Govt ready for talks with Tamil moderates

Karunanidhi’s ‘love’ for Wanni civilians comes under fire:

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

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The Government reiterated its willingness to negotiate with the Tamil political parties to resolve the national problem amidst the political ‘drama’ staged by Tamil Nadu politicians who were trying to force the Government to stop stepping into the Tiger heartland.

This pre-election ‘love’ of Tamil Nadu for the Wanni civilians has been criticised by Indian and Lankan politicians who tagged it as a dubious act of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and called upon the Indian government not to intervene in Sri Lanka’s domestic policies to defeat the LTTE.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the Sunday Observer that the Indian government was keen that Sri Lanka commences negotiations to resolve the problem and President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is committed to find a lasting solution through negotiations called the All Party Conference. He said that all political parties had been asked to present proposals and if they were acceptable the President would implement it.

“The Government strongly believes that political problems should be solved politically and terrorism through military means”, Rajapaksa said adding that the President has directed the political parties to look beyond the 13th Amendment to resolve the problem.

“But this Government will not sit with Vellupillai Prabhakaran or the LTTE for any negotiations until they lay down arms”, the Defence Secretary said explaining how the LTTE used every opportunity to resolve the national issue.

He said that Prabhakaran had cheated five Presidents during the past twenty-five years and added that Prabhakaran ended each session after strengthening the outfit to procure arms and increase the manpower to attack the security forces. “It is total foolishness for anybody to talk to Prabhakaran or the LTTE now. Even the moderate Tamils say that the LTTE is not the sole representative of the Tamil people.

There are moderate Tamil leaders in this country. They are the people with whom the Government should talk to”, he said. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa, who continuously insists on banning the LTTE said that he still advocates a ban on the LTTE. “I think not only the LTTE but its front organisations and those institutions who help the LTTE should also be banned in Sri Lanka”, he said.