COLOMBO: Kumaran Pathmanathan, alias KP, who was the LTTE’s international face, has said that MDMK leader Vaiko thwarted India’s bid to bring about a ceasefire ahead of the 2009 parliamentary polls in India.
KP, currently under detention in Sri Lanka, told the Daily Mirror on Saturday, that the LTTE’s political commissar, B Nadesan, had asked “sympathisers” in the DMK such as Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi, and Catholic priest Fr Jegath Gaspar Raj, to persuade New Delhi to help bring about a ceasefire and prevent annihilation of the LTTE and its leader, V Prabhakaran.
New Delhi was open to the idea because the DMK-Congress combine in Tamil Nadu was worried about losing the elections with AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa taking a pro-LTTE stance. Home minister P Chidambaram handled the negotiations on behalf of India.
“He wanted the LTTE to issue a unilateral statement agreeing to lay down arms and surrender them in due course and accept a political settlement as an alternative to Eelam,” KP said.
“Chidambaram drafted the statement for the LTTE to release. The guarantee was that New Delhi would exert pressure on Colombo when it was was
released, and bring about a ceasefire, pending negotiations,” KP said.
Nadesan was advised against sharing the plan with Nedumaran and Vaiko. But he consulted CPM MLA K Mahendran. The CPM and MDMK were part of the AIADMK-led alliance, and Mahendran leaked the details to Vaiko.
“Both were worried that the Congress and DMK would take credit for a ceasefire… So, Vaiko warned Nadesan that if the Tigers chose an alternative to
Eelam, the MDMK and other TN parties would permanently withdraw their support to the LTTE,” KP said.
Nadesan was led to believe that the AIADMK-led alliance would sweep the polls in Tamil Nadu and the BJP would form the government in New Delhi, after which a ceasefire would be negotiated so he dropped the plan.