No support for Tamil Eelam - Pirabaharan remains persona non grata with us

LTTE Statement on Indo Sri Lanka Accord, April 1988 A critical elucidation of the provisions of these Bills brings one important truth to light. That is, the Provincial Council framework envisaged in these Bills is not specifically addressed to the specific grievances of the Tamil people with the specific objective of resolving the Tamil question. Rather, these laws propose the creation of an island wide administrative structure rigidly controlled by the Centre with limited distribution of political authority to all the provinces of Sri Lanka. Provincial Councils are thus reduced to local administrative bodies serving to the dictates of the State. They do not enjoy any autonomous powers of their own, The institutions of the Centre - the Presidency, the office of the Governor and Parliament - are invested with sweeping powers to interfere and control the functions of the Provincial Councils. In essence, the provisions of these Bills, instead of delegating powers from the centre to periphery allows absolute concentration of power to the Centre.

Norwegian Peace Initiative

No Support for Tamil Eelam

K. Natwar Singh, Former Indian Foreign Minister
Brahmin owned Frontline, 21 December 2002

Excerpts from Article: ....Oslo has been much in the news on account of the Sri Lanka-LTTE agreement arrived at some days back. It is the first step and one hopes it will not have the same fate as the Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. A good comparison is the Northern Island situation. But V. Pirabaharan is no Gerry Adams. The Congress(I) has made it known that while we welcome the outcome of the Oslo agreement, we are unequivocally committed to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka. No support for Eelam under any circumstances. Neither can the Congress(I) compromise on Pirabaharan's extradition since he has been named by the Supreme Court as the mastermind behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Under no circumstances would the Congress(I) agree to Pirabaharan getting any formal high office or position in the new set up in the North-East of Sri Lanka. He remains persona non grata with us. He invented suicide bombing, if we leave the Kamakazis of Japan.

The India-Sri Lanka Agreement that Rajiv Gandhi and J.R. Jayawardene signed in July 1987, had, broadly speaking, almost all the elements in the Oslo document. The LTTE has come to the negotiating table because after September 11, 2001, their funds have dried and they can't buy or import any arms.

Nadesan Satyendra in The Indo Sri Lanka Accord, January1988 "..What does reason say? Reason says that the Peace Accord denied reason to the Tamil people - and set the stage for the tragedy that was to follow. The Indian Government denied reason and set on the path of 'bending' the LTTE and the Tamil people to its will. The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Natwar Singh declared in India Today, three months later when questioned about the military offensive launched by the Indian Army in Jaffna: "No government can go into an agreement of this nature without having tied up the obvious loose ends. We examined every possible option. There were no low cost options available. If anybody can suggest a better alternative, we will gladly examine it."