It brings shame to the Tamil cause!- S.V.Kirupaharan

 Sep 06, 2016

During the 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council – UN HRC in Geneva, the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera – MS, held a briefing on 28th June and a few Tamils who attended it asked him questions or made comments. I was one of them.

I told MS that there was no point in asking a question because the reply would just be bogus promises, therefore I preferred to make a comment.  All his predecessors have had meetings in the same manner and gave many bogus promises in various UN Human rights forums. So far nothing had been implemented.

Soon after this meeting was over, some Tamils met with MS in the same hall. Within two days I saw photographs of Fr S J Emmanuel and Paul Newman on some Tamil websites, captioned as traitors who met with MS. This really surprised me because some others too met with MS, but their photos have not appeared on the same websites.

On 9th July, when I wrote an article in Tamil about things happening in the UN HRC, I mentioned that there were people from the International Council of Eelam Tamils - ICET and some others who also met with MS, but their photos had been hidden by some websites. In that article I raised a point, as to whether the ICET would take action on those who met with MS.

As soon as my article was published, there were some anonymous emails in English to me, from Th Th (th92110@xxxxxx). The very first email accused me of being ‘a man without backbone’ and asked me whether I am ‘ready for a debate’. I replied; if the person who sent me that email has backbone, let him send me his name and contact number. Also I said that I am always ready for debate with anyone qualified to do so. If that person was prepared for it, I invited them to arrange a date, time and inform me. My reply was ignored and the person continued to send me some humiliating emails, saying that I lived with LTTE money and God knows whether now the RAW or CIA is giving me money. After a few emails in broken English, with no grammar and proper structure, I suspected this must be a particular person in France. So I wrote to him, ‘I don’t deal with any drug-trafficker, who was in the jail for several years’. Also I said that I had identified him. With this reply, the anonymous emails stopped. Now I have confirmed who it was.

Then by the end of July, some of my friends told me that there was a reply on one of the websites, to my article of 9th July. It stated ‘why the ICET rep met with MS personally’, especially after the official meeting was over. That was full of fiction. He now claims that he continuously asked for an opportunity to ask a question from MS, but he was not given a chance. Also he says that Ms Karen Parker had told the Sri Lankan Ambassador that the representative of the ICET wanted to ask a question, but the Ambassador had ignored him. None of this happened during the official meeting with MS and everyone in this meeting witnessed this fact. Then he said that Gajan Ponnambalam told him that he would ask a question - so he was compelled to stop asking for an opportunity. In fact, none of this ever happened in the hall.

He said in his reply that he met with MS as a representative of a country, and told MS that he belongs to a banned organization. What a shame for whatever banned organization he refers to. A drug-trafficker, who served a few years of jail sentence, claims that he belongs to a banned organization. In fact, the LTTE maintains a high discipline. If he tries to give an image that he represents the LTTE, it will tarnish their image. Also if the international community comes to know that ‘the Tamils are represented by a drug-trafficker’, it will be a real disgrace.

As he has no knowledge or experience in politics, in his reply he used the political terminology ‘Shadow’ – which is meaningless in this context. He says that Tamils had a shadow government; Tamils should have established shadow embassies in every country and started shadow diplomacy it seems. Also he said Tamils never had continuity of their government. What a joke and shame! This is the person known as an international spokesperson.

How can anyone blame whoever appointed this drug-trafficker as an international spokesperson, when many do not know the truth about him.

Apart from his utter lies and comic reference to a ‘shadow government’, if he had really check-mated MS, particularly after the official meeting - why was that news not published soon after? Why only by the end of July, almost 3 weeks after my article had been published? Until my article appeared everyone thought that after the official meeting only Fr Emmanuel and Paul Newman had met with MS.

To be frank, even though this character has lived abroad for nearly 40 years, it was only in July 2007, that he was motivated by some unknown source to enter through the back door, pretending that he wanted to contribute to the Tamil struggle. Since then he has done maximum damage to the youth and a few others. Many smart youth who worked long before this character came, have left because of his hidden agenda.

Regarding this matter, I have written a detailed reply in Tamil and it was published in many Tamil websites. This is a summary for those who can’t read Tamil.

It is shameful when outsiders are led to believe that the Tamil cause is being led by a person who served a few years in jail, for drug-trafficking.