Dispute over delegation makeup derails LTTE, GoSL meeting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 June 2006, 18:22 GMT]
Head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, met top Norwegian officials and the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for over an hour Thursday evening. Mr. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet that the LTTE had come to Oslo to discuss the future of the SLMM with Norway. However, although Head of the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, was prepared to meet his counterpart, Palitha Kohona, heading the Sri Lankan delegation, but as Colombo continued to insist senior members of the LTTE be included in LTTE delegation, the LTTE-GoSL meeting did not take place, Thamilchelvan said.
Full story >>

LTTE in discussions with Norway on SLMM - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 June 2006, 12:58 GMT]
The LTTE delegation in Oslo is involved in discussions with the Norwegian facilitators on key issues, including the role of international truce monitors, the head of the LTTE's Political Wing, S. P. Thamilchelvan said Thursday. Responding to media reports that the LTTE was refusing to sit with the Sri Lankan government (GoSL) delegation, Mr. Thamilchelvan said "discussions on the monitors at this crucial juncture would be productive and progressive when the [LTTE and government] delegations raise the issues separately with the Norwegian facilitators, giving room for them to devise approaches to resolve these issues."
Full story >>

Claymore attack in Colombo, a covert act by Sri Lankan MI - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 June 2006, 08:02 GMT]
"The Claymore attack in Colombo targeting a civilian bus Tuesday morning, is part of a Sri Lankan Military Intelligence (MI) designed covert programme to discredit the Tigers," LTTE's Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan, charged Wednesday, when asked to comment on Sri Lankan reaction to the Claymore attack that targeted a civilian bus near Welisara Sri Lanka Navy camp Tuesday. The "covert programme" by the Sri Lankan MI also seeks to antogonize the Sinhala population against the Tamil people, Mr. Thamilchelvan further said from Norway's capital Oslo.
Full story >>

LTTE delegation meets Norwegian Development Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 June 2006, 17:03 GMT]
The delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), headed by its Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan, on Tuesday, briefed the Norwegian International Development Minister, Erik Solheim, on the Tiger leadership's stand after Geneva-I talks, concerning the ground situation, the extra-judicial killings by the Sri Lankan armed forces and its paramilitaries, according to S. Puleedevan, the Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat. The composition of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) with EU Member States, in a post EU-ban scenario, was also a topic raised at the meeting.
Full story >>

LTTE delegation arrives in Oslo

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 June 2006, 23:06 GMT]
More than one hundred Norwegian Tamil activists were present at the Gardermoen International Airport Monday night to welcome the five member delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) headed by the Political Head of the LTTE, S. P. Thamilchelvan. The delegation, invited by the Norwegian facilitator to the peace process in Sri Lanka, to discuss the future engagement of the truce monitors, will also have meetings with the LTTE's Constitutional Affairs Committee that played a key role in formulating the blueprint for the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA), informed sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE delegation leaves Kilinochchi for Oslo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 June 2006, 07:51 GMT]
A five member delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealm (LTTE) headed by its Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan, left Kilinochchi Sunday to Oslo. Tamileelam Police Chief B. Nadesan, Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan accompanied Thamilchelvan with two others, sources in Kilinochchi said.
Full story >>

Tigers request diplomatic travel arrangements for Oslo meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 June 2006, 11:27 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers (LTTE) have agreed, in principle, to participate in discussions in Oslo this month with the Norwegian facilitator responsible for coordinating and facilitating the Scandinavian truce monitoring mission, the SLMM. "The timely participation is dependent on travel arrangements with diplomatic privileges being made available to the LTTE delegation through Sri Lanka's territory," LTTE Political Head told media in Kilinochchi Thursday.
Full story >>

EU ban will impact the Peace Process - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 05:21 GMT]
Pointing out that the Liberation Tigers never pulled out from the Geneva-II talks and that it was the obstacles that the Government of Sri Lanka introduced after willfully changing the procedures for the inter-theater transfer of LTTE's military commanders that derailed Geneva-II, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, said in an interview with TamilNet on Saturday that EU's ban will impact the functioning of the monitors from EU countries, and the "decommissioning or abdication of arms is non-negotiable."
Full story >>

LTTE to reconsider CFA if EU bans the movement

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 10:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers will be forced to reconsider the relevance of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) to the peace process, and LTTE's committment and adherence to the CFA, if the European Union carries out its threat of proscribing the LTTE, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, told TamilNet after meeting Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Kilinochchi on Saturday.
Full story >>

Brattskar meets Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 11:58 GMT]
Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar met with S. P. Thamilchelvan, Political Head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Tuesday around 9.00 a.m at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi, and discussed the forthcoming visit of Erik Solheim, Norwegian Minister and peace envoy, and the present critical situation in Sri Lanka, said sources in Kilinochchi. Brattskar arrived in Kilinochchi after visiting the site of Allapiddy killings on Monday.


Full story >>

IFJ welcomes LTTE assurances on media freedom

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 10:43 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers were not behind a warning issued to Tamil journalists employed in Sri Lankan state media, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, told a group of representatives from media watchdogs, trade unions and organisations from South, this week. The meeting was organised after a warning appeared on some Tamil websites in the name of a hitherto unknown group, "Ravana Battalion," after attacks against against Tamil media workers. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it "welcomes the LTTE assurances on media independence," in a press release issued Friday.
Full story >>

SLMM has no mandate to rule on Tamils sovereign rights - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 May 2006, 09:09 GMT]
"We entered the peace process based on a status-quo achieved in the battlefield in our territory. Nobody has the right to pass judgement on the sovereign rights of our access to the adjacent sea and airspace of our homeland," told LTTE's Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan after having an urgent meeting with the Head of the Scandinavian truce monitors on Friday. The ceasefire and the entire peace process between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is a process based on parity of status and military power of balance. The SLMM statement issued on Thursday was a serious statement affecting this framework, LTTE's Political Head told media.
Full story >>

LTTE refutes SLMM's controversial statement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 20:26 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, in a letter to Major General Henricsson, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Thursday said that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's statement issued earlier Thursday, stating that the Tigers have no rights at sea, was in contradiction to SLMM's earlier stand, as expressed in a Press Release on 25 April 2003. Sea Tigers existed prior to CFA and it contributed to the balance of power that resulted in the CFA. The LTTE statement attached three letters sent to SLMM explicitly asking the SLMM to stop boarding Sri Lankan naval vessels as the Lankan vessels have come very close to the shores of LTTE area firing at their naval bases.
Full story >>

Direct negotiations necessary to contain violence - Akashi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 15:21 GMT]
"It is important to have direct negotiations to de-escalate violence which have come very far", Japan's peace envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi said Wednesday, speaking to journalists in Colombo before leaving to New Delhi. Meanwhile the Liberation Tigers have told the Japanese envoy that Colombo should cease all extra-judicial killings and stop deliberately creating obstacles to conduct a safe travel of their Eastern commanders.
Full story >>

GoSL duplicity incompatible with peace process - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 April 2006, 07:56 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), which has been inciting violence with it's paramilitaries in total violation to the ceasefire agreement and working hard to sever the relationship between the LTTE and the international community, has shattered all the goodwill gestures, said S.P. Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the Tigers in a letter to the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer on Tuesday. The Political Head of the LTTE also said that the International Community should come forward to pressure the GoSL, to calm the current tense situation and bring to an immediate end to the violence.
Full story >>

Onus on Colombo to create cordial atmosphere - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 April 2006, 12:26 GMT]
Accusing Sri Lanka Government of reneging on providing established modes of travel, and proposing impractical travel procedure that showed scant respect for the security of the Senior commanders of the Liberation Tigers, the Head of LTTE Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan in an interview to TamilNet Thursday said that violence is likely to spiral out of control if Sri Lankan forces do not urgently stop killing Tamil civilians in NorthEast.
Full story >>

LTTE reiterates stand, says GoSL responsible for stalemate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2006, 10:04 GMT]
Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on Thursday reiterated LTTE's stand on safe travel of their eastern special commanders Col. Sornam and Col. Bhanu in preparation to the second session of the talks in Geneva, when he met the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer at LTTE's Political Secretariat in Kilinochchi Thursday. The participation of the Tigers in Geneva Talks is entirely dependent upon GoSL, Thamilchelvan told the Norwegian Envoy, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said.
Full story >>

Talks possible only after hurdles are cleared - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 April 2006, 16:32 GMT]
LTTE Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan on Sunday, in a letter to the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, informed that LTTE will not attend the Geneva Talks until the hurdles in front of the the LTTE to attend Geneva talks were removed and a more conducive enviornment created. He expressed the critical need for the LTTE leadership in Vanni to meet the eastern commanders before any future talks, and accused Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) for "acting in a manner that threatened the safety of LTTE commanders," thereby forcing the LTTE to cancel the sea-transport arrangement.
Full story >>

"Excessive SLN interference in total contradiction to SLMM arrangement" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 April 2006, 08:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy imposed two new "rules" when the LTTE Commanders were preparing to board the civilian ferry facilitated by the SLMM, LTTE Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan writes in an urgent letter to Major General Ulf Henricsson, Head of the scandinavian truce monitors Saturday. The "excessive interference" by the Sri Lankan Navy in the sea transport of LTTE commanders, was in total contradiction to the prior agreement with Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson, Mr. Thamilchelvan writes in his letter. The sea travel of the LTTE Commanders scheduled on Saturday was cancelled at the last moment in Mullaithivu.
Full story >>

Colombo attempts to force LTTE withdrawal from Peace Talks - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 April 2006, 14:08 GMT]
Accusing the Sri Lanka Government of imposing impractical conditions as part of a deliberate attempt to force LTTE to withdraw from talks, Head of LTTE’s Political Division, S.P.Thamilchelvan said that recent one-sided actions by some members of the International community have encouraged Sri Lankan state to adopt a hardline stance and Sinhala extremists to unleash violence against Tamil community.
Full story >>