We incorrectly believed that supporting LTTE ideology on armed violence would bring peace to Tamil people. We refrain from those believes [sic] now, three jailed LTTE supporters in Canada said.

They have signed an open letter from prison acknowledging they were wrong and renouncing political violence, the National Post reported.

“We incorrectly believed that violence could achieve the goals that we sought,” they wrote. “We now realize that what we did was not helpful in leading to a positive resolution of the issues that existed in Sri Lanka.”
“Each of us has come to the conclusion that the criminal activity for which we have been sentenced has caused much harm to all citizens of Sri Lanka,” wrote Sathajhan Sarachandran, Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam and Sahilal Sabaratnam.

The letter, obtained exclusively by the National Post, was to be released publicly in the coming days.

Sarachandran, 31, is the former president of the Tamil Youth Organization’s Toronto chapter, while Sabaratnam, 32, was communications director of the Canadian Tamil Congress, the leading Tamil organization in the country. Thanigasalam, 43, is his brother-in-law.

“During these times, I was misled by so many community well-wishers,” Sarachandran wrote in his letter. He said advocates of the armed conflict fuelled his anger. “Meetings after meetings, campaign after campaign, all injecting hate into me and other fellow students.”

The 160-word joint letter they signed in prison is titled, “A New Beginning.”
Read the full article at: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/07/bell/