EPDP office in Colombo attacked, secretary killed
EPDP office in Colombo attacked, secretary killed
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 03:13 GMT]
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 November 2007, 03:13 GMT]
A bomb exploded inside the Colombo office of pro-government paramilitary group-cum-political party, EPDP, at Isipathana Mawatta in Colombo-05, Wednesday around 8:30 a.m., seriously wounding three persons, including an EPDP cadre, initial reports said. One of the wounded, a coordinating-secretary, succumbed to injuries at Colombo hospital. Police alleged that the attack was carried out by a female suicide bomber who was blown into pieces in the explosion. Paramilitary leader and Sri Lankan Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda was inside the office when the explosion took place. He was unhurt in the attack, Police said.
Steven Peiris, 69, a Tamil and a native from Nuwara Eliya, was identified as the coordinating secretary of Mr. Douglas Devananda.
A personal bodyguard of Devananda and a Sri Lankan Ministerial Security Division (MSD) police guard were wounded in the attack.
Devananda was about to receive visitors on the public day at his office.
A female visitor detonated the bomb, according to the initial reports.
Police blamed the LTTE for the attack.
In 2004, a female suicide bomber, blocked by the security personnel at the gate of Devananda's office in Kollupitiya and taken to Police for interrogation exploded herself, killing five policemen.
Interview - 04.11.2004
Steven Peiris, 69, a Tamil and a native from Nuwara Eliya, was identified as the coordinating secretary of Mr. Douglas Devananda.
A personal bodyguard of Devananda and a Sri Lankan Ministerial Security Division (MSD) police guard were wounded in the attack.
Devananda was about to receive visitors on the public day at his office.
A female visitor detonated the bomb, according to the initial reports.
Police blamed the LTTE for the attack.
In 2004, a female suicide bomber, blocked by the security personnel at the gate of Devananda's office in Kollupitiya and taken to Police for interrogation exploded herself, killing five policemen.
Interview - 04.11.2004
LTTE is dragging peace process: Lankan Tamil minister
Meenakshi Iyer (HindustanTimes.com) - New Delhi, November 4 -
He has survived ten attempts on his life and continues to be on the LTTE's hit list. But nothing will stop Kathiravelu Nithyananda Douglas Devananda, leader of the Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP) and Minister of Hindu Affairs in the Sri Lankan cabinet, from opposing the hegemony of the Tigers and their "sovereign" Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Devananda believes that only India can bring peace to Sri Lanka and that Sri Lankans, Tamils as well as the Sinhalas, had missed a "golden chance" to solve the ethnic problem when they opposed the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 1987.
In New Delhi recently to canvas for a pro-active Indian role in the Sri Lankan peace process, Devananda spoke to Meenakshi Iyer of HindustanTimes.com.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: What role do you want India to play in the Sri Lankan peace process?
A: We want India's 'active' participation in the peace process. We want India to help the Sri Lankan government bring a honourable political solution to the Tamil question. If there are problems about implementing that solution, India should help the Sri Lankan government overcome the obstacles.
We have met various Indian leaders here and our message to them is that they should help us bring peace to the island nation smoothly and swiftly.
Q: Of late, prominent leaders of Sri Lanka have been saying that India should mediate in the peace talks. Why is India being pestered to play a role when it had burnt its fingers doing just that earlier on, and had lost its most charismatic leader, Rajiv Gandhi?
A: Firstly, I want to apologise from the Tamil side for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. It was brutal. One can never forgive the people involved in it. But still, India should play a role. India got involved in the Tamil issue in the 1980s, but it couldn't solve the problem fully. So, it should get involved again and solve it fully. Sri Lanka and India are bound together by religious, cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Q: But most Sri Lankan Tamils don't seem to want India to play an active role because they fear the return of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)….
A: No! There is no feeling like that. Moreover, memories are short-lived. Now the Sinhalese as well as Tamils are seeking Indian participation. Had the IPKF stayed for some more time, the problem would have been solved.
Q: What is the current status of the peace process?
A: The LTTE is dragging the peace process. The Tigers don't want the problem to be solved peacefully and amicably. It's in their character to make demands after demands after demands! They keep changing their stance. For example, the major parties of Sri Lanka say that they are prepared to talk within the framework of the Oslo Declaration (that is, find a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka).
But the LTTE says that there is no such thing as Oslo Declaration! I know the LTTE's mind, having been a militant myself. As you say in Tamil, one snake knows another!
Q: You have recently told a conference that Prabhakaran is actually an impediment to the solution of the Tamil problem. Why?
A: Prabhakaran's real problem is that he cannot survive in a democratic set up. He wants to get a piece of land, P-I-E-C-E, and not peace, to rule as a dictator. That is his real goal. But people don't understand what he is up to.
According to Prabhakaran, everybody but himself is wrong - Rajiv (Gandhi) is wrong, Chandrika (Kumaratunga) is wrong, (President) Premadasa was wrong. He is a fascist. But he was not like that in the beginning. He was dedicated to the Tamil cause, the Tamil people. But now greed has got the better of him.
Q: The India -Sri Lanka Accord signed on July 29, 1987 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President JR Jayawardene is generally criticised in Sri Lanka, but you seem to support it. Why?
A: The India-Sri Lanka Accord was a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to solve the ethnic question. The opportunity was given to the LTTE and the EPRLF (Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front), which was another prominent Tamil party in Sri Lanka.
While the LTTE threw it away because of a vested interest, the EPRLF misused it. I would not blame the Indian and Sri Lankan governments for this. The Tamil leadership didn't handle it properly. We missed an opportunity to bring peace to the nation.
(The LTTE had alleged that the problems of the Tamils hadn't been taken care of in the Accord and had characterised it as an "agreement concluded in haste". Reports said that the accord failed because it fell short of recognising the reality of Tamil nationalism.)
Q: Norway's endeavours to bring peace to the teardrop island have yielded no results so far. Do you think that the Norwegians will be successful in their efforts?
A: The Norwegians thought that they could handle the problem easily. It is tough to handle Prabhakaran. Thay have failed in their mission. They are trying. But if you want to succeed in this mission, you should know the real side of the LTTE.
Q: Since both your party and the LTTE are for the Tamil cause, is there any chance of a truce between the EPDP and the LTTE?
A: No! Prabhakaran is fighting just for himself.
Q: It seems that the LTTE will not rest till it eliminates you. It keeps attacking you off and on. Being a central minister in the cabinet, is your security taken seriously?
A: (Laughs aloud!) The government cannot be held responsible. What happened to President Premadasa? He was President when he was assassinated! (President R Premadasa was killed by a LTTE suicide bomber in 1993).
Devananda believes that only India can bring peace to Sri Lanka and that Sri Lankans, Tamils as well as the Sinhalas, had missed a "golden chance" to solve the ethnic problem when they opposed the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 1987.
In New Delhi recently to canvas for a pro-active Indian role in the Sri Lankan peace process, Devananda spoke to Meenakshi Iyer of HindustanTimes.com.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: What role do you want India to play in the Sri Lankan peace process?
A: We want India's 'active' participation in the peace process. We want India to help the Sri Lankan government bring a honourable political solution to the Tamil question. If there are problems about implementing that solution, India should help the Sri Lankan government overcome the obstacles.
We have met various Indian leaders here and our message to them is that they should help us bring peace to the island nation smoothly and swiftly.
Q: Of late, prominent leaders of Sri Lanka have been saying that India should mediate in the peace talks. Why is India being pestered to play a role when it had burnt its fingers doing just that earlier on, and had lost its most charismatic leader, Rajiv Gandhi?
A: Firstly, I want to apologise from the Tamil side for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. It was brutal. One can never forgive the people involved in it. But still, India should play a role. India got involved in the Tamil issue in the 1980s, but it couldn't solve the problem fully. So, it should get involved again and solve it fully. Sri Lanka and India are bound together by religious, cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Q: But most Sri Lankan Tamils don't seem to want India to play an active role because they fear the return of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)….
A: No! There is no feeling like that. Moreover, memories are short-lived. Now the Sinhalese as well as Tamils are seeking Indian participation. Had the IPKF stayed for some more time, the problem would have been solved.
Q: What is the current status of the peace process?
A: The LTTE is dragging the peace process. The Tigers don't want the problem to be solved peacefully and amicably. It's in their character to make demands after demands after demands! They keep changing their stance. For example, the major parties of Sri Lanka say that they are prepared to talk within the framework of the Oslo Declaration (that is, find a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka).
But the LTTE says that there is no such thing as Oslo Declaration! I know the LTTE's mind, having been a militant myself. As you say in Tamil, one snake knows another!
Q: You have recently told a conference that Prabhakaran is actually an impediment to the solution of the Tamil problem. Why?
A: Prabhakaran's real problem is that he cannot survive in a democratic set up. He wants to get a piece of land, P-I-E-C-E, and not peace, to rule as a dictator. That is his real goal. But people don't understand what he is up to.
According to Prabhakaran, everybody but himself is wrong - Rajiv (Gandhi) is wrong, Chandrika (Kumaratunga) is wrong, (President) Premadasa was wrong. He is a fascist. But he was not like that in the beginning. He was dedicated to the Tamil cause, the Tamil people. But now greed has got the better of him.
Q: The India -Sri Lanka Accord signed on July 29, 1987 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President JR Jayawardene is generally criticised in Sri Lanka, but you seem to support it. Why?
A: The India-Sri Lanka Accord was a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to solve the ethnic question. The opportunity was given to the LTTE and the EPRLF (Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front), which was another prominent Tamil party in Sri Lanka.
While the LTTE threw it away because of a vested interest, the EPRLF misused it. I would not blame the Indian and Sri Lankan governments for this. The Tamil leadership didn't handle it properly. We missed an opportunity to bring peace to the nation.
(The LTTE had alleged that the problems of the Tamils hadn't been taken care of in the Accord and had characterised it as an "agreement concluded in haste". Reports said that the accord failed because it fell short of recognising the reality of Tamil nationalism.)
Q: Norway's endeavours to bring peace to the teardrop island have yielded no results so far. Do you think that the Norwegians will be successful in their efforts?
A: The Norwegians thought that they could handle the problem easily. It is tough to handle Prabhakaran. Thay have failed in their mission. They are trying. But if you want to succeed in this mission, you should know the real side of the LTTE.
Q: Since both your party and the LTTE are for the Tamil cause, is there any chance of a truce between the EPDP and the LTTE?
A: No! Prabhakaran is fighting just for himself.
Q: It seems that the LTTE will not rest till it eliminates you. It keeps attacking you off and on. Being a central minister in the cabinet, is your security taken seriously?
A: (Laughs aloud!) The government cannot be held responsible. What happened to President Premadasa? He was President when he was assassinated! (President R Premadasa was killed by a LTTE suicide bomber in 1993).
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