Britain condemns LTTE massacre in Buttala
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, has strongly
condemned the LTTE massacre of civilians in a remote village in Buttala
on Monday(April 13). Denouncing the cold blooded killings of 8
villagers, including 3 women and 2 children, the British Foreign
Secretary in a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Rohitha
Bogollagama (13th April 2009), requested the latter to convey his
condolences to the bereaved families.
The British Minister, speaking further, welcomed the
Government of Sri Lanka's announcement of a pause in hostilities for the
period of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Minister Bogollagama, while
appreciating his British counterpart's remarks, emphasized that the
purpose of the pause was to enable the civilians to free themselves from
the clutches of the LTTE, which has entrapped over 60,000 civilians as
hostages in the No-Fire Zone. The Foreign Minister also stated that over
65,000 civilians have already crossed over to the cleared areas. Despite
this goodwill humanitarian gesture by the Government, the LTTE is yet to
reciprocate positively. The reaction from the LTTE so far has been the
massacre of 8 innocent civilians in a remote hamlet in Buttala, in the
Moneragala district and the premeditated attack on the Sri Lanka Embassy
in Oslo, causing extensive damage to its property, both incidents taking
place yesterday, within a few hours of the announcement of the
President's directive to the armed forces to restrict their operations
to those of a defensive nature during the festive period.
The British Foreign Secretary, while condemning the
brutality of the LTTE, requested the Government of Sri Lanka to consider
a longer period of the pause to enable the civilians to move out of the
LTTE held areas. Foreign Minister Bogollagama emphasized that a longer
pause was not possible because the LTTE has so far failed to demonstrate
any genuine goodwill on its part in allowing the civilians to have free
movement and there was concern that the LTTE would continue to
consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone. In this context, he
urged the United Kingdom and the international community to bring
adequate pressure on the LTTE to free the civilians.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that the way forward
lies for the LTTE to heed the call by the international community to
immediately lay down its weapons and surrender, and renounce violence
and terrorism permanently, which would facilitate it to enter the
democratic political process. Foreign Secretary Miliband emphasized the
British Government's intention to remain engaged with Sri Lanka through
the services of a special envoy at an appropriate time. Minister
Bogollagama informed that the current stand of the Government of Sri
Lanka remains unchanged in not recognizing the appointment of a special
envoy by Britain.
Minister Bogollagama emphasized Sri Lanka's readiness
to remain engaged on matters of mutual interest, and in this context,
the two Ministers agreed to maintain their dialogue.
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