The Sri Lankan government has alleged that the participation of Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, at the 3rd annual conference of the LTTE mouthpiece Global Tamil Forum (GTF) in the House of Commons, was contrary to the assurance given by Minister of State Alistair Burt, also of the same office that their policymaking wouldn’t be in no way influenced by the British Tamil Forum (BTF), a constituent of the GTF.
Minister Burt, during a recent visit to Colombo highlighted close historical ties that exist between the two countries, hence, Baroness Warsi’s participation caused much consternation, the government pointed out in a missive to FCO.
Having acknowledged the right to freedom of education and the freedom of association, the government asserted that it was extremely unfortunate for British Minister to be part of a GTF operation promoting the LTTE objectives, including division of a friendly country, hence undermining its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The government pointed out that the GTF was formed after the LTTE lost its conventional military power in May 2009.
The government said that Baroness Warsi’s participation wouldn’t be conducive for Sri Lanka-UK relations. Interestingly, the government communication to the FCO didn’t make reference to leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and two cabinet ministers, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Teresa Villiers and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey, addressing the gathering. There was also no mention of the screening of No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka produced by British media outfit Channel 4 News.
Responding to a query, a senior official said that the government had brought to the notice of the FCO the direct involvement of some GTF bigwigs with the LTTE. According to him, the GTF comprised 15 LTTE run Diaspora organizations bent on destabilizing post-war national reconciliation efforts. The British participation would strengthen the high profile GTF project inimical to Sri Lanka, the official said.
Source: The Islands (Sri Lanka)
