Advertisement

As the first act of defiance in 2007, the LTTE on New Year's Day started issuing its own "Tamil Eelam National Identity Cards" in areas of Sri Lanka which it controls.

The LTTE's Peace Secretariat said that the first "Tamil Eelam National Identity Card" was received by the supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran at a ceremony somewhere in the North East.

The card was handed over to Prabhakaran by the Commissioner of the "Tamil Eelam Department of Registration of Persons" S Jayenthiran.

The LTTE has taken this system from the Sri Lankan government which issues National ID cards to every citizen.

Interestingly, residents of the LTTE-controlled areas carry Sri Lankan National ID cards also. A citizen without a card could be arrested.

Meanwhile, in its New Year message, the LTTE said that in 2007, the international community should stop equating the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government in its statements and dealings with the two.

The world should see the injustices done to the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan government in 2006 and act accordingly.

The Sri Lankan government had attacked civilians, blockaded key roads, divided the predominantly Tamil North Eastern Province and had carried out ethnic cleansing, all in brazen violation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), the LTTE said.

The LTTE, on the other hand, had been constantly asking for the sincere implementation of all the clauses of the CFA, but to no avail.

The Tamil people were making a "sincere effort to seek permanent peace through a just political solution," and the international community should support this, the LTTE's message said.