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LTTE political delegation in Oslo

In all, there were 5 meetings today in which the Norwegian Special Envoy Mr. Eric Solheim and Mr. Hans Bradtskar the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka too participated. In briefing the Ministers and the officials, Mr. Tamilselvan analysed the current situation prevailing in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka in the context of the political crisis in Colombo. The peace dividend, Mr. Tamilselvan said, has not reached all people in Sri Lanka in a symmetrical manner, in that, the people of the south Sri Lanka are able to enjoy peace while the population of the war-ravaged NorthEast continue to suffer due to abnormal conditions of life. Explaining further, the Head of the Political Wing said that alleviation of hardships caused by the two decades of war and bringing normalcy being the underpinning theme of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), the civilians of the NorthEast only know of the guns being silent and the rest of their life going on in the same tragic manner as prior to the CFA, even though a period of two years has elapsed.

Elaborating on the urgent humanitarian needs of the people in the NorthEast, Mr. Tamilselvan said, a nation of people who, at the beginning of the CFA, anticipated radical changes in their life pattern are beginning to lose confidence in the peace process. Unfortunately, the Government on its part has not fulfilled its obligations to implement the assurances in the CFA and the understanding between the parties during the negotiations. This, he said, has resulted in a sense of frustration and disappointment in the minds of the Tamil people. The political Stalemate situation in the power centre in Colombo, Mr. Tamilselvan said, has created a sense of suspicion among the civilians borne out of historical experience of the Tamil people since independence. Every time an attempt is made to accommodate the Tamil grievances, the party in opposition opposing it.

Mr. Tamilselvan made a strong case for international community's intervention in delivering immediate humanitarian needs of the people in the NorthEast through some innovative mechanism that would receive international assistance and disburse same in collaboration with existing international NGO structure and civilian based organisations as is being done in the humanitarian demining sector. The process of reaching a finality in both, the political crisis in Colombo as well as the Tamil national problem, Mr. Tamilselvan said, are time consuming and urgent humanitarian needs cannot be put on hold and therefore the international community has a moral obligation to be just and fair by the people of the NorthEast, not to be overshadowed by political niceties in the context of the power struggle in Colombo.

30 January 2004

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