Home > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Sri Lanka's Broken Pacts & Evasive Proposals > Chandrika - LTTE Talks: 1994/95 > LTTE leader  to Sri Lanka Deputy Defence Minister, 21 December 1994

Chandrika - LTTE Talks: 1994/95 

LTTE leader to
Sri Lanka Deputy Defence Minister

21 December 1994

LTTE Headquarters
Jaffna
21 December 1994

Col. Anuruddha Ratwatte
Deputy Minister of Defence
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Dear Col. Ratwatte

Thank you for your letter dated 19 December 1994, which reached us on the following day through the good offices of the ICRC.

In our letters dated 8 December 1994 and 15 December 1994 we have responded to your queries and clarified several issues. We have responded positively to your proposals for a cessation of hostilities and agreed to discuss the modalities of implementation before the declaration of ceasefire. You have agreed to our contention that the creation of a peaceful environment is conducive to peace negotiations. Complying to our view, you have stated in your letter dated 13 December 1994 that, ‘I cannot agree more with you that the government cannot enter into peace talks with the LTTE while hostilities continue’.

We have stated emphatically that we are committed to peace and ‘we fervently hope that the process of negotiations will lead to a permanent peace and to the resolution of the ethnic conflict’ (see our letter dated 8 December 1994).

We expected that peace negotiations should commence soon after the declaration of cessation of hostilities. We have insisted from the very beginning and reiterated over and over again that the initial stages of the peace negotiations should address the immediate and urgent issues faced by the Tamil people.

To clarify this point and to refresh your memory, may I quote a few paragraphs from our letter dated 8 December 1994.

‘You will appreciate that from the outset the LTTE has been insisting that the initial stages of the negotiations should give primacy to the immediate and urgent problems faced by our people. In the first round of talks, our delegation has specified these issues, which are mostly creations resulting from the military approach advanced by the previous regime. Though the government delegation pledged to alleviate the hardships of daily life presently experienced by the people no action has been taken so far to redress the grievances of our people.’

‘There are far more pressing problems which have to be resolved to create genuine conditions of peace and normalisation of civilian life in the war torn areas.’

‘... I should emphasise that the day to day problems of our people are of paramount importance and need urgent solutions and should be a prelude to discussions on basic issues underlying the Tamil national conflict.’

You will appreciate that what we have been insisting is that the most urgent issues that arose as consequential effects of the military offensive operations of the state against our people should be addressed before we engage ourselves in analysing the root causes of the armed conflict.

The first round of talks, I wish to point out, was primarily concerned with those issues. The leader of the government team, Mr. K. Balapatabendi has said that they were mandated by the prime minister to discuss ‘how best the government can alleviate the hardships of daily life presently experienced by the people.’ Though the government delegation pledged to take immediate measures to provide ‘all utilities and services essential to the community’s well-being,’ no action has been taken to redress these grievances. We hoped that these matters would be taken up for discussion at the second round of talks.

You have also agreed to our view and appreciated our concerns when you stated in your letter dated 13 December, 1994, that ‘we wish to assure you of our lasting concern for the day to day problems of the Tamil people and our commitment to solve them to the best of our ability, with your fullest co-operation.’

Having obtained detailed clarifications of our views, and having given assurances that the immediate and urgent issues of our people will be given primacy in the peace negotiations, you have written to us again on the 19 December, commenting to our dismay that peace negotiations should be confined to the ‘causes of war’ aimed at ‘ending the armed conflict’. From what you are insisting on now, we can deduce a deliberate shift in your position aimed at circumventing the most crucial and immediate issues that beset our people today which require immediate attention and resolution.

We are very clear in our view that the overall objective of the peace process should be aimed at resolving the national problem by exploring the causes of the armed conflict. We assure you that there is no differing perception on this fundamental issue. What we wish to emphasise is that the peace process should be advanced in stages.

The early stages of the peace negotiations, we wish to reiterate, should address the pressing problems and hardships encountered by our people which are crucial for the restoration of normalcy and for the creation of a peaceful environment. This is the consensus view of the Tamil people, who have been entertaining the hope that the new government will bring them relief by alleviating their day to day issues.

Since the first round of talks was predicated on this premise, and since your government pledged to give primacy to the urgent issues, there is a widespread expectation among our people that your government will fulfil its commitments. Therefore, any attempts on the part of the government to side-track or circumvent these issues would be considered by us and by our people as an act of political bad faith. I think we have clarified our stand adequately. We hope that you will find our position fair, reasonable and pragmatic.

I wish to reiterate that we are committed to peace and that our doors for peace are open.

We are ready to receive the government delegation in Jaffna at any date convenient to you.

Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,

V. Pirabhakaran
Leader, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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