NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 21, Reuter: Sri Lanka’s ‘Tamil Tigers are an untrustworthy Unpresentative group which must give up violence and surrender its arms before it can have a role in the Island’s future, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said on Monday.
In a tough speech to a public meeting in Pudukottai, Southern India, in the heartland of his own ‘country’s 50 million Tamils, Gandhi told his audience: “The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) represents no one but itself.
“We cannot allow one small group —— the LITE — to hold the future of the Tamils in Sri: Lanka to ransom”.
State run television gave extensive coverage to Gandhi’s speech, delivered in English and translated into Tamil for the wholly Tamil audience, who appeared to meet it largely with indifference.
Gandhi blamed the Tigers for the deaths of most of the Tamil militants killed in four years of rebellion and for many of the thousands of civilian casualties.
He referred to the July 29 IndoSri Lankan agreement aimed at ending the strife by making concessions to the Island’s Tamil minority, The LTTE at first reluctantly ‘accepted it but later, alone among the militant groups, took up arms Again against it.
Saying the LTTE and every other group had been consulted before the agreement, Gandhi declared: “We cannot sacrifice all that has been achieved for the Tamilsin Sri Lanka just because one small ‘group has unreasonable demands.
The LTTE has gone back on every promise that it signed. It has reneged on every commitment, it has shown itself and proved itself to be untrustworthy and unreliable, “He says
India currently has 35,000 troops on the Island under the agreement trying to disarm an estimated 1,500 2,000 LTTE fighters and pave the way for the setting up of an autonomous regional council for the Tamil areas.
“Every single objective and ‘commitment that has been made in the agreement will be met, promised the Prime Minister.
But he added: “The LTTE must stop all its violence, surrender its arms and act within the agreement. Only then can it be involved in any process of peace in Sri Lanka.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 25, 1987
