“Today as a Tamil I have to say that we don’t need any conflict with the others in Sri Lanka and I would like to tell the Tamil Diaspora that their activities will not benefit the Sri Lankan Tamil people. The Diaspora by their activities is trying to destroy the Tamil people and I also would like to tell them that we do not need a war”, says Shashirekha, The widow of the late LTTE political wing leader S. P. Thamil Chelvan, in an interview with The Nation newspaper.

Commending the treatment she received from the Sri Lankan Government and the Armed Forces, she says: “When we reached the side controlled by the army they did not harass us and we felt secure from the way they treated us but before that we were living between life and death. The Sri Lanka armed forces have treated us very well and afforded us all the facilities we never had before that. Today we are living happily with my children who are continuing their education well. My parents are also living with me.

Responding to the question whether the LTTE took measures to ensure the welfare of her family after the death of Chelvan, she says: “No one came to see us. One month after the death of my husband I requested one of the leaders of the LTTE women’s wing Rekha to send our family including my parents to India and she said LTTE leader Prabharkaran did not agree to accede to our request. She said the leader has said it could be done only after one year.”

“Then in desperation I requested that we be allowed to go to army controlled area but I was told that the leadership would inform me of their decision in a few days. But the LTTE neglected me and my children and after the death of my husband the leaders of the LTTE became disunited”, she adds.

She stresses that the Diaspora living abroad does not know that the Sri Lankan Tamil people do not need any further armed conflicts. “I have deep faith in my religion Hinduism and I would continue to live with my children according to the tenets of my religion and I would like to tell the Tamil diaspora that their efforts to mislead our people will not succeed”, she further notes.

For the full text of the interview, follow http://www.nation.lk/2011/08/28/inter.htm.