Tamil leaders seek Indian help

by M.R. Narayan Swamy

(December, 17, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Leaders of three Sri Lankan Tamil political parties who are to visit India from Wednesday are urging New Delhi to 'do something' to help bring about a solution to their country's unending ethnic conflict.

D. Sitharthan, T. Sritharan and V. Anandasangaree plan to spend about a week here meeting government officials, ministers, MPs, political leaders and other opinion makers to give their perspective of the situation in the island nation.

'India must do something to bring about a solution (to the conflict),' Sitharthan of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOT) told IANS over the telephone from Colombo. 'This is our mission.'

He added: 'We want people to be made aware of what is happening in Sri Lanka so that it can be taken out of the present mess.'

Sritharan represents the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and Anandasangaree heads the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). It will be the trio's second visit to New Delhi after September 2006.

All three parties - PLOT, EPRLF and TULF - are opposed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but strongly favour a political settlement to the Tamil demands for greater autonomy within Sri Lanka.

A former MP, Sitharthan said he realised that the LTTE would never accept 'any solution within a united Sri Lanka.

'But the government cannot be relying only on a military approach to end the conflict. What about the Tamil people? The government has to draw a line between the LTTE and the Tamil problem.'

According to Sitharthan, the situation in Sri Lanka - where thousands have died in escalating violence since the end of 2005 - was 'really bad' and the government was under pressure from Sinhalese nationalists to wage war.

'We know there can be no easy solution but the government appears to increasingly think that they can capture Wanni,' he said, referring to the vast area in northern Sri Lanka the LTTE controls. 'People in the government feel the LTTE can be weakened considerably by the military even if Wanni cannot be captured.

'Our reading is that no other country can play a role at this juncture except India. We want to convey this message to people we meet. India has to do something.'

Sitharthan, who knew LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran intimately in their younger days, added that there was a lot of resentment among the people in Tamil Tiger territory against the seemingly unending suffering caused by the fighting. This, he said, included opposition to recruitment of children by the LTTE.

'We keep talking to (Tamils) who come from Wanni and we know what is going on,' he added.

Sri Lanka's war has taken a messy turn this year, with the military finally taking control of the entire eastern province after driving away the LTTE from the areas it controlled for years. The military is now trying to take on the Tigers in the north.

The planned visit by Sitharthan, Sritharan and Anandasangaree comes amid reports that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may attend celebrations to mark Sri Lanka's 60th anniversary of independence in February next year.

If that happens, he will be the first Indian prime minister to make a bilateral visit to Colombo after Rajiv Gandhi in July 1987. India favours a political solution that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil community within a united Sri Lanka. The LTTE says New Delhi must depart from this stand.