http://www.spur.asn.au/LTTE_Atrocities_20070528_Ratmalana_Bomb.htm
http://www.spur.asn.au/LTTE_Atrocities_20060615_Kebithigollewa_Massacre.htm
http://www.spur.asn.au/chronology_of_suicide_bomb_attacks_by_Tamil_Tigers_in_sri_Lanka.htm
http://www.spur.asn.au/After_signing_the_so-called_JM.htm
"Lanka news" <rupasinge@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:843c8d4c-cadc-4554-9cba-0cbbbaf5dfe6@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Britain to get tough with Sri Lanka - Minister
>
> Britain will be pressing Sri Lanka's hardline government for greater
> access for senior UN officials and would join European allies in
> taking a stronger position against Colombo over human rights abuses.
> In a meeting with Tamil Dias****a representatives at the British
> Foreign Office on Monday, Foreign Minister Lord Malloch-Brown said he
> would personally be attending the UN Human Rights Council meeting in
> Geneva next week to press the point. The government of President
> Rajapakse had "made political process secondary to military process,"
> the British Tamil Forum, a Dias****a advocacy group which attended the
> meeting, quoted the Minister as saying.
>
>
> Foreign Minister Lord Malloch-Brown
> Lord Malloch-Brown observed that there are two key issues with regards
> to Sri Lanka's conduct: prosecution of war and failure to enter into
> serious negotiation, and human rights issues, the BTF said.
>
> "I have told the [Sri Lankan] President, Foreign Minister and visiting
> delegation that we do not find the political process credible or
> serious. We feel that we really sought to push for a political
> negotiation as a way forward. There is no military solution to this
> problem," Lord Malloch-Brown said.
>
> "We are going to go on pu****ng hard to put the political negotiation
> back on track," he said adding this will not be done from a bilateral
> position but by working closely with Europe, UN and the Commonwealth.
>
> The UK will be demanding and pressing hard for wider access by Sir
> John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
> Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-
> General for Children and Armed Conflict, he said.
>
> The UK will also demand that all recommendations made by Louise
> Arbour, Head of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Ms.
> Coomarasamy be implemented in full.
>
> The purpose of the meeting called on Monday by the FCO was to engage
> with the Tamil Dias****a and understand their perspective to the
> conflict in Sri Lanka, the BTF statement said.
>
> It was attended by Parliamentarians from Britain's three major parties
> and members from the House of Lords heard views were made by different
> Dias****a representatives.
>
> Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Gajan Ponnambalam was
> also present and spoke as part of the Tamil community.
>
> Britain will sup****t political solution with major devolution of power
> to the Tamil areas, Lord Malloch-Brown said, adding that Britain could
> not sup****t independence for Tamils.
>
> The BTF argued that UK and the rest of the international community
> "must explicitly make their sup****t for Sri Lanka unity and
> territorial integrity conditional on the Tamil people collectively
> being satisfied with the state's sharing of power and its governance."
>
> "Tamils safety and political future can only be guaranteed if the Sri
> Lankan state is restrained by international law," the BTF told the
> meeting, adding that the international community must, on this basis,
> sup****t the Tamils' claim for independence, just as it had sup****ted
> the Kosovars'.
>
> "At independence in 1948 Sri Lankan State was entrusted with all
> minorities' rights," BTF spoksman Suren Surendiran told the meeting.
> "They have abused the trust against Tamils, human rights, free speech,
> pluralism and denounce the demand for statehood."
>
> He pointed out that in the 1977 elections, long before the armed
> conflict began, the overwhelming majority of Tamils voted for an
> Independent State as the only way to escape state repression.
>
> TNA MP Ponnambalam noted that "even though I am an elected member of
> parliament I cannot espouse the wishes of the vast majority [of the
> Tamil] due to the 6th amendment of the Sri Lankan constitution [which
> outlaws advocacy of independence]."
>
> Mr. Ponnambalam reiterated the position adopted by the TNA when it met
> Lord Malloch-Brown last summer, arguing that UK should make its
> development assistance conditional on human rights, progress in the
> political negotiations and implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
>
> The UK should seriously consider trade and travel bans on Sri Lanka
> and the international community must take up the position that if the
> right to internal self determination of the Tamil people is denied any
> further, the right to external self determination of the Tamil people
> will have to be inevitably recognised, he said.
>
> Whilst Lord Naseby, an advocate of the Sri Lankan government's stance
> had denounced the BTF and its views, sources at the meeting said.
> However the organisation had been praised by Parliamentarians and the
> Foreign Minister had also welcomed their engagement with the British
> government.
>
> "It is extremely im****tant and absolutely correct for you as British
> citizens to organise and demand sympathy and sup****t for your
> objectives from your local MPs. This is how the British democracy
> works," Lord Malloch-Brown was quoted as telling the meeting.
>
> "I wish the Sri Lankan democracy also worked that way. I want to
> register that point."
>
> Noting that "the British Tamils Forum has been labeled 'terrorists'
> and there had been some smear campaigns," he observed: "I can draw
> parallel to my own experience. I have lived in the US for 21years. My
> wife is Irish American. We have been in the same position as you are.
> How do we sup****t the change that we want in Northern Ireland while
> making sure that one doesn't actually sup****t violent acts against the
> British or the British Army?"
>
> "There is always a case for freedom struggle and self determination,"
> the British Foreign Minister said.
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