Senior Minister for Good Governance and Infrastructure Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka said that certain countries in the West unfortunately do not seem to be sincere when it comes to banning terrorist organisations such as the LTTE which is still active in such countries.
“If these countries are really keen on eliminating terrorism, they must translate their words into action.
Even after a terrorist organisation is banned and if it is allowed to continue its other activities, the question arises as to whether that country is really sincere the Minister told the Sunday Observer.
Therefore, suspicion is rife whether some foreign Governments are ready to dance to the tune of the LTTE, he said.
Minister Wickramanayaka said there can’t be different degrees of terrorism. When the Western World speaks in two tongues, I wonder to what extent they are sincere, he said.
The Minister said he learned through the media that the LTTE has launched a bus service in the United Kingdom (UK). The LTTE is, however, a banned terrorist organisation in UK. Therefore, the question arises as to how democratic or fair it is for a terrorist organisation to be allowed to launch its other activities? Doesn’t that prejudice people who are anti-terrorist? If a terrorist organisation is banned in a country, one expects that country to take steps to prevent such organisations resorting to fund-raising and other activities.
He said when we look at this problem from that perspective, I feel there are certain countries in the West which do not seem to be sincere when it comes to banning terrorist organisations in their countries.
by Uditha Kumarasinghe (sundayobserver.lk)