Dear Mr V. Prabakaran, Mr S.P Thamilchelvan and the other Officials of the East and North of the LTTE,
This is a statement of a student, age 18 (Social Juridical Worker / Low Lawyer) of the Royal Kingdom of The Netherlands.
At the first place I want to congratulate all of you with achieving and maintaining to the ceasefire agreement for already 2 years. I want to thank all inhabitants of Tamil Eelam for achieving this success for so long.
It is time that the world has to understand the Tamil freedom struggle, and to see the other story that the Sinhala chauvinist forces do not show. It is a shame that there are still countries in this modern world which not known the word democracy and equality of all human beings on the basis of human rights, what has been signed in 1945 after World War Two. Every human being should have the right to live in freedom and to have their voice heard in a free, democratic society. It is a shame, to come back to the point, that India, Britain and the USA have not yet have released the ban on the LTTE which is an organisation that has not fought for terror, but for freedom and democracy for all Tamils in Sri Lanka, who have been discriminated against and denied their rights by the government.
The Tamil homeland has been for centuries in the northeast of Sri Lanka. That is also why I blame the United Kingdom as a traitor to the Tamil people. The Tamil people have achieved many successes for the United Kingdom in the colonial time. After independence the Tamils did not interfere with their colleagues in building a new government which would be led by Sri Lankans (so also by Tamils ). The only big present the Tamils have got was the government’s Sinhala Only policy and being labeled ‘terrorists.’
I want to thank the LTTE leadership and other officials, for presenting another story of the Sri Lankan conflict to the international community. Over 500,000 Tamils have left of Sri Lanka and, after that, they still support the LTTE even after they integrated fast into another country. This is the sign that the LTTE is the sole representative of a large community of Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad. This phenomenon has been shown again by the general elections the second of April, 2004 in Sri Lanka, which was a major victory for the Tamil Struggle, so as well my congratulations towards the TNA.
It is important that the LTTE should look critically at themselves and at the other side of the negotiation table. That will be fair and it is the way to act responsibly in the interests of the inhabitants of Tamil Eelam and abroad. I hold you, as the Eelam government, responsible for the wellbeing, safety, security and education of all inhabitants of Tamil Eelam, whether they are Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim or other minorities of Tamil Eelam.
It will be justified that, if Mrs Chandrika’s government is not able to establish peace and the ISGA, the Tamils will take over the whole of Tamil Eelam in the name of self –determination of the Tamil people. This should be tolerated and accepted by the international community, because if you look to the history of Sri Lanka than you understand the justified actions made by the LTTE.
I urge the LTTE to go forward with their actions to heal the recent split within the LTTE. It is no secret anymore that Karuna is going his own way. The LTTE leadership has the duty to heal this as soon as possible for the interest of the Tamil People within Sri Lanka and aboard. Everyone is confused about these developments within the LTTE. This should be prevented to make sure that the LTTE is in the right track to go forward as a powerful force for the freedom struggle of the Tamil People.
After all, I came to the conclusion that this is just the beginning of Tamil Eelam, whether it will be peace or war, the Tamil history will be on the mind of everyone within Sri Lanka and aboard. May I thank you for reading this letter, and may I wish all of you the best with dealing with the peace process or the war against the Sinhala chauvinist forces.
Because, after all, the south had a very big profit by maintaining the cease-fire agreement, while the NorthEast of Sri Lanka still has not seen that much improvement in daily life.
Yours sincerely,
The Royal Kingdom of The Netherlands.
09-04-2004.