TNA firebrand 'decodes' contentious speech

by Shanika sriyananda

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna MP Selvarajah Kajendran's statement - " Our air force would be used to attack enemy targets"- during the Emergency debate created an uproar in the Parliament.

Kajendran, who failed to respond to Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara's orders to withdraw the statement and to apologise to the house, spoke to the Sunday Observer staffer Shanika Sriyananda.

"Sinhala people are not enemies of Tamil people and we want to live with them peacefully", he said. Here are excerpts of the interview:

Q: Your recent statement in the Parliament is in contravention of the Constitution. Why did you violate the Constitution?

A: I want to say that I did not violate the Constitution but I have to express our people's problems. Day by day their lives are affected by the activities carried out by the forces and because of that people in the North and East are suffering. Because of this reason and the safety of the Tamil people I had to highlight these facts and that was the reason I made that statement in the Parliament.

Q: Did you make this statement on behalf of the LTTE?

A: No. I strongly object to your question and I never talked on behalf of the LTTE leadership or on behalf of the organisation. I made that statement on behalf of the Tamil National Alliance and our Tamil people. Tamils have already accepted who is the sole representative of the Tamils. I only represent the people.

In the election mandate in 2001 and 2004 they gave the mandate stating the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamils. In that mandate they said that the war should be stopped, peace talks should be started and the government should talk only with the LTTE and these are the important points in their mandate. That is why I have to spell the real situation and the aspirations of the people. That is why I made that statement.

Q: You are saying that the LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamils. So how can you say that you are not voicing the LTTE's views in Parliament?

A: No. That is not mine. That is the people's mandate. People are saying that the LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamils. At the Parliamentary elections people had decided to use this opportunity to express their views to the international community through the election. All the people's organisations got together and gave us a mandate.

During the past 20 to 30 years the Tamils suffered due to the war. So, actually I was only highlighting these problems.

Q: Being a TNA member are you allowed to make such statements? What was the response from your party over your statement and is that a collective statement of the TNA?

A: Yes. The aspirations of the Tamil people were not included in the proposals released by the SLFP to the All Party Representative Committee (APRC). In such a situation we have to express our views to the government and to the international community.

After January 17th, 2001, the Pongu Thamil was held and the Tamil people who got together expressed their views about their aspirations to the international community through the media and posters. They showed their mandate. Not only in 2001, on several occasions people in the North and East got together and they clearly mentioned their aspirations.

They said that in whatever solutions that was arrived at their aspirations were the forces should vacate from occupied areas, resettlement issues, nationality, homeland and self determination should be included in the solutions and these should be recognised as their aspirations.

In the 2004 election we put ISGA proposals to the people and they said that the peace talks should be held on the basis of the ISGA proposals.

Their aspirations have been given to the government and also the international community in writing but when they released APRC they did not include anything of these in the SLFP proposals.

Q: What is your stand now?

A: If I make any mistake I can apologize. But I clearly say I never violated the Constitution. Because of the JVP, JHU and the other party members opposed to my opinion. I did not do anything wrong and just expressed the views of the Tamil people.

Q: How do you say that the government attacks civilians? Do you have any statistics or evidence to prove these allegations?

A: Yes, we have so many incidents to show to prove this. Each and everyday, three to four times the government forces attack these areas and destroy houses.

The government always denies. They tell that they attacked the LTTE targets but this is totally wrong. The government has a powerful media but we do not have means to correct or tell our plight.

On the other hand, I believe that the media in the south could take a lead to give the correct picture of the North and East to the people in the South. If the Sinhala and English media in the south report about the real situation in the North and East, today there would be a better understanding about each other.

During the two decade long conflict they totally failed to report the real situation of the people in these areas mainly due to the political interference. So in this cruel war both sides have to suffer.

Q: But in your statement you have mentioned LTTE's military as 'our army' and also said that 'the LTTE air power would be used to attack enemy targets'. Do you think that while being an MP you can make such a statement?

A: I never said any thing like enemies in the south. I said that those who attack the Tamil people in their homelands are enemies. I never said that Sinhala people are enemies. In fact they are brothers and sisters of ours majority of Sinhala people are not against Tamils. We want to live with them peacefully. And I said that when you propose solutions to this problem you should consider 'our armed, air and naval forces'.

Q: But can you use the word 'our' to the LTTE because you are still in a united Sri Lanka, which has recognised armed forces and the Police. Are you referring 'our' as the LTTE power?

A: No. I may be within one country. But, that is different because there is political independence in Sri Lanka. I have the mandate of the people and people are saying that we have air, naval and army forces. So I have to reflect their views. I am also a Tamil man.

Q: If the people in LTTE held areas are faithful to them why do they flee to government controlled areas?

A: Main reasons for this are the economic embargo and lack of medical facilities in the LTTE controlled areas. But due to hardships they flee the LTTE controlled areas to government controlled areas for better facilities.

Q: You mentioned about the political independence in Sri Lanka and the LTTE's own military power. So why can not the LTTE have welfare programs for the Tamil people in their controlled areas?

A: Yes, the LTTE can take care about the needs of the Tamil people in these areas if the military stop their activities like bombings. If there is a solution for the national problem, the LTTE can fulfil the basic needs of the people and also the development in these areas with the support of the international community.

Q: Why does the LTTE recruit children for the war while the children of the LTTE leadership study abroad? Do you think that the LTTE is waging a real struggle or they are the saviours of the Tamil people?

A: This is totally wrong. The LTTE has never disrupted the education in the North and East. When a conflict is going on in a country the social welfare including education is completely disrupted.

This is the other way around in our areas. In our areas the LTTE never obstructed the education or the public administration and in fact these sectors are functioning smoothly.

About child recruitment by the LTTE I can say that most of the children like to join the LTTE. When they are under age they give false ages to get into the LTTE. The children in our areas face so many problems and there is no future for them. So they come on their own and join the LTTE.

Q: Truly what is your opinion about the LTTE activities a) violence b) politics as a TNA member?

A: What do you mean by violence. Can you mention any incidents of killings of innocent people by the LTTE recently. They never had a policy to kill innocent civilians for their struggle.

Q: Do you think that the LTTE do not use their own people as human shields in this conflict? In Vakarai the LTTE kept over 40,000 civilians as human shields and you can not deny this fact as it is an internationally known truth. Wouldn't it be the same tactic that the LTTE is using when there is fighting in other areas?

A: No. They never used Tamil people as human shields. Only the military say that the LTTE is using Tamil people. Just by saying that 'the LTTE is killing innocent people', this problem can not be solved.

I refuse to accept that allegation. People who lived in Sampur had fled to Vakarai, the LTTE controlled areas, when the military captured Sampur. But due to hardships, certain embargoes and bombing and shelling these people again fled from Vakarai to government controlled areas. The LTTE did not use these people as human shields.

Q: In your statement, you also said that the LTTE air attacks were to protect the people of the North and East. Can you elaborate on this?

A: The government forces are always trying to capture the LTTE controlled areas. Before they started to move towards to the LTTE controlled areas the LTTE attacked the army base in Palali and because of the LTTE attack, the army had cancelled the scheduled attacks, especially the shelling. That is why I mentioned that the LTTE air attacks are to protect people.

Q: Then can you justify the LTTE air attacks to the Katunayake Air Base and the Kolonnawa Oil complex as to protect the civilians?

A: I can not say any thing about these two attacks but I only mentioned about the two LTTE attacks at the Palali Army Base in my statement in the Parliament.