 |
|
|
|
| News Stories |
|
|
|
Home Mail2Lanka News Sports World Previous Stories |
‘KARUNA’ OF THE TIGERS SAYS LTTE MOTORISTS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE WITHOUT LICENSES SINCE THEY ARE NOT UNDER LANKA LAW By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles January 31,09:17 PM:Since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam refused to live under Sri Lankan laws, all Tamil Tigers should be freed from all laws that demand the use of Sri Lankan driving licenses while driving insisted the Chief of the LTTE in Eastern province S. Muralidharan alias “Colonel” Karuna at a meeting held between Sri Lankan government officials and the rebel group with the participation of Nordic truce observers. Pointing out that the Sri Lanka security forces should not be engaged in provocative activities Karuna said, at this meeting held at Vavunatheevu in the Eastern Province, January 30, that the forces should not demand driving licenses from them since they did not live under Sri Lankan laws Protesting against the Sri Lankan police and other security officials pulling up Tamil Tiger drivers at Vavuniya for driving without licenses Karuna insisted that they be allowed to drive without licenses since they refused to live under Sri Lanka laws. He said the action by the Vavuniya police of pulling up LTTE drivers for driving without licenses in Sri Lanka government controlled areas was a provocative act that was definitely uncalled for. This was the first time, the LTTE demanded from the Ranil Wickremesinghe government that they be treated above law in the Sri Lanka government controlled areas, since truce agreement was signed last February between the parties Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary Austin Fernando and the Chief of the Norway backed Sri lanka Monitoring Mission, Retired Major General Trond Furhovde also participated in the meeting. At this meting, as usual the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam denied the charge by all major human rights organizations in the world that they were conscripting child soldiers. But Karuna said they would like to clear up complaints by meetings of alleging parents , the LTTE representatives and the truce monitors Few parents have officially complained about the abductions of their children by the Tamil Tiger rebels for fear of reprisals including the confiscations of their properties by the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has said they have received 600 complaints of child abductions by the LTTE since last March. Many believe that this number indicates about one sixth of the actual abductions of children the rebels committed after they signed a truce with the government The Nordic truce monitors said in a statement , “In order to tackle the issue of complaints about child recruitment, the LTTE suggests that meetings will be held between parents of children that have joined the LTTE, LTTE district commanders and SLMM. Whenever LTTE comes across a case of actual under-age recruitment done by members of their organization, the LTTE local leadership will work to rectify the situation” According to the agreement signed between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE the truce monitors do not have the power to go and inspect the LTTE military camps where the child soldiers are alleged to be held. It was suggested at the meeting that to prove the sincerity of the LTTE that they were not recruiting child soldiers the LTTE military training camps should be exposed to inspection by International Commission of Red Cross, United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees and United Nations Children’s Fund, the UNICEF. There was no specific decision taken on this suggestion. At the meeting it was decided that meetings should be held between the parties every 10 days or as necessary to discuss about truce violations by both parties. To provide a solution to the growing tensions between the LTTE and the Muslim community it was decided at the meeting to hold a meeting between the two parties in Batticaloa after the Berlin “Peace Talks”. The representatives of the Muslims would be decided at Berlin , sources said. (31/01/03 go2lanka.com) |