Monday, 09 April 2012
By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya -
Uvindu Kurukulasuriya
“Like many pundits, even Wickremesinghe, who brokered the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE and probably has the most direct experience dealing with the Tigers of any national leader, was surprised by the Tigers’ decision to enforce a boycott on the election.” US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey Lunstead informed Washington in November 22, 2005. According to the “confidential” cable written by the Ambassador, on November 22, the Ambassador met with Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP) and unsuccessful candidate in the November 17 presidential election by a margin of fewer than 200,000 votes.
The Ambassador wrote, “Wickremesinghe expressed surprise that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blocked Tamils in the north and east from voting – a move that probably cost him the presidency.”
“Ranil Wickremesinghe noted that he had not expected the LTTE to block Tamils from voting in the north and east. He speculated that if current president Mahinda Rajapakse had won the election with Tamils in those regions permitted to vote, then the LTTE might have made the case that Rajapakse’s Sinhalese nationalist supporters were intractable and unwilling to accommodate the Tamil minority. However, Wickremesinghe posited, the LTTE undermined that claim and squandered any potential international sympathy by not letting Tamils vote. He assessed that the Tigers had not accounted for the international condemnation that ensued from ‘hardliners’ within the LTTE deciding to prohibit Tamils from voting.” Read More
The Ambassador wrote, “Wickremesinghe expressed surprise that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blocked Tamils in the north and east from voting – a move that probably cost him the presidency.”
“Ranil Wickremesinghe noted that he had not expected the LTTE to block Tamils from voting in the north and east. He speculated that if current president Mahinda Rajapakse had won the election with Tamils in those regions permitted to vote, then the LTTE might have made the case that Rajapakse’s Sinhalese nationalist supporters were intractable and unwilling to accommodate the Tamil minority. However, Wickremesinghe posited, the LTTE undermined that claim and squandered any potential international sympathy by not letting Tamils vote. He assessed that the Tigers had not accounted for the international condemnation that ensued from ‘hardliners’ within the LTTE deciding to prohibit Tamils from voting.” Read More
