The Hindu : Chandrika-Ranil standoff dangerous: LTTE

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

International

International

Chandrika-Ranil standoff dangerous: LTTE

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, JAN. 28. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has termed Sri Lanka's political standoff "a dangerous situation'' for the peace process, and has called upon the international community to "come to the rescue of the Tamil people.''

In an interview to the "BBC World Service" on Tuesday before leaving for a European destination, the LTTE's political wing leader, S. P. Tamilchelvan, described as "very much undesirable'' the current situation where the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, and the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, were "trying to pass the buck on to each other.''

Moreover, the left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was "acting in a very hostile manner'' and seemed to be "very cynical towards the entire peace process and the facilitation,'' Mr. Tamilchelvan said.Asked if this view meant the LTTE would not negotiate with the alliance between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the JVP, if it came to power, Mr. Tamilchelvan said "it was not appropriate to comment finally on it now.'' The statements made by the partners of the alliance "seem to indicate that they are not very clear on the stance and solution on the ethnic problem.'' The LTTE's position would depend on several factors such as the alliance coming out "very clearly with the mandate of the electorate of Sri Lanka, with the necessary power to implement whatever they have in their mind and if the statements that they will give out regarding meeting the aspirations of the Tamil people, accommodate the aspirations of the Tamil people.'' The LTTE, he said in reply to another question, was "a responsible organisation with a political mandate.'' As "the people are deeply disappointed'' the LTTE did not want the "peace momentum built over time, with much euphoria, to be lost.' Since the Sri Lankan Government was involved in "a different game of power struggle,'' and would "not be that conscious'' of the "humanitarian needs,'' the LTTE was of the view that "it is only the international community that can come to the rescue of the Tamil nation.''The final "resolution of the problem is a time-consuming affair and urgent humanitarian needs cannot definitely wait till then,'' he said.

The peace momentum "that has been built should not be lost'' and the LTTE was "very conscious'' about it, he said.On the LTTE's criticism of the moves towards a bilateral defence pact between India and Sri Lanka, Mr. Tamilchelvan said they were "responding to the people's feelings about a military pact with India or for that matter any other nation.''The people, he said, "were convinced that a well structured peace process was on and military balance and equilibrium needed to be kept as per status quo on that date of the ceasefire.''The "sudden'' nature of change had created "in the minds of the Tamil people a sense of suspicion and fear that something underhand is taking place — a sort of sabotage of the peace process.''When "one party in the (ceasefire) agreement'' was "getting ready with such arrangement, the other party feels miserable about it,'' he said, adding the "Tamil people are very dubious and suspicious about such agreements.''Mr. Tamilchelvan, a former LTTE military commander for Jaffna, said: "Any nation for that matter should be very mindful of the peace environment that has been built over time and should not disturb the balance.''

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