In the aftermath of the Sinhala Only Act, my father lost his job in the civil service with seven children to feed because he could no longer work there. The Sinhala regime when on to enact further legislations to harm the minorities.

Half a million Tamils were deprived of their civic rights. Tamils staged non-violent campaign to agitate for their legitimate democratic rights. What did the Sinhala regime do? They simply ordered the Sinhala dominated army to occupy the northeast.

I put it to you that three decades of brutal military oppression of Tamils gave birth to the Tamil militancy. It was the Sinhala regime that first brought violence to the northeast. You ought to ask the Sinhala regime as to why they used their iron fist to deal with merely a political problem.

Only when the demand by Tamils for a federal solution was repeatedly rejected by the Sinhala regime the Tamils opted for a separate state. You need to understand the Tamils do qualify under UN charter to exercise their rights to self determination.

I had been an LTTE-sceptic. But I am now convinced that the LTTE has the military might to liberate the Tamils.