[By Munza Mushtaq, The Sunday Leader (LK), 07 March, 2010]
Miliband irks Sri Lanka
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband has never been the Sri Lankan government’s favourite, for a number of reasons. But his steadfast decision last week to address the inaugural meeting of the controversial Global Tamil Forum (GTF) in London on Wednesday appears to have only helped widen the diplomatic rift between the two nations.
A fuming Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Wednesday summoned acting British High Commissioner in Colombo Mark Gooding to the Minister’s Fort office, to protest against Miliband’s decision to address the meeting of the pro-LTTE GTF.
Bogollagama insisted that the GTF brings together under one umbrella, several LTTE front organisations based mostly in western countries, and that its objective is to create a separate state of Tamil Eelam.
Minister Bogollagama emphasised that Foreign Secretary Miliband, by participating at the GTF Meeting in London, would lend credibility to an organisation which is propagating the separatist agenda of the LTTE, and would be acting in a manner inimical to the national interest of Sri Lanka and its legitimate government.
However, despite the vehement protests from Sri Lanka, Miliband cold shouldered Colombo’s objections and went ahead with his decision to address the pro-LTTE organisation’s meeting.
A British High Commission spokesperson while confirming Miliband’s attendance at the controversial meeting, added that the British Foreign Secretary in his speech to the GTF reiterated that a peaceful political solution was the only way to produce a lasting answer to Sri Lanka’s conflict.
“It is for all Sri Lanka’s people to decide what that solution should look like. The UK firmly believes that the only way to achieve lasting and equitable peace in Sri Lanka is through genuine national reconciliation. The UK will engage with all members of the Sri Lankan community who share this goal, whether overseas or in Sri Lanka,” the spokesperson said.
This is not the first time Miliband was in the midst of an LTTE-centred controversy. In the past the Sri Lankan government, including its Defence Ministry has looked unkindly at Miliband for certain statements he made which Sri Lanka termed as ‘pro-LTTE’.
President, Global Tamil Forum, S. J. Emmanuel termed Miliband’s participation at Wednesday’s meeting as ‘great support’ for the organisation.
“The British Government, more than any in the world, knows our history and are most competent to understand our situation,” he told Times Online.
Emmanuel said that the group advocated non-violence and an international boycott of Sri Lankan goods and wanted war crimes charges brought against President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other high level defence officials including former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka.
Subsequent to several internet based searches carried out by The Sunday Leader, it does appear that the GTF is indeed strongly linked to the now defunct LTTE organisation. GTF explicitly recognises the concept of ‘Eelam’, which means creating a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The GTF vision published in its official website states that the organisation is an “independent international organisation which adheres to the principles of democracy and non-violence and derives its strength from grassroots organisations of the Tamil Diaspora that will work in solidarity with Tamils in Eelam and other communities in Sri Lanka to restore Tamil People’s right to self-determination and democratic self-rule in their traditional homeland in the island of Sri Lanka that would lead to self-sufficiency, sustainability and equal opportunity to its people, through its political and economic successes by engaging the international community.”
Eelam, is a term used only by the LTTE or its proxies.
The organisation charges a massive membership fee ranging from US $ 1000 to 75000, depending whether the new members belong to an organisation or is an individual member.
Incidentally, the LTTE is a banned organisation in Britain.
Brown Adds Fuel To Fire
Adding fuel to fire, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with members of GTF at the House of Commons on February 24, soon after his Foreign Secretary David Miliband addressed the forum.
A spokesperson for the British High Commission in Colombo said, Brown attended the meeting with MPs from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils.
“At the meeting, the Prime Minister met members of the GTF who had joined the meeting at the invitation of the MPs,” the spokesperson added.