The Hindu : LTTE for team to assess situation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

International

International

LTTE for team to assess situation

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, JAN. 18. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has extended an "open invitation'' to the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, to send a team of her choice to the rebel-held northern Sri Lanka to assess the ground situation.

The "open invitation'' by the rebels came from the organisation's political wing leader, S.P. Tamilchelvan, in an interview to the Sunday Leader newspaper, when he was asked about Ms. Kumaratunga's statement in the recently-concluded SAARC summit in Islamabad on the LTTE's child recruitment.

"We would like to extend an open invitation to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, asking her to authorise a team of persons of her choice, including independent journalists, to visit Vanni and perhaps the north all together to assess the ground situation, particularly with regard to children,'' the newspaper quoted Mr. Tamilchelvan as saying.

Mr. Tamilchelvan also disputed the figures given by the President. "From where she got the numbers, we would like to know and funnily enough, her statistics also change from time to time. It was once some 16,000 and recently it reduced to 11,000.''

He said the Tigers "do not see war as an option to a contentious and gigantic problem that has arisen out of years of abuse and neglect.''

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