The arms struggle was a mistake - Former LTTE Arms supply wing KP

Tamilnadu (TN) Tamils cannot do anything on their own for us....
Terming the attack on Buddhists monks in India will only do more damages to the Sri Lankan Tamils : Kumaran Padmanadan

This is the man who headed the arms procurement wing and ‘international secretariat’ of the LTTE. KP travelled all over the world to buy guns and other military hardware for the Tigers.
He moved from one sea port to another undetected and was responsible for ensuring that the weapons reached the LTTE.

 Popularly known as KP, he was, for long, on Interpol’s wanted list, charged with arms smuggling and criminal conspiracy and was also wanted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

After the war ended, KP was arrested in Malaysia in August 2009. He was detained in a ministerial bungalow in Colombo and released in late 2012.

At that time, however, the Sri Lankan government said: “Kumaran Pathmanathan, who is under special protection, was permitted to engage in his NGO work and not released as claimed by media.”

Now, four years after the war, says KP, the arms struggle was a mistake.

Running this home for war-affected children, he talks only about education. The home is located near an army camp now, fuelling speculation about his proximity to the government. It has a few rooms, dormitories and an assembly hall.

Attributing the violence — spurred by the arms struggle — to the lack of adequate education in the country, he says: “The last 30 years of war have pushed us educationally further behind.”

As many as 300 children stay at the home and go to a nearby school.The home offers additional tuitions in the evening to help children who had dropped out of school during the war.

He said, in the 1970s Tamil politicians brainwashed youngsters like him into joining the Tamil cause, and the recent student protests in Tamil Nadu brought back those memories.

“Students should be left to study. Politicians there [TN] make it an emotional issue. They cannot do anything on their own for us, so they have to work with the Centre in India and help Sri Lanka.”

Terming the attack on Buddhists monks in India “uncivil” and “inhuman”, he says such responses will only do more damage than good to the Sri Lankan Tamils.

KP is not short of suggestions on the means to achieve peace and reconciliation: “The army’s presence enhances safety at one level, but also intimidates people.”In KP’s opinion, reducing the army presence in the area and introducing civil administration would help improve the living conditions of the people there. “Tamil politicians are obsessed with Jaffna and hardly engage with the people of the Vanni who are the real victims.”
Source: The Hindu Posted by Unknown 5/12/2013