Q: The government recently announced that it had captured the 1-4 Base
and the Mannar rice bowl and that the LTTE has been destroyed as a
conventional army. How weakened is the LTTE militarily in your view?
A:
We don't have an installation called 1-4 Base within our territory
now. Sri Lankan armed forces are targeting the civilian
population in the Mannar District forcing them to displacement. These
paddy fields are the livelihood of the people in the Mannar District.
Evicting the people from their livelihood by military offensives and
claiming that it has captured the Mannar rice bowl clearly shows the
mindset of the Sinhala regime.
For almost 30
years the Sri Lankan state has been engaging in these types of false
propaganda. All throughout, LTTE has been able to maintain its
conventional military capacity and its capability to protect the Tamil
people from all forms of Sri Lankan oppression. We always use various
strategies and tactics according to the ground reality. In the past and
also at present, the LTTE has clearly demonstrated the potential of its
military machine to face any military challenges.
Q: There were a series of bomb explosions in buses and trains in the
recent past in the south, which has been blamed on the LTTE. Is
targeting civilians on a large scale due to the fact that the LTTE has
been militarily weakened in the north and east?
A:
We never target civilians. We have not been weakened militarily and we
are continuing all our activities in our homeland. It is the Sri Lankan
government that is targeting the civilians. Mahinda regime is
in a war with the journalists to stop them from bringing the facts to
the people. Why do you think this is so? A lot of money is being made
by the forces top brass and the arms dealers in the purchasing of arms.
These people will never allow the war to stop. They use the
paramilitary groups to do the dirty work to ensure that the war
continues.
Q: The LTTE is reputed to have a very good intelligence network. If you
claim the LTTE is not responsible for these bomb attacks, then who is
responsible according to your information?
A:
Yes, we do have a good intelligence network that is engaged in the
protection of our people. It does not waste its energies for other
purposes. I can, however, venture to speculate on who might be behind
these attacks. A team is operating in the south to threaten or
eliminate those who express opposition to the current regime. People
like Mervyn de Silva are part of this team. This same team will not
hesitate to kill Sinhala people in order to gain political mileage.
Q: Should you not know or use your intelligence network to find out who
is responsible for such attacks on civilians if the LTTE is not
responsible, because, it is your organisation, which is being blamed by
even the international community for such attacks?
A:
We are saddened that the international community is making such
conclusions against us without any evidence. I would like to bring to
their attention that the Sinhala regimes of the past, in 1971 and 1989,
did not hesitate to kill even young Sinhala people.
Q: If you say the LTTE is not responsible for the attacks in the south,
then by the same token, is the government also not justified in stating
that the security forces are not responsible for bombings of buses and
other civilian targets within areas under the control of the LTTE?
A:
We have plenty of evidence that the Sri Lankan regime is behind these
attacks in our area. It is the Sri Lankan regime that is blocking
international media and observers to come and study the evidence.
Q: The government has appointed a commission to probe the massacre of
600 policemen in the east in 1991. Your former eastern commander Karuna
who returned to the country recently has told the media that he was not
responsible for the killings and that they were handed over to the LTTE
intelligence wing, headed by Pottu Amman and that they had killed the
policemen. How do you respond?
A:
We are a liberation movement that demands very high standards of
discipline from our members. Karuna was to be reprimanded for his
indiscipline when he escaped and he is now working with the Sri Lankan
regime as a paramilitary group. LTTE has always treated Sri Lankan
military personnel in its captivity according to the Geneva Conventions.
Q: President Mahinda Rajapakse had said recently that the government is
prepared to resume talks with the LTTE if it lays down its arms. Are
you prepared to enter into talks with the government on the President's
terms? If not why?
A: Peace
talks must be conducted in a conducive environment without any
preconditions. We took up arms 30 years ago to protect our people. We
cannot give up our duty to protect because of naive demands made by
Mahinda Rajapakse.
Q: Army Commander Sarath Fonseka addressing the Foreign Correspondents
Association recently has said that since 2006, 9000 Tigers have been
killed and only 5,000 more remain and that in the same period, 1700
soldiers of the Sri Lankan security forces were also killed. Would you
agree with this assessment? If not what is your assessment of the
military ground situation?
A:
He often contradicts his own numbers. His assessment is intended to
mislead the Sinhala people and the international community. Innocent
Sinhala youths are being sacrificed at the battlefront so that the
Sinhala political and military leaders can enjoy a life of luxury.
Q: The Army Commander has also said that the LTTE can last for another
20 years and that the insurgency can go on forever with the LTTE having
at least 1,000 cadres, because there are those who are supporting the
cause of Tamil Nationalism. Going by the Army Commander's statement,
will not the cause of Tamil Nationalism disappear and with it the LTTE
as a military force, if the government addresses the political
aspirations of the Tamil people?
A:
For the last 50 years the Sri Lankan regimes have failed to address the
grievances of the Tamils. I can state many examples from Banda-Chelva
pact to PTOMS. LTTE exists as a people's struggle because of these
failures by the Sinhala regimes. This struggle will continue to exist
until the political aspirations of the Tamils are fulfilled.
Q: Does the LTTE fear that the APRC will come up with a Federal formula
to address the aspirations of the Tamil people which, if implemented
fully will completely take away the justification of the LTTE to
militarily wage war on behalf of the Tamil people?
A:
APRC is yet another drama, this time produced by Mahinda Rajapakse to
cheat the international community. There are many contradictions within
the APRC and it will never produce anything that will meet the
aspirations of the Tamils.
Q: Is the LTTE carrying out a campaign to destabilise the south to
prevent the SAARC Summit from happening?
A:
We are not na‹ve to disturb the SAARC conference. We believe
that the other countries in the SAARC group will support us in our just
struggle for the freedom of the Tamil people.
Q: Given the military onslaught of the government, which is said to
have weakened the LTTE, do you regret calling on the Tamil people to
boycott the presidential elections in 2005?
A: Tamil
people rejected the unitary Sri Lankan state system and its executive
presidency. Therefore, Tamil people have no interest in influencing
this political system. Indeed, the Tamils gave the mandate to the LTTE
to form an independent state.
Q: The LTTE aircraft, after its initial operations, have gone
underground. Is that a reflection of the government's military
operations working and the necessary systems to counter LTTE air
attacks, which are now operational?
A: Our
military actions are based on strategic needs of the given time. They
are not carried out simply to demonstrate our capacity.
Q: The government has vowed to capture Wanni and finish the war by mid
next year. The LTTE also keeps saying that they are fighting a
defensive war. Is that alone not an admission that the government's
military campaign has succeeded and the LTTE's offensive capability has
been destroyed?
A: This
is a very erroneous assessment that does not take into account our mode
of operation and our grand strategy. Unfolding events will clearly
illustrate this.
Q: Now that the government has abrogated the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA)
and de-merged the north and east and conducted provincial elections in
the east, is the LTTE prepared for negotiations at a future date, if
the government so wishes, without a new CFA in place?
A:
People of the Tamil homeland did not separate it. Tamil homeland is
still comprised of the north and east. This has been proved beyond
doubt by the voting pattern in these two provinces again and
again. The CFA created the necessary environment for the
talks between the Sri Lankan regime and the LTTE. It is the Sri Lankan
regime that abrogated the CFA.
Q: What is
your view of India's role in the
Sri Lankan conflict and is the LTTE worried about the increased defense
cooperation between the two countries?
A: Tamil
people are concerned about this defense cooperation. They know that the
Sri Lankan regime will use this cooperation to destroy the Tamils. The
Sri Lankan regime has done so in the past in its attempts to establish
its hegemony over the Tamils. Despite the cooperation extended by
India, the Sri Lankan regimes have acted against the interest of India
when India was facing problems. Past history demonstrates this.
Q: India has expressed concern over the government's gravitation
towards Pakistan and China for defence support. Is the LTTE concerned
about the growing defence support the government is attracting from
these countries?
A:
The Sri Lankan regime is trying to handle India, China, Pakistan, and
Iran for its war efforts. But in the new world order this is not an
easy task. We, however, firmly believe that the time will come when
these countries recognise the freedom struggle of the Tamils.
Q: With Pillayan's appointment as Chief Minister of the Eastern
Province has not the government effectively shown to the world that
there is no longer a justification for a merged province or even a
separate state, which covers both the north and east?
A:
Pillayan is a leader of an undisciplined paramilitary group operating
death squads for the Sri Lankan regime. Your question is, therefore,
not at all credible.
Q: How effective has the international bans on the LTTE been in
preventing the organisation raising funds in countries like the US,
Canada, Europe etc.?
A:
The funds from these countries are given by these citizens to assist
their brethren in the Tamil homeland through organisations like TRO.
Banning this humanitarian assistance at a time when the Sri Lankan
regime is blocking even international humanitarian agencies from
carrying out such assistance for the Tamil people is tantamount to
siding with the Sri Lankan regime to destroy the Tamil people.
Note that
this is taking place at a time when the Sri Lankan regime is targeting
and displacing Tamils in large numbers under the pretext of waging war
against the LTTE.
"Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil National Alliance senior Parliamentarian and the son of the soil of Mavitapuram, reiterates that TNA will not let any country for that matter even India to exploit the resources in the Tamil homeland without the consent of the Tamil people, and that they would vehemently, oppose, defeat and deter all such moves at any cost. They are prepared to pay any price" the paper said.
