Last chance to avert war: Tigers

“We don’t prefer war. If a war is thrust on the Tamil people, the Tamil people and the LTTE (will) make use of all the resources available to fight back,” SP Thamilselvan, head of the Tigers’ political wing, said in the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi in an interview late on Friday.

“We consider this is an important final opportunity,” he added, saying the Tigers would give Colombo a “short space” to come up with a peace blueprint that accepts their demands for a homeland for ethnic Tamils, an option Rajapakse has already ruled out.

“Any living being if challenged or if tortured or if threatened of its existence will fight back, that is nature’s law, and we human beings are no exception and we Tamils are no exception,” Thamilselvan (38) said. “In the event of all else failing, after exhaustion of all avenues of considering viable alternatives, then the Tamil people will have to exercise their right to self determination.”

A claim made by the Sri Lankan armed forces on Friday that they could defeat the Tigers if war resumes was a provocative mistake, he added. “We take it as an egotistic and supremacist thinking mode in which the Sri Lankan forces behave,” he said. “It is a ridiculous thing for the military to say things like that and most irresponsible… What type of a victory would that be?” —Reuters