SRI LANKA’S FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS NO COUNTRY COULD ACHIEVE PEACE WHEN THERE IS TERRORISM

By Walter Jayawardhana

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama

Totally rejecting the idea that the his government was waging a futile war for peace Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said there is no possible way to achieve peace when there is terrorism in a country.

In an exclusive interview with the Gulf News, an Abu Dhambi newspaper Bogollagama asked, “How do you get peace when there is terrorism?”

He said his government was getting blessings from the international community to root out terrorism in all its forms and they would not tolerate terrorism in their country at all.

Dr. Palitha Kohona, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , traveling with his minister , who were passing through Abu Dhabi in transit told the newspaper that Sri Lanka wanted to maintain relations with both India and Pakistan and the island nations relations with both countries ran back to 2000 years.

The following is the full text of the interview Gulf News published between the newspaper’s staffer Neena Gopal and the Sri Lankan foreign officials:

“Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday firmly rejected international criticism that his government was waging a futile "war for peace".

“He said no such accusations had been levelled against his government, and asked "how do you get peace when there is terrorism?"

"We will not tolerate terrorism in our country," he said, adding that his government had the backing of the majority of the people and the international community to "root out and end terrorism in all its forms".

"Even the Tamils have voted with their feet. Some 54 per cent of Sri Lankan Tamils have left the Tiger controlled north and are living peacefully with the rest of their compatriots in the south," said the minister, who led peace talks with the separatist Tamil Tigers in Geneva last year that collapsed unceremoniously over the militia's insistence that a key highway be re-opened.

“A lifeline to the Tiger stronghold in the Wanni, it is now in government hands and severely limits the ability of the violent separatists to wage their hit and run attacks on government forces.

"It was an excuse to break off talks. What kind of leaders put the opening of a highway over the needs of their people," Bogollagama asked, saying that his government had stepped up supplies to the besieged city of Jaffna where food shortages had initially caused enormous hardship.

“Issuing a strong call to the terror group, reeling from a string of military setbacks in its rapidly shrinking north-eastern base, to return to the negotiating table, Bogollagama announced a "new package was under consideration" that would make the Tamils stakeholders in the peace process.
"We are ready for peace at any time. It's the Tigers who have to set the date for talks," he said when asked whether a new round of peace talks was on the anvil.

“Speaking to Gulf News in Abu Dhabi while en route to Colombo after an official visit to Pakistan, he also pointed out that "for 27 years all the previous leaders attempted the exercise but it never happened."

"Every time it looked as if there would be a breakthrough, the Tigers backed out. Which makes you wonder if the Tigers are for peace."

“He said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's government which has in recent months steadily pushed the Tigers out of the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee and limits their area of operation to the northern Jaffna peninsula beyond a Forward Defence Line laid down by a fraying Cease-Fire Agreement, was committed to "a negotiated settlement" while "maintaining a multi-cultural, pluralistic society."

“Backed by a Supreme Court directive to bifurcate the north from the east, the Sri Lankan government is likely to press ahead with plans to secure the eastern part of the country, which the Tigers consider part of their homeland.

Situation changing in rebel-held areas

”Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka's new foreign secretary Palitha Kohona said that a key indicator that the situation was changing in Tiger-held areas was the recent shutdown of the eastern town of Vakkarai.
“It came after a Tamil priest was killed by suspected Tamil Tigers after he greeted the visiting President Mahinda Rajapakse with a traditional ‘arati' - a lighted wick in a mud lamp and the smearing of vermilion and turmeric paste on the forehead of the visitor.

"It's a turning point. It's the first time the Tamil people have stood up against the Tigers."
“Kohona who accompanied the foreign minister to Islamabad, said that Sri Lanka wanted to maintain friendly ties with both Pakistan and India, who have stood steadfastly behind the country in its hour of need.

"We have a 2,000 year history with both nations," he said.

”Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama visited New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after his appointment to seek stepped-up patrolling of the “Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar where the embattled Tiger Navy run an elaborate arms smuggling network. “India also has concerns over the Tigers pushing in operatives under the guise of refugees.”