posted September 09, 2001 02:10 AM
"Nature is my friend. Life my philosopher and history is my guide."Q: The experience over the years must have changed your outlook. What are some of the dominant impressions and convictions that you gained by virtue of this experience? Moreover your experiences would have convinced you of the inefficacy of certain principles and theories in practical situations, whole at the same time bringing home the validity of yet others. Can you pinpoint some of them?
A: Twelve years of experience has convinced me beyond doubt that the armed revolutionary path we under took was the correct one. The other liberation groups who criticised our armed strategy as terrorism have now realised that armed struggle is the only way out for the emancipation of our oppressed people. Moreover the guerrilla warfare has been an effective form of struggle. Several successful guerrilla raids have convinced our people that the Sinhala forces can be defeated and freedom can be won.
Q: Who is your friend, philosopher, and guide?
A: Nature is my friend. Life my philosopher and history is my guide.
Q: How does it feel to be the most wanted man in Sri Lanka today?
A: An Irish leader once remarked that when the British indict a personas a terrorist it implied that he was a true Irish patriot. Similarly when the Sri Lanka government refers to me as the most wanted man it means that I am a true Tamil patriot. Hence I feel proud to be indicted as a wanted man.
Q: Which was your most frustrating moment of your life?
A: I cannot pinpoint such a moment in my life. But the most frustrating aspect has been the betrayal of some of my trusted friends: those who pretended to be sincere to the cause. Bet turned out to be self seeking opportunists.
Q: How did the split between you and Uma Maheshwaran come about?
A: I do not approve the formulation of the question In fact. the issue should not he viewed as a conflict or split between me and Uma Maheshwaran. It was a problem between all individual and the Tiger movement. I am in no way responsible for the problem. It was Maheshwaran who created the issue. A leader of a revolutionary movement should commit himself totally to the discipline of the organisation. If a leader violates the basic rules and principles then there will be chaos and the organisation will crumble. Uma Maheshwaran violated the rules of our movement and as a disciplinary action he was expelled by the central committee. Being the founder of the movement and the person who appointed Maheshwaran as the chairman I had no other alternative but to uphold the decision of the central committee.
Q: Today one finds that there are several Eelam liberation groups. Invariably they work at cross-purposes. When the goal is the same, should not there be a unification process? After all, there is more to be gained by using your combined strength against the common enemy. In principle, are you opposed to the rival groups uniting?
A: I have clearly and explicitly stated that I am in favor of such unity moves. I even wrote to these groups on 5 September 1982welcoming the idea and suggested that we all prepared to form a united front of all other liberation groups, shed their differences and work out a common program of action. But. unfortunately, these groups failed to formulate a common working program. Instead, at every unity meeting they fought against each other and fail apart. The tragedy is that these groups have no sincere intentions to unite and there is a wide gap between their words and their deeds. I sincerely feel that these groups should set an example by forging unity among themselves rather than blaming the Tigers for their disunity. Once they unite we are prepared to join hands with them
UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone!
InfoLanka Forum
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).
posted September 09, 2001 02:10 AM