Colombo: Strongly rebutting reports that
he was responsible for the split in the now vanquished Tamil
Tigers, former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe
has appealed to the Tamil community to come together to
resolve the country's ethnic issue.
Wickremasinghe said the LTTE in 2005 elections had
told the Tamils not to vote for him and which apparently cost
him the Presidential post, which he lost to the incumbent
Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"In 2005, there was a mistake (by the LTTE) and now we
have to get together and resolve this issue. In 2005, you
missed the opportunity," he told the Europe-based Tamil
television GTV.
On the split in the LTTE with the Karuna Amman parting
ways with the Tiger Supremo V Prabhakaran, he said "it was an
internal matter of the militant organisation and he had
nothing to do with it".
The UNP leader said LTTE had humiliated him by calling
him names after he lost the 2005 elections.
Wickremasinghe said that after the Mavil Aru incident
which resulted in an all out war being launched on the LTTE,
the then Army Commander and now Presidential Candidate General
Sarath Fonseka had to follow orders from the government to
eliminate the Tigers within a time frame, the Daily Mirror
Online reported.
The closure by the LTTE of the sluice-gates of Mavil
Aru waterway on July 26, 2006 was a crucial turning point in
the Sri Lankan civil strife.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 17:45