LTTE condemns attack on US

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 September 2001, 14:58 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) categorically denied reports Saturday in Sri Lanka’s state media that the organization had distributed a message to the people of Jaffna with reference to Tuesday’s attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s chief spokesman and political advisor, when contacted by TamilNet condemned the Sri Lankan government for exploiting the “colossal human tragedy” to gain political advantage. He also condemned the attack as a “brutal crime.”

Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News Saturday claimed the message, distributed in army controlled parts of Jaffna, said the attacks in the US “will be a good lesson for the Sinhala Army” and “will be a good warning to superpowers like America.”

Mr. Balasingham accused pro-government paramilitaries in Jaffna of attempting to smear the LTTE. He said the government, in collusion with the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which operates alongside the Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna, was “engaged in a calculated, vicious propaganda campaign to discredit our liberation organisation and to confuse the people of Jaffna.”

“It is sad to note that the Sri Lanka government and its anti-LTTE ally, the EPDP are attempting to exploit the phenomenal tragedy faced by the American people to their own political advantage,” he said.

“We share the profound sorrow and anguish experienced by the families, relatives and friends of those thousands of innocent victims who perished in this carnage. This is a colossal human tragedy and we condemn this brutal crime,” Mr. Balasingham said.