CPI seeks clarification on Tamil ceasefire stand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2008, 13:44 GMT]
Stating that the people of Tamil Nadu state and India were being led to a state of confusion by the calls that demanded both the warring parties in Sri Lanka to announce a ceasefire, the State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Tamil Nadu, D. Pandian, urged in a statement issued from Chennai on Saturday that the Eezham Tamils' political leadership should clarify the Tamil stand on the issue. Consensus of the people of Tamil Nadu is that the Sri Lankan government should immediately stop the war. However, when questions were raised by certain sections, there is a need for clarification, Mr. Pandiyan said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi, in a recent statement had said that both the parties should announce ceasefire, as pressure mounted in Tamil Nadu against the state government and the Centre to exert pressure on Colombo to stop the war.

The Government of Sri Lanka, which launched the military offensive two years ago, formally notified the Royal Norwegian Government on 02 January 2008 of its decision to unilaterally terminate the Agreement on Ceasefire (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) concluded on 22nd February 2002, effective from 16 January 2008. Following the unilateral announcement by Colombo, the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) terminated its current operational activities in Sri Lanka.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs from the Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland, in a joint statement issued on January 04, 2008, regretted the decision by the Sri Lankan government and said termination of the Ceasefire Agreement made it more difficult to find a way back to the negotiating table.

The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also said he regretted the decision made by the Government of Sri Lanka to terminate the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The U.S. State Department, in a press statement issued on 03 January, said it was troubled by the Sri Lankan Government's January 2 decision to terminate the 2002 cease-fire agreement. "Only a peaceful political solution, not a military one, offers a way out of the current cycle of escalating violence," the U.S. State Department said.

Several other countries, such as Canada, deeply regretted the decision of the Government of Sri Lanka to withdraw from the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had also ruled out any military solution to the Sri Lankan problem two days after the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) formally scrapped the five-year ceasefire with the LTTE.

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