Thaindian News

Toronto, Feb 17 (IANS) Refuting a United Nations report from Colombo accusing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of stopping civilians from leaving the conflict zone and killing those who tried to flee, the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) said Monday such statements only helped Sri Lanka in its genocide against Tamils.

“In the past, the UN has denied such statements. We will wait and watch for their official reaction in New York. But if it is true, such statements only help Sri Lanka,” Canadian Tamil Congress spokesman David Poopalapillai told IANS.

“The UN should go to the conflict zone to know the ground realities, and not issue statements sitting in Colombo. Civilians are being killed by the Sri Lankan forces in their genocide against Tamils,” he said.

Poopalapillai said, “The UN is not acting like an international organization any more. Their accusations (against the LTTE) are aimed at hiding their own failure to bring about ceasefire in the conflict zone.

“Tamils have been asking the UN to step in to bring about a ceasefire to end the misery of the civilians, but they (UN) have done nothing. They should have gone to the war zone, rather than issue statements in Colombo.”

The Tamil leader said, “If the UN wants, it can stop the genocide, the onslaught against innocent Tamils. Rather than make such misleading statements, it should lose no time to save Tamil lives.”

In a statement Monday, the office of the UN resident and humanitarian co-coordinator in Colombo said, “The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) continues to actively prevent people leaving, and reports indicate that a growing number of people trying to leave have been shot and sometimes killed.”

About 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamils in Canada are the biggest group of the ethnic community outside their country. The Tamil Tigers enjoyed considerable support among them till it was banned by Canada in 2006.

– Indo-Asian News Service

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