Disparity in condemning attacks on civilian targets, counterproductive - TNA MPs in Oslo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 13:49 GMT]
"The recent condemnations on the attacks of civilian targets in Sri Lanka came only after witnessing attacks on a civilian target in the South. There was no condemnation by the International Community when Mannaar Coordinator of an International NGO, Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Pakiyaranjith, was slain in a Claymore attack in Vanni by the Sri Lankan DPU team. Why did the IC fail in condemning the indiscriminate air-attacks on civilian targets in Vanni?," asked the Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy and Jaffna district MP K. Sivanesan while talking to media in Oslo on Friday after a meeting with the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer.

"If there was no attack in Nugegoda on November 28, would the IC have condemned the Claymore attack on school-girls in Vanni the previous day?," many ask us, questioning the morale, Mr. Jeyanandamoorthy said.

The IC should also note it was sending wrong signals to the perpetrators by showing bias in issuing condemnations on attacks on civilian targets.

The MPs who discussed the current situation in the North, East and South with the Norwegian Special Envoy at the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the Tamil parliamentarians were being silenced in the Sri Lankan parliament whenever they voiced against the attacks on civilian targets in the North.

"We are being looked upon in the Sri Lankan parliament as if we were representing a people of another country," Mr. K. Sivanesan told media.