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Karuna declares unilateral ceasefire with warning to LTTE

In a statement issued to the media, Leader of the LTTE's breakaway Eastern faction TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) V. Muralitharan alias Karuna said his group would unilaterally stop all "self-defence military campaigns" to give an opportunity to President Mahinda Rajapakse to continue with his peace effort.

"President Rajapakse has shown a willingness to re-draw the road map to peace in a pragmatic way," Karuna added.

The Politburo of the TMVP wish to declare first that the party is committed totally to contribute its share to restore sustainable peace and harmony to our Tamil people, and the Tamil-speaking people of this country who have been victims of a brutal and needless war waged by the Wanni Tigers, the statement said.

Here is the full text of his press communiqué:

After reviewing the current situation the Politburo of the TMVP wish to declare first that the party is committed totally to contribute its share to restore sustainable peace and harmony to our Tamil people, and the Tamil-speaking people of this country who have been victims of a brutal and needless war waged by the Vanni Tigers.

TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal and I would welcome a genuine and lasting settlement based on the recently agreed arrangement between Government of Sri Lanka and the Vanni Tigers to resume talks in Geneva. Since the eyes of the world and the war-weary Tamil people are on these forthcoming talks we hope that Velupillai Prabakaran, who has still not shown any signs of giving up his brutalities condemned by the civilized nations, will give up the killing of innocent civilians and members of the Tamil rival groups as a first step to convince the Tamil people and the international community that he is genuinely seeking peace.

We wish to state in very clear terms that we will never trust or take into our confidence Prabakaran and the Vanni Tigers. Their mind set was never inclined towards peace. Their history has proved that they would never deviate from the path of violence. Their only strategy so far has been to consolidate their political domination and grip on power through threats, intimidation, and elimination of rivals. The one-man fascist rule of the LTTE knows no limits in attacking perceived or real threat to their monopoly of power.

In analyzing the current situation we believe that the LTTE was forced to back down from its intransigent position because of three compelling reasons. Prabakaran suddenly changed his mind and agreed at the last minute to negotiate with the Sri Lanka Government after launching a "Stealth War" on 05 December 2005, in the North, the East and Colombo because:

1. Prabakaran will never be able to launch a serious military campaign without the presence and the participation of the talented commanders and the cadres of the Eastern Province who have proved their worth again and again in the battlefield. Today none of those able commanders are with him to take him to victory in any future war planned by him.

2. From the beginning Prabakaran was involved in provoking our unarmed members and mercilessly killing them even when they were asleep. Those ruthless executions of the Vanni Tigers forced our members, who had given up their armed militancy to join the mainstream of democratic politics, to review our position seriously. The provocative attacks on our cadres forced us to defend ourselves and our people in the East from the brutal attacks of the Vanni Tigers.

Today Vanni Tigers are finding it difficult to withstand the military pressure of our cadres, who are engaged in self-defence campaigns. From the beginning the Vanni Tigers miscalculated our strength and our resolve. They thought they could finish us off in a week. But we have continued to conduct our military campaigns with the sole objective of restoring dignity and respect to our people who refuse to go under the hegemony of the Vanni Tigers.

It didn’t take us long for us to realize that attack was the best form of defence. Our forces have successfully contained them in the east and kept them confined to their bunkers with the support of the Tamil-speaking peoples. Their overworked Goebbelsian propaganda against us has lost its credibility. We have replied them with the appropriate use of our people’s power. Their failure to defeat us is seen in their desperate appeals to the international community and the Sri Lankan government to suppress us by invoking some disputed and vague provisions of a non-existent Ceasefire Agreement. The Politburo wish to inform the international community, the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE that this is neither the way to peace or to save the future of the Tamil people.

3. Finally, after bragging about his intention and power to wage his Eelam War IV, Prabakaran was forced to submit to the pressures exerted by the international community to give up his military misadventures or to face serious consequences.

The Politburo of the TMVP has also taken into consideration the good intentions and efforts of the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse who has shown a willingness to re-draw the road map to peace in a pragmatic way. With the intention of giving an opportunity for the Sri Lanka President to continue with his peace efforts, the Politburo of the TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal which met yesterday, has authorized me to convey that 'TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal has resolved to announce a Unilateral Ceasefire and to temporarily halt all our self-defence military campaigns.'

This Unilateral Ceasefire is declared to create a conducive environment for the Sri Lankan President to continue with his negotiations to bring about a permanent settlement and peace to the Tamils and Tamil-speaking people in particular and to Sri Lanka in general.

At the same time, we wish to emphasize unequivocally that in case Vanni Tigers ignore our Unilateral Ceasefire and continue with their killing spree by attacking our members or our supporters, then we will not stop at simply lodging a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and sit idly.

It should be also reiterated that TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal has no confidence in the SLMM as they have proved beyond doubt, that they are discriminatory, biased and adopts a highly partisan approach.

Therefore, in case our members or our supporters are attacked, we will not hesitate to retaliate against those who wish to test our resolve.

We never believe in empty words and the Vanni Tigers would not have forgotten that easily our response on 26 January to Anton Balasingham for his reprehensible comments against us.

Finally, I wish to bring to the notice of the international community and to the Government and the people of Sri Lanka that in case a permanent peace is planned for this country, it cannot be achieved by negotiating with only one armed group running a fascist dictatorship. A permanent peace can be achieved only by negotiating with all stakeholders and the future of peace depends on the participation and the consent of those in the east. We condemn the current proposals of the SLMM and the peace facilitators to either bypass us or to suppress us through violence. We will never submit to such threats or violence.

Negotiators of peace must recognize that in a multi-ethnic state peace cannot be achieved by dealing with only one armed party who claims to be “the sole representatives of the Tamil people”. The Tamils of the east have a separate identity, separate aspirations and a separate history and cultural tradition though we share a common language and shared common political ties when the equal rights of the eastern Tamils were given their due place.

Any negotiations to surrender the rights of the eastern Tamils to the Northern hegemonists will result in a flawed peace deal that will undermine the stability of the country. Negotiators of peace should open their eyes and take cognizance of the hard realities that have driven the Eastern Tamils away from the northern hegemonists. They must begin by recognizing that the northern fascists are no longer the "sole representatives of the Tamils" for the simple reason that the east is no longer under their control.

ThamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal has emerged as a strong force resisting the might of the northern fascists. In our struggle we are proud that we have emerged as a force among the Tamil people with their consent and backing. We also assured of the backing of our Tamil-speaking Muslim brethrens. The Sinhalese too have started to appreciate and understand our legitimate struggle.

Therefore, if the international community and the Sri Lanka Government are interested in a sustainable peace in the country, then the hard realities facing them should dictate to them that they cannot marginalize us in future negotiations for peace. Peace deals in the past have failed because the negotiators have assumed that peace can come only by negotiating with the Vanni Tigers. The waning power of the Vanni Tigers is seen clearly in the resistance against them in the east. If they can’t control the eastern Tamils then they do not have the legitimacy to speak on behalf of all the Tamils.

The Politburo appeals to all peace negotiators to recognize the new realities and prepare to include all Tamil-speaking peoples, including the Muslims, in any future peace talks.

Sgd: V.Muralitharan,
Leader, TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal.
29 January, 2006.

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