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COLOMBO WILL NOT STOP FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM AFTER PROVINCIAL COUNCIL ELECTION,SAYS FOREIGN MINISTERBy Walter JayawardhanaForeign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said there is no truth in the
statement of the United National Party that after the Provincial Council
elections in North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces the war to eliminate
terrorism will be stopped. We showed that terrorism could be eliminated from the countrys
Eastern Province and similarly we will eliminate terrorism in the Northern
Province and bring back democracy to the citizens of the area they once
enjoyed, he said in a television interview conducted with him
by the state owned Independent Television Network and broadcast Tuesday
night. He rejected there was any foreign pressure to stop the war with the
terrorists and said during the South Asian summit just concluded in
Colombo there was nothing but unprecedented cooperation from all the
neighboring countries of Sri Lanka to eliminate terrorism from the country
and bring back democracy to the deprived masses. He said to show solidarity , Foreign ministers have visited Chief Minister
Pillaiyan of the Eastern Province and learned the truth about the ground
situation. He said as the foreign minister of the country he had to work overtime
to undo the status of parity UNP leader Ranil Wickramasingha
had created for the Government of Sri Lanka with the terrorist group
the Liberation of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Bogollagama said if not for the
infamous Ceasefire Agreemnt the fight to eliminate terrorism would not
have taken such a long time. He said it took a tremendously longer time
to come to the gates of kilinochchi and Mulativu than usual, thanks
to the obstacles created by Ranil Wickramasinghe. He said the government
was strongly of the opinion, depite the lies, when the final votes are
counted it would be definitely against those who promoted terrorism
by approving infamous demarcating lines through equally infamous Ceasefire
Agreements. He said the anti-terrorism measures all regional countries signed for
at the SAARC summit in Colombo hereinafter would not only allow a terrorist
of one country to take refuge in another country of the region as it
happened before but those measures would bring far reaching result and
would bring doom to such outfits like the LTTE. He said Australia is not a member but an observer of the SAARC and
the high commendation by Australia about the anti-terrorism measures
adopted by the summit were failed to be seen by our own countrys
opposition who were on a disastrous political course of condemning the
South Asian summit . Bogollagama , being interviewed by Gayan Chinthaka Abeysinghe , of
the Independent Television Network (ITN) further said some countries
in the region have called terrorism as the single biggest threat
to our stability. Bogollagama said the South Asian summit became a heavy body blow to
the efforts of the United National Party who have been on a ruinous
but futile course to internationally isolate Sri Lanka and shouting
from their roof tops that the most important country, India would not
even attend the leaders meeting. But the Indian leader Dr. Manmohan
Singh spent three days in the country and the Indian Foreign Minister
spent five days in the country , Bogollagama said. It was very important
for the country to have all the eight leaders of the region in Colombo,
the Foreign Minister emphasized. The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister said the numerous benefits that would be brought to the people of Sri Lanka by the SAARC summit would be undoubtedly immense . He said , for instance , one should see the huge unprecedented market the SAARC has opened up for the Sri Lankan products. He said one should compare the market of 450 million people in the European Union with that of 1200 million people in India to know the immenseness of the new vistas the South Asian union is opening up for Sri Lanka. The Agreement of South Asian Free Trade (SAFTA) has opened up the
market of the worlds biggest region of 1500 million people of
the eight countries of South Asia to the Sri Lankan products in addition
to the Free Trade Agreements the country has signed with India and Pakistan
, the foreign minister emphasized. If Sri Lanka could expand our sales
to the Indian market for Sri Lankas apparel products, for instance,
it would be slightly less than three times of the European market ,
Bogollagama pointed out. The United National Party belittled the SAARC to be less important
like a village level organization. But the SAARC Development Fund would
open up a vast fund of 30,000 million dollars to releive funds for development
in every rural areas of the country. The underwater electricity cable
is also proposed not to stop develop our own energy resources , but
to obtain excess cheap energy for our use from neighbors. Through that
grid , one day we would be even buy electricity from Bhutan , which
is producing electricity in plenty by their hydraulic power stations
, the minister said. The SAARC university would be open for our own students in 2010 and
the main campus is being already being built close to New Delhi by India.
Another campus will be built in Sri Lanka too and the regional university
would be able to create a seat of learning that would produce intellectuals
who would think in terms of the regions development . He said
the Indian Prime Minister is of the opinion that we should elevate the
institution to the standard of the Ivy league universities of the United
States, Bogollagama said. Today India is leading the region by being
able to give birth to a knowledge economy like in the IT field. Small
countries like Sri Lanka would benefit immensely by following in those
foot steps, the Sri Lanka Foreign minister said. Another method the United National Party wanted to implement was to
isolate Sri Lanka by making the press boycott the summit. But defeating
those efforts and not listening politically motivated organizations
nearly 600 reporters covered the event , Bogollagama said. Answering questions, the foreign minister said Katchathivu, is an intergral
part of Sri Lanka like Colombo , Matara, Galle or Kandy. He said the
Indian government has had no communication with Colombo on katchathivu
and it was a slogan by certain South Indian politicians raised for their
own political ends. Bogollagama said , before the summit a big cry over security has been raised by the United National Party and a concern about the safety of the leaders. He said during a UNP regime Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assaulted with a rifle butt during a guard of honor creating a big blot for the country. But he reminded, during the SAARC summit not even a fly was allowed to rest on any leader!
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