Let us fight terrorism first, engage in politics later - Basil

The speech by Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa at the Emergency Debate on 9th October.

"After the last emergency debate the heroic warriors of the three Security Forces achieved several victories and thereafter again we have come before the House for an Emergency debate and I feel if my good fortune to join such a debate. You know during the last presidential campaign the various political parities, 27 of them including the JVP, JHU, MEP and many other political parties got together and went before the people in order to get the mandate with the election manifesto called the Mahinda Vision.

Accordingly, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected on the 19th November 2005, and sworn in as President when he was preparing to go ahead with the Mahinda Vision, on 08th January, 15 days after he took oaths seven army officers were killed by a claymore bomb explosion. So the LTTE did not give this government an opportunity to go ahead with this program. On that occasion the President and the government first consulted the security sections and obtained a true assessment of the situation of the country. However, the Mahinda Vision has very clearly indicated that the power of all the people will be strengthened and he said that it was his target to bring about a political solution to the national question. His and the government's aim was to achieve a political solution to the problem which is prevailing in the North and East. Accordingly, he took great efforts despite many provocations at the outset to give a peaceful solution to the problem.

Accordingly on 15th December, 2005 through Dr. John Gunaratne of the Peace Secretariat, this Government indicated to the LTTE, he invited the LTTE for peace negotiations and during the same period the LTTE had been away from the peace negotiations for over two years and eight months. The then Prime Minister and the LTTE had signed a ceasefire Agreement following seven or eight rounds of talks. But the LTTE walked out of these negotiations. the LTTE had violated the ceasefire agreement 3428 times and 67 murders had taken place. Even when we sent a letter of invitation to the LTTE, the number stood at that high rate and however we took efforts to get them into the negotiation table and it is stated in the Mahinda Vision for the first time the President summoned an All Party Conference on 19th December for the purpose of reaching a political solution and he had said that he as a person respecting the majority view that he would respect the decisions of the majority. Accordingly, on the 22nd and 23rd of February we had discussions in Geneva between the LTTE and the Government. After 2 years and 10 months...

"Even after coming to the negotiations the LTTE violated the ceasefire agreement. For example on 25th March they attacked a Dovra belonging to the Navy and killed 8 navymen. Thereafter on the A-9 road a claymore bomb was detonated and 5 soldiers and five civilians were killed. In Thambalagama ten navymen and two foreigners were wounded by an attack by LTTE. One naval personnel was killed. In Trincomalee one police officer was killed, 49 civilians were injured and 9 of the civilians died of the attack. On the 5th of April there was another provocative attack. But on 25th of April for the first time they came to the Army Headquarters and made an attempt on the life of the Army Chief. It was on that particular day, we decided to launch one single attack on Sampur by air. By that time in addition to the killings before the taking of oaths by the present President, 164 killings had been committed by the LTTE, and it was on that day that we had to launch an attack. And next we had to launch a humanitarian operation in Mavilaru. 317 members of the armed services had been killed by that time. After that we must say despite all these operations we are prepared to move towards a peaceful political solution. We have not stopped exploring the possibility of such a solution, we have made attempts through the APC, we have also had talks with Tamil leaders who are peaceloving. We are still continuing it, with Anandasangari and Douglas Devananda are in this House. The breakaway faction of the TULF, the TMVF which is operative in the East, we are prepared to talk to all these Tamil organisations with regard to problems the Tamil people have and we are prepared to give peaceful solution to the Tamil people's problem.

"As soon as the President came into power we got information of the LTTE from the intelligent sources and they had told the government clearly that the their ulterior motive would be to never support a peaceful solution to this problem. But the government wanted a peaceful solution. They had a ulterior motive and since the signing of the ceasefire agreement when their actions were considered, their motive was to strengthen and not to fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil people of that area. The armed forces and the intelligence services brought this to the notice of the government and we were compelled on one hand to act in the face of LTTE motives while we were thinking of a political solution on the other hand. On the basis of our actions, the government and a specially the Armed Forces were helpless at that time and I can remember the Defence Secretary went to Jaffna at once, and when he reached Palali from where the Commanders of the three forces and the Defence Secretary wanted to go to Jaffna Fort from Palali but the Security forces advised them not to use the same vehicle but to use five but, I am sorry to say the armed forces in Jaffna did not have enough vehicles to provide transport for them. At that time the armed forces did not have multi-barrels. Even the Navy did not have Dovra and sometimes they did not have boots or socks that were necessary. That was the situation of the armed forces faced at that time. This situation was changed by the government, in order to boost the morale of the forces. In 2006, 7,236 new soldiers were recruited and by 2007 it was increased to 24,352, so after President came into power 31,582 new personnel were recruited to the Army and it has been strengthened and to 10,891 personnel were recruited for the Navy and 4621 for the Air Force and for the STF, 1,494 and a total of 1,094 new recruits were taken in for the STF. And in the Police at that time, there was a shortage of personnel. Accordingly to the Circular No. 16 of 2001 no new recruits have been added to Police force. A total number of recruitment was 10,148. Thereby for the armed forces and the Police, 59,142 have been recruited. Now we have 34,900 personnel for the civil protection unit. That means for all security forces 74,619 new personnel have been recruited. Perhaps people may say because of this - I will explain the results of the home guard service as we increase the numbers of personnel we acted to provide necessary equipment for them. We have provided arms for vehicles and buffers have been provided and over 200 surveillance and body armours were provided. They were imported earlier but now they are locally made. Produced them locally, we are unable to provide 40,000 body armours, jackets and not only that for the navy specially including the ship "Sagara" received from India, we have provided a ship or a boat and modern guns. The guns we had in the Navy earlier were of the same LTTE capacity but we have provided more efficient bush master guns to the Navy and today the Navy is achieving victories with the fullest support from the government. At the same time, to strengthen the air force we have increased the strength by 100 per cent and we are enjoying the fruits of that now and with the help of arms provided by the friendly countries for air defence we have obtained a free delivery of shipments of radar equipment. They are fully active now. So we have been able to strengthen the air force because we must state it clearly the LTTE is not just a terrorist organisation, it is the only terrorist organisation in the world which has air power. Even Al-Queda does not have or any other terrorist organisation does not have air power like the LTTE and their strength in the Navy and the suicide cadres and even we have to consider the number of years behind them as an experienced terrorist organisation. So, to meet the challenge of that terrorist organisation, if we are to meet that challenge we must strengthen our Forces for that challenge specially people of this country have made a great sacrifice for the sake of the country. As a government we have acted to get the fullest benefit out of that. If we were to face the LTTE when we should know their plans and we have to face those challenges. According to information received from the intelligence sources their intention at first was to attack border villages.

After the LTTE's brutal attack on several villages in Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Moneragala we increased the civil security unit. We increased the number of personnel of security by 15,476 and these home guards were provided to give protection to these villages and they were provided vehicles. Vehicles are also provided to the religious place and we also provided roads and all other facilities to those areas.

Facilities

We acted to make it possible for the villagers to remain in those areas without leaving these areas fearing the LTTE. I must mention regarding this, increase of home guards the allocations made for these districts - to give an example there were 93 villages under threat in Polonnaruwa. Even during last month 60 million rupees were paid as salaries for home guard in 49 villages in Trincomalee - 137 million for villages in Anuradhapura. So in this manner for all 566 villages we had to spend the 400 million to pay the salaries of these reserved home guards. On their request, we provide more facilities. We have also increased the common amenities for the residents in the villages under threat and because of these actions taken by the government, I must say except in Vavuniya in all these villages, the protection of the civilians was strengthened 100 per cent by the Government as we have come to know they had another target that was to frighten the schoolchildren and their parents. You might remember, once we had to close-down schools in the entire island because telephone messages were given that LTTE were to attack the schools and frighten the students regarding this matter. The Minister of Education and the Security Forces specially the security forces and the Police and the Media were used by the government to launch the program called 'Kumara Pawura' in the presence of the Principals, teachers and parents for the security of the schools. At that time the LTTE were trying to harass the schools. We paid attention to the fact that with the support of all these officers specially with support of the teachers, parents and the students we ensured the security of schools.

Rumours

Then as a terrorist organisation, they had their propaganda internationally and locally to defame the government as well as the security forces. They spread all sorts of rumours. So, if we are fighting against terrorism we have to counter their propaganda. We have special programme in this regard. We have implemented these program. Especially we have established a media centre for national security and certain institutions and organisations that act on behalf of the LTTE. We have attempted to counter the propaganda of these organisations and I when to say that the Defence website maintained by the Ministry of Defence is access as 900,000 per day and expatriate Sri Lankans not only Sinhalese but especially Tamils, who reside in England and Europe access it. Those Tamil civilians get information from this website and through them we have successfully faced those allegations made against the government and the armed forces. And they also wanted to destroy the international support we had and there is a global economy and in global politics we cannot be isolated I read some of the speeches made at the Emergency Debate last month, one issue raised there was the international support. We take pride to say that as it has happened earlier our closest friend, India we have had a very cordial relationship. We have been able to get their support especially when there was a motion moved against Sri Lanka at the UNHCR and they supported Sri Lanka. India and Japan supported Sri Lanka I do not think that we have had so much support from India as we are getting now. Earlier in history it was - because India was very concerned about the North and the East and because of that we have been able to maintain a cordial relationship with India. Not only that we have been able to get the LTTE banned in many countries especially in Europe. 27 European countries including the UK, Sweden, Holland, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria.

And a number of countries have also promised us to take legal action against the LTTE. At present the FBI of America has taken legal action against the LTTE arm suppliers. Similarly Britain had taken action against the LTTE arm suppliers. So these were some of the steps that we have taken. And another important step that we had taken was to get the support of the working class to suppress the LTTE. We have held discussions with various trade unions and we put in place various programs to protect these institutions. I also must mention that nurses and doctors and other para-medical officers have extended their fullest support in cooperating with the armed forces. And public sector employees at all levels have extended their support to maintain the public sector in proper order. And when power interruptions in places like Seruwila and Kallari, action was taken to give power supply to Kallari through Trincomalee and Kinniya and when there was an attack our armed forces could not operate some of their radio equipment as there was no electricity to charge those equipment.

Hon. Presiding Officer, I must say that now the number of strikes in the country has come to a very low level. In 2002, there were 12,239 industrial disputes. In 2003, there were 12,034. In 2004 it decreased to 9024. It further dropped to 3105 in 2005. The figure for 2006 is 3470. From January this year, the number of strikes were only 14. Accordingly, the number of days lost due to industrial disputes has decreased rapidly Therefore I must thank the working class of this country on behalf of the government. At the same time, the Defence Ministry and especially the Security Forces have taken steps to use financial management as well as local and expert knowledge to the maximum in conducting the war effort. In this regard, we have established a research and development centre to engage the services of the University. Teachers and academicians of this country. Moreover, with a view to excluding intermediaries in arms purchases and to get maximum financial benefit by that effort we have establishment a Company called 'Lanka Logistics & Technology'. This has resulted in getting financial benefits as well as the facility of preserving information regarding war within the Establishment. At the same time, we have been able to establish long term supply routes as well. This has not been limited to words, but action has been taken to promulgate Emergency Regulations in this regard. We have gazetted a special regulation excluding the possibility of intervention by citizens of Sri Lanka in arms purchases to the security forces. We expect to legislate it in the near future. All the arms to be purchased are listed in this. Accordingly, no citizen or company in this country would be able to intervene as an intermediary in arms purchases.

You are well aware that with the operations at Toppigala, by July 11th we were able to drive away the LTTE from whole of the East. Accordingly the President and the Government started the 'Awakening of the East' on 19th July. I will show you a map of Batticaloa District.

Only a stretch of land was under Government control before these operations. The map could be tabled for inclusion in Hansard. This was given to me by TNA MP Ariyanethran in Batticaloa. Only limited parts of the East were under government control then. There was a large area uncleared by that time. All these areas have now been cleared.

We must emphaise here that it is not the policy of the Government to take hold of land. We must first of all win over the people. When we think of the East, it is one of the most important areas of the country. Some people try to under-estimate its value. This area is about 9996 square metres in extent.

On one side in the South there is Hambantota District. On the other side there are the Districts of Monaragala, Badulla, Matale, Polonnaruwa, Anburadhapura, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu. From Panana in the South upto Pulmuddai this District runs for more than 286 kilometres.

The width is about 86 kilometres. The coastline is about 420 kilometres long 26% of the coastline of the entire country is contained in the East. At the same time very picturesque areas of Sri Lanka like Pasikuda, Arugambe and Nilaweli beaches are in this coastline.

Not only that. In the 45 Divisional Secretariats in the Eastern Province, there are 2209 villages. Out of the 101 rivers of Sri Lanka, 32 flow into the Indian Ocean from the East. On one side there is the Kumbukkan Oya and Yan Oya is situated on the other side. The longest river of Sri Lanka, Mahaweli flows into the sea through the East. Moreover, the only natural mineral resources that are being exported from Sri Lanka at this time are found in Pulmuddai.

Not only that. When we consider the Fisheries industry we are able to engage in that industry from Andaman Islands to Diego Garcia without interruption. There are many lagoons in this area.

There are 73 large tanks. Out of the paddy lands of the entire country 21.5% are in the East i.e. nearly 1,20,321 hectares. More than all that, the most important resources are also available in the East. In this regard we would especially request the M.Ps representing the East that they should co-operate with us in developing the East without any party differences. This province lagged behind in development over a long period of time. Even during the British period the East was neglected. You are aware that the British constructed roads then. They constructed bridges all over the island. Bridges were constructed between the islands in Jaffna. There are 17 causeways in the East from Arugambe in Amparai to Pulmoddai. Bridges were not constructed in these areas.

Now, I wish to make an explanation of the situation of the displaced in Jaffna. We are aware that a large number of people in the East are still displaced. I have details of the displaced before the President took office. A large number of Sinhala, Muslim and Tamils from Kebitigollawa to Muthur, Seruwila, Kiran and Chenkaladi have been displaced.

Now the Government has taken steps to resettle the displaced so soon,. The displaced from Jaffna and the North are now in Puttalam. By t he 2nd October this year, they have completed 17 years in these camps. They have not yet been resettled. Out of the 59,861 families of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim displaced due to war, nearly 45,584 have now been resettled by us. This accounts for 1,57,362 people. We have yet to settle 12,326 families. I must specifically state here that steps would be taken to resettle those displaced from the South and Chenkaladi and Eravur within one month from now, with the blessings of the Ministers of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services. Before this cultivation season, they would be resettled. They would be given all facilities necessary to carry on their modes of living. Next, we are aware of the displaced in Muthur and Sampur. The resettlement of the people would be started during this week.

In conclusion, I would like to remind you all and especially those of the UNP that you have no reason to abstain from voting for the Emergency Regulations. UNP is one of the most affected political parties due to LTTE attacks. The great leaders of the UNP such as Hon. Premadasa, Hon. Gamini Dissanayake, Hon. Ranjan Wijeratne, Hon. Lalith Athulatmudali and many others were killed by the LTTE. So we must all get together to fight this terrorism. We can engage in politics thereafter. We invite them to extend their co-operation further. Our struggle is not with the innocent Tamil people. Their position has changed over the years. Jaffna was a seat of learning in Sri Lanka in those good old days. Today 75% of them live on government aid.

At the movement we give some kind of allowance to 75% of Jaffna people. Therefore, at this juncture, I request the Members to extend their support in this task.