Rajiva Wijesinha

“ Three hundred sacrifical victims of Mr Nadesan’s demented leader, perhaps slaughtered by accident, perhaps deliberately, so Mr Nadesan and his ilk could claim the forces who had been and are being so careful about their fellow citizens could be accused of genocide. This is not acceptable, and Mr Nadesan must be told firmly that the game is up. The LTTE must let these civilians go, and also the poor conscripts who have had weapons thrust into their hands and been dragooned into the front lines. ”

“ These civilians are the principal concern of the Government at present, working together with its international partners, and it hopes very much that the LTTE can be persuaded to provide relief for these suffering civilians. But it is absurd of the LTTE to respond merely by formally requesting what it has tried to promote for so long through its surrogates, namely a ceasefire that will allow it to do again what it did throughout so many ceasefires in the past. ”

“ Mr Nadesan seems to have forgotten that, as well as the several Tamil political leaders killed by the LTTE during ceasefires or negotiations they treated as conveniences to assassinate their enemies. These include Sri Sabaratnam of TELO during the Thimpu talks, the former Tamil leader of the opposition Appapillai Amirthalingam when the LTTE was talking to President Premadasa, and Tamil Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in 2005 during the most recent Ceasefire. ”