments expressed recently by the President that its main responsibility is to look after all citizens. The President, on that time said, "I carry out this blame to the fullest, especially with regard to the people who are for the time being displaced in the North, due to the ongoing armed operations to defeat terrorism. There is a wrong feeling created in Tamil Nadu that this not being done. This is furthest from the truth."
The Government notes with serious concern that the ships that came under assault are also used by NGOs and secret sector suppliers to transport goods. By aggressive these ships the LTTE terrorists are trying to disturb the smooth flow of essential items to Jaffna and thereby create a caring crisis in the area, that would not live but for its acts of terror.
It is patently clear that the LTTE is trying to get the attention of the global community by these indiscriminate activities and the Government calls on the international group of people to condemn without condition such appalling acts that seek to obtain political mileage at the cost of innocent civilians.
The Government remains undeterred by all acts of terrorism and is completely aware of the objectives of the terrorists.
The Government will carry on to take all possible events to ensure the safety and well-life form of all civilians in the North.

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