LTTE never done anything to gain Muslims confidence

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

Disaster Relief Services Minister Ameer Ali told Parliament on Tuesday that the LTTE has never done anything to win the confidence of the country's Muslim community.

Since its inception, the LTTE has engaged in various brutal killings of innocent civilians while chasing away the people from their villages. The LTTE attacked even the Masjid religious festivals of Muslims," he said.

The Minister making a special statement vehemently condemned the LTTE's suicide bomb attack targetting a religious ceremony at Jumma Masjid, Godapitiya, Akuressa on March 10.

"I believe it is only the ruthless LTTE terrorists which launched such suicide attack on this kind of national religious ceremony. The LTTE which claims as the sole representative of the Tamil community has killed 412 people in various religious places.

The LTTE has clearly shown its hatred on the minority religious groups. Earlier, massacres committed by the LTTE in Kathankudi has also proved this," he said.

They also showed its brutality to the world through its massacre at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi premises, Anuradhapura.

In addition, the LTTE attacked the Sacred Dalada Maligawa, Kandy as well, he said.

The LTTE through its ruthless killings has shown to the international community that the killing culture is the main strategy adopted by them in their freedom struggle, the Minister said.

The Minister said the number of people killed by various LTTE bomb attacks is higher than the people killed by various natural disasters occured after the tsunami.

In addition, the amount of relief given to the people displaced due to LTTE terrorist activities are higher than the relief given to people who were displaced as a result of various natural disasters.

Anyone who attempted to fight to gain the rights of the Tamil community could not escape from the LTTE threat.