Tamil parties ready to forget LTTE killings

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, NOV. 13. The Tamil National Alliance of four parties contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka says it is prepared to forget the systematic decimation of its leaders by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and accord it pride of place as the only group entitled to talk on behalf of the Tamil people for a solution to the ethnic conflict.

``We cannot keep thinking about the past. We are looking at the future. We have to think along fresh lines for the good of our people,'' said Mr. R. Sampanthan, general secretary of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the main constituent of the Alliance.

Answering questions after a function to release the Alliance manifesto on Monday, Mr. Sampanthan said the Tamil people were ``unanimously'' of the view that the time had come for ``meaningful talks'' only with the LTTE.

``We recognise the LTTE as a paramount factor in the struggle for the rights of the Tamil people,'' Mr. Sampanthan added.

The LTTE is held responsible for killing A. Amirthalingam, V. Yogeswaran and a host of other TULF leaders, including two Mayors of Jaffna in 1998 and Neelan Tiruchelvam in 1999. The group also virtually wiped out rival militant organisations, including TELO and EPRLF, which are also in the alliance.

Emphasising that the LTTE had played a ``pivotal role'' in the Tamil struggle, Mr. Sampanthan warned that no one should attempt to create confusion about this by citing the past.

The Alliance plans to launch a national and international campaign to push the next government to hold talks with the LTTE.

Asked what they expected from such talks, Mr. Sampanthan replied: ``It cannot be the division of the country, but it has to be everything short of division.''

He said it was evident from the acceptance of the Norwegian facilitation by the LTTE that it was prepared to settle for less than division of the country.

The manifesto declares that its ``immediate aims and objectives'' are the lifting of the economic embargo on the LTTE- held areas of the north-east and other restrictions imposed on Tamils in general, a cessation of hostilities and the commencement of talks with the LTTE with the assistance of an international third party.

The Alliance has also demanded that in order to facilitate peace talks, Sri Lanka should remove the ban it has imposed on the LTTE, so that ``such proscription does not constitute an impediment to the free and full participation of the LTTE'' at peace talks.

The manifesto states that ``it would be futile'' not to recognise the importance of the LTTE, and says the strengthening of the armed struggle was an ``inevitable'' consequence of the failure of the Sri Lankan state to find a solution to the aspirations of the Tamil people.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Agreement at Doha to soften TRIPS provisions
Next     : Pak. army claims ability to operate under NBCW
           environment