Talks only way of addressing Tamils' genuine aspirations: US official

Ranil Wijayapala

COLOMBO: The visiting US Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher said yesterday that negotiations was the only way of addressing the genuine aspirations of the Tamil community while expressing hopes that both parties would participate at the proposed talks to reverse the current situation towards the right direction.

Addressing the media in Colombo following his two day visit to Sri Lanka, Boucher expressed hope that both parties would demonstrate a great deal of restraint in making the proposed talks in Geneva successful. He said any decision to be taken at the upcoming talks would be towards the right direction.

Boucher said the US Government will continue to insist the LTTE to shun violence and enter the negotiation table to address the concerns of the Tamil community through negotiations.

"Fighting is not going to give anything to anybody," Boucher added.

Responding to a question regarding the Supreme Court judgement on the North and East merger, Boucher said the timing of the ruling is rather unfortunate since it raises many fundamental issues at a time the two parties were getting ready for talks in Geneva.

He said the US Government has always extended its military support to the Government to defend the country from any form of terrorism and will continue to have this relations in future too. He was referring to the proposed US-Sri Lanka Naval Exercise in the southern coast.

Boucher said the US Government has not allowed any terrorist organisation to engage in arms dealing in the United States and would take appropriate action against such organisations as it did in the past.