The Hindu : Chandrika wants Black Tigers disbanded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 09, 2003

International

International

Chandrika wants Black Tigers disbanded

By V.S. Sambandan

NAKORN PATHOM (Thailand) Jan. 8. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga's office today called for disbanding of the Black Tigers — the suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — as a sign of its ``sincerity'' to the peace process.

The call was met with the response from both the Government's negotiators and the Tigers that such military issues would be addressed later, when there was more progress towards a permanent settlement.

In an interview telecast over the BBC Television tonight, the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton S. Balasingham, said the Black Tigers unit ``is a part of the military structure of the LTTE''. As ``these units are non-functional'' since the ceasefire, ``this matter can be taken up later on.''

The Black Tigers and other armed units of the LTTE, Mr. Balasingham said, ``are also the bargaining power of the Tamil people. We have to keep them to pressure the Government to bring about a settlement that will satisfy the aspirations of the people. When that situation comes up, we will consider.''

Asked to comment on the Presidential spokesman's call that the issue of disbanding the Black Tigers be included in the talks, Colombo's chief negotiator, G.L. Peiris, said ``decommissioning of weapons is certainly relevant, but at the appropriate time''.

Those issues, ``should really accompany a political settlement. That has been the case in all similar situations,'' he said citing the examples of South Africa and Northern Ireland, where ``problems have surfaced four years after an agreement''.

``Here in the Sri Lankan situation, we are nowhere near the formation of a political agreement, we are beginning to talk about it. It's a question of doing things at the right time,'' Prof. Peiris said.

The Government also announced the dates for the next four rounds of the pace talks. The fifth round will be held in Thailand between February 7 and 10, the sixth in Japan (March 18 to 21), the seventh, for which no venue has been fixed, is scheduled between April 29 and May 2, and the eighth round will be in Japan after the donors' conference.

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