CPI(M) legislator denies leaking ceasefire details to Vaiko

(B. Kolappan)

Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator K. Mahendran on Sunday denied reports that he was involved in the 2009 leak of details about the ceasefire proposed by India to end the war between Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Rejecting the claims of the former LTTE international spokesperson, Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, that he had conveyed the information to Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general-secretary Vaiko, Mr. Mahendran said he never had any ties either with the LTTE or its political commissar P. Nadesan.

“When the Sri Lankan Tamils were subjected to untold miseries, the CPI(M) demanded a political solution through talks. We have been demanding autonomy for Tamil areas,” Mr. Mahendran said, stressing that his party was never in agreement with the LTTE's approach.

Mr. Pathmanathan, in an interview to the Sri Lanka-based newspaper DailyMirror, had said though Mr. Nadesan had been “advised not to leak the details of the move to people like [Tamil Nationalist Movement leader] P. Nedumaran and Mr. Vaiko, he had, at one point, consulted Mr. Mahendran, the Tamil Nadu Legislator from the CPI(M).”

Mr. Pathmanathan further said that since the CPI(M) was an ally of the MDMK (in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance), Mr. Mahendran had leaked the details.

According to Mr. Pathmanathan, LTTE sympathisers in the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) such as Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, along with Catholic priest Jegath Gaspar Raj, had negotiated with Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram a possible ceasefire.

Mr. Pathmanathan's argument was that Mr. Chidambaram came up with the ceasefire idea because AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa had taken a pro-LTTE stand and the DMK-Congress combine was worried about losing the elections.

“He wanted the LTTE to issue a unilateral statement with two main points. One, to agree to silence arms and surrender them in due course and the other, to accept a political settlement as an alternative to the Tamil Eelam,” Mr. Pathmanathan told D.B.S. Jeyaraj, an expert on Sri Lankan Tamil affairs, in an interview.

The Daily Mirror, so far, has published three parts of the interview.

Claiming that Mr. Chidambaram himself “unofficially” drafted the statement for the LTTE, Mr. Pathmanathan said a guarantee was given that New Delhi would exert pressure on Colombo.

Mr. Pathmanathan said both Mr. Nedumaran and Mr. Vaiko were worried that the Congress would get the credit for a ceasefire and do well in the elections.

“So they wanted to sabotage it. Mr. Vaiko then got angry with the LTTE and warned [Mr.] Nadesan that if the Tigers opted for an alternative to the Tamil Eelam, then the MDMK and other Tamil Nadu parties, supportive of the LTTE, would permanently withdraw their support to the LTTE.”

“[Mr.] Nadesan was given the false hope that the AIADMK-led alliance will sweep seats in Tamil Nadu, and the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] will form the government in New Delhi. Then pressure could be put on Colombo for a ceasefire. Any ceasefire before elections could help the DMK-Congress,” he said, adding that Mr. Nadesan abandoned the idea of releasing a statement because of this.