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Tamils for peace gather against LTTE
From Neville de Silva in London
In a stinging attack on the LTTE, the pan European organisation Tamil Democratic Congress (TDC) has accused the rebels of using the ceasefire agreement to “extend its authoritarian rule under cover of the legitimacy it had gained by signing the agreement.”Meanwhile an anti-war group called the Tamil Forum for Peace, a gathering of six Tamil organisations in Britain, launched its campaign for peace and a resumption of the stalled talks at a meeting last Sunday at the London University’s Birkbeck College.

The meeting was addressed by the widow of murdered TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalingam. Robert Evans, a member of the European Parliament, urged the resumption of talks aimed at reaching a permanent solution to the Sri Lanka conflict that would ensure democracy, human rights and justice in the country.

The Tamil Peace Forum says it will continue to build an anti-war movement within the Tamil diaspora in Britain. Earlier the TDC said that although the LTTE was a signatory to the CFA, it had flouted the agreement “innumerable times by engaging in killing and kidnapping the very same people it claims to represent as the sole voice.”

The TDC said in a statement that it condemned the decision of the LTTE only to discuss the implementation of the existing ceasefire agreement at the forthcoming talks.

The LTTE had proved beyond doubt that it had violated the CFA without any remorse and had proved beyond reasonable doubt that it had used the CFA as a “favourable tool”, the TDC said.

The Tamil group gives two detailed schedules of the violations of the agreement and the killings and kidnappings following information provided by what it calls “concerned Tamils.”

The TDC said it was necessary to bring appropriate amendments to the CFA to prevent any further violations of the agreement.

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