Mr P Nadesan, head of the LTTE’s political wing, has lashed out at the Indian government for failing to play a constructive role in the ongoing conflict. In an e-mail interview to The Statesman, he expressed his sadness at the Indian government’s continuing “military aid” and “diplomatic support” to the Sri Lankan government for carrying out a virtual genocide against the Tamils.
“The current Indian government’s position, action, and inaction are very disappointing. Not only have they not identified the true friends and natural allies of their strategic region, but in fact are acting against them ~ the Eelam Tamils. We are also very sad to see, that the current Indian government is providing all kinds of military aid and diplomatic support to the Sri Lankan government in waging this genocidal war against Tamils,” Mr Nadesan said.
He said the Indian government has done nothing meaningful to stop the war and seek a political solution to the ongoing crisis. On the recent visit of India’s foreign secretary, Mr Shivshankar Menon, and National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr MK Narayanan, to Colombo, Mr Nadesan said: “Unfortunately, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) unloaded bombs in four sorties on Saturday, intensifying bombardments in the northern and southern parts of Mu’l’livaaykkaal inside the safety zone where tens of thousands of civilians have sought refuge. The attacks intensified a day after Indian diplomats visited Colombo and discussed the war with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse”.
Mr Nadesan dismissed the charges leveled at the LTTE of using civilians as hostages and said that it was actually the Sri Lankan forces that were using “civilians as hostages and advancing in offensive operations to move into densely populated area”. He said the international community now seemed to be realising the ground reality in Sri Lanka and was “slowly waking up to see the various guises to uproot and/or massacre Tamils, from disenfranchisement, state organised pogroms”.
Mr Nadesan, however, said he remains hopeful that the struggle for the “legitimate political aspirations” of the Tamil people will continue despite the ongoing military offensive. “LTTE and ‘Pirapakaran’ (Prabhakaran) are products of historical mistreatment of Tamils by successive Sri Lankan governments. Our people have legitimate political aspirations to live with freedom and rule their homeland, and they have accepted the LTTE’s representation to achieve those aspirations. Until these political aspirations of our people are met, nothing is going to come to an end. So the world should act immediately when the people here are really suffering,” he concluded.
