"Tigers should retain arms" - TELO

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 1998, 17:36 GMT]
Mr. Sivajilingam of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said while speaking at a meeting organised in view of the International Humarn Rights Day Trincomalee that he would not ask the Tigers to lay down their arms.

Mr. Sivajilingam of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said while speaking at a meeting organised in view of the International Humarn Rights Day Trincomalee that he would not ask the Tigers to lay down their arms.

"We laid down our arms and entered the democratic political mainstream 11 years ago. However we have not been able to win any of the Tamils' rights. The Sri Lankan Government say that the Tigers should lay down their arms to begin a negotiation to solve the ethnic conflict", he said further.

The meeting was organised by the TELO was held at Sivan Kovil yesterday (temple) after a protest fast.

R.Thurairatnam of the EPRLF defended the government, saying at the meeting that the ex-militant Tamil groups and the Tigers should stop violating human rights before they could blame the Sri Lankan government for the human rights violations".

In Colombo the trustees of the Saraswathy Hall in Bambalapitittya organised a vigil yesterday to mark the International Human Rights Day. A procession was also arranged before the vigil in which a large number of Tamils -mainly youth from the North-East - participated.

The procession began at the Ramakrishna Hall and ended at the Sarswathy Hall.