Miliband risks Sri Lanka’s wrath to support Global Tamil Forum
by Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent, Times UK
Relations between Britain and Sri Lanka are likely to hit a new low after David Miliband addresses a meeting of Tamil activists from around the world at the Houses of Parliament today.
The Foreign Secretary is due to make the opening speech at the inaugural meeting of the Global Tamil Forum, which campaigns for selfdetermination for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamils and to bring to justice perpetrators of alleged war crimes during the island’s 26-year civil war.
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, is to make the closing address to the meeting, which will be attended by several other MPs in an unprecedented display of cross-party support for Sri Lanka’s Tamils after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year.
“It’s great support for us,” S. J. Emmanuel, the president of the forum, told The Times. “The British Government, more than any in the world, knows our history and are most competent to understand our situation.”
He said that the group advocated non-violence and an international boycott of Sri Lankan goods and wanted war crimes charges brought against Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary, and Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief.
Sri Lanka’s Government is sure to be incensed as it regards many of the forum’s members, especially the British Tamils Forum, as fronts for the Tigers, who are banned as a terrorist organisation in the EU. Sri Lankan officials have long accused Britain of secretly supporting the Tigers.
The Foreign Office defended Mr Miliband’s decision to address the meeting. A spokesman said: “The UK firmly believes that the only way to achieve lasting and equitable peace in Sri Lanka is through genuine national reconciliation. The UK will engage with all members of the Sri Lankan community who share this goal, whether overseas or in Sri Lanka.”
The Tigers launched their armed struggle to create an independent homeland for Tamils in northeast Sri Lanka in 1983 to try to protect them from discrimination at the hands of the ethnic Sinhalese majority. ~ courtesy: Times, UK ~
17 Comments
David Miliband is the future Labour Party leader and a Prime Minister in waiting.
He is very bright (Jewish; Oxford and MIT) and knows exactly what he is doing.
I do hope that the morons ruling Sri Lanka would not mess around with him!
William Hague ( Oxford and INSEAD) will be the Foreign Secretary after the next election. ( compare and contrast to our imbecile)
What a coup for the expatriate group!
David Miliband must be really shaking in his boots!
Does he really care about a bunch of illiterate thugs and murderers ?
In that matter does any civilized country give a hoot about the opinions of the Sri Lankan government?
Like we care!
Good try Milliband and Hague.This time you can't carve out any land unlike in the past.
Srilanka is a sovereign nation and has powerful mates around the world.Although you like to think, Srilanka is not a push over any more.
I am sure both of you are vying for the Tamil vote in the marginals.I hope the patriotic Sinhalese in the UK take notice of these actions and cast their votes wisely.
When Milliband calls for for war crimes investigations of Israeli actions against civilians in Gaza and when he calls for war crimes investigation on US action against civilians in Pakistan, we will take him seriously. Until then he is just another LTTE supporter who can not accept the fact that Sri Lanka gave him the finger when he came on his high horse to same the LTTE.
Sri Lanka is relaying on western world to earn from tourism, export, labour market etc. in order to repay the loans which is souring day by day. India and China will keep lending money and material for survival in order to keep Sri Lanka under their control.
The Government has started to sell the Countries assets, in due cause India & China will dictate which will be very different form the colonial time.
The commenter must be living in some dream world, to make such comment.
Britian enjoys the reputation as the most enviable nation both for toleraring dissent and encouraging pluralism - from a long time. Karl Marx wrote about burying the Capitalist system right from British soil - the High Altar of Capitalism. Even our own Somawansa Amarasinghe, the surviving member of Wijeweera's original JVP politbureau - escaped death and incarceration only due to Britain's zealous protection of freedom of speech, thought and political pluralism. David Miliband is reported to have criticised the LTTE's past and failed gamble in this meeting. He has given the same advise friends of Sri Lanka have all given -offer reasonable devolution to your Tamils, be fair to them and don't drag the suffering of the Tamils anymore - the same everyone in the Lankan polity including former CJ Sarath Silva - except a few in the extreme fringe - have consistently done. One can see nothing wrong in this.
ISS
Mr. Kalu Albert,
Mr. Milliband did not say that he supports a seperate Tamil land. He only wishes to see Tamil grievances addressed. If they are patriotic Sinhalese then they should go back to their land, that is in you kind of
language. We do see the kind of dark minded thugs people have voted for in Sri Lanka. Sinhalese in UK can make up their own mind.
Hats off to you David for your courageous stand on the matter of the struggle of the Tamils of Sri Lanka for equality in their own country.Thank you for seeing through these liars, hypocrites and those who have the least regard for basic human rights in this beautiful country.
Now we know who financed Terror in Sri Lanka. Mr.Milliband, your man, the creature from the lagoon, Mr.Velu Prabakaran, whose body was found with shit in the pants, the second generation Kerala migrant, is now dead. His army is in tatters. His cloths and personal belongings were mailed to his fathers birth place in Kolam, Kerala. Sri Lanka is free. Sri Lanka is united. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the President for next 7 years.
I loved the sight when Milliband was chased out of Sri Lanka.I hoped you learned your lesson..but it appears your skull is too thick, and memory is too short.
I see no reason why Sri Lankan Government should be jittery about GTF meeting. It is a democratic not a terrorist organization. True they supported LTTE but now LTTE is dead and gone. Even TNA was the mouthpiece of LTTE. Is it not now contesting in the Parliamentary election in Sri Lanka?
If the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam is your concern give your counter political proposal and implement it rather than locking horn with another powerful Western Government.
Well done GTF. Please do not stray away from the democratic principles to achieve your goals.
Does anybody know why Tamilnet is conspicuously silent about this all important meeting for the Tamil Diaspora?
Overwhelming majority of Sri Lankans who live in Sri Lanka have rejected separatism supported by the likes of Milibands, Hagues, Douglas De Silvas and the like. It is only people living in Sri Lanka who can decide what they want and not the outsiders. And they have sacrificed their life & limb and shed enormous amount of blood to eradicate the threat to their survival.
The so called bright and smart former colonial smart asses (and their ass lickers) can jump up and down though Sri Lankans will forge ahead in their chosen path and they will face challenges thrown at them confidently in the tradition of their forefathers followed through out the great Sri Lankan history.
The world isn't uni-polar dominated by these smarties any more.
Looks like mutual back scratching, Labour and Tory playing tamils for votes. Foreigners have no voice for solutions in SL. There will be realistic political leadership from Jaffna with the new election.
Milliband is a Bolshie idealist devoid of the realities outside of his very insular, very privelaged oxbridge upbringing's. He is using the platform as foreign secretary to trampoline into something meaningful after the Tories take office as they no doubt will.
What is disapointing is the ease at which him and his shadow scretary have been manipulated, to speak at these half baked events under the veil of finding solution, he may be trying to find a solution but the organisers are trying to legitamise another seperatist campaign.
Mt Sena ,Milliband attempted to force Rajapaksa to do a deal with the Tigers even when they were holding innocent civis as hostage.Even at the last stages he desperately tried rescue VP and the top leadership.I am not sure where you were at that time.
Some Sinhalese living in Western countries do not worry about the motherland because they have good jobs, few quid in the bank and a foreign passport.
Majority Sinhalese have voted for the President and that is what matters. You may call them thugs like the rest of the brain washed Sinhalese. Rajapaks is only worried about the Srilankans who are living there.The atmosphere of peace and confidence among the people is unbelievable.
You go ahead and vote for Milliband or who ever and that is not going to affect the progress of Srilanka over the next seven years.
I would not be surprised if DM is spirited away in the manner KP was spirited away from Malysia. The Dynasty members think that they can rule the world because they have access to any amount of money and resources at the expense of people without having to account for their actions. Reminds me of a story my father told me when I was a toddler. "There was a frog in a tank that saw money for the first time in it's life. A fellow went to wash his butt to the tank dropped a "salli" (half a cent) in the tank and the frog found himself the first monied being from of the tank, sitting on the "salli" and looking down at all aquatic creatures thinking that he is the only creature with money. An elephant that used to cross the tank on a regular basis, of which the frog was mortally scared and hopping away every time the elephant crossed sat right on the money on the next day when the elephant crossed the next day the frog sat steadfastly on the coin and even kicked the elephant on his front leg! Alas, the rear leg stamped on him crushing him and the frog did not know what happened to him!
We have a similar scenario here with a family!
what did not this understand is when he ask to probe war crimes by both sides . there is no bothsides but a legitimate government which is really strugling with IDPs with a fragile econamy. thanks to this we have lost GSP and we both tamil sinhala brothers will have to strugle more and more for better future while watching these so called democracy from west to preach us about humanitairian issues . I mean, brothers let's be united ,let's make this country to beter place to live . because if we don't do it now ppl like can own our lives weather we are sinhala or tamil.