LTTE should not be made part of political process: Jaya

Chennai: Asserting that "fascist" LTTE should not be made part of any political process in Sri Lanka, AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa on Thursday said any solution to the Lankan Tamils issue should be achieved through "mature dialogue" by including all Tamil political outfits, Muslims and other minority groups.

"Any resolution of the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka should not be restricted to the Tamil population of the North and East of the island republic," the former Tamil Nadu chief minister said in a statement.

All moderate thinkers and Tamil political groups should be part of the effort to work out a political solution through a mature dialogue and "leaving the task to the extremists would only vitiate the atmosphere and add to the strife of the long suffering masses," she said.

She said the political process "could not and should not involve the fascist LTTE, which had forfeited its moral right to represent the Tamil cause when it launched fratricidal attack on moderate tamil politicians" and leaders of other political and militant groups and killed anyone it felt an obstacle in the path of their leader's "megalomaniac" ambitions.

Admitting that her party once regarded the LTTE among other groups like TELO, PLOT, EPRLF and EROS as "saviours" of suffering Tamils in Sri Lanka, Jayalalithaa said ever since LTTE started eliminating leaders of other outfits and respected representatives of moderate Tamil organisations like TULF, it ceased to represent the Tamil cause.

Its complicity in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi proved that it was "untrustworthy, immature and dangerous as well," she said. "From that fateful day, the AIADMK's stand has been clear and consistent," she said.

In a scathing attack on the Tamil Tigers, Jayalalithaa said "this is a militant outfit that has shamelessly conscripted child soldiers and used fellow Tamil civilians as human shields to save themselves and their leader".

Opposing what she termed as attempts of Sri Lankan government to reduce the Tamils in the country as secondary citizens, the AIADMK chief said she fully supported the Tamils'struggle for self-determination and equality but

disapproved of resorting to violence to achieve this.

Jayalalithaa said the war for the creation of independent Tamil nation in Sri Lanka was "impractical", while the demand for provisional autonomy for Tamil dominated areas within the federal set up was perfectly justified.

Jayalalithaa demanded an "explanation" from the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on whether he condoned the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.

"If so, has he no compunctions or shame about allying with Congress merely to cling to power at the head of a minority government," she asked.

Alleging that India provided arms and sophisticated equipment to Sri Lanka, she asked what the DMK and its allies, who were part of the union cabinet, "were doing".

"Were they not aware of what was happening. If so why have they remained silent all these months," she asked.

"What is Karunanidhi's and the DMK's stand on the separatist demand in Kashmir and elsewhere in India? Does he advocate the same logic for these troubled states as he does for Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka," she asked.