Colombo, Nov 27: Sri Lanka's top Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran today said his plan for an interim self-governing authority in the country's embattled north and east was not a stepping stone for a separate state.
Commenting for the first time on the rebel blueprint for a political plan to end ethnic bloodshed in the island, Prabhakaran said some of the features of self-governance had been "misinterpreted as a project for a separate state."
"It is true that our proposals for an interim administrative council calls for substantial self-governing authority without which massive programmes for the resettlement and rehabilitation of hundreds of thousands of displaced people and other major development projects could not be undertaken," Prabhakaran said.
In his heroes week address, he said the proposal unveiled on October 31 through the Norwegian peace brokers was not a final settlement, but only an interim proposal.
Bureau Report
