LTTE rump in Britain push for trade embargo against Sri Lanka April 19, 2014, 12:00 pm

LTTE rump in Britain push for trade embargo against Sri Lanka

April 19, 2014, 12:00 pm 

By Sujeeva Nivunhella in London
In their latest bid, pro-LTTE Tamil groups are preparing the ground work to urge Britain to halt trading with Sri Lanka with the objective of dealing an economic blow to the country.

The Sunday Island reliably learns that these activists are planning to unleash a campaign called "Say No To Sri Lanka". 

These groups are already in consultation with the top British politicians to stop buying any commodities from Sri Lanka citing the human rights record in the country as an excuse, knowledgeable sources said. 

UK is Sri Lanka’s second biggest export market after USA. Sri Lanka exports tea, apparel, fish, bicycles, rubber, gems and Jewellery, coir products, ceramics, fruits & vegetables and toys to Britain.

The next British general election is due in 2015 and the LTTE rump has already rallied around many British politicians from all political parties. Substantial donations are offered and in marginal seats, MPs have been told that the Tamil vote is the deciding factor, they asserted.

"Under these circumstances,  I wouldn’t be surprised if  a trade embargo is enforced on Sri Lanka", said Douglas Wickramaratne, President of the Sinhala Association in the United Kingdom. 

"Unlike in the past, High Commission officials in London do not engage the Sri Lankan community to play their part for the betterment of Sri Lanka and, has as a result, allowed pro-LTTE Tamils to take the upper hand", he said.

"We have failed to highlight the fact that Sri Lankans — Sinhalese, Tamils,  Muslims  and all others opposed to terrorism in the UK far outnumber the  pro-LTTE Tamils, who have managed to convince the British politicians. It is evident that there is a lot of pressure from the British government on Sri Lanka for the first time in history", Wickramaratne noted. 

"One can see that during the past two-year period, we have lost almost all the support we had from British parliamentarians. For some reason, the vigorous lobbying campaign we had earlier is almost non-existent now", he noted.

The Sri Lankan government should implement a lobbying mechanism involving Sri Lankan activists before the situation gets any worse, he warned. "During the last elections to elect the London Mayor, we launched a campaign asking all peace-loving Sri Lankans to vote against Ken Livingstone, who openly supported the LTTE cause, and defeated him", Wickramaratne recalled.

 

Market sources said that if a trade embargo is enforced on Sri Lanka, the worst hit fields would be tea exports and apparel exports. "Tesco", a supermarket giant in the UK, recently started importing goods from small industries in Sri Lanka, thanks to the hard work of Trade Commissioner in London, Mrs. Sonali Wijeratne.

This will also be hit in case the UK stops trade with Sri Lanka, they warned