Kanimozhi Karunanidhi: Slaying of Thamilchelvan against the norms of war

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 November 2007, 17:05 GMT]
Thamilchelvan's killing was against the norms of conventional warfare, said Kanimohzi Karunanidhi, the daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and a Member of Indian Parliament when speaking at a meeting in Thiruvaroor in Tamil Nadu, condemning the killing of the political leader and negotiator of Eelam Tamils, media sources in Chennai said, on Monday.

Ms. Kanimozhi has condemned the aerial attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force, as a "cowardly act" that claimed the life of Mr. Thamilchelvan last Friday.

"It was Thamilchelvan who was informing the world the problems faced by Eelam Tamils, after the demise of Anton Balasingham," Ms. Kanimozhi has said.

The entire Tamil Nadu, except the AIDMK, has condemned or expressed sorrow on the demise of Mr. Thamilchelvan, she had told the gathering in Thiruvaroor, assailing the AIDMK General Secretary Jayalalitha for attempting to gain political advantage by protesting to the condolence conveyed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi.

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, following the deadly attack on Thamilchelvan's residence, had claimed that it was an attack carried out with full knowledge and that the Government of Sri Lanka was passing a message to the LTTE through the aerial attack.

Reacting to the slaying of Thamilchelvan, the National Peace Council, a Colombo based peace group, called the killing an 'assassination'.

"This assassination deprives the already seriously eroded peace process of a keeper of institutional memory in the field of negotiations," the NPC said in a statement on Saturday.

The statement further said that the NPC was dismayed that three decades of bitter experience has not taught the leaders of Sri Lanka that the military option is a high cost and inhumane one unbefitting of a democratic society.

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