2nd Lead (Add corrections)

Paris meeting 'Positive and Innovative'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 19:54 GMT]
Delegates to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Constitutional Affairs Committee meeting in Paris to prepare a response to the Government of Sri Lanka's (GoSL's) proposal for an Interim Administration to the Northeast described the meeting as "positive and innovative," in a press release issued at the conclusion of the discussions that lasted from 23rd to 26th of August in Paris.

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, US-based constitutional affairs advisor to the LTTE who arrived at John.F.Kennedy airport in New York Saturday morning, refused to reveal the contents of the proposal but told TamilNet that substantial work has been completed on the proposal which is being currently taken to Vanni for further review and approval from the leadership of the LTTE.

The draft proposal will then be handed over to the Norwegian Government which will submit the LTTE's response to the Government of Sri Lanka. This process is expected to take approximately four weeks according to informed sources.

Sources close to Paris meeting said that the draft of the LTTE response to GoSL's proposal was prepared in English and later translated by specialists who came to Paris from Vanni into Tamil. Further, considerable attention was paid to inputs from delegates involved with the now defunct Sub-Committee on Immediate Humanitarian Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) to ensure that the draft proposals contain provisions that will remove the bureaucratic hurdles that plagued the effective functioning of SIHRN, sources said.

LTTE's international advisors who attended the discussions, Prof. Sornarajah (Singapore), Prof. Ramasamy (Malaysia), Prof. Manuelpillai Paul Dominic (Australia), Mr. Shiva Pasupathi (Australia) and Mr. Visvendran (UK) have already returned to their respective countries of domicile.

Some members of the LTTE delegation, including LTTE head of political section, S.P.Thamilselvan, LTTE Senior Commander for East Col.Karuna and head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, Mr. Pulithevan, departed to Switzerland after the meeting to meet with Swiss officials and are expected to return to Vanni on the 3rd of September .

Other delegates who are involved with the development activities in the Northeast, including Mr. Selvin Irenuess, Director of SIHRN and Dr. J. Maheswaran are on their way to another European country to discuss matters related to Northeast development, according to sources.