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LTTE supremo Prabhakaran, sentenced to 200 years
jail
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By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, November 1 (IslamOnline) - Tamil Tigers and Sri Lanka government
representatives continued peace talks for the second day Friday,
November 1, in Thailand despite Colombo High Court’s verdict Thursday,
October 31, slapping a 200-year jail sentence on Tamil Tigers chief
Velupillai Prabhakaran who is accused of committing or ordering many
massacres.
Judge
Sarath Ambepitiya delivered the judgment on the Central Bank attack of
January 31, 1996 in which a 100 people died and a thousand got injured.
Ten
accused, including Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman,
were indicted on 712 counts. The LTTE chief was found guilty on 51
counts, but the judge charged him only for 10 counts. However, Amman was
not indicted because of incomplete evidence.
Out
of the 10 accused, only two persons— W. Parthivan and K.T. Shiv Kumar
- were arrested and presented in the court. Prabhakaran and Amman are
also wanted in India for having allegedly masterminded the assassination
of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Amazingly,
in Nakhon Pathon (Thailand) where the talks are going on, no signs of
this new development were visible Friday. Chief negotiator of LTTE,
Anton Balasingham, said Friday that Tigers were ready to address the
Muslim problem in north-east Sri Lanka where most Muslims live.
On
Thursday, October 31, the negotiators worked for three and a half hours
on Tamil-Muslim relations in Sri Lanka, which has 18 percent Tamils
(mostly Hindus), and seven percent Muslims.
Sri
Lankan Minister Rauf Hakeem, who represents both the government and
Muslim interests, said, “we discussed a variety of confidence-building
measures between Tamils and Muslims.”
The
Tigers leaders are known as a band of extremely unreliable, wily
tacticians who don’t think twice before breaching a contract. Possibly
keeping that in mind, Hakeem added, “we agreed on certain measures,
all of which have to be manifested on the ground.”
Hakeem
explained that the Tigers and Muslims agreed to strengthen the role of
ceasefire monitors. He suggested more contacts between Tamils and
Muslims for solving difficult issues.
Sri
Lanka’s Constitutional Affairs Minister GL Pieris, who is leading the
government delegation, calmed fears that the 200-year sentence to
Prabhakaran might derail the talks.
He
said the sentence would not affect talks, adding “I don’t want to
comment on a judgment”.
An
important part of the negotiations is working out ways and means to
rebuild and rehabilitate the northern and eastern areas ravaged by the
two-decade long civil war that killed 65,000 people.
“Now
both the parties are appealing in one voice to the international
community for funds for rehabilitation,” Peirs said Wednesday, October
30.
The
two sides are working out the modalities and quantum of aid required for
reconstruction and rehabilitation. Tamils and Sri Lanka government would
make a joint appeal for aid at Oslo where Norway is hosting a mini
donor’s meeting on November 25.
This
is the second round of peace talks. The first was held two months ago
and decided to establish a joint committee to deal with “high security
zones” to facilitate return of displaced persons to their home areas.
They had also agreed to have a joint task force for humanitarian and
reconstruction work.
