Conference Organiser

Second World Tamil Eelam Convention
1984 - Nanuet, New York

Letter from LTTE Leader, Velupillai Pirabakaran
to Dr.Winston Panchacharam, Conference Organiser

19 May 1984
[published in 'எனது மக்களின் விடுதலைக்காக',
September 1993, by LTTE, Jaffna]

"...We have received your kind letter. Many thanks... You are presently engaged in the effort to organise the Second World Thamil Eelam Convention. You have sent us an invitation to participate in this Convention. On this matter it is necessary that I make clear the position of our Organisation, the current situation of the Tamil people and the present needs of our struggle for freedom...
...It appears that one of the objectives of the Convention is to unite the Liberation Organisations and establish a single political-military leadership for the struggle for Tamil Eelam. I welcome efforts to bring about unity. However, it is my wish that such efforts should be undertaken in Tamil Eelam. It is necessary that those Liberation Organisations which have established themselves permanently in Tamil Nadu and the leadership of such organisations should move to Tamil Eelam. It is in Tamil Eelam that the struggle is taking place and it is in Tamil Eelam that we are prepared to discuss unity. We are not prepared to discuss the strategies of our struggle seated in a foreign land - and that too in the capital of US imperialism and inside the spider web (சிலந்தி வலை) of the spy services of the C.I.A.. You are not unaware that all the Liberation Organisations are united in the goal of a socialist Tamil Eelam. However, there are differences in views regarding military strategy and general tactics as to how this goal is to be achieved. These are complex and difficult issues - and concern military strategy and battlefield experience. These are matters which the leadership of the Liberation Organisations will need to discuss and exchange views upon in a climate of mutual trust - and with much secrecy. These are not matters that can be debated upon in an open international conference, and that too in the United States..."