I have read in the media the two-parts letter you have written to His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa slinging mud at me. It is not the contents of these letters that prompted me to reply - rather the time you have chosen to reproduce the letter, with a few modifications, you wrote to former President Chandrika Kumaratuge in 2001 when you contested the elections as a LTTE proxy TNA candidate. That encouraged me to write this open letter to you. No wonder pro-LTTE media have publicized your letter.

Annai, when I sit down to pen a few words in response to the reams you have written about me, what come across my mind is what Thiruvalluvar in his classic couplet Thirukkural (Kural 181) has said:

"Though a man from virtue strays,

To refrain from slander brings him praise."

Annai, you and I were in constant touch and have been maintaining a good relationship in recent years. You call me Thamby affectionately and I address you as Annai with affection and respect. The memories of our visit to South Africa a year ago in an effort to meet several leading cabinet members there as well as political party leaders and Tamil activists of Indian origin who had been misled by the LTTE campaign come to mind. I have not forgotten how we briefed them on the correct situation in Sri Lanka. I do not know what made you suddenly to turn bitter towards me.

All the allegations that you have levelled against me in your letters are nothing new. They are the remnants of the mud that was slung at me over the years; some of these charges are decades old. I have come a long way withstanding these onslaughts. I wonder what prompted you to unearth this muck and sling it at me at this juncture.

Your discontent is that the president has appointed me as the Chairman of the Special Task Force for the Development of North. Annai, no sooner the cabinet approved the memo submitted by His Excellency the President, appointing the Special Task Force with me as the Chairman, I telephoned you and Messrs Sitharthan and Sritharan, leaders of PLOTE and EPRLF (Naba faction) respectively and invited you all to join me through this Task Force to serve the people of the North. I telephoned all of you before the news regarding appointment of the Task Force was leaked to the press and solicited your advice and cooperation.

We all are striving to save the Tamil speaking people from the clutches of LTTE fascism and to restore normalcy, bring back democracy and relieve these people from their day to day sufferings. We all aspire to bring an honourable solution to the problem of the Tamil speaking people in our country. It is in this endeavour that your party, the TULF, has lost many of its valuable leaders. To name a few, A. Amirthalingam, V. Yogeswaran, Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswaran, Pon Sivapalan, Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam etc. My party, the EPDP, has lost many of its important members too, the last being Maheswary Velautham. It is also so with the PLOTE and EPRLF (Naba faction).

Annai, I do not do politics for posts and prominence. I have time and again stated that if Prabhakaran would genuinely denounce terrorism and join the democratic main stream, I will quit politics. My political stand has been consistent throughout. I too can write a letter accusing you in harsh words; I do not intend to do that. I respect your contribution to the Tamil community. We may have political differences but that does mean that we have to spit on each other’s faces. Unity in diversity is the need of the hour.

We have a common enemy that is haunting our civilization. The more we are divided, the more we are allowing the fascist LTTE to stretch its tentacle over the Tamil community and do more harm to society. Let us not look for the dirt in each other’s backyards but instead join together to relieve the Tamil community from their immense sufferings.

I look forward for your advice and cooperation in my endeavour to serve my community.