[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 02:20 GMT]
“We are also being informed by Sri Lankan diaspora [in UK] that Tamil students in schools, attended by their children, have made presentations titled ‘Stop Tamil Genocide’ during their citizenship class,” complained a recent letter signed by Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner, Sumith Nakandala, sent to head teachers of schools in Britain. Responding to the letter, a member of British Tamils Forum (BTF) said: “British MPs and even a minister have expressed apprehension in recent times in British Parliament over impending genocide of Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces. But the Sri Lankan High Commission is attempting to bully the democratic rights of the school students in London learning and voicing against the genocide in Sri Lanka.”
What has obviously pricked the High Commission is the embarrassment of Sinhala students, said the BTF member.
Meanwhile, a head teacher, who sent a copy of the letter he had received from the High Commission to TamilNet, expressed his puzzle and astonishment at the way the letter from the High Commission differentiated the students of the ‘Sri Lankan diaspora’ from the ‘Tamil students’.
“It is of course true and also idealistic that students need to be orientated to look at contemporary issues from an academic point of view, shunning emotions, even if such issues are of personal concern to them. But there are universally humanitarian issues such as a genocide, which however hard one may try to conceal, will only miserably embarrass the one who tries at it,” he said.
“Rather than justifying the subject matter, which obviously they cant, the letter of the High Commission was accusing the British Tamil Forum (BTF) and the Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) as front organizations of the LTTE, propagating wrong information in schools,” commented a BTF representative when contacted by TamilNet. “By this typical accusation of calling anyone who voices for Tamil rights as the LTTE, the High Commission was only exhibiting the ‘cheap attribute’ of the state it represents,” the BTF member said.
Further responses of him on this issue follows:
“The High Commission, which was blatantly lying in its letter on the number and actual plight of the miserable civilians of Vanni, was quoting from the sections of the education act of UK, in advocating neutrality in information.
“This High Commission, forgetting what it was regularly doing in conducting the infamous disinformation exhibitions in London, was almost intimidating the head teachers of the London schools, in the letter, not to encourage any information from Tamil sources.
“Such intimidation and arm-twisting through criticism are tested tactics of the Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, especially when it comes to Tamil issues. The High Commission in London was recently condemned in the British Parliament by members and by a minister for this habitual mischief.
“What authority the High commission has in writing such a letter directly to school head teachers of UK is a matter to be questioned. No foreign mission can do this directly in Sri Lanka.
“The letter is self-explanatory for anyone to understand that if a Sri Lankan mission can do this to Tamils in London, what the government could really be doing to them in Sri Lanka.”
“We are also being informed by Sri Lankan diaspora [in UK] that Tamil students in schools, attended by their children, have made presentations titled ‘Stop Tamil Genocide’ during their citizenship class,” complained a recent letter signed by Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner, Sumith Nakandala, sent to head teachers of schools in Britain. Responding to the letter, a member of British Tamils Forum (BTF) said: “British MPs and even a minister have expressed apprehension in recent times in British Parliament over impending genocide of Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces. But the Sri Lankan High Commission is attempting to bully the democratic rights of the school students in London learning and voicing against the genocide in Sri Lanka.”
What has obviously pricked the High Commission is the embarrassment of Sinhala students, said the BTF member.
The letter sent by the Sri Lankan High Commission in UK to the head teachers of schools in London
“It is of course true and also idealistic that students need to be orientated to look at contemporary issues from an academic point of view, shunning emotions, even if such issues are of personal concern to them. But there are universally humanitarian issues such as a genocide, which however hard one may try to conceal, will only miserably embarrass the one who tries at it,” he said.
“Rather than justifying the subject matter, which obviously they cant, the letter of the High Commission was accusing the British Tamil Forum (BTF) and the Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) as front organizations of the LTTE, propagating wrong information in schools,” commented a BTF representative when contacted by TamilNet. “By this typical accusation of calling anyone who voices for Tamil rights as the LTTE, the High Commission was only exhibiting the ‘cheap attribute’ of the state it represents,” the BTF member said.
Further responses of him on this issue follows:
“The High Commission, which was blatantly lying in its letter on the number and actual plight of the miserable civilians of Vanni, was quoting from the sections of the education act of UK, in advocating neutrality in information.
“This High Commission, forgetting what it was regularly doing in conducting the infamous disinformation exhibitions in London, was almost intimidating the head teachers of the London schools, in the letter, not to encourage any information from Tamil sources.
“Such intimidation and arm-twisting through criticism are tested tactics of the Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, especially when it comes to Tamil issues. The High Commission in London was recently condemned in the British Parliament by members and by a minister for this habitual mischief.
“What authority the High commission has in writing such a letter directly to school head teachers of UK is a matter to be questioned. No foreign mission can do this directly in Sri Lanka.
“The letter is self-explanatory for anyone to understand that if a Sri Lankan mission can do this to Tamils in London, what the government could really be doing to them in Sri Lanka.”