Sunday, February 22, 2009

GUIDELINES Senators suggest when writing to them

Dear Friends,

The guidelines they suggest when writing to them (as per their
websites) are as follows:

1. Keep it short and do not write more than a page (if you were to print it).

2. Write your real name and address and sign the letter (anonymous
letters are routinely discarded).

3. Start by indicating what you are writing about.

4. State each of your concerns in paragraphs.

5. End the letter by urging some action (what you would like them to
do about the issue).
Here are some points that I elaborated in my letter (ok, I must
confess that I ended up with two pages though :)

1. Introduce yourself as a Sri Lankan American who visit Sri Lanka
frequently due to family ties. (business/leisure/ ... whatever that
applies to you) and as someone very concerned about the situation of
your country of origin.

2. Express your appreciation for the concern they show towards Sri
Lanka by holding the hearing.

3. Let them know that Sri Lanka's war on terror is finally seeing the
light at the end of the tunnel after thirty years. The separatist
terrorist group LTTE are now cornered and holding thousands of
civilians as a human shield against their will. Mention that if Sri
Lanka succeeds in routing out terrorism, it will be a very rare
achievement for any secular democracy.

4. Mention that the LTTE is one of world's deadliest terrorist groups
as classified by the FBI and many other western law enforcement
agencies. They are fighting to carve out a mono-ethnic separate
country in the island by attempting to suicide bomb the country in to
submission. They have a support network of dedicated individuals who
mostly live in the west who also subscribe to the separatist project
of the LTTE.

5. The separatist financiers are now seeing their millions of dollars
worth of investment in the terrorist campaign go up in smoke. Their
arms procurement and money laundering networks have been disrupted by
the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

6. Consequently, much of their money and efforts have now been
diverted to lobbying western governments and non-governmental
organizations to pressure Sri Lanka to abandoning its war on terror.
Let the senator know that this will provide the terrorists a lifeline
they badly need at this time. The terrorist support network's
motivation for discrediting Sri Lanka is simple revenge to avenge
recent battleground losses.

8. Mention that the tactics used in their lobbying include
misinformation campaigns about Sri Lanka targeted at international
press, false accusations of Human rights violations and genocide by
Sri Lanka, mass protests in western capitals, and mass letter writing
campaigns. It's easy to mobilize a large number of people for these
actions as quite a few of them have pending asylum applications in
western countries that will be rejected if there is peace in Sri
Lanka.

9. Let the senator know that you have not seen any organized human
rights violations by the government during any of your visits or in
talking to your folks back home. Also, mention the fact that most
Tamils live among the Sinhalese majority in the south of the country.
This is further evidenced by the fact that civilians caught up in the
conflict routinely cross over to the government side risking their
lives. Could this happen if there was genocide being practiced by the
government?

10. Urge the senators to stand by Sri Lanka on her hour of need as Sri
Lanka has stood by the U.S. for over half a century as a consistent
ally. Ask them to help Sri Lanka liberate the remaining civilians used
as a human shield by the LTTE.

Please forward as appropriate as time is of essence.

Regards,

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