They kill people

WHAT have they been doing all these years? What are they doing now? They kill people. They are in the business of killing people, abducting people, recruiting child soldiers, extorting, harming innocent civilians, be it Tamils, Sinhalese or Muslims.

They killed Rajiv Gandhi, Lakshman Kadirgamar, R. Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, Sarojini Yogeshwaran, A. Amirthalingam and Sam Tambimuttu, devotees at the Sri Maha Bodhi and Muslims inside mosques and innocent Tamils. They tried to assassinate Chandrika Kumaratunga. The list is endless.

They call themselves the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They say they are for peace. But their killings have proved to the world that they are not for peace or any other kind of settlement. On Saturday, the LTTE rammed an explosive-laden fishing boat into a navy vessel killing 15 sailors.

Last month they killed 45 soldiers and wounded 71 in ambushes. The troops killed only seven LTTE cadres who came to attack them. Most of the LTTE attacks were cowardly. They attacked soldiers who went to get their dinner and soldiers who were returning from leave.

On Saturday, the LTTE used innocent fishermen as human shields and used fisher boats to carry out the attack on the sailors, going against all civilised practices in the world.

They have done this before and these killers are not civilised. But the LTTE has friends in European countries. They continue to use innocent people as human shields.

The LTTE carried out several attacks against Naval vessels using explosive-packed fishing boats before the Ceasefire Agreement was signed and these things are not new to them.

Recently when the navy warned that the LTTE was going to use fishermen and fisher boats as human shields, the LTTE got the fishermen to protest saying that the innocent people cannot continue with their livelihoods.

They also get other civilians to protest against the high security zones. They have even got some scrupulous NGOs and INGOs to campaign against it. But, what now? Is the Army wrong? Is the Navy wrong?

Don't they have the right to protect themselves from brutal LTTE attacks? Who is responsible for putting them in danger? The organisation, which says it is fighting for the rights of the Tamil people, kill people and does not care about the plight of the innocent Tamils.

The LTTE also carries out campaigns worldwide if the forces try to defend themselves. It also has the support of dubious people in the south. It looks like only the LTTE could kill, and kill brutally while the security forces cannot even defend themselves.

One cannot talk peace while the LTTE continues to kill. All elected governments have said it clearly that they are not for war and they want the people of Sri Lanka to live peacefully.

The world cannot merely express regret when innocent people, soldiers and sailors are brutally killed by the LTTE. They must help Sri Lanka to flush out the killers or to get them to stop killing because they kill innocent people all the time.