'KP is just a puppet of the Sri Lankan government'

Firstpost also spoke to MA Sumanthiran, a member of parliament from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).  A prominent Human Rights lawyer, Sumanthiran was appointed to parliament in 2010 on the TNA National list. He is a part of the TNA delegation that is in talks with the government to find a political solution to Lankan Tamil grievances. Firstpost asked him to respond to some of the points made by KP in his interview with Shashikumar. Summarised excerpts:

“In his interview with FirstPost, KP mentioned that the UN Panel report would “disturb reconciliation” and that no one would benefit from it. He also said that in the war both parties tried their maximum to win, and if a UN report was published for every war, there would never be an end. How would you respond to that?

This is not the official position of the government, I would be very interested if the government said this in so many words. As a responsible government they cannot say that both sides fought without any compunction, so they’re getting him to say it. No government can say “Once it’s over that’s it”. They have made some intimations to this effect in the past, where they have said that victors can never be charged. But the way to reconciliation is not by denying what happened. People know what happened to them. You can’t tell a man who lost his leg or his child that he never lost his leg or child. Reconciliation can only by achieved by acknowledging what happened to the people.

“What is your take on KP? Do you think he has a role to play in the reconciliation of Tamil grievances?”

He has absolutely no role to play. He is obviously a puppet in the hands of the government. The UN Panel report held the LTTE and the government equally culpable for what happened to civilians. KP took over the leadership of the LTTE from Prabhakaran. So now we see that the LTTE is with the Sri Lankan government.

“KP had also made an appeal to India and Tamil Nadu in particular to aid the rehabilitation of the Tamil people in the North. Do you think he can influence this to happen since he is still associated with the LTTE internationally?

No. In fact India has come forward to help with rehabilitation but the Sri Lankan government has been repeatedly blocking it.