Tigers announce unilateral ceasefire during SAARC summit

(July 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Tuesday announced that the movement would observe unilateral ceasefire during the period of SAARC conference from 26th July to 04 August, giving cooperation for the success of the conference. Conveying goodwill and trust of the Tamil people, the LTTE Political Wing, in a press statement issued from Vanni said it wished for the success of the SAARC conference, extending the movement's support to the "countries of our region, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives."

"At the same time if the occupying Sinhala forces, disrespecting our goodwill gesture of our people and our nation, carry out any offensives, our movement will be forced to take defensive actions", the statement emphasized.

"Behind the smokescreen of war, the Sinhala regime is heaping misery on the Tamil people and is killing them in large numbers. The brutal truth of the gradual destruction and oppression of the Tamil people is being blacked out. The just struggle of the Tamil people is being hidden behind an iron curtain in the name of news censorship. A false propaganda is being spread to tarnish, the freedom movement of the Tamil people and the path it was adopted for its self. This has resulted in misleading views and incorrect opinions about our freedom struggle. We are deeply saddened by this" the statement noted.

Full text of the press release of the LTTE Political Wing:

LTTE Political Wing
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam
22 July 2008

Ceasefire announcement

On behalf of the people of Tamil Eelam, we extend our sincere good wishes to the fifteenth conference of SAARC that aims, to improve the economic development of the vast South Asian region and to create a new world order based on justice, equality and peace. For sixty years, the Sinhala leadership is continuing to refuse to put forward a just solution to the national question of the Tamil people. The Sinhala nation is not prepared to deal justice to the Tamils. The politics of the Sinhala nation has today taken the form of a monstrous war. Because the chauvinistic Sinhala regime is putting its trust in a military solution, the war is spreading and is turning more and more intense. Sinhala nation is intent on occupying and enslaving the Tamil homeland. Our military is only involved in a war of self defence against this war of the Sinhala nation.

Behind the smokescreen of war, the Sinhala regime is heaping misery on the Tamil people and is killing them in large numbers. The brutal truth of the gradual destruction and oppression of the Tamil people is being blacked out. The just struggle of the Tamil people is being hidden behind an iron curtain in the name of news censorship. A false propaganda is being spread to tarnish, the freedom movement of the Tamil people and the path it was adopted for its self. This has resulted in misleading views and incorrect opinions about our freedom struggle. We are deeply saddened by this.

We are always keen to develop friendship with the countries of the world and our neighbouring countries in our region. We are sincere in our efforts to create the external conditions in order to build these friendships. We wish to express the good will and trust of the Tamil people. As a sign of this goodwill, our movement is glad to inform that it will observe a unilateral ceasefire that is devoid of military actions during the period of the SAARC conference from 26th July to 4th August and give our cooperation for the success of the conference. At the same time if the occupying Sinhala forces, disrespecting our goodwill gesture of our people and our nation, carry out any offensives, our movement will be forced to take defensive actions.

We wish for the success of the SAARC conference and we also extend our goodwill and support to the countries of our region, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.
- Sri Lanka Guardian