The Point Pedro Institute of Development headed by Dr. Muttukrishna Sarvananthan issued a statement accusing the US of hypocrisy for opposing the US$ 1.9 billion IMF facility to Sri Lanka and urged the government not to succumb to the monetary diplomacy of the US.

"The Point Pedro Institute of Development (PPID) is intrigued by the decision of the United States to oppose an IMF loan to Sri Lanka "until there is a resolution" (of the conflict). We have also learned of the United Kingdom’s backing of the US stance," the statement said.

"This position of the US vis-à-vis Sri Lanka smacks of hypocrisy. The US decision comes amidst several other "humanitarian issues" including reports of the death of nearly one hundred children in Afghanistan resulting from a battle between US troops and Taliban forces in early May 2009. The US stand on Sri Lanka is in sharp contrast to their reluctance to allow the UN Security Council to discuss the UN Board of Inquiry Report on Israel’s invasion of Gaza on May 13, 2009, and their approval of almost 11 billion dollars of credit to Colombia by the IMF earlier this week.

"PPID urges the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to not succumb to the monetary diplomacy of the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, and persevere with its mission to exterminate the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sri Lanka’s present predicament is similar to the one country faced twenty years ago when the then Sri Lankan President naively ordered the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) out of the country when the IPKF was on the verge of eliminating the LTTE. It should be noted that in 1989 the total number of deaths in the civil war was less than 5,000, which has skyrocketed to over 80,000 as of May 2009."

"Therefore, any let up in the current state of war in the pretext of a "humanitarian pause" or a "ceasefire" would be deadlier than at present to the Tamil community in particular, and to Sri Lanka as a whole, in the medium and long terms. The US Government’s decision to delay or block the IMF credit line would embolden small groups of Tamil diaspora communities around the world which have been hyper-active since the beginning of this year in their defence of the LTTE; the latest instance being daily demonstration in front of the White House since May 11, 2009. If the United States is genuinely interested in resolving the conflict in Sri Lanka by peaceful means, it should take action against these demonstrators for raising the flag of a proscribed terrorist organisation in the US. Additionally, the US Government has the option of implementing selective targeted sanctions against individuals who may have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity on both sides of the armed conflict, instead of holding the entire nation to ransom.

"Whilst persevering with the effort to exterminate the LTTE leadership with or without the support of the US and British Governments, the Sri Lankan Government should look at alternative ways to raise foreign currency to ward off the current balance-of-payments crisis. Selling off Government’s majority share in the Sri Lankan Airlines, Privatisation of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka Railways, and state-owned banks and financial institutions to foreign investors could be considered.