2009   2008   2007   2006   2005   2004   2003

“A Joint Structure with an accelerated pace for post-tsunami management”

“Any further delay in formulating the contemplated joint structure for post-tsunami management in the NorthEast, would hamper reconstruction activities and it is essential that the formation of such a structure is done on an accelerated pace in the interest of humanitarian needs of a people who have been battered over and over again during the last twenty years of war and now by the tsunami” said the Head of the LTTE Political Division Mr.S.P.Tamilselvan in a meeting today 22 Feb 2005 with the Norwegian Special Envoy Mr.Eric Solheim and Ambassador Hans Bratskar.

Sounding very positive, Mr. Solheim said that 3000 deaths per year during the 20 years of war having been brought down to about 300 during the three years of cease-fire, is a matter that all actors in the process can be proud of though violations were there and the peace dividend envisaged in the CFA has not been reallised in full by the affected Tamil people in the war affected areas.

Mr.Tamilselvan briefed the delegation on the concern the Tamil people have in the continuation of the armed groups working with the SL military overtly and covertly and reiterated to the facilitators that it is obligatory that the CFA be looked into seriously in the context of this particular clause relating to the disarming of armed groups and generally in bringing about normalcy by allowing people to resettle in their habitats, having spent more than two decades in refugee camps and welfare centres. “If we are to call this day 22 Feb 2005 as a land mark day for having been able to hold the CFA for three years, the GOSL as one party to the CFA has to gear up and demonstrate its commitment by implementing all that has been envissaged in the CFA on a mutual understanding” said Mr.Tamilselvan, responding to the positive note sounded by the Special Envoy.

Reiterating the urgency with which a joint mechanism for post-tsunami management in the NorthEast, Mr.Tamilselvan said that any further delay in the formation of that structure would be a reflection on the unwillingness in Colombo to isolate the post-tsunami scenario from the political knitty gritys in the context of the urgency dictated by a natural devastation and would tend to create suspicion in the collective Tamil thinking vis-à-vis the government’s sincerity and commitment in the larger issue of finding a negotiated settlement to the conflict, making use of the CFA and the peace process more meaningfully.

22 February 2005

Print this

Email this