OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES

CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE:

ROHAN GUNARATNE
PAUL HARRIS
SUSANTHA GOONATILAKE
H.LD. MAHINDAPALA
HARENDRA DE SILVA
SHANTHA HENNAYAKE
NEVILLE S. LADDUWAHETTY
F. ROVIK
ASOKA BANDARAGE
MAHINDA WEERASINGHE

World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS)
London, New York, Oslo, Melbourne, Tokyo, Toronto


This book is dedicated to all Sri Lankans who have sacrificed their lives for the sovereignty of the country

PREFACE

The World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) is a forum for all Sri Lankans, mainly living overseas, who are determined to counter the false and organized pro-separatist, pro-terrorist and anti-Sri Lanka propaganda disseminated internationally. The member organizations of WAPS include:

Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR), Australia, Sri Lanka United National Association ofCanada (SLUNA), Japan-Sri Lanka Association for Peace in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankans Against Terrorism, Australia, Veera Parakramabahu Foundation, Australia, International Campaign for the Liberation of the Nation, United Kingdom, New York Society of United Sri Lanka, USA, United Sinhalese Association in Italy, Ape Shakthi Sanvidanaya, New Zealand and several other organizations in the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Australasia and Asia.

One of the most important steps among many others taken by WAPS was to hold the OSLO Conference on “Road Map to Peace in Sri Lanka” on 20th August 2004. WAPS, with the ready assistance of R-Sentor, a Norwegian human rights organization held the conference on the very soil of Norway, recognized as a safe haven for terrorist organizations, especially the LTTE.

Norway is the leader among some other members of the ‘international community’ who after overtly and covertly providing succor to the separatist terrorist movement is now actively trying to usher a particular brand of “peace” in Sri Lanka. WAPS considers, given Norway’s past history, that it is the duty of all who desire genuine peace in Sri Lanka to be aware of the dangers in any Norway-led prescription. Given the facts that we document in this book, very possibly some of the attacks on Sri Lanka would have been planned within Norway and would have been probably financed by Norwegian money. Norwegian remedies point to being more lethal than their diagnosed disease.

At the conference, papers were presented by Mr. F. Rovik, Mr H.LD.Mahindapala, Prof. Shantha Hennayake, Prof Asoka Bandarge, Dr Susantha Goonatilake, Mr. Paul Harris, Dr. peter Chalk and Mr. Stewart Bell. Apart from the formal papers, there were presentations by representatives of the democratic Tamil parties, EPDP and PLOTE on the state of democracy in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Although Mr. Eric Solheim, the self designated “special Norwegian peace envoy” was invited, he did not attend. The Norwegian foreign ministry however sent their Ms. Liza Golden to give the perspective of the Norwegian Government on its role.

All the formal papers are reproduced here except those of Dr. Peter Chalk (of Rand Corp, USA) “LTTE’s use and institutionalization of suicide terrorism” and of Mr. Stewart Bell (of the National Post news paper, Canada) “The Snow Tigers: The Canadian Tamil Tiger network and how it supports violence in Sri Lanka”. These two authors are publishing their papers elsewhere and for copyright reasons, they are not carried here. (However, a summary of their speeches and those Of Golden together with members of Tamil democratic parties are included).

The different speakers spelt out the threats posed by the LTTE to democracy and the stability of the region and the world. Material presented at the conference showed the LTTE, molly coddled by Norway and some other members Of the ‘International Community’, to be gathering attack capabilities and serving as a critical benchmark for other terrorist organizations.

Falk Rovik, an Amnesty International activist in his speech covered many details on the complicity of the Norwegian Government in supporting terrorism against Sri Lanka. These facts proved beyond reasonable doubt that Norway is not a neutral party in Sri Lanka and had brazenly violated basic diplomatic norms, human rights regulations and Security Council resolutions on terrorism. In fact, Norway was found in cffect to be an LTTE activist trying to score its own goal against Sri Lanka while leading its “Peace Team”.

While Mahindapala, Bandarage and Hennayake, in their presentations discussed various facets of the confict such as the history of the separatist movement, erroncous facts and concepts, issues of democracy and pluralism, Susantha Goonatilake traced the role of Norway as it evolved as an actor in the re-colonization of Sri Lanka. Paul Harris, expelled from Sri Lanka for his forthright views on the LTTE, described how Sri Lanka’s sovereignty has been ransomed by an imprudent set of friends and foes. The representatives of PLOTE, EPDP and EPRLF participating in the discussion stressed the importance of having space for non-LTTE forces among the Tamil population and explained in detail how Norwegian authorities are helping the LTTE to spread hate against them in Norway. Some democratic Tamil speakers stated that Norway should grant refugee status to their members threatened by the LTTE.

Since the Oslo Conference, WAPS has taken a number of key steps. These include reporting Norway to the Anti-Terrorism Commission in the UN and preparing documents to take a class action suit against Norway and criminal action against the LTTE for their activities in sponsoring and/or carrying out terrorist acts. In the Colombo Conference in December 2004, WAPS has forged links with Sanasadaya, a group of professional Sri Lankan men and women fighting the injustices perpetrated on Mother Lanka. We also intend taking our message to the broad masses of Sri Lanka who are being short changed by their political leaders as they appease terrorists. We at WAPS believe that all Sri Lankans must resolve to liberate themselves from terror and institute full democracy.

We take this opportunity to give ourspecial thanks to Sanasadaya, to our well wishers and colleagues in Sri Lanka and overseas and to numerous others who made this publication a reality Within a period of two months.

Ranjith Soysa
Co-ordinator, WAPS
Melboume, Australia