Assassinating Rajiv Gandhi was a big blunder by a short-sighted LTTE
The newly elected chief minister of Sri Lanka’s eastern provincial council was a child soldier in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), only 15 years old, when former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991. In his first interview with an Indian newspaper, S. Santira Kanthan, alias Pillayan, calls the assassination a big mistake on the part of LTTE. Edited excerpts:
What made you join the LTTE and what do you think about it now?
I joined the LTTE in 1991 when I was 15 years old and I thought that through the armed struggle, we could achieve the rights of the Tamil people.
One time the LTTE was very strong, the people believed that it was the only hope for the Tamils, but now they are struggling. That is why the people ended up voting for us.
Why did you leave the LTTE?
In 2004, differences between the northern and eastern provinces became accentuated. I am very attached to the Eastern Province people because I was born there and I know how they were discriminated by the LTTE. I knew that it would be difficult to get Tamil Eeelam (independent homeland for which the Tamil rebels are battling) because the LTTE started killing their own Tamil people. The killing of Rajiv Gandhi was a big blunder which we will never be able to rectify. We lost the dream of Tamil Eelam and left the LTTE and thought better to start a political party through which we can get the aspirations of the Tamil-speaking people (fulfilled).
Where were you when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated?
I was in the LTTE training camp.
Read more,
http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/10234519/Assassinating-Rajiv-Gandhi-was.html
What made you join the LTTE and what do you think about it now?
I joined the LTTE in 1991 when I was 15 years old and I thought that through the armed struggle, we could achieve the rights of the Tamil people.
One time the LTTE was very strong, the people believed that it was the only hope for the Tamils, but now they are struggling. That is why the people ended up voting for us.
Why did you leave the LTTE?
In 2004, differences between the northern and eastern provinces became accentuated. I am very attached to the Eastern Province people because I was born there and I know how they were discriminated by the LTTE. I knew that it would be difficult to get Tamil Eeelam (independent homeland for which the Tamil rebels are battling) because the LTTE started killing their own Tamil people. The killing of Rajiv Gandhi was a big blunder which we will never be able to rectify. We lost the dream of Tamil Eelam and left the LTTE and thought better to start a political party through which we can get the aspirations of the Tamil-speaking people (fulfilled).
Where were you when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated?
I was in the LTTE training camp.
Read more,
http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/10234519/Assassinating-Rajiv-Gandhi-was.html
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