Pulithevan spells out realities of a solution

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 October 2002, 18:13 GMT]
“Any solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has to be based on the reality that we have an army, navy and police and an administrative and judicial system,” said S. Pulithevan, an official from the headquarters of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, addressing the second day sessions of the conference organised by the Arts and Culture Division of the LTTE in Jaffna Sunday.

“We are very keen that our people should be able to return to their homes and lands and live freely. Our leader is very concerned that all the displaced Tamil people in the northeast should resettle in an environment free of fear and intimidation. This is a must for peace. The recent incidents in Kanjirankudah and Trincomalee show that the lives of the Tamil people are not yet secure. The Tamil people will lose the confidence they have in the peace process if such atrocities against them continue,” Pulithevan said.

He deplored the there is a paucity of literature related to the rise of the Tamil Liberation struggle and called on Tamil writers and poets to play a more active role in bringing out more creative works on the war for Tamils' rights. He described the prolific wartime literary works in Russia during its war with Germany.

Pulithevan said that the Singhalese had been deceived by the Sinhala media. “They now have a better and sympathetic understanding of the Tamil question because thousands of them visit Jaffna everyday and see the truth”, he added.

“We have to do more to make the Sinhala people understand our problems”, said Mr. V.T Thamilmaran an independent columnist for the Tamil daily Virakesari. Mr. Thamilmaran is also a senior lecturer in law in the University of Colombo.