Exert pressure to curb military violence, IFT urges International Community

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 December 2005, 14:53 GMT]
The Geneva based International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a consortium of more than 150 expatriate Tamil organizations, in a media statement released on Friday appealed to the International Community to exert its influence on the Government of Sri Lanka to help bring normalcy in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the Northeast.

"The International Community that stood firmly behind the peace facilitator Norway, needs now to persuade the government of Sri Lanka to implement all provisions of the CFA as a first step forward in the peace process," the expatriate Tamil federation said.

"We are sure the IC [International Community] is aware that the murder of two civilians in Neerveli, Jaffna, near the Sri Lanka Army cantonment where paramilitary forces are also accommodated, sparked off the recent unrest in the North," the IFT statement noted.

Referring to the recent escalation of violence in Jaffna, the IFT statement charged Colombo for using its army and paramilitary cadres to "rough handle" the peaceful protests that erupted following the Neerveli killings, instead of allowing the Police to handle law and order matters.

This has caused further escalation into "peninsula-wide protests, claymore attacks, loss of lives of both military and civilians," the statement said.

The IFT statement welcomed the Tamil and Muslim leaders, for taking prompt efforts to bring back peace and normalcy between the two communities adding that the revelations by two renegade paramilitary cadres, Puhalventhan and Gnantheepan, have exposed the involvement of paramilitary cadres backed by the Lankan forces in an attempt create dissension between the Tamil and Muslim communities in east.

The statement expressed regret the price Puhalventhan had to pay as suspected paramilitaries Wednesday night shot and killed his two sisters in revenge.

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