Govt will not tolerate human rights abuses - Foreign Minister

KOTTE: President Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration cannot and will not be party to any human rights violations of our people, wherever they may be, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said yesterday.

"President Rajapaksa will not tolerate any human rights violations because his political career is based on championing human rights in the face of grave danger, intimidation and threats. Extra judicial killings of even those guilty, abductions and kidnappings will not be condoned nor tolerated," Minister Samaraweera said.

"Even in the finest Army, there can be found a few truants. These few bad apples do not represent the vast majority of the military and they must not be allowed to tarnish the image of the Army. Some members of the Armed Forces believe that miscreants should not be punished as it would demoralise the military. I strongly disagree with this concept. Punishing wrongdoers, if proven guilty, will only strengthen the morale of military personnel who serve our Nation with honour, distinction, commitment and discipline," he added.

As the President said in his inaugural speech, 'As a long standing human rights activist at the grass roots level and the President of all communities in my country, Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils and others, peace I envisage will ensure human rights for all and multi-party democracy in our country.'

Minister Samaraweera said for the first time since the tragedy of our country began nearly three decades ago, we have a window of opportunity to solve the problem.

He said: "Let the violence come to an end. The blood of our youth must cease to flow. Certainly there are problems; but they can only be solved across a negotiating table and not by killing each other in the jungles of Vanni. Let us talk, let us build the trust."

It was time for all of us to say "enough is enough".

The Minister said: "As this august assembly debates the second budget of the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, we also commemorate the first anniversary of the President's decisive victory on November 17 last year which was a mandate for peace and economic prosperity for Sri Lanka.

"As envisioned in his manifesto Mahinda Chinthana, President Rajapaksa identified economic development as the most critical issue facing us today and made it his number one priority. His ascendancy to the presidency is a clear indication of the people of Sri Lanka choosing social democracy as espoused in Mahinda Chinthana over the neo-liberal agenda pursued by his main opponent," Samaraweera said.

Economic development in Sri Lanka is intrinsically entwined with a durable peace.

"There can be no sustainable economic development in Sri Lanka without a permanent peace and a lasting solution to the conflict. Therefore, the Government has given utmost priority and is completely focused on seeking a negotiated settlement with the LTTE.

In his inauguration speech last year, President Rajapaksa stated that 'to achieve this noble goal my Government will be ready to engage the LTTE in discussing a political solution when the LTTE declares their readiness to resume negotiations, which they unilaterally abandoned.

To this end, I shall soon initiate consultations with all parties concerned as a matter of top priority with a view to building consensus. My priority work in this area will include consultations with friendly countries who have worked with us in the past in regard to the peace process.

While these consultations are under way, I reaffirm my Government's continued commitment to the ceasefire and my Government's readiness to review the operations of the ceasefire, as soon as the LTTE is ready to do so, in order to effectively enforce its provisions especially those relating to political killings, abductions, child soldiers and other human rights.'

In pursuing this objective the President even offered to sit down with the LTTE leader Prabakaran and "walk that extra mile for peace."

Yet, Prabakaran's response to the President's sincere and genuine invitation to settle the conflict through negotiations was to unleash a campaign of violence and terror which to-date has taken the lives of more than 1,035 civilians and 1,069 members of the Armed Forces."

Samaraweera said throughout this period, President Rajapaksa has showed enormous amount of patience and restraint which, frankly speaking, no other leader would have shown.

"We recently saw how the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers sparked off a terrible war which brought untold suffering to thousands of people on both sides of the divide. However, even after hundreds of military deaths, the President has been wise enough to exercise restraint as he is well aware of the horror and the futility of war.

"In face of such continued provocations, suicide bombings, claymore mine attacks, assassinations and blatant human rights abuses, the Government has been reluctantly compelled to defend itself, especially since the suicide attack on the Army Commander. But military action in every one of these instances has been limited in time and scope and were carried out purely as defensive measures.

The suicide bomb attempt on the Army Commander, Assassination of Gen. Kulatunge, Kebithigollawa, Mavilaru, the truck bombing of a naval bus depot, attack on Galle Harbour, are but a few of the atrocities committed by the LTTE in the past year. Despite the violence, the Government was prepared to hold unconditional talks with the LTTE. Yet, the LTTE in its usual style shied away from the negotiating table after two days of talks in Geneva in February.

Under intense international pressure, the LTTE agreed to meet in Norway, but after having arrived in Oslo, they snubbed the Norwegian facilitators by refusing to meet with the Government delegation on a lame and unacceptable excuse.

With mounting global pressure from the United States, European Union,

Japan and India, the LTTE was forced, albeit grudgingly, to return to the negotiating table on September 29. The EU ban was an important factor that subtly pushed the LTTE to the negotiating table. I believe the threat of being banned in Japan, which was conveyed to the LTTE by Special Envoy Akashi the last time he visited the Vanni, was yet another pressure point.

We must also recognise the vital role the US Government played in clearly indicating to the LTTE that terrorism does not pay."

In January 2006, Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns stated "the burden of peace rests upon the LTTE. We hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun."

The United States has matched their words with action by cracking down on fundraising and arms procurement activities within their borders.

The Contact Group Initiative to stop arms procurement by the LTTE elsewhere in the world can be seen as an added disincentive for the LTTE to return to the negotiating table. The commitment and support extended to us by the US Government must be applauded by all Sri Lankans.

Of course, we cannot forget India, our great neighbour and old friend who has played an important role in trying to forge a settlement in our country. Despite domestic political compulsions and pressures, the continued support of the Indian Government for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country must also be appreciated by all Sri Lankans.

In order to counter the intense international pressure, the LTTE has mounted a systematic campaign to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka. In a vain attempt to offset its horrendous record of human rights violations and child abductions, the LTTE is now accusing the Government of all sorts of similar atrocities.

The chorus for the LTTE campaign are provided by a few local

NGO mouthpieces following their own selfish agendas for monetary gain as well as some well meaning but clueless foreigners who have taken on the role of 19th century sermonisers who came here to pontificate and harangue

us natives on how best to govern our own country.

I would not dare presume that the Government is without any shortcomings on its part. Nevertheless, the military has behaved in an extraordinarily disciplined manner under the most trying circumstances. As a matter of fact, the United Nations have chosen soldiers from the Sri Lanka Army, due

to its strict discipline, to serve as peacekeepers in many trouble spots around the world. There are 1,000 members of the Sri Lankan armed forces serving in five countries - Western Sahara, Haiti, Congo, Liberia and Sudan and we provide a significant contingent of peacekeepers for the UN.

Having said that, even in the most disciplined army, there are a few wayward elements. Young lads working under extreme conditions, risking getting killed or maimed on a daily basis, may on rare occasions take the law into their own hands. If such undisciplined elements exist in our Armed Forces, we will take stringent measures to punish them. In fact, President

Rajapaksa ordered the arrest of several soldiers in the aftermath of the killing of several students in Trincomalee. While the Government wanted to prosecute these offenders, the courts ordered them released due to lack of evidence.

Regarding the incident in Muttur where 17 aid workers were killed, the Government has appointed a commission of inquiry to be monitored by a team of imminent international persons. The delay in appointing this committee is due to certain countries that still have not sent us their list of nominees. No sooner we get the names of the nominees from the relevant countries, the work of the actual Commission of Inquiry headed by Hon. Justice Nissanka Udalagama will commence.

The Government welcomes any and all verifiable information and evidence related to the killings of Lakshman Kadirgamar, Joseph Pararajasingham, Kethesh Loganathan, Sarojini Yogeswaran, and 90 other moderate Tamil politicians who have been killed over the years.

The indecent haste in which the Rupasinghes of this world accuse the Government when tragic incidents of this nature happens, is in stark contrast to their deafening silence when the brightest and best of the Tamil polity are systematically eliminated over the years by the LTTE.

In the presence of solid evidence, the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice and I can assure this House that there will be no "cover up" in the face of reliable and verifiable evidence.

If there are undisciplined elements in the Armed Forces, the Military hierarchy should not hesitate to punish these miscreants who tarnish the image of our armed forces. As I said before, we have a committed and highly disciplined military. Our Security Forces personnel serve their nation with great honour and valour.

Sri Lanka, one of the oldest democracies in the world, must always be above reproach and a democratically elected Government such as ours should never allow room for critics to compare us with a violent terrorist organisation. Terrorism must be combatted vigorously and fearlessly but in doing so, we must always be aware of our obligations as a duly elected democratic Government.

All actions in combatting terrorism must be within the rule of the law. A democratic Government does not have the luxury of resorting to terrorism even while dealing with one of the most deadly terrorist groups on the world.

Our job at hand is to find a durable solution to the problem and not merely score debating points at the negotiating table while the death toll of this terrible tragedy continues to rise each day.

1. If the international community genuinely wishes to help Sri Lanka find a durable peace, they should see our problem in its true perspective. Sri Lanka's ethnic problem, for which a solution has eluded us for nearly thirty years is very complex and nuanced. Contrary to what some might believe, Sri Lanka's problem is not a classic textbook case of conflict resolution where a standard boilerplate solution could be applied.

2. A romanticised notion of LTTE being "freedom fighters" is the biggest obstacle for some of our wide eyed friends in understanding Sri Lanka's ethnic issue.

3. LTTE is not a freedom fighting movement but an organization

dependent on the whims and fancies of a single man whose heroes happen to be Josef Stalin and Napoleon Bonaparte. Need I say more? While the Tamils of this country have genuine grievances, the LTTE neither represents them nor fight for their grievances. They are engaged in a bloody terror campaign solely to carve out a separate independent state in Sri Lanka where Prabhakaran can establish his dictatorial and fascist rule.

4. Despite these grievances, the majority of the Tamil citizens choose to live in the democratic, pluralistic, multicultural environment outside the LTTE controlled areas.

Fifty four per cent of Sri Lanka Tamils live outside the North and East of the country. Some of the largest contributors to Sri Lanka's economy are Tamil businessmen who are based in the south and want no part of the LTTE.

5. Today we have yet to find a solution to the grievances of the Tamil people, but it's not for the lack of trying by successive Sri Lanka Governments. From Thimpu talks during J. R. Jayewardene to the indo-Lanka accord to Ranasinghe Premadasa and from Chandrika Bandaranaike to Ranil Wickremesinghe, each successive Government has tried to negotiate a settlement with the LTTE to no avail.

We have some cause for optimism because for the first time, President Rajapaksa is working on finding consensus of everyone at the All Party Conference and a committee of experts to find a solution. However, up to now, the LTTE has not publicly committed to any solution other than Eelam.

In fact, every moderate politician who tried to propose a solution other than a separate state has been eliminated by the LTTE. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Gamini Dissanayake, the chief architects of the Indo-Lanka Accord, Ranasinghe Premadasa who initiated direct talks with the LTTE, and Neelan Thiruchelvan one of the chief movers of the 1997 Region of Councils Constitutional Draft and Lakshman Kadirgamar were all murdered while President Chandrika Bandaranaike narrowly escaped a suicide bomb attack where she lost an eye.

For the first time since the tragedy of our country began nearly three decades ago, we have a window of opportunity to solve the problem; a national consensus is emerging and even the UNP leader has stated that his support will be forthcoming in resolving the national question. If we are to let this opportunity slip, generations to come will curse us.

Members of the TNA, Members of the PA, Members of the JVP and Members of the UNP, let us stop trying to scored debating points, while the deaths of many valuable lives continue to mount.

LTTE and their sympathizers will gloat over the death of our soldiers; Tamilnet will gleefully announce that hundreds soldiers were killed while some Sri Lankan newspapers will splash the news of the death of 200 Tigers.

Aren't they all Sri Lankans? Aren't they sons and daughters of our soil? Aren't they young, precious vigorous lives who should be joining hands to build and develop our nation? Let us not forget for a moment that the young soldier sacrificing his life for our country, the young girl with a cyanide capsule around her neck fighting in the jungles of Vanni and the Muslim mother languishing in a refugee camp in Mannar are all Sri Lankans; our kith and kin; the lifeblood of our nation."