I can't cause miracles: Erik Solheim

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 21:16 GMT]
"I can understand the level of desperation among the Tamils in Norway. But, I can't cause miracles," said Erik Solheim, the Norwegian international development minister and the topmost representative of the Norwegian facilitation to the peace process in the island of Sri Lanka, on Tuesday. Responding to Mr. Erik Solheim, Mr. Ki Pi Aravinthan, a veteran former Tamil militant of the 1970's and a well-known Tamil writer in France said that Solheim may not be able to perform miracles, but at least he should have refrained himself from committing knowing blunders. "Diplomacy may be the art of the possible, but a liberation struggle is to make impossible, possible. Norway failed in grasping the point," he said.



Posing as a neutral party to peace facilitation, Norway has no justification in joining the co-chairs demanding the LTTE to lay down arms. More serious is the stand expecting the civilians of Vanni to forfeit themselves into the genocidal hands of Colombo, Mr. Aravinthan said.

"Through their procedural failures, the Norwegians have brought in discredit to the whole idea of international peace brokering. There is still time for them to mend their ways if they can come out really independent from playing stooges to geo-political ambitions of powers and are prepared to commit themselves to the global norms of human civilisation," Aravinthan further said.

Ki Pi Aravinthan is the only surviving associate of Urumpiraay Sivakumaran, the forerunner of Eezham Tamil militancy.

Erik Solheim was responding to a question posed by the journalists of Norwegian state owned NRK after Norwegian Tamils in Oslo besieged the office of the Prime Minister of Norway.

"I can talk to the demonstrators. I can talk to USA, Japan and EU once again to see if there is anything more that could be done to stop the war in Sri Lanka," Solheim was quoted as saying by NRK.

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