Tamil Students condemn foreign military assistance

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 2004, 15:26 GMT]
The International Students' Association of Thamileelam (ISAT), in a press release issued Tuesday, said that the military and financial assistance of United States to the Government of Sri Lanka and the visit of Indian Navy Commander to Sri Lanka would not help in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict but would lead to renewed hostilities.

Excerpts from the press release follow:

''Tamil people living today in the ''no war, no peace'' situation have been yearning for a permanent peace to lead a normal life. But they have now started losing confidence on the peace process, as the Sinhalese political leadership is not willing to resolve the conflict to meet their legitimate aspirations.

''It is unfortunate that instead of exerting pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to find a durable political resolution to the Tamil question the international community has been assisting it with military hardware and training. This would skew the military balance between the warring parties and would encourage the Sri Lankan government to seek a military solution to the conflict.

''ISTA condemns the financial and military assistance of United States and India.

''We urge the international community to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to commit itself to finding a permanent solution to the conflict through dialogue, and to accept and implement the Interim Self Governing Authority of the LTTE,'' the statement concluded.