Fully armed Tigers cannot hoodwink Govt again - Rajiva

by Shanika Sriyananda

Sri Lankan government has decided to refrain from taking part peace talks with the LTTE terrorists until the outfit give up its commitment for military offencives and lay down arms to bring about a clear political solution to end the national problem.

“We need a very clear road map to initiate peace negotiations with the LTTE”, the Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Peace Process (SCOPP) Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha said.

Prof. Wijesinha, who is now in Geneva said that there was no sign of commitment from the LTTE to resume peace talks and they intend to continue to pursue their goal militarily.

He said that still the genuineness of the LTTE is questionable when consider the past experiences of peace talks under the regimes of late President R. Premadasa, the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

“When going by past experience it is very difficult to believe in their genuineness. Therefore, if they come for peace talks they should give a clear guarantee that they have laid down arms. They should follow the same procedure as in Ache, Nepal and even IRA”, he said.

“We have to be sure that there is a genuine commitment to peaceful negotiations, and that any moves are not designed to provide photo opportunities for false propaganda”, he said adding that the practices of previous negotiations, starting from the Thimpu talks, and through 1990 and 1995 and 2002, indicate that the LTTE claims to negotiate mean mass killing of other Tamil political forces, plus renewed stockpiling of weapons.

“This cannot be allowed. Now that so many Tamil parties are taking an active part in electoral politics, their safety too must be guaranteed”, he pointed out.

Commenting on the present situation in Wanni, according to the information received by the SCOPP, Prof. Wijesinha said that the government supplies adequate food stocks, medical supplies and even education continues.

“All these are funded by the government. Although last year we had to think of contingency plans in case of large numbers being displaced, given the care and concern for civilians exhibited both by the forces, and by government officials - in particular the District Secretaries in those areas who are in regular contact with Colombo to indicate needs and problems.

The situation is better than anticipated”, he said. He said, however, according to recent UN reports, forced conscription by the LTTE are still continuing, with two recruits being demanded from many families instead of just one as earlier.

“It seems recent marriages are being cancelled, since the LTTE believes young people get married to escape conscription. A UTHR report also indicated that resentment was growing, and actually claimed that one of the bombs that had taken civilian lives was a result of this”, he said.

Prof. Wijesinha said that the Foreign Secretary had brought the LTTE’s fund-raising activities to the notice of the EU Commission and the matter was again raised during the final statements for the Universal Periodic Review held in Geneva last week.

“We have indicated how continuing funding contributed to our worries. Earlier, I had spoken to EU Commissioner Fratini, who was responsible for Justice and Terrorism and also to the Italian Foreign Minister about the LTTE’s fund-raising.

There he had agreed that there were inconsistencies in the European approach, but he hoped these would be ironed out when the new treaty was ratified - that would give greater coherence”, he said.

He said that Sri Lanka should be grateful to countries such as France and Britain and the US and Australia and now Canada who are doing their best to stop LTTE’s fund-raising”, he said.

However, The government has rejected the request by the Norwegian team headed by the Norway’s Special Peace Envoy John Bauer to visit Wanni.

The team was asked by the government to indicate the reason why they want to visit North.

The position re-visits to Wanni has been very clear, i.e. there is no point in visits that will not promote peace. Visits that are then blown up in LTTE media outlets as foreigners showing their approval are not acceptable.

So we want a clear road map of what is intended together with concrete evidence that the LTTE has given up violence and is committed to a democratic pluralist state where peace prevails, he said.

*Meanwhile, President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was in London last week, reiterated the government’s stand not to resume peace talks with the LTTE until the terrorists were disarmed. In an interview with ‘The Time’ he explained how the LTTE exploited the ceasefire to regain its military and manpower strength and fought back with more vigour.