COMMENTING ON THE CLAIM THAT LTTE WOULD NOT RETURN TO WAR THE REBEL ORGAN SAYS THERE IS NO RATIONAL BASIS FOR THE BELIEF
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
June 19. 12.15 PM:Commenting on the recent statement of the United National Front government “that ventured to assert quite confidently that there is no risk of a return to war “ the main organ of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said, “there is no rational basis to assume this will remain so.”
Obviously commenting on the statement of Sri Lanka government’s chief negotiator G.L. Peiris that said the LTTE would not return to war LTTE’s main organ, the Tamil Guardian said, “ But as long as the hawks in the military , including Commander in Chief Kumaratunga , continue to bait the Tiger, there is no rational basis to assume this will remain so.”
The Tamil Guardian in the issue of June 18, 2003 in its main editorial commenting on what it called the sinking of a LTTE ship , for the second time in the past three months by the Sri Lanka Navy, in no uncertain terms said , “It would be foolhardy, therefore, to expect the movement to tolerate such provocations indefinitely.”
The London based LTTE organ said , it was therefore incumbent on all concerned with establishing a just peace in Sri Lanka to ensure the ceasefire was respected and protected by both sides.
In the past, the Norway backed Sri Lanka Monitoring Committee, who are overseeing the ceasefire agreement has accused the rebel group of breaking the ceasefire agreement hundreds of times, definitely more than the other party, the Sri Lanka government.
On both occasions involving ships , the Sri Lanka Navy and Indian intelligence services said the LTTE merchant vessels were carrying large hauls of arms for the rebel group before being sunk either by self inflicted explosions or the Navy’s gun fire.
In its editorial the LTTE organ accused the Sri Lanka Navy for spoiling for a fight.
Accusing President Chandrika Kumaratunga the newspaper said, “That the SLN chief is a favoured appointee of President Chandrika Kumaratunga is well known, as is their implacable hostility to the Norwegian-brokered peace process. It is also clear that Saturday's attack, like others before it, was intended to goad the LTTE into violent, truce-shattering retaliation.”
But belying any political affiliations in the Navy’s attack, the Defense Secretary of the UNF government Austin Fernando, told the Sinhala program of the BBC’s Sandeshaya that the only way to avoid such sea clashes was to stop smuggling in weapons to the country.
