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K Venkataramanan in Kilinochchi
Seeking to restore old equations, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran on Wednesday urged India to lift the 11-year old ban on the organisation and described Rajiv Gandhi's assassination as "tragic."
He, however, ruled out giving up armed struggle for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka.
"We want close relations with India. We reiterate that we want the Indian government to lift the ban (imposed on LTTE after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi)," he said addressing his first international media conference in 12 years at his jungle hideout in northern Jaffna.
The 47-year old guerrilla leader, wanted by India in connection with the 1991 assassination of Gandhi, described the killing as a "tragic incident" but evaded a question whether his organisation was responsible for it.
He said he would not like to make any comment as the case was before a court of law.
Dressed in a safari suit, Prabhakaran said in the proposed talks in Thailand with the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE wanted to discuss the establishment of an interim administration for northern provinces.
The LTTE chief said he would not be attending the talks but would direct the negotiations.
Prabhakaran said India has been asked to provide transit to LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingham if he travels to Thailand next month for the peace talks.
"India is expected to respond in the next few days or weeks," he said.
Prabhakaran told a questioner that LTTE was keen to establish friendly and constructive relations with the government of India.
"We want a positive participation of the government of India in the peace process. That is why, a venue in Tamil Nadu was sought for the resolution of the conflict."
"India's participation in the peace process is crucial because India is a regional super-power and we do not want to isolate India in this process," Prabhakaran said.
He said since India was not taking any active interest in the peace process, the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE had requested the Norwegian government to play the role of a facilitator.
Prabhakaran said he was happy with the progress of peace talks and complimented Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe for facilitating the peace process.
Asked why he had suddenly chosen the path of peace after having led an armed struggle for nearly 25 years, Prabhakaran said: "We were forced to take up arms because our methods of non-violence were crushed by the [Srilankan] military. It is because of the historic conditions that we were compelled to take up arms."
PTI
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