Presidential Sec. releases response to TNA letter

(March 28, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Presidential Secretariat today released a response to the letter sent to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday while turning down the invitation from the President to attend a meeting last Thursday.

The President met with leaders of parties representing minority communities, for which the TNA was also invited, in which several Tamil political representatives and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress participated.

Here is the full text of the Presidential Secretariat news release: The call by the TNA to halt armed operations by the Security Forces is singularly unfortunate since it results in manipulating the plight of civilians trapped by the LTTE in this tiny sliver of land, to launch a last-ditch effort to save the terrorist leadership and remaining rank and file, which will be the outcome of any letup in the humanitarian operation to free these civilians from the LTTE’s clutches. We note that no allocation of responsibility upon the LTTE, for the entrapment and confinement of these innocent civilians, is made by the TNA. This appears to the Government to be a startling omission.

In considering and responding to the plight of innocent civilians trapped in the “Wanni pocket”, the TNA will recall that, from September 2008, the President and members of his Government have been earnestly requesting the LTTE to enable civilians to leave the northern theatre of conflict. The underlying reason for this call was the Government’s genuine concern for the civilians’ safety and security in the light of impending and intense armed conflict between the Sri Lankan forces and LTTE cadres.

The TNA was non-committal at that time as they, and some others supportive of the LTTE, were seemingly confident of the ability of the “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE’s) military formations” to prevent the rapid advance of Sri Lankan security forces. When civilians were repeatedly positioned by the LTTE at locations in which they were at greater risk, the TNA remained silent. When the LTTE placed its artillery in a corner of the original No-fire Zone adjacent to the A35 highway and fired into the zone and at the armed forces from these locations, the TNA did not utter a word of condemnation. When the President made a final appeal to let the civilians leave at the end of January this year, the TNA was again silent, as they were when the LTTE forcibly caused the movement of these civilians to the narrow strip of land they now occupy after preventing the escape of civilians who heeded the President’s call. The Government, in recognition of the need to ensure the safety and security of the civilians, declared a second No-fire Zone in early February.

Since then the Government has sent in over 1,250 MT of food and medicines and is to send another 1,020 MT over the next few days. The Government did so with the support of the World Food Programme and with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross. At the meeting with Tamil political representatives, the President undertook a personal commitment to ensure that food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies would be sent to uncleared areas of the Wanni in sufficient quantities to ensure that there will not be a shortage of essential goods.

Therefore, the TNA can rest assured that the Government of the President will do its utmost, as it has consistently done in the past, to alleviate the suffering of these civilians trapped by the LTTE. His Excellency informed the Tamil and Muslim representatives that he was well aware that some of the humanitarian assistance, including food and medicine meant for civilians, was forcibly taken by the LTTE. Despite this, the Government is committed to supplying its people with their basic needs.

Some of the specific issues raised by the TNA are the allegations that the “Sri Lankan armed forces have been bombing the Safe Zone areas by air and artillery fire, killing on an average between 40 to 50 civilians on a daily basis and causing grave injuries to civilians many times more.”

As the President informed the Tamil and Muslim representatives on Thursday, the armed forces are exercising maximum restraint in the current phase of the humanitarian operation. We reiterate that Sri Lankan armed forces do not fire any artillery or any such heavy weaponry into the Safe Zones where civilians have gathered. Neither is there any aerial bombardment of these areas by the Air Force. However, there have been instances where the LTTE has fired missiles at our helicopters from within the No-fire Zone. The figure of 40 to 50 civilians being killed daily is, we believe, a total exaggeration. It is not possible to state with any certainty that the so-called civilian casualties are not in fact LTTE cadres who have been killed or injured in combat The LTTE’s reticence to issue numbers of cadres killed and injured gives credence to the assertion that some of the so called “civilians” are fighting cadres.
br> The TNA also alleges that “despite the grave humanitarian crisis prevalent in these areas, the government has evicted all international humanitarian organizations and has since imposed restrictions on supplies to these areas tantamount to an embargo on food, medicine, shelter and other basic humanitarian items”. This allegation is patently false. International organizations were asked to move out of this area and relocate to Vavuniya in September 2008 because of the prospect of fighting between the Armed Forces and the LTTE and we could not guarantee the safety of these personnel in such circumstances. Concurrently, the Government invited civilians to move to this area as well, so that these agencies could provide them with assistance, complementing the Government’s efforts to care for all their needs. There has been no restriction on food, medicine, shelter and other basic humanitarian items. As stated earlier, large amounts of food have been sent to the Mullaithivu area where the civilians are said to be gathered.

The TNA also states that “no independent media is permitted access to this area to report on the situation really prevailing in this area.” As in the case of humanitarian agencies (except the ICRC) media cannot be permitted to go to areas where there is fighting between the Armed Forces and the LTTE as the Government cannot guarantee their safety. With LTTE’s track record of placing the responsibility on the Armed Forces even when the LTTE kills civilians, allowing the media to have access to these areas will not be prudent. However, the Government has facilitated several visits by local and international journalists to Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and the IDP centres in Vavuniya. As the situation improves, these visits will be increased.

It is also claimed that: “No functioning hospitals remain in the Vanni as government bombing campaigns have destroyed all such facilities. There are gross shortages of medicines….. [as] the government has failed to send adequate medicine. People have died recently as a result of complications which could have been easily treated had there been proper health facilities and medicine.” Not a single hospital has been destroyed by aerial bombing or any other artillery fire from Sri Lankan forces. All the hospitals are intact except in some locations where the LTTE has removed all the fittings and fixtures and rendered these institutions unusable. There is ample evidence to demonstrate this destruction by the LTTE. As reiterated above, people have been repeatedly requested to come to the government controlled areas. However, as the LTTE prevents them from coming over, by threats or sometimes the use of lethal force, civilians have been forced to undergo hardship and the government is aware of their suffering. This is why the Government has sent in several consignments of medical supplies for use by the doctors who remain in uncleared areas to treat urgent cases. It is the desire of the Government to help remove the civilians from the clutches of the LTTE, thus ending their suffering.

The allegation is made that “internally displaced persons do not have any form of toilet facilities. The government has banned all construction materials into the area and as a result building of temporary toilets has not been possible.” They also state that “the government has not allowed shelter materials into the area”. The supposed lack of sanitation has been highlighted many times and fearsome predictions of the spread of epidemics have been made from time to time which have all proved groundless. There are strict restrictions on sending any construction material because the LTTE will use all such material to build bunkers and bunds to strengthen themselves militarily to impede the advance of the armed forces. Similar restrictions have been imposed on shelter material which can be converted for military uses by the LTTE. However, the Government notes that the TNA themselves state that there are 240,000 persons living under tarpaulins which are a form of temporary shelter used in humanitarian situations worldwide.

The allegation is made that “Even though there are around 300,000 civilians in the relevant areas, the government insists that there are only about 70,000 civilians in the area. This position …. is inconsistent with the assessment of UN and other international agencies who estimate that there are around 200,000 displaced civilians in this area.…. food aid and medicine and other essential humanitarian supplies sent is grossly inadequate … the civilian population is starving to death due to unavailability of medical supplies…. within the last month, several people have died of starvation. The dead have included many children.” The number 300,000 is a gross exaggeration. Even the TNA admits of three different figures in its communication. Even UN and INGOs dropped their estimates during the past month by 100,000 – when 56,000 persons managed to escape. It is obvious that there has been a gross over-estimation of persons. Food and medicine that have been sent were based on the reasonable estimates available. The accusation that people have died of starvation cannot be accepted because those civilians that come to the government controlled areas seem to have been adequately fed. Those civilians have informed that there is no shortage of food as stated by the TNA.

Finally, the TNA states that “Since the beginning of this year alone, over 3000 civilians have been killed in ….. ‘safe zones’ by bombing campaigns [and] well over 8000 civilians have been gravely injured. …… civilians are being deliberately targeted. …. food and medicine are being used against the Tamil civilians as a weapon of war.”

The government has never used food and medicine as a weapon of war. Indeed the Sri Lankan State is one, if not the only, nation that has fed an armed group who is trying to dismember it by violence. No one can confirm the numbers that have been killed or injured and it is impossible to determine who is an injured or killed combatant when the LTTE, who are not in uniform, mingle with the civilians and fires on Sri Lankan forces from their midst. The LTTE is also stepping up forced recruitment including that of children. The Sri Lankan Armed Forces have very clearly stated that their operations are conducted in such a manner to as to ensure that no civilians are killed or injured. That is why their advance over the past few weeks has been so slow. His Excellency’s instructions to the Armed Forces have been to ensure 100 percent civilian safety. If the allegations of indiscriminate attacks and disregard for civilians were true, the Sri Lankan forces would have overrun the LTTE and liberated the uncleared areas weeks earlier. The Government remains committed to the safety and welfare of civilians. As such, we continue to appeal to the LTTE to free all civilians who are held hostage by them so that the civilians can go to safe areas and IDP villages that are being maintained under the care and control of the Government.

The President was clear in his intention to restore democracy to the Northern Province, just as elections had been held and civil administration restored in the East. He informed the Tamil and Muslim party leaders that it was his intention to conduct local government polls in the Jaffna peninsula as early as possible. Responding to a proposal by Leader of the PLOTE, D. Sidharthan, and the President also assured the political representatives of his willingness to look into the possibility of holding local polls in the Vavuniya District. The President said it was his wish that the people of the North should be empowered to choose their own, freely elected, representatives and encourage political parties to participate in the electoral process. Every assurance of adequate security to conduct an election campaign would be given to every individual and group that comes forward.

The President called on the political leadership of the Tamil people to unite eschewing narrow personal or party agendas and work with the Government to improve conditions for the people in the North and East.

-Sri Lanka Guardian