An LTTE front organisation in the UK called the International Tamil Foundation located at London SW17 OLZ hit out at Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in a recently published booklet.
According to Sri Lankan intelligence, Minister Kadirgamar is among the three top targets followed by Neelan Tiruchelvam and G.L. Pieris, both accused of "constitutional engineering" by the LTTE.
The LTTE has decided to launch a multipronged attack on Minister Kadirgamar after recent efforts by him to shift Western public opinion against the LTTE. Many diplomats believe that the Minister has damaged the LTTE fund raising capacity dramatically particular by the recent series of media interviews. The LTTE has requested jounalists working for them in Colombo to attack the Foreign Minister in their newspapers and the LTTE overseas offices to issue propaganda harming his image. According to reliable information, the Minister has taken adequate precautions to beef up his security not only in Sri Lanka but when he is overseas. The International Tamil Foundation booklet carrying a photograph of the Minister is titled "Shame on you! Kadirgamar!."
According to an intelligence report, the booklet focuses on the grey areas of propaganda Ñ propaganda that is not true but based on some truth or distortion/misrepresentation of truth. The foreword to the book by an anonymous writer states: "The present Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar is a paradox personified. Declaring his Tamil birthright, he seeks to project the image of a non racist Sri Lankan government and to denounce the Tamil nation's struggle for independence as a terrorist conspiracy." According to an intelligence report, the foreword of this booklet published by the LTTE, has been written by Father S.J. Emmanuel, the Vicar General of the Jaffna Diocese, who also addressed a number of LTTE meetings in Australia, France and in Britain.
Recently,, Father Emmanuel addressed the Eelam House in London. He conducted a workshop for 40-odd LTTE cadres on how to use the sympathy of the church to win their struggle. Father Emmanuel said it was important to portray the Sinhalese as non Christians. Therefore, LTTE propaganda must state that it is the Sinhala Buddhists that are killing the Tamils, he added.
Father Emmanuel has been under surveillance after a captured LTTE cadre revealed to his interrogators that the father writes speeches for LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Government has requested his superiors to discipline him, but they have privately stated that they are scared of the father who is very influential with the LTTE.
While the booklet targets Mr. Kadirgamar, it also builds support for a separate state. Page two of the booklet reproduces a list of "UN member states smaller in land area than the future state of Eelam (7300 sq miles). Page four of the booklet reproduced Minister Kadirgamar's BBC interview of October 12, 1996. Adrian Wijemanne, who is supportive of the Tamil Eelam concept, writes an article attempting to ridicule the Minister. The booklet also lists excerpts from Minister Kadirgamar's speech at the UN, interviews with the press and comments in the press.
Mr. Kadiragama is cited under the title "Mr K the bully threatens the UN officials" stating "I told Boutros Ghali I am not happy with some of the UN personnel in Sri lanka." "There are some UN personnel in Sri Lanka, whose heart is not in the right place. We don't know what their motives are. I will not tolrerate it."
In the booklet, one professor Kopan Mahadeva challenges the foreign minister to publish the 40 letters between the LTTE and the government during the peace talks. This is in response to a remark the minister made that the talks failed because of the inadequate response of the LTTE.
The booklet also includes a letter by a Lt. Col Anton N J Sevadurai, a contemporary of the Minister at Trinity College. He states that "Many Tamils and even Sinhalese are surprised that you are not supporting in principle the freedom struggle of the Tamil nation who are trying to break away from the terrorism of the Sinhala majority state." He adds, "Although there are many Tamils who oppose the LTTE for various emotional reasons, they agree intellectually to separation."
Many Sri Lankans, even those in the UNP, rate Minister Kadirgamar as one of the three top ministers of the PA government. He is regarded as the best foreign minister Sri Lanka has ever produced. A grouping from the newly formed International Foundation of Sri Lankans (IFSL), angered by this attack on Minister Kadirgamar has requested that the government appoints him as the next Prime Minister.
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