The Hindu : Exploitation of `dissent' will cause irreparable damage: Balasingham

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004

International

International

Exploitation of `dissent' will cause irreparable damage: Balasingham

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, MARCH 17. The chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Anton S. Balasingham, today said "irreparable damage" will be caused "to the peace process" if the "dissent" expressed by the expelled rebel military commander, V. Muralitharan, is exploited.

In an interview to the Tamil Guardian — the first after the March 3 revolt by Mr. Muralitharan (also known as `Col.' Karuna) — Mr. Balasingham said the former special commander for two eastern districts had "established clandestine contacts with the Sinhala military hierarchy and with chauvinistic political forces to gain recognition and concessions."

Striking an admonitory note, Mr. Balasingham said: "We should let it be known to his contacts that they will cause irreparable damage to the peace process if they exploit Karuna's dissent."

Admitting that the crisis was "certainly a challenge'' Mr. Balasingham termed the "rebellion" a "temporary aberration, which will pass away in time." The LTTE, he said, had a "strategy to overcome the situation without armed violence and bloodshed."

`Col.' Karuna's "estrangement is not a major politico-military crisis in the LTTE," nor would it "seriously undermine the peace process or the Tamil national struggle," he said.

He described Mr. Muralitharan as "a rebellious individual with a lost cause who has fallen from grace of the mainstream national movement'' who "cannot be an obstacle to the inexorable historical march of a people's struggle."

The LTTE had faced "similar problems of betrayals, treachery and disloyalty" in the "turbulent history of our freedom struggle" and its leadership was "not agitated or anxious over the issue."

The LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran, "is maintaining a calm, cool and composed attitude" and had "decided to avoid a confrontationist approach," Mr. Balasingham, who has been the organisation's adviser and ideologue for over two decades, said.

On `Col.' Karuna's charges of regional disparity and discrimination against the eastern cadres, Mr. Balasingham said it was "unfortunate" that the expelled military commander had "chosen to incite the sentiments of regional antagonism at a critical juncture when the Tamil people" were called upon to "demonstrate consciousness of national unity and solidarity" — at the April 2 Parliamentary election in which the LTTE is backing the four-party Tamil National Alliance.

Referring to `Col.' Karuna's charge that none from the east was heading the administrative sections of the LTTE, Mr. Balasingham said: "Mr. Prabakaran promotes leaders on the basis of their seniority, ability and regionalism has no place in his scheme of things."

Reiterating historical homeland concepts, Mr. Balasingham said it was a "tragic irony" that `Col.' Karuna "who played major roles in the liberation war to redeem the Tamil homeland from Sinhala military occupation" was now "denouncing and renouncing the homeland concept." Despite the "sinister motive" behind "Karuna's deceptive politics, the northeast constituting the historical homeland of the Tamil-speaking people is a political reality — a fact even endorsed by the Indian Government," he said.

Asked to comment on Mr. Muralitharan's claim that Mr. Prabakaran had abandoned the "struggle for political independence," the LTTE's theoretician said: "I can assure you that Mr. Prabakaran has not abandoned his cardinal principles and projects."

According to reports from the eastern Batticaloa town, three Tamil newspapers, Veerakesari, Thinakkural and Sudar Oli, which are critical of `Col.' Karuna, have been "banned." Tamil newspapers were the immediate casualties of the LTTE's deepest crisis, and some newspapers were burnt in the eastern town last weekend before they could be sold. Tamil Alai, a newspaper now controlled by `Col.' Karuna, "is the only choice," a Batticaloa resident said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section

Powell to raise Khan network, Al-Qaeda with Pakistan

Madrid blasts: links to Casablanca attacks

Four dead as Israel attacks Gaza

Exploitation of `dissent' will cause irreparable damage: Balasingham

France takes threat seriously: Minister

`Laxity led to Brazil's rocket disaster'

Chavez offers Aristide asylum in Venezuela

Toll in Al-Qaeda operation rises

3 die as Serbs, ethnic Albanians clash

Fresno slayings: suspect could face death

Force alone cannot defeat terrorism: Prodi

U.S. scrambles to keep military coalition intact

When the General bowled over Indian cricketers