TULF urges Colombo to lift proscription of LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 May 2001, 07:21 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front said Thursday it would strongly urge the Sri Lankan Government not to delay the lifting of the proscription on the Liberation Tigers. The Senior Vice President of the TULF M. V.Ananadasangaree and the Secretary General Mr. R. Sampanthan issued a statement following a politburo meeting of the party in Colombo Wednesday. The party said that the Sri Lankan government should not “retard the commencement of talks” with the Liberation Tigers by “delaying a positive decision in regard to the termination of the proscription of the LTTE”.

The following is the full text of the statement:

“The Politburo decided to strongly urge the Government, not to retard the commencement of talks between the Government and the LTTE towards establishing a just and durable peace, by delaying a positive decision in regard to the termination of the proscription of the LTTE.

The TULF observes that the failure of the Government to respond favourably to the Unilateral declaration of ceasefire by the LTTE over a continuous period of four months commencing 24th December, 2000 and expiring on 24th April, 2001, and the launching of the Agni Kheela-1 military offensive in the Jaffna peninsula-almost immediately after the unilateral ceasefire of the LTTE ended, has resulted in a severe outbreak of hostilities.

The TULF states-

i.)That the escalation of hostilities would cause serious damage to the peace process,

ii.)That the continuance of hostilities would result in the loss of precious young lives amongst the combatants on both sides, and also cause the loss of lives and injury and immense hardships and suffering to the Tamil civilian populace in the North-East. Tamil civilians are the worst affected when there is an escalation of hostilities.

The TULF observes that it is imperative that the hostilities be brought to an end and that negotiations between the Government and the LTTE in pursuance of the Norwegian initiative commence without delay.

The TULF therefore earnestly calls upon the Government in consultation with the Norwegian special envoy to take a favourable decision early in regard to terminating the proscription of the LTTE, thereby removing a major hurdle to the commencement of negotiations.”