No let up on LTTE - PM

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka told Parliament yesterday under no circumstance will the Government suspend the ongoing military operations against LTTE terrorists until they completely wiped out from the face of the land.

Speaking during the Emergency debate, the Prime Minister said any sovereign country must have the independence to sort out its internal crisis peculiar to that country.

If the Government wants, it can also seek the assistance of other stakeholders in this regard.

“Therefore, no force has the power to stop the moves taken by the Government to eradicate terrorism,” the Premier said.

The Prime Minister said the Government is ready to welcome anybody who is willing to enter mainstream politics by laying down their weapons. Since its inception, the Government maintained this stand.

The LTTE which claimed to be the sole representative of the Tamil community has trapped innocent civilians to be used as a human shield. However, the media had published that a group of LTTE cadres are going to surrender to the Government.

“This is an intelligent decision taken by the LTTE. Even after three decades, they have realised the truth. Steps should be taken to democratically sort out the problems without destroying the country’s resources or killing innocent civilians,” he said.

“At present our heroic Armed Forces have achieved many victories. They are now in the process of finding the LTTE leader who attempted to display to the entire world, he is the biggest terrorist in the world.

It is our primary responsibility to create the necessary environment to safeguard these historic victories achieved by our valiant soldiers,” he said.

“In a situation where our motherland has marched forward towards to a historic success, we could celebrate our 61st Independence Day on a grandscale,” the Premier said.

He said, “Our main election pledge given to the people was to eliminate terrorism and bring peace to the country. The country’s people gave an unprecedented mandate to us to fulfill this task.

Since the day we came to power, initiatives were taken by the Government to create the necessary environment which would lead to create a stable peace in the country.

The Government could liberate the Eastern Province from the clutches of the LTTE and restore democracy in that province. As a result, certain elements who had placed their trust in weapons could understand the strength and importance of democracy. Today they have become the key leaders of the Eastern Province development.”

“The Government wanted to create a similar situation within the Northern Province as well. We launched our humanitarian operations in the North to achieve this objective. At present our heroic Armed Forces have engaged in their military operations by making great sacrifices.”

The Prime Minister said we requested everybody to join hands and act based on a common feeling at this critical juncture.

The country’s people clearly understood this situation by extending their fullest cooperation to the Government. The people are ready to make any sacrifice to wipe out terrorism which has become a serious obstacle to the future of their children. This patriotic feeling created among the people has become a great strength to our war heroes to conduct their operations.

“At present the LTTE is attempting to get the sympathy of the world community by spreading various false propaganda. But all world leaders have realised that terrorism has become a serious threat to the entire world.

Therefore, they have extended their fullest support towards our humanitarian operations launched to put an end to terrorism. In addition, various international organisations have warned the LTTE to immediately stop their terrorist activities.