The Hindu : International : Eschew violence, Devananda tells Prabakaran

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Thursday, Jul 08, 2004

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International

Eschew violence, Devananda tells Prabakaran

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, JULY 7. After escaping yet another attempt on his life by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber, the Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister, K.N. `Douglas' Devananda, has urged the LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran, to "abandon the wrong path, if he was keen on the interests of the Tamil people, and come into the political mainstream.''

Hours after his escape, Mr. Devananda told The Hindu over telephone: "I am willing to forgive this'' and offered to "step aside from competitive politics,'' if Mr. Prabakaran took to the political mainstream.

Unfazed by the latest attempt, Mr. Devananda, who joined Tamil militancy in the late 1970s under the nom de guerre `Douglas,' and made a transition to parliamentary politics in 1987 through the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), wanted Mr. Prabakaran, to follow suit. "My appeal to him is to meet ideology with ideology and not through killing,'' he said.

Members of the EPDP said they were relieved that their leader had escaped the attack. There had been at least three known attacks on Mr. Devananda.

His supporters say there were several more attempts. "We have lost count of how many time he has escaped,'' a party cadre said. Mr. Devananda, who last survived an assault six years ago at a prison near Colombo, said he had escaped an LTTE woman suicide bomber this afternoon as his security guards insisted on frisking her. She wanted to see him under the pretext of seeking a job. "If I had not been careful, she would have blown up in my room,'' Mr. Devananda said.

Mr. Devananda appealed to the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, whose political party he has backed since 1994, "to continue undeterred with the peace process and find a solution to the peace process.''

The attempt, Mr. Devananda said, was reminiscent of the past attacks by the LTTE. The suicide bomber "said she wanted to meet me to seek a job.

The assassin of the former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, wanted to garland him and the suicide bomber for the late Sri Lankan President, R. Premadasa, wanted to hug him,'' Mr. Devananda said. The attempt itself, he said "is not something new or surprising or something that one should be afraid of.''

Mr. Devananda, who was in prison during the July 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom, escaped the attack on Tamil prisoners. He survived an internecine clash in Chennai.

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