Sri Lanka will make a pitch for freeing its land from terror which has ravaged the country for more than 35 years, said the island’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama during his recent visit to the Kingdom.
“All bad things have to come to an end and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will soon bite the dust with our final onslaught,” Bogollagama told Arab News.
“We have suffered enough from the LTTE. We have lost some of our great leaders and innocent civilians, and India lost one of its illustrious sons due to terror advocated by this movement which carried a crafty campaign under the pretext of saving Sri Lankan Tamils,” Bogollagama noted.
The current operation to wipe out Tamil rebels is due to the indefatigable efforts of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is determined to liberate the Tamil people from the clutches of Tamil Tigers who have illegally occupied land in the north, the minister said.
He said Rajapaksa got a mandate from the people to eradicate terror from the country, something that was endorsed from time to time during the local and provincial elections.
The minister said that Sri Lanka has taken the center stage in international affairs because of the current operations in the LTTE-held areas. “This is a war against terror not against the Tamil people. The government is making every effort to counter terrorism in Sri Lanka as part of the global campaign against this menace.”
Victims of the LTTE terror include former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi, Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and several other Lankan ministers. The LTTE has also chased away Muslims living in Jaffna, the northern part of the island. These people have been displaced in Puttalam for the past 20 years. Due to rebel atrocities, buses, trains and public transport carrying civilians have been bombed killing hundreds of people.
“Now we are on the brink of a final victory in which we could either capture or kill them,” he said, adding that the delay in completing the battle is due to the fact that the LTTE has been using the civilian population as human shields to safeguard their interests.
“More than 150,000 Tamils have come to government lands from rebel-held territory and this exodus demonstrates the confidence they have in the government for their future,” he said.
Stressing that his government’s biggest concern is the safety of its civilians, he said: “If we wish, we can finish this war within hours, but we are exercising maximum precaution to avoid collateral damage during our expedition; civilians who have come back to government lands will be rehabilitated in their own lands.”
He added that the terrorists who have been responsible for the loss of innumerable lives and movable and immovable properties would have to pay for their actions. “Its leader Prabakharan has to pay the highest price for his deadly criminal activities. He is a wanted criminal and his movement has been proscribed by several countries. Even Indian Premier Manmohan Singh has defined him as an “offender.” Our judicial courts have passed a death sentence on him for his attack on the Central Bank in which civilians and bank employees lost their lives in Colombo. We will arrest him and put him on trial, because we believe in the democratic process,” he said. In answer to a question, Bogollagama said there is no protest from any country against the attack on the LTTE, but admitted that there is a global concern on civilian casualties. “The government will not provide any room for foreign interference into the internal affairs of the country,” he said. He added that the key challenge presently faced by the government is how to get out the remaining innocent civilians trapped by LTTE terrorists.
“In deference to the wishes of the global community, we are doing our best to minimize casualties. Unfortunately certain untoward incidents were mainly due to suicide bombings carried out by the rebels on fleeing Tamil civilians that were beyond our control,” he said, adding that this was the behavior of Tamil rebels toward their own community and that they shed crocodile tears for their own misdeeds. “We will not allow the situation to continue for long, the remaining Tamil civilians will be freed soon and we will reach the finishing line in no time ... The government works according to its national agenda without being subject to any international pressure. We have also educated the world community and made them understand the ground realities in our country. The international community has understood how we have addressed this issue,” he said. Bogollagama also deplored false propaganda — referring to pro-LTTE websites — carried in the international media. He added that the government was not trying to harm Lankan civilians. He said he had already appraised other countries’ foreign ministers and diplomats so that they would reject the LTTE allegations.
The minister stated that the government is now focusing its attention on the post-conflict scenario, in particular resettling all civilians who have been forcibly displaced by the LTTE in their original places of residence as soon as such places have been cleared of mines and made suitable for human habitation.
He said the Sri Lankan government’s intention is to resettle 80 percent of internally displaced people before the end of this year. In this regard, Sri Lanka has a wealth of experience gained in the recent past in competently handling refugees’ situations, including the rapid rehabilitation and resettlement of people who lost their homes and livelihoods in the December 2004 tsunami disaster, as well as the expeditious resettlement of refugees in the Eastern Province within a period of nine months in 2007 after the LTTE was evicted from the province.
He stressed that separate lands will not be demarcated for the Tamil community but all Sri Lankans, irrespective of religion, caste or community, can live on the Sri Lankan soil peacefully within its shores.
He said the government believes in devolution of power as defined in the constitution. The Indo-Lanka accord, the 13th amendment to the constitution, and the All Party Conference have clearly set out guidelines for the devolution of power which is being currently implemented in the island’s Eastern Province.
“An ex-child soldier in the LTTE movement has joined mainstream politics and has become a member of the legislative body,” he said.