TNA members meet LTTE in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 February 2003, 16:31 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) today discussed modalities to be effective in raising their voices together on issues related to bringing normalcy to lives of the war affected people of North East and to promote the urgent need for rehabilitation and development activities, during a meeting between the TNA parliamentarians and officials of the LTTE that took place in Kilinochichi, sources close to the TNA said.

Head of political section of Tamil Tigers, S.P.Thamilchelvan, Administrative Co-ordinator of Political central office, S. Thangan (Sutha Master), Thaya Master and 14 members of TNA excluding Senior President Anandasangaree participated in the meeting.

To enable close coordination, the parties agreed to appoint a four-person committee of TNA parliamentarians who will have consultative regular monthly meetings on the approaches to adopt on pressing issues at hand with the Head of political section of LTTE, S.P.Thamilchelvan or senior LTTE representatives appointed by him, sources close to the LTTE said.

R. Sampanthan or Maavai Senathirajah of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam of All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Selvam Adaikalanathan or M.K.Sivajilingam of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and N. Sivasakthi Anandan of Eelam People Revolutionaly Liberation Front (EPRLF) Suresh Faction were appointed to this consultative committee, sources said.

Discussions also centered on the progress made one year after signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. LTTE officials in attendence and TNF parliamentarians were unanimous in expressing their dissatisfaction on the matter of bringing normalcy to the war affected people of the NorthEast.

In the matter related to opening of Jaffna Library, what happened in 1981 when the library was burnt down by the Sri Lankan Police and Sinhala thugs, amounts to cultural genocide. New building is not an adequate compensation for the invaluable books and records that were lost. LTTE officials pointed out that authorities who deal with reopening should be cognizant of the enormity of the destruction and act in a manner that is prudent and reflects the understanding of the historical damage done to Tamils' cultural symbol.

Sources also said matters related to High Security Zones (HSZs), Manipay incident and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) figured prominently in the discussions.