'Separatist forces will be wiped out'

Chamikara WEERASINGHE

The Government has placed eradication of terrorism as its principal target in 2009 , Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka yesterday said addressing his staff on the first working day of the new year.

"The Government's main aim is to establish democracy in the North as it did in the East flushing out every single terrorist from the region," he said.

"We should select public representatives from among the public in the North and give them the responsibility of developing that region as we did in the Eastern Province," he said.

"The Government has decided to give priority to the development activities in the North, which have been abandoned for many years owing to the problem of terrorism," he said.

"The challenge before the Government is to see that a democratic structure is established in the North. However I must say that this challenge could be won over within this year," he asserted. "Once the cancer of terrorism has been removed, we are sure that the country will receive the light to grow on its own with the strength going to our cultural roots," he said.

"We share a culture of humanity and loving kindness. Our men and women in the battlefield, the Security Forces are fighting to open those doors of unity," he added.

"We have always protected the motherland with sacrifice. We will never let separatist forces to divide it," he stressed.