By NNN-PTI,
Colombo : The LTTE has denounced Sri Lankan government’s plan for power devolution under which local elections were held recently in the East, saying “Tamil sovereignty and right to self-determination” are key issues for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic problem.
Vowing to continue fighting for a separate state, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) political head B Nadesan said the 13th amendment providing for provincial councils in the East and North has never been accepted as the basis for talks by the Tamils.
“The (Sri Lankan) Tamils have rejected the 13th amendment long back. In the last 21-years of its introduction, neither Tamils nor Sinhalese have shown any enthusiasm towards the 13th amendment,” Nadesan said, adding “Tamil sovereignty and right to self-determination” are key issues in creating a climate for a negotiated settlement.
“How can one consider it as a basis for settlement when it has been proven that people have no interest in it?,” Nadesan told the Pro-LTTE Website Tamilnet in an interview.
India has endorsed Sri Lanka’s policy of implementation of the 13th amendment under which Provincial Council elections for the East took place on May 10, leading to the anti-LTTE rebel party TMVP leader Pillayan becoming its chief minister.