Colombo should stop covert war - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 16:27 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan military has formed new paramilitaries to wage a covert war on the Liberation Tigers and our people. This covert war should be stopped immediately. We pointed out during the discussion that the cease fire and peace would fall apart if this covert war against us continues. The cease fire agreement (CFA) can be sustained if the Sri Lankan government abides by the provisions it promised to honour by signing the CFA with us", said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division, speaking to the press after meeting Norway’s special peace envoy, Mr. Eric Solheim in Kilinochchi Tuesday. The Liberation Tigers and Colombo signed a CFA on 22 February 2002.

"The CFA has been pushed to a critical point. The murder of Kousalyan, his colleagues and Maamanithar Chandra Nehru was like the climax of the cease fire violations by the Sri Lankan armed forces. We explained the crisis created by these murders. In the CFA, the Sri Lankan government agreed to restore normalcy in the war ravaged lives of our people by reducing military restrictions. It agreed to let our people resettle in their homes, disarm paramilitaries and withdraw them from our homeland. All these are clearly stated in the CFA. There would be plenty of scope to stabilize and preserve the cease fire agreement if the Government of Sri Lanka honours the CFA’s provisions", Mr. Thamilchelvan said.

Responding to question as to how the LTTE proposes to sustain the cease fire in the future, Mr. Thamilchelvan said: "The Liberation Tigers are exercising maximum restraint in the face of grave provocations. Our leadership is determined to remain fully committed to peace initiatives with whatever international support we may get. Our leadership is resolute to act in the interests of peace with extreme patience despite the murders, CFA violations and instigations.

"However, the limits of our patience are being tested. There are clearly premeditated attempts to break our will to remain committed to the cease fire. On this day there is a window of clear opportunity to take the cease fire agreement seriously and resolve the crisis", he said.