The Tamil Tigers cannot be crushed, two Sri Lankan Tamil MPs said on Thursday, reacting to claims that the rebels were on the verge of losing the dragging war
NEW DELHI: The Tamil Tigers cannot be crushed, two Sri Lankan Tamil MPs said on Thursday, reacting to claims that the rebels were on the verge of losing the dragging war in the island nation.
“We have been hearing from various (Sri Lankan) presidents that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) will perish. There is nothing new in it,” N Sri Kantha of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told the media here.
Sri Kantha and his colleague MK Shivaji Lingam spoke even as Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa met Indian leaders here.
“The LTTE cannot simply be crushed," Sri Kantha said. "It is a military organisation that still controls a sizeable chunk of Sri Lankan territory. It has a 35-year history. It can be defeated but it cannot be destroyed.”
The Tamil leaders sought India's immediate intervention to for the sake of a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.
Describing the LTTE as a guarantee for the safety of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, Sri Kantha said: “If the LTTE is crushed, the Tamils will be subjugated.”
“If (Sri Lanka) wants a military solution to the national question, there is only one option for the Tamil people… the LTTE,” he added.
He said that LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran, who is wanted in India for the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was a wiser man now.
“Prabhakaran is not a criminal. He is the supreme leader of the group fighting for the cause of the Tamils,” Sri Kantha said.
The MPs asked India to find a permanent solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka that has left thousands dead over the past quarter century.
He said if a political solution was not evolved, all 22 TNA MPs would quit parliament.
“A ceasefire is the need of the hour. We are here to seek the support of the Indian government and the people as we are the immediate neighbours. We are also culturally and linguistically linked. We are requesting this for the sake of the defenceless Tamil people,” Sri Kantha said.
“We are not asking for a separate state. We need a political solution. Our people are arrested and tortured by the military. We are calling upon the Indian government to intervene effectively and immediately to put a full stop to the suffering of the Sri Lankan people,” he added.
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