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14.6.2008
President
Mahinda Rajapaksa during his official visit to the UK has
observed that there should be no double standards when dealing
with terrorism. According to The Times of the UK, President
Rajapaksa has revealed that the LTTE terrorists have been
allowed to "raise millions of pounds each year from
the Tamil Community in Britain". Also, he has revealed
that some of the Tamil civilians are being coerced into
give away their money by the LTTE extortionists
"You
can't have two different attitudes towards terrorism"
the President has told the Times. "I don't agree that
there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. There is only
one kind of terrorist", the President has said.
Elaborating
further on the LTTE fund raising in the UK the President
has told the newspaper that about 70 million pounds have
been sent for the LTTE collected from about 150,000 Tamils
living in Britain.
"These
are not voluntary contributions, the money is taken by force,
usually a percentage of their income...the money is sent
back to buy weapons. London is not the only place; money
is also sent from Europe, Canada and other places".
"Commenting
on the Human Rights situation in the country, President
Rajapaksa has said that Sri Lanka's "poor" reputation
on the issue is due to the "clever propaganda"
of LTTE terrorists.
"We
have failed in the propaganda fight", the Times further
quotes the President.
Expressing
his firm stand against terrorism, President Rajapaksa said
that he would not resume peace talks with the terrorist
until they agree to disarm.
"When
they are weak they call on the international community to
arrange a ceasefire. During this period they train and rearm
and then fight back. This time if they want to talk, they
should disarm first," The Times quotes the President.
Commenting
on the realty of LTTE leadership the President said "This
man [Prabhakaran] and the three or four henchmen around
him are blood-thirsty killers. They have no feelings. It
is very difficult to deal with them."
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