Letter from Sri Lanka President to LTTE Leader

Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

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- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C

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Chandrika - LTTE Talks: 1994/95

Letter from Sri Lanka President
to LTTE Leader

Before I commence replying to the issues contained therein, I take this opportunity to express my gratitude and that of my government to you personally and to the LTTE, for having released 16 prisoners, last Saturday. We appreciate your decision as an expression of your desire to continue the dialogue with our government.

As for the issues raised by you, I would firstly like to state that the government cannot entertain any ultimatums issued by the LTTE. I regret to state that we perceive this as an unfriendly action on your part, which could jeopardise the peace process.

You are aware that the PA government has adopted many actions which other governments might have hesitated to adopt, as part of the peace process, with the objective of finding a lasting solution to the ethnic question.

1. Democratically established governments usually demand at least a symbolic laying down of arms, before entering into any dialogue with armed organisations. Examples abound in this respect, all over the world. Our government, not only refrained from raising this issue but agreed to come to your headquarters in Jaffna.

2. We have also agreed to the limited movements of LTTE cadres, carrying arms, in the Eastern Province during the cessation of hostilities; this is another privilege never accorded by governments in similar circumstances.

We regret to state that due to administrative and other impediments, even goods on which the embargo had been lifted were not reaching the North in sufficient quantities. When we were informed of this situation, we took immediate action to open an additional checkpoint at Poonewa and to remove all other obstacles that hindered the free flow of goods to the North. May I mention here that our anxiety to open the Elephant Pass and Sangupiddy routes was in order to facilitate the free flow of goods.

All these were conscious decisions taken by me and our government, not because we were unfamiliar with the manner and methods of negotiations between a government and organisations such as yours, but because we sincerely wanted to build anew the mutual trust, confidence and fraternity between the government, the Tamil people and the LTTE which was so badly ruptured through the years and especially during the tenure of the last UNP government.

While reiterating what I have stated above that we find your ultimatum unacceptable, I wish to inform you that the 3 issues raised in your letter of 16th March and on several occasions previously, have been under continuous consideration by us.

We have arrived at positive decisions on these issues. However, the implementation of these decisions required discussion with regard to certain practical details. Furthermore, we also wished to avoid the appearance of unilateral action, mindful of your concern for joint decision-making in regard to such matters. Also, we thought it would be good to announce these decisions with the Sinhala and to announce these decisions with the Sinhala and Tamil New Year day in view. This is why we proposed that we meet and discuss all this with you this week, before the political talks which we proposed should commence between 2-10 April. But you have refused to dialogue with us by both your above mentioned letters.

With regard to the 3 issues raised on page 3 of your letter of 16th March, we have arrived at the following decisions:

The removal of all restrictions on fishing, except within a 2 mile distance from each security forces camp located by the shore.

The embargo on fuel would be lifted. All other essential items have already been released from the embargo.

The camp has already been shifted 600 metres away from the road. This is consistent with the LTTE's request to the UNP government through the UNHCR in 1993.

As decided earlier by us, we intend to commence the implementation of these decisions not later than the Sinhala and Tamil New Year 1995. However, we still feel that implementation could be made more effective through consultation between us.

In conclusion, may I call your attention to the encouraging statement in your first letter to me dated 2nd September 1994: "We wish to reiterate that we are prepared for cease-fire and unconditional peace talks." In the same spirit, we wish to emphasise the utmost importance we attach to agreeing to a time frame and a procedure for the continuation of peace talks, including the "fundamental political issues underlying the ethnic conflict". (See your letter of 16th March 1995).