Sri Lankans in US outraged over Clinton remark on Sri Lanka
April 24, 2009 11:06 am
The Sri Lankan Patriots (SLP) a Sri Lankan activist group headquartered in Los Angeles in California has written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing outrage at her remarks that military action against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam by Sri Lankan forces has caused ‘untold suffering.’
Sri Lankan Patriots (SLP) in a letter reminded Clinton that many Sri Lankan soldiers have sacrificed their lives to free Tamil civilians from the stranglehold of a ‘Pol Pot type regime’ run by the LTTE.
Clinton told lawmakers in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday 22 April, “I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering.”
Full text of the SLP letter to Clinton:
Dear Madam Secretary:
We refer to a statement made earlier today that the Sri Lankan military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has caused ‘untold suffering.’
Your censure of Sri Lanka is shocking!
Sri Lankan soldiers have sacrificed their lives to save Tamil civilians held hostage by the brutal Tamil Tigers. On April 20, facing stiff resistance, Sri Lankan troops brought down a bund that the Tigers had built to imprison civilians and prevent them from escaping. Twenty young soldiers lost their lives, but thanks to their sacrifice, over 70,000 Tamils were able to get to the safe areas maintained by Sri Lankan troops. Your harsh and unwarranted words will, no doubt, cause great pain to the families of these and other young Sri Lankan men and women who have died so that their Tamil brothers and sisters may find freedom.
Sri Lanka’s current attempt to defeat the LTTE is just and warranted by any standards. There is overwhelming evidence that while claiming to be the ‘representative of the Tamil people,’ theLTTE has run a Pol-Pot type regime in the Wanni, subjecting Tamil residents to untold misery, using very young children as fighters, depriving residents of food and essentials (which are regularly shipped by the Sri Lankan government). As the whole world is well aware, the Tigers are the masters of suicide bombings which deliberately target civilian.
Your concern for the Tamil civilians is misplaced, if not hypocritical in light of the number of civilians being killed and injured each day by US drones indiscriminately firing missiles on Pakistani villages. May we add that the ‘whole world’ continues to censure the US for the war on Iraq, which you supported, and other military ventures that have killed and maimed thousands, such as dropping cluster bombs on Kosovo.
As for your assertion that the ‘entire world is very disappoint’ at Sri Lanka, we wish to point out that just yesterday China came out with a firm statement backing Sri Lanka’s actions. Sri Lanka counts many other friends who definitely do not share your sentiments.
Madam Secretary, we do wish that you had been more judicious and constructive with your words, the Sri Lankan Patriot letter to Secretary of State Clinton concludes. – (Asian Tribune)
April 24, 2009 11:06 am
The Sri Lankan Patriots (SLP) a Sri Lankan activist group headquartered in Los Angeles in California has written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing outrage at her remarks that military action against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam by Sri Lankan forces has caused ‘untold suffering.’
Sri Lankan Patriots (SLP) in a letter reminded Clinton that many Sri Lankan soldiers have sacrificed their lives to free Tamil civilians from the stranglehold of a ‘Pol Pot type regime’ run by the LTTE.
Clinton told lawmakers in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday 22 April, “I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering.”
Full text of the SLP letter to Clinton:
Dear Madam Secretary:
We refer to a statement made earlier today that the Sri Lankan military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has caused ‘untold suffering.’
Your censure of Sri Lanka is shocking!
Sri Lankan soldiers have sacrificed their lives to save Tamil civilians held hostage by the brutal Tamil Tigers. On April 20, facing stiff resistance, Sri Lankan troops brought down a bund that the Tigers had built to imprison civilians and prevent them from escaping. Twenty young soldiers lost their lives, but thanks to their sacrifice, over 70,000 Tamils were able to get to the safe areas maintained by Sri Lankan troops. Your harsh and unwarranted words will, no doubt, cause great pain to the families of these and other young Sri Lankan men and women who have died so that their Tamil brothers and sisters may find freedom.
Sri Lanka’s current attempt to defeat the LTTE is just and warranted by any standards. There is overwhelming evidence that while claiming to be the ‘representative of the Tamil people,’ theLTTE has run a Pol-Pot type regime in the Wanni, subjecting Tamil residents to untold misery, using very young children as fighters, depriving residents of food and essentials (which are regularly shipped by the Sri Lankan government). As the whole world is well aware, the Tigers are the masters of suicide bombings which deliberately target civilian.
Your concern for the Tamil civilians is misplaced, if not hypocritical in light of the number of civilians being killed and injured each day by US drones indiscriminately firing missiles on Pakistani villages. May we add that the ‘whole world’ continues to censure the US for the war on Iraq, which you supported, and other military ventures that have killed and maimed thousands, such as dropping cluster bombs on Kosovo.
As for your assertion that the ‘entire world is very disappoint’ at Sri Lanka, we wish to point out that just yesterday China came out with a firm statement backing Sri Lanka’s actions. Sri Lanka counts many other friends who definitely do not share your sentiments.
Madam Secretary, we do wish that you had been more judicious and constructive with your words, the Sri Lankan Patriot letter to Secretary of State Clinton concludes. – (Asian Tribune)
