Colombo: Karuna Amman, a former lieutenant
of slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and now a federal
minister favours tapping of moderates among the Tamil Tigers
who are "sincerely interested" in a just and peaceful solution
to the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.
The former right hand man of Prabhakaran says the
success of prevailing over any militant or terror group lay in
engaging the moderates amongst its ranks to enable them to
reform and burst the outfit.
"Having been a part of a Terrorist Group myself in my
youth, I may truthfully state that in every Terrorist Group
there are the moderates, like myself who are sincerely
interested in a just and peaceful solution," he said.
"The relevant Governments and authorities should make
a genuine effort to recognise such moderates and create an
opening for them to work in collaboration with the Government
in finding a just solution to the crisis," he said.
Addressing an International Conference titled
"Engaging the Tamil Tigers: Lessons from a failed peace
process" here, the rebel turned minister noted that though
being an MP for just around a year, he had been able to
achieve much identifying the needs of the people who were
recently liberated.
Amman alias Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, who is now
the National Integration and Reconciliation Minister in the
Rajapaksa government also said the focus should be on
resettlement of the IDPs and eradication of poverty.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 16:03