SL Tamil diaspora must put their energies in to a sustainable peace
- Minister quotes ICG report
International Crisis Group (ICG), in its latest report
titled 'The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora after the LTTE' has strongly urged
the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora to jettison once and for all the failed
Tamil Eelam agenda of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and
instead put their energies into the quest for a sustainable and just
peace in a united Sri Lanka, Minister of Export Development and
International Trade Prof. G.L. Peiris said.
Addressing a special media briefing held at the
Government Information Department today (18) he pointed out that the ICG
is blunt in its assertion that after 26 years of exhaustion from the
war, an overwhelming majority of Sri Lankan Tamils have no stomach at
the moment to return to militant politics.
However, in total contrast among the Diaspora, only a
minority are happy over the military defeat of the LTTE and still
continue to dream of Tamil Eelam that has virtually no domestic or
international backing, Minister noted.
It strongly urges Sri Lanka to address the legitimate
grievances at the root of the conflict : the political marginalization
and physical insecurity of most Tamils in Sri Lanka while asking the
international community to pressure Sri Lanka much more strongly for
political and constitutional reforms, he stated.
According to the Minister, the report refers to a
series of the so-called referendums held by sections of the Sri Lankan
Tamil Diaspora in parts of Europe seeking views of those outside Sri
Lanka on whether they are still committed to Eelam and said that until
it moves on from its separatist, pro-LTTE ideology, the Diaspora is
unlikely to play a useful role supporting a just and sustainable peace
in Sri Lanka.
The report said most Tamils in the island nation are
more concerned with rebuilding their lives under difficult circumstances
than in continuing the fight for an independent state and without the
LTTE to enforce a common political line, Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka are
proposing substantial reforms within a united Sri Lanka, minister
further said.
The report said for the past quarter-century the Tamil
Diaspora has shaped the Sri Lankan political landscape through its
financial and ideological support to the military struggle for an
independent Tamil state, Minister added.
Courtesy : Government Information Department | 
