Defence Ministry rejects allegations on VoT strike

The Ministry of Defence yesterday rejected allegations by international media organisations that the recent air strike on the Voice of the Tigers (VoT) of the LTTE terrorists is a 'war crime'.

"The Ministry of Defence rejects with contempt and as completely unfounded the allegation by Reporters sans Frontiers (RsF) or Reporters without Borders, based in Paris, and other foreign and Sri Lankan organisations, that the successful air strike on the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio station of the LTTE on November 27 was a "war crime"," a statement from the Defence Ministry said.

It's official website identified such claims as a collective hypocrisy, skilled at distorting facts all the better to legitimise the cause of a terrorist outfit.

"The VoT facility that was destroyed in the attack was a well known operation site of the terrorist LTTE, which in addition to being used for propaganda for the separatist aims of the LTTE, which violate the Sri Lankan Constitution, has also been known to have been used for its clandestine armed activities, targeting both the Sri Lankan security forces and vulnerable civilians," the statement said.

The Defence Ministry said the attack was not carried out in the course of a war between sovereign states, as attempted to be shown by these organisations invoking the Geneva Conventions and related Protocols with regard to it.

"This attack was an action required in the current operations to rid Sri Lanka of terrorism that is being carried out by an organisation that is committed to the use of violence and terror to further its aims and has repeatedly shown that it has no regard for any recognised norms of behaviour in seeking to achieve its goals.

There are no international conventions that give terrorist organisations any special protection to carry out their propaganda and/or terrorist activity under cover of such propaganda activity," the statement added.

"The intelligence that pointed out the location where S.P. Thamilchelvan was when the Air Force targeted the place, has over time, also given us many clues to the actual purposes for which this VoT station was being used in addition to its terrorist propaganda purposes, which information we do not have to share with these organisations.

Such locations will be taken out with similar accuracy, when it is necessary to do so, in the battle to eradicate terrorism from Sri Lanka," The Ministry of Defence said the Lankan armed forces are engaged in a battle to eradicate terrorism and there will be "no room for organisations, whether foreign or local", who seek to obstruct them in this task, through spurious accusations about "war crimes" as stated by RSF and others.