CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

DROP TERRORISM AND CHOOSE THE PATH OF DEMOCRACY, FOR SRILANKA TO COME FOR NEGOTIATIONS TELLS RAMBUKWELLA TO THE LTTE

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Sri Lanka government is only ready to start peace negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) if the warring rebels are ready to give up terrorism and choose a democratic path said Minister Keheliya Rambukwella the government’s cabinet defence spokesman.

"The government security forces are currently taking a definitive action to install democracy in areas where it is not available and rid the same of terrorism," Rambukwella said.

He said under no circumstances of peace, terrorism cannot be allowed and the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity could be compromised.

Rambukwella was replying in the midst of mounting pressure exerted by the friends of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam like Norway and state of Tamil Nadu in India to save LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who is now fighting the government forces with his back against the wall.

Following a conference held in Norway in which pro-LTTE elements mostly participated, LTTE’s closest ally in Tamil Nadu, Madumalarchy Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and obviously requested him to save the LTTE, whom he called the Sri Lanka Tamils. Man Mohan Singh told Vaiko that he would ask Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to look into the matter. Vaiko decided to see the Indian Prime Minister after meeting Norway’s International Development Minister Eric Solheim. Their discussion has not been published.

Addressing an army new year gathering Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka said during the course of the year the armed forces would rid the Northern Province of terrorism, like the security forces did in the Eastern Province. Sri Lankan cabinet Minister Maithripala Sirisena said in London addressing a New Year festival at the Thames Buddhist Vihara that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa would never slowdown his effort to rid the country of terrorism. He said people like Jeyaraj Fernandopulle would be killed but the terrorists could not scare the government even more people are going to be killed and the government would carry on the anti-terrorism struggle regardless.

Indian spiritual guru Sri Ravi Shankar who organized the Oslo conference has expressed his wish to play the peacemaker in the war-torn country. Claiming that he enjoys the trust of both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, Ravi Shankar has told newsmen that he did not need any invitation to act to try ending one of the world’s longest running armed conflicts.

Meanwhile , reports said that the supply of arms from Tamil Nadu to the LTTE has increased during recent times. India’s opposition has accused that the DMK administration of Chief Minister Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu has created favourable grounds to the LTTE.

Meanwhile karunanidhi has suggested that India should intervene and bring the two parties for a negotiations. Since a LTTE suicide bomber killed former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi India has been staying away from the Sri Lankan conflict and has not directly intervened ever since then.

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