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“Facilitators did not bring any decisive message”

“Norwegian facilitators did not bring any decisive message from the Sri Lankan government today on the Joint Mechanism” said Mr.S.P.Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE Political Division during a press briefing today 22 June 2005 at the Peace Secretariat after a meeting with the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr.Vidar Helgessen and H.E. The Norwegian Ambassador Mr. Hans Bratskar.

“President’s professed commitment to the signing of the Joint Mechanism is the only message that we got and we continue to get this message for quite some time now and proclamations alone are not sufficient to alleviate the hardships of a people who have already reached the fringe of frustration when tsunami struck them, waiting for three years to get back normalcy in their life after twenty years of war” quipped Mr.Tamilselvan. Had working out a modality to ensure equitable sharing of international aid for post tsunami management been done timely without politicising the issue Mr.Tamilselvan said, a conducive environment could have been created to place the right building blocks in the confidence building process, lamented Mr.Tamilselvan.

“What is essential today is to salvage the peace process which is being threatened seriously by cease-fire violations, for the CFA is the key to the entire peace process and if that is hijacked by scheming elements, then there is no useful purpose in the Joint Mechanism or any mechanism for that matter” said Mr. Tamilselvan expressing disgust over the armed group activities encouraged by SL Military intelligence units. Mr.Tamilselvan, underlining the importance of not putting in the back burner, the case of post-war resettlement, rehabilitation, reconstruction, resettlement and development in the over enthusiastic frenzy for post tsunami management said that the facilitators should interact with the government to bring about the attitudinal change in Colombo.

A group of about sixty representatives from civilian based organisations presented a memorandum to the Norwegian Ambassador expressing Tamil concern over the developing trend in the south reminding very many deceptions Tamil people had during the past and the growing race hatred and religious fanaticism that is posing a serious threat to communal harmony.

22 June 2005

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