2009   2008   2007   2006   2005   2004   2003

Sri Lankan Govt’s invitation to Norway - LTTE’s response

Following are excerpts from the press briefing by Mr.S.P.Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing on 17 December 2005:

“By recommencement of talks, we mean discussion of matters pertaining to the effective implementation of the CFA. Norway being the facilitator, it is appropriate that talks are held in Oslo with Norway’s active involvement. Venues for further talks on peace process may be decided in the first meeting in Oslo. We have conveyed this decision to the government peace secretariat through its counterpart in Kilinochchi.

There is no change whatsoever in the position of the LTTE. We are not going to be obstructive to the talks in any manner. But our immediate concern is the grave risk the CFA has run into now. We have been, for a very long time reiterating the necessity to start direct talks on the implementation of the CFA and the question of a venue was never considered a problem, for Norway suggested at the beginning that Oslo is a suitable location and we agreed on it.

The government is insisting on conducting talks in an Asian location and is working very hard to persuade EU to proscribe the LTTE. We see a dichotomy here, in that the government is inviting LTTE for talks on the basis of equal partnership based on the CFA and at the same time moving discreetly in the direction of bringing an EU proscription of the LTTE. This indicates lack of sincerity and an attempt to weaken a partner in the peace process.

Norway has been invited by the new government to continue with the facilitatory role and many Nordic countries are participants in the SLMM’s monitoring activities, both factors strongly supported by the international community including the EU. It is appropriate therefore that the talks are conducted in European locations. Ignoring these ground realities, the government is talking about talks in an Asian location and constituting the SLMM with European monitors. This type of confusing stances of the government is totally unacceptable to us.

Talks on effective implementation of the CFA must be translated into immediate action so that eroding confidence in the peace process as one that has not been productive because of the government’s failure to honour its obligations vis-à-vis restoring normalcy to a people affected by two decades of war that destroyed the entire social and economic infrastructure. The dichotomous stances of the government make us suspicious of the sincerity and commitment to the CFA and the peace process at large.

The war has displaced hundreds of thousands of our people and over a million has taken refuge in European countries that have provided them with a peaceful life with dignity and equality in par with their own people. Their contributions to the society they live in is immense and in this context we view the attempts of the government of Sri Lanka to isolate the LTTE from the international community as seriously sabotaging the status of a partner in the peace process.

Earlier negotiations have taken place in many European locations and the current insistence on an Asian location raises a suspicion whether this is an attempt to drag on the process. In the matter of Japanese Special Envoy Yasusi Akashi not visiting the Wanni this time, we are afraid that this trend would give room for serious consequences. Current attempts by the government to stop diplomats and international actors in the play from visiting the areas administered by us reminds us of the bitter past. We cannot help suspecting whether a hidden agenda is on to black out the areas free of military occupation so that the international community would be cut off from realities on the ground. We are afraid whether plans are afoot to let loose a genocidal war on our people, keeping the international community out of bounds. The Tamil people and their representatives, the LTTE requests the international community in earnest not to fall prey to such machinations.

There lives a nation of people here who have faced a brutal war for over two decades and the suffering has been exacerbated by the tsunami devastation. Only a few days more for one year after tsunami, the affected Tamil population has not yet seen anything tangible as substantial international aid for rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement though overwhelming quantum flowed into the country. A non-productive cease fire that has not even delivered the basic peace dividend, normalcy, an adamant occupying military that refuses to allow people resettle in their natural habitats and an inhuman injunction on a purely humanitarian delivery mechanism for post tsunami recovery have all put our people into a state of misery and abject poverty.

Fringe of frustration and the plight in a political vacuum notwithstanding, the Tamil people still believe that the international community fully understand their plight and the trust they had in the support for the peace process. The support of the international community was the only factor that made the Tamil people believe that the peace initiatives would bring results this time unlike the hitherto torn and dishonoured pacts and agreements.

While welcoming the government’s invitation to Norway and the intimation to us that it is ready to commence talks, we expect these moves to be sincere in their intent without any hidden agenda, as we fear due to the conflicting stances. Talks for which the government has invited us must be constructive and purpose motivated, in that the priority is for the implementation of the CFA, focussing attention on alleviating the hardships caused by war and tsunami and brings about normalcy as envisaged in the CFA. The government should demonstrate its sincerity by refraining from acts of duplicity, welcoming LTTE for talks and pressurising the international community to isolate LTTE and thereby weakening it. The government would do well by not being obstructive in strengthening the relationship the Tamil people have with the international community.”

18 December 2005

Print this

Email this