Re: Tokyo Co-chairs' grievance

Dear ……..

We Tamils believe that the group known as the Tokyo Co-Chairs has contributed to the chaos and bloodshed still going on in Sri Lanka. We will explain why we believe this.

Let us first say that we think that the Tokyo Co-Chairs are sincere, well-intentioned, justice-loving, and humane persons and institutions. Their work has been done with the goal of bringing peace and prosperity to a currently dangerous and disorderly part of the world.

However, the well-intentioned work done by the Tokyo Co-Chairs has made this bad situation worse.

The flaw in the Co-Chairs work was a lack of even-handedness.

The Tokyo Co-Chairs have shown a preference for the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) over the Tamil resistance. For instance, after talks between the GOSL and the Tamil resistance had gone on for a while, the Tokyo Co-Chairs moved the talks to the U.S. This was convenient for all parties except the Tamil resistance. And by the way, they invited the GOSL but not the Tamils. This was a negotiation in which only one side was allowed to speak, or even to be present.

The Tokyo Co-Chairs took the GOSL’s position—that Sri Lanka could not be divided--from the start and ruled out the Tamil’s wish for their own state and with it any compromise position, such as a federated state.  

The Tokyo Co-Chairs refused even to consider some measure of self government for the Tamils in the negotiation. This was the principal goal of the Tamil resistance. Ruling out the Tamil resistance’s main objective betrayed the group’s pro-GOSL bias.  Showing such bias is no way to persuade warring parties to stop shooting at each other. 

We Tamils wish that the Tokyo Co-Chairs had taken a firmer position with the GOSL when the GOSL dissolved their government and fired their negotiating team for even considering the Tamils’ proposal for an Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA). Perhaps the Tokyo Co-Chairs felt it was none of their business.

Despite the GOSL’s long history of ethnic cleansing and state terrorism, the Tokyo Co-Chairs consistently and loudly condemned actions by the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) while ignoring atrocities committed by the GOSL.

 While ignoring terrorist acts by the GOSL, the Tokyo Co-Chairs urged the E.U. to add the Tamil Tigers to their list of terrorist organizations, thus freezing all of the Tamil Tigers assets in E.U. countries. At the same time the Tokyo Co-Chairs not only turned a blind eye to the GOSL’s atrocities, but the Tokyo Co-Chairs’ members provided money, arms, and military training to the GOSL’s armed forces.

In 2002 the Tokyo Co-Chairs brokered a cease-fire between the GOSL and the Tamil Tigers. When the GOSL unilaterally broke the cease-fire, the Tokyo Co-Chairs expressed regret but took no actions against GOSL.

In summary, the Tokyo Co-Chairs have not been honest brokers. Their actions in mediating talks between the belligerent parties have been biased, showing favoritism for the GOSL. In this way they have assisted in GOSL’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and have worsened the bloodshed in Sri Lanka.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Tamils for Obama