The long rambling article by Mirak Raheem entitled “Paramilitaries: The need to re think,� is an uncalled for effort to revise the CFA drastically, by resorting to details that are either already covered by the broad terms of the CFA, or include subjects that should form no part of this Agreement.

The abduction of the Tamils Rehabilitation staff within the Sri Lanka government controlled region is condemned, as an act against the attempts at peace, by both inland and foreign sources. Above all, the hearts of our people are filled with the expectation and anxiety that these volunteers should be released immediately without being subjected to any dangers. Worldwide appeals are being made that measures aimed at the immediate release of these staff, who render great service to the war torn and tsunami battered people, should be intensified.

According to the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera is the same who told the US media on his recent visit that “the LTTE is the godfather of modern terrorism,� and has elsewhere claimed that the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) is the “fund-raising arm of the Tamil Tigers,� both exaggerated statements.

The date: 2003 Jan 06. The place: Batticaloa. The occasion: A meeting between the delegation from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the LTTE.

“The Sri Lankan army should supervise the activities of the paramilitary groups and keep them under control. Recent incidents in Batticaloa appear to be aimed at casting aspersions on us and confounding the peace process.

Sinhala leaders have always used the peace talks to fool the international community and drag time to prepare for war. Over the last four years of CFA, LTTE has proved to the international community this opportunistic politics of the Sinhala leaders. LTTE does not need to nor have to prove again to the international community the deceit of the Sinhala leaders. The foundation for peace talks and the political solution has already been laid by the LTTE and the GOSL.

If irritants such as the abduction of the 10 TRO officials are resolved, it appears that representatives of the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE should meet for face-to-face talks on stabilising the CFA in the middle or latter part of February.

Articles appearing in the popular media during the past couple of months have made reference to the LTTE being preoccupied in seeking for itself international legitimacy as a group that had transcended the narrow confines of being a military outfit and become an organisation having the requisite sophistication and wherewithal to run a state (or at least a semi-state).