The Hindu : 'LTTE has set up de-facto State'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

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'LTTE has set up de-facto State'

By Amit Baruah

Chandrika Kumaratunga

NEW DELHI April 11. The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has said that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has established a "de facto separate State" in the north of her country and in parts of the east since entering into peace talks with the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government.

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu on Thursday, Ms. Kumaratunga said: "The LTTE has increased its cadres from 6,000 to 16,000 during the one year of peace. They are training them apace, they have got caught bringing in large quantities of arms."

Hinting that she might even use her powers as Executive President if she felt that the national interest was seriously threatened, Ms. Kumaratunga had no hesitation blaming her political opponents, United National Party (UNP), for permitting the Tigers to do as they chose.

"Because if you don't know where you want to go, if you don't know what are the limits you are going to discuss within, then whatever the other party (LTTE) asks, you say, ah, yes, it's very nice, because all you want is peace at any cost...''

On India and its role in the "peace matter", Ms. Kumaratunga, who held talks through Wednesday and Thursday with the country's political leadership, said she wanted New Delhi to continue "their support and whatever assistance they can give us in the peace process".

Calling for a "proactive role" politically, she made it clear that she did not mean militarily; aware of the deep scars caused by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) experience back in the late 1980s.

Pointing to the extensive presence of facilitators-turned-mediators-turned-advisers, Ms. Kumaratunga said: "In the final count, India is the one country that would be justifiably interested in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka's future in this (peace) matter, for reasons that are known... the historical reasons, the geographic proximity, the linkages, economic and everything else."

The Government of India is also very strongly of the view that whatever solution is reached should be within the framework of one Sri Lanka. They are also of the view that some kind of extensive devolution is the solution — kind of federal or some such solution as I proposed to the country some time ago."

Would the Tigers, like in 1995, torpedo the peace process by a possible military attack? "At the moment, they may not need it because they have got much more in one year of peace than they were able to get in 18 years of war."

As I was saying, the LTTE has decided that they will slowly, but surely, while the so-called peace process is going on, establish themselves and strengthen the de facto Eelam situation..,'' she said.

Will she use her emergency powers to dismiss the Wickremesinghe Government? "I hope I will not be called upon to do that. But if I have to, well, then I have to fulfil the duties and responsibilities that the people of Sri Lanka have given me."

Whatever happens, I am not interested in changing Governments for the sake of bringing my party into power," she said, adding that a President would have to take "some decision" if a Government was seriously jeopardising the national interest. "But that's not in the offing for the moment."

Saying that she did not "give a hoot" to her personal safety despite having survived an assassination attempt on December 18, 1999 at the hands of the LTTE, the Sri Lankan President maintained: "Recently also they (the LTTE) said various things, which the security people feel are direct death warrants issued on the President...''

Would she also play the game of oneupmanship, which the UNP played against her back in 1994-95 as far as achieving peace was concerned? "No, I won't. As I told the Prime Minister (Ranil Wickremesinghe) right in the beginning when he came into power, I will not sabotage his peace process like the way he sabotaged mine. I told him to his face. I told him: ask for our assistance, we will give you of our eight years of experience of handling the issue. But they didn't want it, so that's a different matter."

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