SL rebel chief says independent state only option

Colombo, Nov 27: The Tamil Tigers declared today they now saw no other option than to push for an independent state in what analysts said was notice to Sri Lanka's government that a new chapter in the long civil war will deepen.

''The uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam,'' shadowy Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said in an annual address emailed by the rebels to Reuters.

''We therefore ask the international community and the countries of the world that respect justice to recognise our freedom struggle,'' he added. The Tigers had been pushing for a separate homeland for minority Tamils within Sri Lanka, which President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled out.

The two-decade civil war has killed more than 67,000 civilians, troops and rebel fighters since 1983, some 3,000 of those this year alone.

Reuters

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