'Tigers should fight on until liberation'- TULF MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 19:10 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers are fighting for the freedom of the Tamil people. They should continue their armed struggle until the Tamil people are liberated," said Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil United Liberation Front MP for Jaffna, addressing a meeting by the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya Friday to commemorate its leaders who were massacred in the Welikada jail in Colombo in July 1983.

"The leader of the ACTC, Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam and the Jaffna journalist Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan were murdered by agents of the People's Alliance government. Therefore the PA regime will not take any effort to bring the killers to book. Tamils cannot expect any justice from this government. This is why the alliance of 11 Tamil parties are opposing it," said Mr. N. Sri Kantha, advisor to the TELO in his address.

Representatives of the PLOTE, EPRLF, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress and the TELO addressed the meeting. The leader of the TELO, Selvam Adaikalanathan, MP for Vanni explained why his party supports the oppositionís no confidence motion against the Peopleís Alliance regime.

The founder of the TELO, Thangathurai, and its senior leaders Kuttimani and Jegan were among the 54 Tamil political prisoners who were massacred in the Welikada prison during the violent pogrom against Tamils in July 1983. Thirty-five Tamil political prisoners were killed on 25 July and 19 on 27 July. Tamil politicians charge that the Sri Lankan government actively connived in the prison massacre.

Organisers said that the Sri Lanka army made several inquiries about the nature and purpose of the meeting earlier on Friday.