Interviews (English)

I am deeply sad that I am crippled by this illness.

In the LTTE’s view the European proscription will have a negative impact on the legitimate political struggle of an oppressed people.

The government is refusing to grant permission for the LTTE commanders to carry personal weapons intended for their safety.

I gravely doubt that the LTTE leadership will bow down to pressure and humiliation. As such this move will be counter-productive.

The Rajapakse administration is turning a blind eye when Tamil paramilitaries – the Karuna group – launch attacks on our sentry posts with the active involvement of the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The LTTE was totally against any amendments or revision of the original Ceasefire Agreement.

In front of me Pirapaharan told Erik Solheim that the LTTE will only participate in the peace negotiations to fully and effectively implement the clauses and terms of the ceasefire document.

We have mobilised the entire military and naval units; our social economic organisations like TRO and all these things and we are involved in a massive rehabilitation effort which many people have seen.

But we want first of all to have this interim administrative structure established and the serious socio economic problems – resettlement, rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement – must be addressed though this interim structure.

Karuna’s rebellion is a temporary aberration, which will pass away in time.

But the government is giving primacy to the security concerns of the armed forces rather than giving importance to the humanitarian aspects of this problem.

I sincerely hope that the Americans will appreciate and understand the aspirations as well as apprehensions of a people who have faced genocidal oppression from State terrorism and violence.

It is meaningless to ask the people for an opinion at this stage when sufficient progress has not been made on core political issues.

A federal constitution must be authentic with clear-cut federal features.

The displaced should enjoy the peace dividends. People will lose confidence on the peace process if they fail to enjoy its benefits.

Mr. Hakeem, when he comes, not only represents the government but also Muslim matters.

We have to study those aspects and we have to spend quite a lot of time in exploring these aspects and making visits to different countries and consulting and interacting with scholars and we working on the core issues.

There is a practice where national liberation movements have been converted to national guards in the interest of the community they were fighting for.

In so far as the hard-line nationalists are concerned there is no ethnic problem. For them the Tamil political struggle is nothing other than a phenomenon of terrorism which has to be crushed by military means.

If Sri Lanka wants to engage the Tigers in a serious and constructive dialogue to arrive at a political solution, it is essential that the LTTE should be given the legal political status as the authentic representative of our people.

The right to secede and form an independent State, in our view, should be the remedy as the last resort when autonomy and self-government have been denied to a people and when gross human rights violations and State repression assume the character of genocide.

The Indo-Sri Lanka accord had several positive features. It recognised the north and east as Tamil homeland by declaring they were areas of historical habitation. It temporarily merged the north and east.

Chandrika may want to throw a few rotten bones in the form of an Interim Administration to those power hungry Tamil mercenaries in her alliance. Yet those who seek after powers and privileges from an oppressive regime at the cost of the immense suffering of our people should realise that history will not forgive their treachery.

But if Colombo decides to stop the war and settles for a negotiated settlement, we are prepared to accept it.

Politically, we are for negotiations. But Sri Lanka has put stumbling blocks like asking for Pirabhakaran’s presence at the talks.