Rt Hon Jack Straw Secretary of State,
Home
Office 50,
Queen Anne's Gate London,
SW1H 9AT
Dear Rt Hon Jack Straw
Our organisation, the Federation of
Tamil Associations in New Zealand, represents the three main Tamil
organisations in the three main cities of New Zealand: Auckland,
Wellington, and Christchurch.
We write to let you know that we are hoping against hope that your
government will not proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE).
Ever since the present President of Sri Lanka came to power in 1994,
with the promise of peace in Sri Lanka, real peace has taken several
steps backwards. A major contributing factor has been the ingenuity with
which the Sri Lankan government has deceived not only the moderate Tamil
parties in Sri Lanka but also the international community. We say that
they have "deceived" because, the government's much talked about "devolution
package" could not have been implemented without the support of the
main opposition political party, and yet the government has not
approached them with a co-operative attitude.
At present this same government is expending lot of energy to
pressurise your government to proscribe the LTTE. We hope you will see
the government's motives in the light of its behaviour in the past.
Unfolding events, in relation to the Sri Lankan Tamil national
question, has left the Tamil people relying entirely on the LTTE to win
back their political, civil and economic rights. Therefore proscribing
the LTTE at this juncture is to deny Tamils their rights. It is only by
resolving the Tamil national question that the Sinhala people can
proceed to build a civil society for themselves. While some among them
may not see this in this way, we think this is due to the misinformation
that the past and present Sri Lankan governments have propagated among
them.
We therefore believe that proscribing the LTTE will not promote
peace and civil society in Sri Lanka. On the contrary the tragic
situation throughout the country will continue to deteriorate if the
Tamil national question is not addressed with due recognition given to
the LTTE as the main representatives of the Tamil people.
Yours Sincerely
Ms Malathy Naguleswaran
For Federation
of Tamil Associations in New Zealand
