The Hindu : International : ``Chandrika resorting to `political duplicity''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 14, 2004

International

International

``Chandrika resorting to `political duplicity''

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, JUNE 13. Striking an ominous and belligerent note, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) today charged the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, with resorting to ``political duplicity'' and warned donor nations which backed the Sri Lankan peace process, that the island would return to a ``bloodbath,'' if the international community did not exert pressure on the Government.

In a strongly-worded rejection of what it termed a ``new condition'' by the President that ``discussions on core issues should go parallel to interim administration,'' the LTTE said it was ``impractical'' to do so as ``Sinhala regime'' was not prepared to meet its demand for an interim administration, nor was the President's government numerically strong. The LTTE's website, which reproduced a news item from a May 2004 issue of its official organ, after Ms. Kumaratunga's televised speech last night, did not add its response to the President's offer that she was ``willing to explore interim political measures.'' While it conceded that ``on the face of it, the President's stand may be correct;'' it drew on ``past experience and current political realities'' to criticise it as ``a new condition,'' which has ``within it a political duplicity, a trickery.''

As the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government was ``numerically weak,'' and ``faces dissolution at any time,'' the LTTE said: ``in this unstable political environment, there does not exist in the Sinhala polity the space to discuss serious political matters like Tamil homeland, Tamil nationalism and Tamil self rule.''

Hence, the Tigers said, it was ``impractical on the one hand to discuss about two different political issues at one and the same time while it will also be a risk to the peace process.'' The LTTE, which has, as in the past, insisted that what it classifies as ``immediate problems'' should precede the ``core issues' of the conflict in discussions with Ms. Kumaratunga's Government, said linking its proposals for an Interim Self Governing Authority with permanent political resolution was a ``manipulative strategy to take forward the peace process for a short while and then to abort it.''

Reflecting the continued distrust, the LTTE said the ``President's real agenda,'' was ``not aimed either at interim resolution or a permanent resolution.'' They said Ms. Kumaratunga's ``devious plan'' was to restart talks and ``meander on the funds'' promised in Tokyo last year to the tune of $ 4.5 billions spread over four years and utilise it ``to wage a war against the Tamils.''

The LTTE statement, which was aimed at the international donors backing the peace process, charged Ms. Kumaratunga with using a ``dilapidated and time-worn strategy of cheating the LTTE and the donor nations'' and ``weakening'' the Tigers, ``diluting the strength of Tamil nationalism'' and ``distorting Tamil unity.''

LTTE warning

Calling upon the international community to ``bring pressure on her Government both politically and economically to be principled and honest in political negotiations,'' the statement ended on an ominous note of warning. ``If this is not adopted the foundation for peace laid with international assistance during the last three years would be shattered and Sri Lanka will again be converted into bloodbath,'' the Tigers said. Bringing pressure on the international community, which has been directly involved in attempts to solve the decades-long separatist crisis for the past two years, the LTTE said the answer to whether ``war or peace'' lay in the ``hands of the donor nations'' and ``their actions.''

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