Enter democratic mainstream

President tells LTTE:

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

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President Mahinda Rajapaksa once again called on the LTTE to lay down arms and enter the democratic political mainstream. Addressing 14 political party representatives at the All Party Conference (APC) held at the President’s Secretariat yesterday, the President said that the country had reached a decisive stage to defeat terrorism and re-establish peace.

“That is the very reason why I am convening this conference. The government would not abandon the efforts to resolve the national problem. Definitely it would be a peace providing equal rights for all communities. We want to ensure their freedom and self respect”, he said.

The APC, which was summoned by the President Rajapaksa to find a solution to the national problem, was held without the participation of the TNA, UNP and the JVP yesterday. Four representatives from each party had been invited to the APC.

President Rajapaksa said that the political problems could not be addressed militarily and the government was ready to secure the democratic rights of the people in the North. “ Military operations are launched to destroy terrorism to create the conducive environment for democratisation. We do not mean to harass or harm people”, he said.

During the one and half long session, President Rajapaksa advised the political parties to find solutions which would help uplift the living standards of all the communities. “ If the LTTE is ready to lay down arms and enter into democracy, it is our responsibility to help them to guarantee their political rights”, he said adding that he expects help from all the political parties to bring peace to the country.

President Rajapaksa said that though it was a difficult task to find a political solution to the political issues existing today his strong conviction was to march forward hand in hand in search of a suitable solution.

“I believe there could be no military solution for political issues”, he said adding that the responsibility of the government was to ensure political rights for all the communities.

Representing the TMVP, its leader Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, speaking about the TMVP administration, said that the Eastern Tamils strongly believe the Mahinda Rajapaksa government as it kept all the promises that the government had made. “I recalled the promise given by the Defence Secretary four years back. He said that once the East was liberated, the administrative powers will be given to the Eastern people. This government kept their promise”, he told the ‘Sunday Observer’ after participating in the APC.

Muralitharan had thanked the Rajapaksa government for liberating the East from the LTTE dictatorship to bring normalcy. “Now people of the East think about their children’s education and they wanted to lead a decent life”, he said.

The TMVP leader said that the development progress brought under the TMVP administration should be appreciated though the TNA claims that no progress was made by the TMVP.

He said that he had requested President Rajapaksa to grant them more development facilities to develop the East.

Meanwhile, Muralitharan had explained to the APC how the LTTE leader Prabhakaran had breached the trust by re-organising while the peace talks were held. Pledging his support for the government, he reiterated that the LTTE leader would not enter into mainstream politics.

President Rajapaksa, who listened to political representatives and the Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramenayake cleared some doubts among them.

The minority political parties vented their displeasure to the Army Commander’s comments about minorities.

But the President explained to them that it was not the government policy and the Commander had only expressed his personal views.

The UNP did not participate at the APC as the party hierachy was attending the funeral of the late Gen. Janaka Perera.