Front Page

Front Page

Look beyond the constitution, says Thamilselvan
The Government will have to look beyond the constitution if it wants to find a genuine solution to the humanitarian problems of the Tamil population, LTTE' Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan declared at a news conference at the LTTE's Kilinochchi Peace Secretariat yesterday.

Mr. Thamilselvan said the LTTE hoped government would have the courage to go beyond the constitution, as they believed that the current constitution was not sufficient to find a solution to meet the aspirations of the Tamil population. Mr. Thamilselvan said that " the LTTE was willing to negotiate on the proposals submitted to the Sri Lankan Government through the Norwegian facilitators and had already told the facilitators to arrange a meeting with the government."

Mr. Thamilselvan, just three minutes into the news conference held in the garden of the Peace Secretariat in a bid to accommodate some 70 local and foreign journalists rushed into the building for cover from a heavy down-pour in the otherwise parched Kilinochchi area.

Resuming the news conference in a corridor of the Peace Secretariat, he officially released the document prepared after an exhaustive study with months of consultations with LTTE legal experts as well as foreign experts and visits to foreign countries. Mr. Thamilselvan explained that the proposals were "an efficient means of building institutional capacity, which will be essential to a post-conflict government".
That's how he observed the significance of the proposals as he emphasized that they would be looking for the government to go beyond the constitution. The document was the first from the LTTE during its 20-year war.

The questions on the proposals itself were limited given the short period to study the proposals, but it was clear that within the coming weeks the proposals will come under wide public discussion.

In the process, Mr. Thamilselvan received a barrage of questions on the links between the US and Sri Lanka, about the proposed Indo-Sri Lanka defence pact, the continued killing of the opponents, the continuing of child conscription and about the future of the LTTE's military wing.

Mr. Thamilselvan providing answers went on to deny that his members were involved in the killings of political opponents and in turn put it back to the government saying that all these killings were taking place in government controlled areas and it was upto them to find the culprits and take action. He added that the killings seemed to have been planned in a manner to blame the LTTE.

The complaints about humanitarian issues not being given priority were given prominence during the news conference, but outside at least the A9 road has been constructed while many of the proposed sites have been selected for new buildings.
The newly established LTTE police headquarters stands prominently in Kilinochchi town as the traffic police and other LTTE cadres carry on with their duties showing further signs that their administration was still going strong.

With the proposals now set to be discussed early next year and with the LTTE's expectations that the government should look at a new constitution, the signs are that the process will be prolonged.

Responding to questions about the military wing after a final settlement was reached, Mr. Thamilselvan said that they did not believe that the military from both sides had any role to play after a negotiated settlement was reached, but said it was too early to discuss about it.

Answering another question whether the proposals were one of the steps towards 'Eelam' he said that "if we needed Eelam, we would not come for negotiations" and that they were ready for a "viable alternative negotiated settlement" "We do not have the right to say that we are giving up Eelam or not giving up Eelam, because that has to be decided by the people who have given the mandate to us," he said.

Responding to a question on the Prime Minister's visit to the US, he said that he did not wish to comment on it, but wanted to emphasize that the LTTE believed that it was involved in a fight to "win the democratic rights" of the people.

Commenting on the proposed Indo-Sri Lanka defence pact, he said that "if the government guaranteed the rights of the people in the country, there will be no security threat and it need not depend on security from aliens". Mr. Thamilselvan declined to comment on the issue about President Chandrika Kumaratunga calling for the removal of the Norwegian chief monitor, saying that the facilitators were still conducting their own investigations.

Back to Front Page