The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not take into account future consequences while implementing its war strategy, Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi said on Tuesday.
Recalling the LTTE’s call to Tamils for boycott of the 2005 presidential elections, Mr Karunanidhi, in a statement, said that SLFP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had defeated UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe by a margin of about 1.81 lakh votes and that seven lakh Tamils in Sri Lanka did not cast their votes. Mr Wickramasinghe had then promised the electors that he would give priority to peace talks with the LTTE in the event of his election.
“Who would know our silent pain while we reflect over the outcomes of the hasty political action?” he wondered.
The Chief Minister’s statement was issued in the context of a recent interview given by Mr Wickramasinghe to a Tamil journal.
Mr. Karunanidhi also alleged that leaders of different Tamil groups and organisations were systematically killed in fratricidal clashes. The absence of a planned approach led to the death of numerous people, particularly the youth, and the sufferings of those who had to remain in camps for years together. The DMK leader said he was forced to record all these out of anguish that those who had to work for the uplift of the Tamils met untimely death. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had expressed willingness for the fulfillment of rights of Sri Lankan Tamils, was killed in Tamil Nadu and this was a setback to the Tamils struggle, he added.
