By Walter Jayawardhana

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said, immaculate planning and the strong leadership of security forces has not only enabled Sri Lanka to quell PrabhakaranƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s three decades old insurgency by ultimately killing him and the immediate leadership of his outfit but also nab the new leader KP alias Sinnarasa Pathmanathan from a foreign country and interrogate him in Colombo today.

The Secretary of Defence was addressing a school ceremony in Galle, in Southern Sri Lanka.

The Defence Secretary said the strong leadership had been provided to the armed forces by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the ability of planning had been made possible by the utter professionalism which has become an essential and ingredient part of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s modern forces.

“We should teach our youth and our children to love this country and make every effort to preserve the glory won by the valiant efforts of our gallant men and women. We should also save our future generations from terrorism”, he further asserted.

He said when future plans are laid necessary preparations should be laid to prevent terrorism of whatever nature taking place in the country. Gotabhaya said with planning and leadership there is no task that could not be surmountable.

Commenting on the same issue of KP who was arrested in a South East Asian country with the help of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s intelligence services Defense spokesman and cabinet Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said while Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s international friends helped the country to nab KP it was Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s own intelligence services who provided vital information to take him into custody.

Rambukwella the Defence spokesman said KP, the new global head of the Tamil Tigers is being interrogated by Sri Lankan intelligence men at length.

Meanwhile, Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Army website said, KP, is believed to have done a plastic surgery to cover his natural appearance and he speaks ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sinhala, Tamil, French and English languages. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Rambukwella further said KP is now in the custody of the Defence Ministry under the Sri Lankan Government. The message they wished to convey to the world is, Rambukwella said, is that although the LTTE has been defeated militarily, theoretically it is still surviving and striving to fight in the future under ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a leader like KP. The arrest indicates that the Security Forces are able to defeat anyone and also their attempts to bring back the LTTE, he emphasized.

The new leader is under arrest, before three months have elapsed since the former leader Prabhakaran was killed, the Minister said.

Security forces have indicated that one should think twice before they plan to re-launch terrorism in Sri Lanka, he said.

It is expected that Indian interrogators will arrive soon in Sri Lanka to find out to what extent KP is involved with the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Although, KP is not yet an accused in the murder case, the Indian detectives would be anxious to know how KP knew about the killing months ahead of it as other evidence has bared. Gandhi assassination had not known in the LTTE ranks other than in its intelligence section and KP was not part of it.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Meanwhile Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has warned publicly that remnants of the LTTE, considered threat to Sri Lanka would not be able to hide at places for a long times from now.