International pressure prevents LTTE funding

Expatriate Tamils appeal - Resume peace talks

By Ananth Palakidnar

The Democratic Forum comprising a cross section of expatriate Tamils including former members of the LTTE from Europe and Canada has appealed to the LTTE hierarchy in the Wanni to resume the peace process and expedite ways and means of finding an early settlement to the ethnic crisis.

The Forum at its recent two-day meeting at Stuttgart, Germany has also urged the expatriate Tamils to mobilise all their resources to find a durable solution to the ethnic crisis in the country instead of funding the LTTE to continue with its arms struggle, according to the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam leader Darmalingam Sitharthan who returned from Stuttgart on Friday.

TULF leader V. Anandasangaree and the EPRLF(Naba wing) leader K. Sritharan were the other participants at the Stuttgart Democratic Forum meeting which concluded a few days ago. According to Sitharthan there were more than two-hundred participants at the Forum apart from the large gathering of observers. Most of the participants were ex-Tamil militants including LTTEers living abroad.

The PLOTE leader told the Sunday Observer that the gathering at the Stuttgart Forum highlighted the dissatisfaction of the expatriate Tamils over the collapse of the peace process and the weakened state of the Ceasefire Agreement.

"The speakers at the Forum pointed out that the Co-Chair countries which show their concern over the Lankan crisis could only function to a certain extent and they have their limitations. Therefore, the Forum emphasised that the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE should refrain from fighting and engage constructively in reaching a political settlement for the ethnic crisis," Over one-million Lankan expatriate Tamils living around the globe would make the warring parties enter the peace process, Sitharthan said.

He said that several speakers at the Forum had pointed out that unlike in the past it would be difficult to express the support for the LTTE's arms struggle as almost all countries have adopted stern measures towards curbing terror activities globally.