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SRILANKA MONITORING MISSION SAYS LTTE WOULD ALLOW POLITICAL FREEDOM FOR TAMIL PARTIES BUT EPDP OFFICES ARE STILL ATTACKED
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles January 27,08:02 PM:The very day the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission informed the Tamil political parties that LTTE would allow their rivals freedom to function the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) complained several of their party offices had been attacked by the terrorists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the same time they received the letter. EPDP spokesman Karaneedharan Pradeepan said that their offices at Mallagam and Atchuweli had been attacked by the LTTE on the same day their party had been assured by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that LTTE would allow others to engage in political activities freely. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission informed the rival political parties of the LTTE about the LTTE assurances since it was the SLMM Batticaloa branch which held the meeting on the subject earlier. The LTTE boycotted that meeting but the SLMM promised to discuss the matter privately with the LTTE. Under the ceasefire agreement signed between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the terrorist leader Velupillai Prabhakaran all para-military Tamil groups except the LTTE were disarmed. This has made the rival political parties of the LTTE very vulnerable to the attacks of the LTTE. The Batticaloa head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Heikki Hulkkoene has written to the EPDP stating that LTTE’s leadership in Kokkadicholai had assured them that rival political parties were free to carry on their political activities without interference from the LTTE. It was assumed that the SLMM received this assurance from the LTTE privately. Pradeepan said the LTTE words couldn’t be trusted until it was put into actions. He said by trusting them the LTTE kidnapped three members and their district organizer from the area and they are holding them illegally. A popular vice chairman of a local government body belonging to the EPRLF (V) was kidnapped by the LTTE and his mutilated body was found in the shallow waters of a bay, six days later. EPRLF (V), PLOTE and EPDP are some of the Tamil political parties who received letters from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission conveying the message of freedom from the LTTE. The letter also had a reference to the January 10 meeting all political parties except LTTE and security forces representatives held with the SLMM. The EPDP spokesman said the LTTE threw petrol bombs at the Mallagam office of the EPDP. The gasoline bombs destroyed the rear portion of the building. The EPDP office at Atchuweli was subjected to a grenade attack and the sign of the building was destroyed by the attack. Tamil political sources said that the LTTE was publicly ridiculing the decisions of the Norway backed SLMM since the Norwegian embassy was working very partially towards the LTTE. At the January 10 meeting organized by the SLMM, R.Thurairathnam of the EPRLF (Vardaraja Perumal Section ) said thirty people including 10 security personnel and four vehicles had been so far abducted by the LTTE. Presenting excuses for non-attendance of the meeting LTTE’s political section spokesman said that SLMM’s failure to send the notice of the meeting in time , their lack of knowledge as to who were participating in the meeting and the lack of knowledge about the agenda of the meeting prevented them from attending the meting. LTTE, a Fascist movement secretly aided by Norway does not allow any other Tamil political group to function unless they take directions from them like the Tamil National Alliance. Norway recently supplied a high powered radio transmitter for their propaganda work. (27/01/03 go2lanka.com) |