Having taken over as the chief of the LTTE after the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran, alleged arms smuggler Selvarasa Pathmanthan has appealed to India to "understand" and help the Sri Lankan Tamils in achieving their dream of Tamil Eelam.

The new leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka for the past three decades, also said some leaders in Tamil Nadu were "unwilling" to accept the truth that Prabhakaran is no more.

"India stood by the marginalised people in the past and helped them achieve liberation. Eelam Tamils across the globe believe that India will help them achieve liberation as it did in the past. India should understand us," he was quoted as saying by a pro-LTTE Tamil website.

Pathmanathan, who was last week appointed as the leader of LTTE, said several countries in the world, including India, have expressed their concern to Sri Lanka about the sufferings of Tamils.

"They (Vaiko and Nedumaran) are unwilling to accept the truth. Our leader attained martyrdom along with other cadres in the last phase of war at Mullivaikkal," he told a newspaper from an undisclosed location in Europe.