India should help Tamils in achieving Tamil Eelam: LTTE

T V Sriram

Colombo, Jul 30 (PTI) Having taken over as the chief
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after the death
of Velupillai Prabhakaran, alleged arms smuggler Selvarasa
Pathmanthan has appealed to India to "understand" and help the
Sri Lankan Tamils in achieving their dream of Tamil Eelam.

The new leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam, which has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland
in Sri Lanka for the past three decades, also said some
leaders in Tamil Nadu were "unwilling" to accept the truth
that Prabhakaran is no more.

"India stood by the marginalised people in the past
and helped them achieve liberation. Eelam Tamils across the
globe believe that India will help them achieve liberation as
it did in the past. India should understand us," he was quoted
as saying by a pro-LTTE Tamil website.

Pathmanathan, who was last week appointed as the
leader of LTTE, said several countries in the world, including
India, have expressed their concern to Sri Lanka about the
sufferings of Tamils.

"They (Vaiko and Nedumaran) are unwilling to accept
the truth. Our leader attained martyrdom along with other
cadres in the last phase of war at Mullivaikkal," he told a
newspaper from an undisclosed location in Europe.

Pathmanathan said he tried to get the mortal remains
of the slain LTTE chief. "However, our leader's blood
relatives did not come forward to receive his body," the
website quoted Pathmanathan as telling the newspaper.

On his strategy, he said: "At present, we have
constituted a working committee that will explore the
idea of forming a transnational Tamil Eelam government.

"The committee is drafting an action plan to achieve
Tamil Eelam which has been the dream of our people for over
half-a-century."

The LTTE leader also expressed the confidence that
the "Sinhalese government" in Colombo would accept ethnic
Tamils as their equals in due course, the website quoted him
as telling the newspaper.

The separatist outfit, which was annihilated by the
Sri Lankan troops in May, had earlier said in a statement it
will "modify" the strategies of its "struggle" but will
continue to work for a "free Tamil Eelam". PTI TVS
DdC
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