Translation of Heroes’ Day speech at the London Arena on 2 December, 2000
Published by Tamilnet on 2 December, 2000
There are several contradictions in the Sri Lankan government’s statements.
We have grave doubts about [President Kumaratunge’s] intentions. She is strengthening her armed forces, purchasing new weapons systems. The army is calling for new recruits.
The government comprises Sinhala supremacists, Buddhist nationalists and Tamil traitors. How can such a government give justice to the Tamil people?
This is a crucial step [unconditional talks following the restoration of normalcy] for us. We have not insisted on troop withdrawals or ceasefire as we have in the past. But we insist that the severe hardships and attacks being endured by the Tamil people must cease before any meaningful talks. We can’t talk with bombs falling.
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister says that we are coming for peace talks because we are weakened. We are not weak. We are still strong. We will not shirk from fighting; that is our forte.
The blockage of food, medicine and daily necessities, the ban on fishing, cement, etc has greatly affected the people. It has been going on for ten years.
Sri Lanka says the ban is to prevent the growth of the LTTE. But we have other ways of getting everything a liberation struggle needs.
The real aim of the embargo is break the people’s desire for freedom and to make them stop supporting the LTTE.
[President Kumaratunge] She talks about solving the ethnic problem and then vows to destroy the Tamil liberation struggle. But the Tamil people began their armed struggle after the Ahimsa form of struggle was crushed by racial violence. She refers to the Tamil freedom struggle as terrorism.
Some international governments – you know who they are – have labelled us terrorists, even though they know full well we are fighting for our people’s freedom. They have their own objectives.
A state can do what it wants – bomb villages and kill civilians – that is war. But if we strike back, that is deemed terrorism.
The United States dropped two atomic bombs and killed large numbers of people. The Indian forces killed large numbers of Tamil civilians. That is considered war. If we set off a firecracker in Colombo, that is said to be terrorism.
Lakshman Kadirgamar has asked Britain to ban the LTTE as terrorists. Yet he tells the international community the government wants to talk.
Sri Lanka must lift its own ban on the LTTE before peace talks are possible. So why is Kadirgamar asking Britain to ban the LTTE?
The Maha Sanga opposes any concessions towards Tamil aspirations. Don’t give anything to the Tamils, they say.
The international community says a solution can be achieved within a united Sri Lanka. Britain points to Northern Ireland as an example.
It is only when their ideas are crushed that the West will realise that the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists will not concede anything to the Tamils.