Tamil MP seeks lifting ban on LTTE

Appealing to India to recognise the struggle by Tamils in Sri Lankan for a separate Tamil homeland, a Tamil MP from the island nation today called for the lifting of the ban on LTTE in India.

"India should recognise the struggle (by the LTTE as well as the Tamils for a separate homeland). As a first step towards that, the ban on the outfit in India should go as it portrays them as terrorists," M K Sivajilingam of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), part of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Sri Lanka, told reporters here.

He was responding to a query on the clampdown in India, especially by the Tamil Nadu government, against the members of the proscribed outfit and its supporters.

When asked about the LTTE's alleged role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, he said, "we have apologised a number of times to India on behalf of the Tamils of Sri Lanka."

He also cautioned India against supplying arms to Sri Lanka, as it could be used on the minority Tamils in the island nation.

"A government which has the duty of protecting its subjects is actually killing them," Sivajilingam said.

He said the Tamils in the island nation were "waiting for the right time" to declare independence, on the lines of Kosovo, which declared itself independent recently.

Referring to a recent statement by C R Jayasinghe, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, admitting that Pakistan was supplying arms to Sri Lanka for the latter's "internal security," Sivajilingam said it could be a dangerous trend for India.

Source: outlookindia.com

Prabhakaran 'hale and hearty', says Tamil MP

Tamil Tigers chief V Prabhakaran is "hale and hearty and ruling skillfully", a lawmaker of pro-LTTE party has said, rejecting claims that the elusive rebel leader was injured.

"Incorrect statements are being made saying Prabhakaran is injured in an air-attack," MP Selvarajah Gajendran of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the LTTE proxies in parliament, said.

"He (Prabhakaran) is quite healthy and ruling skillfully," the lawmaker from strife-torn Jaffna told the House earlier this week while speaking on a motion to extend emergency in Sri Lanka by one month.

The Sri Lankan military had earlier claimed that Prabhakaran may have been injured in a November air raid. The military has intensified its offensive against the rebels after scrapping a tattered 2002 ceasefire in January.

Gajendran also demanded more supplies of food and other essential commodities for the people of Northern Sri Lanka where the military is battling the LTTE.

"If the abductions and murder (of Tamils) are to continue. We will separate ourselves (from the country)," he said.

Gajendran sought enhanced electricity supply to the main hospital in rebel held Kilinochchi saying the vaccines and other drugs were getting spoilt in the refrigerators due to lack of power supply.

Source: Hindu

Prabhakaran accuses Lankan govt forces of 'terrorism'

Breaking his silence amid claims that he was injured in a Sri Lankan Air Force raid, elusive Tiger supremo V Prabhakaran has awarded one of the LTTE's highest honours to a slain Tamil lawmaker and charged the government forces with "terrorism."

51-year-old K Sivanesan, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP from Jaffna district, was killed along with his driver in a roadside bomb attack on Thursday. While the LTTE claim that he was killed by army's Deep Penetration Unit near Mankulam area, defence officials insist that he died in the rebel-held Wanni.

Honouring Sivanesan with the title of 'Mahamanithar' or a great man, the LTTE chief said in a letter signed by him that "freedom of the Tamils and the liberation of the Tamil homeland are his life goals."

Sivanesan "yearned for a free and honourable life for the Tamil people in their land without the torments that have afflicted them," Prabhakaran said.

"He longed to see free Tamil Eelam. To achieve these goals he accepted our movement, its political aim, the struggle we have launched and served dedicatedly," the Tiger supremo said in the letter released by the LTTE.

"This planned, brutal assassination (of Sivanesan) is the latest cruelty in the ongoing ethnic genocide of the Tamils. This vicious killing ... is another illustration of the Sinhala State terrorism," Prabhakaran said.

His letter follow claims by the Sri Lankan military that Prabhakaran may have been injured in a November air raid. The military has intensified its offensive against the rebels after scrapping a tattered 2002 ceasefire in January.

Rejecting the army claims, TNA MP Selvarajah Gajendran said in Parliament that Prabhakaran was "hale and hearty and ruling skilfully".

Source: Times Of India