NGOs with vested interests wait for opportunities:

EROS will stand by Government on LLRC report

by Nesan Shankar Raji

The Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS) wishes to thank President Mahinda Rajapaksa for expediting and releasing the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report within a remarkable 18 month timeframe.

EROS also wishes to congratulate the panel of distinguished experts who were party to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report for drafting an exceptional and yet robust report based on the actual facts that led up to the final decimation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka under the Sri Lankan Army's rescue mission in May 2009.

Certain international NGOs namely Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group have been highly critical of the LLRC panel from the very inception not giving the Sri Lankan state a chance and even more so in the aftermath of publication of the LLRC report. We wish to state that neither of these "Human Rights" parties participated in the LLRC despite being invited to engage with the LLRC panel by the Sri Lankan Government. This was further substantiated by Dr. Chris Nonis, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom at a recent meeting with the Sri Lankan Diaspora to discuss the LLRC report and key recommendations.

EROS wishes to state that it is our intention to stand by the Sri Lankan Government on this issue and defend our Government on any course of international intervention when it comes to Sri Lanka as we do not as an organisation support an international probe into alleged war crimes. The LTTE including Prabhakaran and his ground commanders were responsible for making the decision to hold tens of thousands of Tamil civilians. Their cadres were responsible for deliberately shooting at innocent civilians trying to flee into the "No Fire Zone" and cross over into the Sri Lankan Army controlled areas that the forces had slowly captured from the clutches of the LTTE. Certain NGOs have vested interests as far as Sri Lanka is concerned and will "cherry pick" on issues at every available opportunity. These very same NGOs need to hold countries such as the USA, Britain, Israel to account over human rights violations and dig their noses in their own backyard.

Sri Lanka is a nation that is recovering from over 3 decades of civil war and unrest. Our country needs time to heal its wounds. EROS is working extensively internationally and on ground with the Government, political parties and other key stakeholders and will not allow any NGOs or Western governments to cause undue detriment to our country.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is not helping matters by calling for an international probe into alleged war crimes. They are a by-product of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and continue to remain a proxy of the Trans National Government of Tamil Eelam, Global Tamil Forum and remnants of the LTTE based worldwide. The MPs who were elected under the TNA have swindled millions of rupees paid to them by the Sri Lankan Government which was meant for the benefit of their local constituents. Instead the money has been used for their own personal benefits and was also poured into the LTTE's coffers. You only have to speak to their local constituents to verify these facts.

EROS openly urges the TNA leadership to operate in the honest interests of the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka including the Diaspora and not to hoodwink the Diaspora for their own vested personal interests as did the LTTE for decades. The TNA need to work alongside the Government if they are to truly reach an amicable political settlement that meets the aspirations of the Tamil speaking people. The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora need to come to terms with the fact that there will be no revival of the call for a separate "Eelam state". We need to work with the Government of Sri Lanka in the interests of our people who have suffered immensely for decades.

We maybe labelled as a so-called "paramilitary", however we know our organisations history, values and what we stand for under the great leaderships of our late leaders Eliyathamby Ratnasabapathy our founder and Shankar Rajee.

EROS will continue to work hand in hand with the Government of Sri Lanka led by His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa for the benefit of our community under the policy of one nation, under one flag.

The writer is a Senior leader and spokesperson for the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS)