US Admiral on Lashker e Taiba presence in Sri Lanka, By Latheef Farook

A news items published in the Daily Mirror of 27 March 2010 and the Sunday Times following day, 28/3/2010, the United States Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command, had stated that he had information about militant group Lashker e Taiba presence in Sri Lanka.

This is frightening as this is how the US spread lies to attacks Muslims in many countries.

The situation is worse here in Sri Lanka with racist elements never missing an opportunity to demonize and harm Muslims.

Veteran journalist and author Latheef Farook sent his response to Daily Mirror and Sunday Times demanding Admiral Robert Willard to disclose the details as the government has already rejected this claim.

Daily Mirror published the government denial. However both Daily Mirror and the Sunday Times failed to publish Latheef Farook’s response providing Muslim point of view.

This is in response to Saturday 27 March 2010 and Sunday Times of 28 March 2010 news item titled “US says Lashkar in Lanka”.

Citing PTI report Admiral Robert Willard, Commander of the US Pacific Command in his testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee, has said, in response to a question from Senator George Lemieux, that the Lasker e  Taiba group is expanding and specifically positioning in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

He has also said that “we have certainly knowledge of their influence within the region beyond the countries that I just mentioned. The extent of that influence is what we’re taking under study,”

Now that the government has rejected these reports  saying there was no evidence to prove that the group was in the island it is extremely important that the US provide details about this so called LET influence in Sri Lanka right away in view of the serious Implications of this disclosure to Sri Lankan Muslims,

That is assuming Robert Willard is speaking the truth and is not doing the dirty work for his country to target Muslim minorities in these countries.

In this regard it is worthy to note that Muslims in Sri Lanka, as rightly pointed out by the island’s former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva, remains the only community which never took to arms to realize their grievances even at the peak of their sufferings during the ethnic war when they were evicted from their homes, their lands   grabbed, their livelihood deprived, kidnapped, tortured and indiscriminately killed.

This alone would have been cause enough for any group to take to arms. However Muslims refrained from succumbing to violence. There were, however, a few Muslims who acquired weapons to defend themselves against the LTTE atrocities, but they disappeared even before LTTE disappeared. After the elimination of the LTTE the remaining few armed Muslims handed over their weapons to the authorities.

The question now is why the Muslims should take to arms now under LET or any other banner as the LTTE terrorism is defeated and people from all communities are hoping and praying that communities are brought together and move this war battered country ahead to ensure peaceful better future.

Under these circumstances Willard’s statement must be taken with a pinch of salt.

For example, within  days after  the 9/11 events in New York in 2001,  former US President   George Bush, together with  former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, accused Al Qaeda of destroying the WTC without any proper inquiry. Exploiting the mood   in its wake Bush blackmailed the shocked and confused world, created a coalition and invaded within 27 days the war battered and impoverished Afghanistan where he slaughtered innocent and poverty stricken Afghans in one of the most barbarous military ventures of its kind in modern history.

More importantly Willard’s deception must be viewed in the backdrop of the lies and disinformation that the US media, kowtowing its government agenda, spread to create ‘proper’ environment for the senseless attack on Iraq and the slaughter of its unarmed civilians.

The US accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction which, Bush and Blair claimed, threatened the west and invaded Iraq in 2003 despite United Nations weapons inspectors repeatedly stating that Iraq did not possess such weapons. They turned this once almost developed country into a waste land. Around 1.4 million innocent Iraqis killed so far, hundreds of thousands of innocent men and women were tortured, women indiscriminately raped, infrastructure destroyed and birth, marriage, death, land and vehicle registration offices burnt causing chaos in the society.

Around four million Iraqis who lived in peace were forced into refugee camps in neighboring countries to languish in sub human conditions. More than two million Iraqis were made refugees in their own country. Shiites and Sunnis were put against each other turning Iraq into a killing field where, with the help of a puppet government, western oil companies started looting the country’s oil wealth while the Iraqis starve. And now it turns out that since he stepped down as Prime Minister Tony Blair has pocketed more than $30 million in oil revenues from his secret dealings with a South Korean oil consortium.

Thus the   crooks are in Willard’s camp.

The so called US led Western war against terrorism turned out to be a war against Islam and Muslims. Now after Afghanistan and Iraq they have turned their attention on Pakistan which is bleeding .The question is whether this statement is a pretext for US plan to expand its agenda to cover Muslim living as minorities in Sri Lanka and other countries in the region.

The frightening situation worldwide caused by the US led so called war on terrorism is such today that every Muslim with a beard and a head cap and every Muslim woman with a Hijab have been branded as terrorist and humiliated. Muslims have been attacked and killed all over under various pretexts. Muslim refugees walking in sheer desperation in search of shelter with their meager belongings have become frequent common sight worldwide.

Helpless Muslims worldwide are seething with anger at the west.

This is the reason why Sri Lankan Muslims take serious note of Admiral Robert Willard’s disclosures .Sri Lanka has its own share of anti Muslim elements who could exploit this statement to suit their own agendas. So if Wilfred was speaking the truth he must come up with hard evidence so that the authorities in the island can verify