Tigers must feel the heat for what they have done - Anura

Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike has no doubts about the role of the LTTE in the August 12 assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar. Excerpts from his The Hindu interview:

What is the objective of your visit to New Delhi?

After I was unexpectedly allocated the portfolio of foreign affairs under very tragic circumstances, I wanted to send a loud and clear message to the world of our [Sri Lanka-India] friendship.

I still recall what my mother [Sirimavo Bandaranaike] said before she died. She said, remember, our best friend is India. And, our friends are the Gandhis. So, with the return of the Gandhi family ... it was only logical that I come here first. What effect do you think the tragic assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar will have on the peace process? It will have a tremendous effect because the evidence that we have so far found has definitely indicated that it was a job done by the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam].

He [Kadirgamar] was on the hit list, as you know, for the last 10-11 years. Why did they [the Tigers] choose this particular time? On the eve of Presidential elections, to kill him; it's something that puzzles a lot of us. It's very difficult for democratic politicians like us to put our mind frame into the mind frame of a terrorist killer.

We think democratically, they don't. So, why they chose [to kill Kadirgamar], and at this point, no one knows. Another good example is the killing of [former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe] Premadasa [by the LTTE] who sent out the IPKF [Indian Peace-Keeping Force], who played up to the LTTE, who gave vast amounts of money from the treasury [to the Tigers], which was totally illegal and immoral. We have evidence of it being transported to the north. He [Premadasa] brought them [the Tigers] to Colombo for several discussions and they killed him.

Now, the killing of Rajiv Gandhi was also something that nobody expected. They knew the wrath of the world would come on them, but they didn't care a hoot.

What is the future of the ceasefire agreement between your Government and the Tigers? Well, we are trying very hard ... [turns to Jayantha Dhanapala, Senior Adviser to President Chandrika Kumaratunga] Jayantha Dhanapala: The ceasefire has been violated 3,066 times by the LTTE up to the end of July and 136 times by the Government.

But, the Government's violations have been restricted to harassment at checkpoints, which is minor compared to the egregious violations of the LTTE, consisting of assassinations, abductions, various kinds of torture, and, of course, child recruitment, which is over 50 per cent of their violations. We have pointed out the imperfections in the ceasefire agreement because we know there are no sanctions at all for persistent violations.

It is a very imbalanced ceasefire agreement, but we continue with it because, as a responsible Government, we cannot abrogate a ceasefire and plunge the country into conflict.

At the same time, there is an urgent need, especially following the brutal killing of the Foreign Minister of the country, for us to try to find ways and means of stopping the killings. And, for some time, even before the assassination, we have been discussing with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission how best this can be done. Now, after the assassination, it has become more urgent.

So, what we have proposed is a technical-level discussion of the ceasefire agreement, conducted by the local military commanders with the military cadres of the LTTE so that all killings should stop.

We are not at all supportive of any killings on any side; we want the ceasefire to stop all killings and we want to stop all child recruitment as well. We would like to have this discussion in Sri Lanka and we have made this abundantly clear.

We are not talking about a discussion on the core issues of the peace process at this stage of the peace process because it would be far too premature given the current situation, where there is a total lack of trust.

What would you like the Indian Government to say or do at this juncture?

We would like the Indian Government to be very emphatic to the free world that this [the LTTE] is a terrorist organisation ... try to influence the Europeans, in particular, who have been misled by the Norwegians into various other channels, away from the LTTE. They must feel the heat for what they have done [the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar].

Election time is killing time. It [the Rajiv murder] happened during election time in India; it happened in Sri Lanka twice during elections. We are going to face two [Presidential and parliamentary] elections probably one after the other or [both] on the same day, I don't know.

India's concerns were expressed by sending its Defence Minister [Pranab Mukherjee] for his [Kadirgamar] funeral, which we appreciate very much. India has done everything it can, but we would like them to be very hard on them [the LTTE] for ceasefire violations and political killings. The United Kingdom has recently announced new steps against those who speak in favour of terrorist violence.

In the light of what's happened in Sri Lanka, should European Governments be more proactive on the question of LTTE activities like raising funds?

Definitely. I think the Europeans have been misinformed deliberately ... the role of Norway is under severe criticism in Sri Lanka. How will your Government manage the question of violence in the run-up to the elections? We cannot manage it. You'll could not manage it either.

How can we manage it? It's not possible. We really come back to the original point that we don't know what their [LTTE] agenda is; we don't know what they will do.