27.7.2008
The
statement recently made in the floor of the Australian
Parliament by John Murphy, Parliamentary Secretary of
Trade and the Member for Lowe constituency in Australia
came into severe criticism. The recent statement he made
in the parliament was criticized as one sided, biased
and pointed out that he has failed to condemn the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its leader Velupillai Prabakaran
for reneging on their words and continuously recruiting
underage children.
Ranjith
Soysa , Spokesperson of the Melbourne based, Society for
Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc (SPUR)
in an open letter to John Murphy, Member of Parliament
wrote, “As representative of the Australian people
it is your bounden duty to speak out and defend the rights
of all children to lead peaceful lives with their parents.
Your failure to name and shame the Tamil Tiger terrorists,
banned by your government under UN Security Council Resolutions
can be considered as the callous attitude of a leading
member of the Labour Party towards the suffering of the
Tamil children.
He
also very clearly pointed out that, it was true that Ceasefire
Agreement initially it brought optimism but that optimism
was blown sky high by the Tamil Tiger terrorists who were
found guilty by the Norwegian peace monitors for violating
96 % of its terms and conditions. It is sad to note that
65% of the violations concerned the forcible recruitment
of children. Among many other atrocities, this is also
the period they murdered Sri Lanka’s distinguished
Foreign Minister the Lakshman Kadirgamar, one of the most
illustrious and educated sons of Sri Lanka and himself
a Tamil.
Given
below the full text of the letter written by Ranjith Soysa
, Spokesperson of the Melbourne based, SPUR to John Murphy
Member of Parliament and Parliamentary Secretary of Trade:
Mr.
John Murphy
Parliamentary Secretary of Trade
Member for Lowe
Parliament
Canberra, ACT
Dear
Mr. Murphy,
We
refer to your statement in parliament on 28/06/08 regarding
the situation in Sri Lanka. In it you state that you speak
on behalf of the people you represent and are particularly
concerned about the killing of innocent victims, including
the most innocent of all—the children. Your concern
for the Tamil children is commendable. We thank you for
that. But we are concerned that you did not go deeper
into this war crime which points the finger directly at
Velupillai Prabhakaran, who has reneged on his undertaking
to the UN in 1995 promising not to recruit children to
fight in his needless war waged over the last three decades.
As
representative of the Australian people it is your bounden
duty to speak out and defend the rights of all children
to lead peaceful lives with their parents. Your failure
to name and shame the Tamil Tiger terrorists, banned by
your government under UN Security Council Resolutions
can be considered as the callous attitude of a leading
member of the Labour Party towards the suffering of the
Tamil children. We have met other concerned MPs of the
Labour Party who have openly expressed their disapproval
of your attitude towards the suffering of the Tamil children
and generally your sympathies towards the Tiger terrorist
agents operating on Australian soil.
We
wish to urge you to go beyond the block vote of Tamils
in your electorate and consider the suffering of the Tamils
parents and Tamil children who are terrified of a midnight
knock on their doors signalling the arrival of Tiger agents
to drag their children out from bed into training camps.
Would you like to live in a society like that? Would you
like lend your voice to such war crimes against children?
If you are a father would you stand up in Parliament and
defend such a regime? You don’t have to believe
what we say. Here are some extracts from the latest report
of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) (UTHR)
(Bulletin 46, July 14, 2008) for your consideration and
we would thank you to present these comments to the Australian
Parliament to show your genuine concern for the Tamil
children:
•
“The young dying on the frontlines or being horribly
maimed are barely 17 years.”
•
“The young are conscripted in the manner that cattle
come of age are taken to the slaughter house.”
•
“LTTE press gangs frequently invade homes before
dawn carrying details about the residents, looking for
those who have come of conscription age. A boy or girl
reaching the age of 17 and failing to report to the LTTE
could expect press gangs to turn up within two or three
days. Others seen to be suitable are caught on the roads.”
You
also state:
“I
again call for the proper implementation of the 2002 ceasefire
agreement, which was negotiated in good faith by all parties
to the conflict. This ceasefire brought optimism for all
Sri Lankans….”
It
is true that initially it brought optimism but that optimism
was blown sky high by the Tamil Tiger terrorists who were
found guilty by the Norwegian peace monitors for violating
96 % of its terms and conditions. It is sad to note that
65% of the violations concerned the forcible recruitment
of children. Among many other atrocities, this is also
the period they murdered Sri Lanka’s distinguished
Foreign Minister the Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar , one of
the most illustrious and educated sons of Sri Lanka and
himself a Tamil.
Human
Rights Watch in its August 2004 report states For Tamil
families in the North and East of Sri Lanka, the February
2002 cease-fire that has brought an end to the fighting
between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) has brought little relief from one of the
worst aspects of the twenty-year conflict: the LTTE’s
recruitment and use of children as soldiers. Despite an
end to active hostilities and repeated pledges by the
LTTE leadership to end its recruitment of children, the
practice has continued not only in LTTE controlled areas,
but now reaches into government areas in the North and
East where the LTTE previously had little access. This
report focuses on continued LTTE recruitment of children
during the cease-fire period, including re-recruitment
of children released from the LTTE’s eastern faction
in 2004…. We are most concerned that your partisan
approach to the Sri Lankan crisis has neither contributed
in any significant way to the peace process nor to raise
the profile of Australia as a possible peace-maker, now
that Norway is suspect of being too pro-Tamil Tigers.
Sri Lankan community has been very wary of your partisan
comments, both inside and outside the House. We would
welcome Australia as a negotiator/facilitator to bring
peace to our war-weary people. But the good name of Australia
will be sullied by inaccurate, partisan and counter-productive
statements like the ones issued by you from time to time.This
will make Australia to the peace-loving Sri Lankans.
Besides,
Mr. Murphy, returning to the 2002 CFA (which the LTTE
never observed anyway) you have failed to recognize the
new ground realities which makes nonsense of any proposal
to go back to the oudated CFA. After the rout of the Tamil
Tigers in the east the Easterners have elected a provincial
government of their own. The East has been democratised
and now has a Tamil Chief Minister. The Tigers have been
kicked out of many other areas. After clearing the East
and the North-west the Army is closing in on the Vanni
regime making it possible, in your own words, for “…a
peaceful solution from their government (with) the support
of all governments around the world.”
All
reasonable analysts looking at the new ground realities
have moved away from the failed past and look for new
opportunities to build and peace in Sri Lanka. A good
example is the East where a former child-soldier recruited
by the Tamil Tigers, is now the Chief Minster of a democratically
elected provincial government.
We
are certain that as a democratically elected MP of a democratically
elected government you will appreciate the gigantic political
leap made by the peace-loving Sri Lankan people of the
East to establish, after decades of Tiger tyranny, a government
of their own. We believe that your commitment should be
to strengthen the will of the people and not to “the
Pol Potist regime” (New York Times).
Your
support, direct or indirect to the pro- LTTE Tamils does
not help to get rid of terrorism and bring peace to the
country and the war-weary people of the Vanni. It would
only help to exacerbate the prevailing suffering of the
Tamils and perpetuate the unnecessary war to prop up the
one-man regime of Velupillai Prabhakaran.
For
a few people living far away from the suffering in places
such as the electorate of Lowe, it is only an ego-trip
to their mythical Eelam and you perhaps may be the ‘Saviour’
they have chosen to ‘take them there’. Their
children are safe from forcible recruitment and will not
be woken in the dead of night to be dragged away to a
LTTE training camp. They will not have to negotiate mine
fields laid around their houses so that the Tigers can
detain them in their homes to face the advancing Sri Lankan
forces and later accuse the Army of killing civilians.
These are a few ground realities that the people trapped
in their Eelam face on a daily basis.
In
the last part of your address to the parliament, you state
that the petition submitted “represents the voices
of some 4,169 Australians, who on behalf of the people
of Sri Lanka….”
We
are puzzled as to how you arrived at the conclusion that
the petition speaks on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka.
The Australian Census of 2006 shows that the people of
Sri Lankan origin in Australia are by and large against
the Tamil Tiger terrorists. The figures show clearly that
the voters with Sinhala ancestry who are anti-LTTE outnumber
the pro- LTTE Tamils even in your electorate of Lowe.
It is the same in NSW itself, and in the whole of Australia.
So your assertion that your petition speaks on behalf
of the Sri Lankan people questions your credibility. You
have a duty to be truthful to the Parliament – the
sacred temple of democracy in Australia. It does not even
represent the peace-loving, non-LTTE Tamils who are under
constant threat from this minority.
The
culture of fear is so strong that even Tamils who do not
support the Tamil Tigers feel they have no choice but
to give money, knowing they are funding political killings
and the recruitment of children as soldiers in Sri Lanka,”
states the HRW report.
We
realise that we cannot change your fixed attitude towards
Sri Lanka. That is your privilege. But would it be to
much to request you to be fairly balanced and truthful
in your future statements? It would help to promote peace
and stability to the people of war-weary Sri Lanka.
With
Best Wishes
Ranjith
Soysa Spokesperson,
SPUR
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune