Lankan Ambassador refutes claims by Indian Journalist

The Sri Lankan Ambassador for the US Jaliya Wickramasuriya refuted statements made by Raghubir Goyal, an Indian Globe reporter during a US Department of State news briefing in which he stated that atrocities were committed against millions of Tamils.

The reporter had asked a series of ‘misinformed’ questions at the briefing according to the Ambassador who stated in his letter that he felt he needed to address.

“Sri Lankan president and Government has repeatedly said that they will not investigate their president or whatever, if the crimes were committed or not. Now the Tamils are in your hands”, the reporter had asked to which Mr. Wickramasuriya replied,

“Sri Lankan Government forces were fighting against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, and not the Tamil people. The LTTE, as you may know, was regarded by the FBI as one of the world’s most violent terrorist organizations and banned in the U.S. and many other nations. As you also know, the LTTE assassinated former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi, as well as a Sri Lankan president and a Sri Lankan foreign minister who was also Tamil, as well as thousands of civilians -- Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims and many others”.

He also stated that LLRC had all the authority to investigate any wrong-doing during the war.

The letter added “in another question at the State Department briefing, you have stated that atrocities were committed against “millions” of Tamil Sri Lankans by the government of President Rajapaksa. I assure you this is a horrendous falsehood”.

The Ambassador furthermore invited Mr. Goyal to meet with him to discuss the Sri Lankan perspective on these matters while he also encouraged Goyal to visit Sri Lanka and find out for himself the opinion of the people on the end of the war.