Moderate Tamil opinion favourable to ethnic harmony - Minister Rajitha Senaratne

By Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Government’s allegation against UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardene’s participation in an anti-Sri Lankan protest in London and UNP MP Karu Jayasuriya’s controversial statement to a weekly English newspaper on the alleged war crime charges have created a controversy in the political arena. The Sunday Observer interviewed Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne to ascertain the Government’s stance on these two issues.

Dr. Senaratne said sometimes there is no difference between the utterances made by the Eelam lobby and those by some UNP MPs. It looks like the same jokers in the same card-pack with different colours. However, the Minister made clear the Government’s utmost commitment to have discussions with the moderate Tamil diaspora to bring a political solution.

Q: Has the Government handed over to the Speaker the resolution against UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardene?

A: Yes. We have handed over the resolution to the Speaker to hold an inquiry to ascertain whether MP Jayawardene took part in any activity against the Sri Lankan State. We as Members of Parliament have taken an oath to safeguard the unitary State of the country and to do everything against the division of the country. If any MP engages in any act which leads to the division or against the unity of the country, that means he is violating his oath. MP Jayawardene denied the allegation and said he was not in London on that day when President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in London to address the Oxford Union.

Q: MP Jayawardene however categorically denied this allegation and said this is just an attempt by the Government to tarnish his image. Your comments?

A: We have to inquire and see whether he had actually taken part in any organising committee meeting on that event of the Tamil Eelam lobby. We will also inquire whether he had anything to do with the Tamil Eelam lobby to create problems for the Government. Referring to a photograph carried by a web site, the MP said that it relates to an Inter Parliamentary Union meeting held on the issue of Sarath Fonseka’s human rights. But we have to examine and see what role MP Jayawardene had played there.

Q: How do you view President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decision to visit London to address the Oxford Union?

A: The President was invited by the Oxford Union. The Oxford Union is a place for liberty and freedom. Actually it is very pathetic that some extremists interfered with the freedom and liberty which Oxford has been promoting during its entire history. It’s more damaging to the Oxford Union than to the President.

Q: What is the main purpose of these pro-LTTE elements’ attempts at sabotaging the President’s address to the Oxford Union?

A: The Western block and the Eelam lobby stand together. These Western countries say they have banned the LTTE, yet they have allowed the Pro-LTTE elements to carry the Eelam flag and engage in their activities. I don’t know what they mean by ban. If they can allow LTTEers to demonstrate in the centre of London, they should also allow Al-Qaueda sympathisers to rally around and carry Al-Qaueda flags in London. They also speak about the human rights of the Arab nations. They say the American imperialists and the British imperialists have no business in the Arab World. What the Al-Qaueda assert is that they should leave their areas and remove all camps and troops.

Q: The Opposition in Parliament referred to certain lapses on the part of the External Affairs Ministry and quarried why did they not advise the President not to visit London? Your comments?

A: All those allegations are new technical matters. Even during the campaign against terrorists in 2008, the President went to London and addressed the Oxford Union. Those days the Tamil diaspora and the Eelam lobby were so strong. They were demonstrating every other week. The President went to London to address the Oxford Union. Why was the President prevented this time? Some powerful Governments are behind this. They say they have banned the LTTE, but they cannot stop the LTTEers from coming to Oxford Union and presenting Head of a State to addressing that august body. These are all parts of the same coup since the days we were fighting Vellupillai Prabhakaran and his terrorist group.

Q: Do you think any international conspiracy has been hatched against the Government?

A: During the entire history, that conspiracy was always there against the Third World countries. Some such conspiracies led to the killing of such leaders as Patrice Lumumba. It was a CIA coup!

They also tried to kill Fidel Castro more than forty odd times. Now-a-days they can’t kill Leaders. Therefore, they attempt at killing Governments. That is the new face of external interference!

They want their stooges to be government leaders. They work towards achieving that goal.

Even Wikileaks has revealed all these things. It’s very clear that it is they who decide who should be the good leader for that particular country and not the people of that country!

They are still suffering from that mania. But they don’t understand that the world has changed now.

Our people will never allow outsiders to decide their destiny!

We will elect our own leaders and decide our future program. Anybody can extend his support to us if he is willing to do so.

Q: Do you see the involment of some UNP Parliamentarians in these international conspiracies against our country?

A: Whether they are physically behind or not is a different matter. Ideologically they are identified with them. What the Eelam lobby says and what certain UNPers say is the same. It looks like the same jokers in the same card pack, but with different colours. UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya defending the Eelam lobby says they are never protesters. This is what the Eelam lobby also repeated themselves. Who are these protesters and which flag are they are carrying? They are carrying the Eelam flag and Eelam map with them. Are they protesters? Do Karu Jayasuriya and the UNP accept them as true protesters? They are extremists who want to divide our country. They are terrorist sympathisers and terrorist agents, but nobody else. That is not the genuine Tamil diaspora.

Certain people want us to talk to the Tamil diaspora. We have to identify who is the real and genuine Tamil diaspora. There is a moderate Tamil diaspora. We are ready to talk to them. The Government should strengthen the moderate Tamil diaspora.

Q: According to you what is the intention of these international forces to excerpt such pressure on the Government?

A: They talk about human rights and democracy in our country. But they don’t practise them in their own countries. They talk of torture, but they practise torture in their torture chambers. That is what even Wikileak says. They killed journalists, but they ask us not to touch them. Reuters Associated Press and so many other journalists are simply arrested in Iraq without recourse to legal process. When journalist Tissainayagam was arrested in Sri Lanka and a court ruling was given, they said that was against the law. But they do away with court proceedings and say what they do is law. So what is this double standard?

The UNP Leaders go behind such countries which are not bothered about human rights or democracy. Countries such as ours look like heaven for them and they try to give their verdict and ask us to practise what they preach on human rights and freedom. We protest all human rights and firmly believe in democracy. But we don’t go to those countries to learn about such things. Our culture and history have enlightened us as to what is a genuine society with human rights and democracy flourishing!

Q: The UNP MP Karu Jayasuriya has told a Sunday English newspaper that Sri Lanka should probe war crimes. How do you view this statement?

A: I think I need not answer this. UNP MP Sajith Premadasa has already answered it. Though Karu Jayasuriya has asked to probe war crime allegations, Sajith Premadasa has clearly stated that the Government has not committed any war crimes and war crimes were committed only by the LTTE. I ask Karu Jayasuriya to learn politics from the late President R. Premadasa’s son, Sajith.

Q: What is this double standard maintained by the UNP on this same issue?

A: Still there are some patriots as well as traitors in the UNP as well.

Q: However, MP Jayasuriya alleged that he had not mentioned anything about war crime charges in his statement and it is the headline given by that newspaper. Your comments?

A: In my speech in Parliament on Tuesday to respond to Karu Jayasuriya, I quoted all what he had said about Tamil diaspora and war crimes, although he said he had never used those terms, in his text he has used those terms when he talked about protesters.

What they want is Eelam. We know some Sinhalese were also at this protest. They are anti-Government and anti-Mahinda Rajapaksa. But they stand with the Eelam flag. What a shame to Karu Jayasuriya?

Q: Does the Government intend to move a no confidence motion against MP Karu Jayasuriya?

A: We had decided to move a resolution against Karu Jayasuriya. We have already handed over the resolution against UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardene. Our resolution against MP Jayawardene would investigate whether to expel him from Parliament. Karu Jayasuriya’s one is a vote of no confidence.

Q: The UPFA in a special press briefing held at the Parliamentary complex on Monday described Jayasuriya’s statement as one of the most traitorous statements made in recent times. What led the Government to make such an allegation?

A: Karu Jayasuriya was recognised as a patriot. He left the UNP and joined the Government to help the Government to win the war. But he left the Government before winning the war. Then he did everything to topple the Government. After he left, he was working not against the LTTE but against the Government. There is a saying that your enemy’s enemy is my friend. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s enemies are Eelamists. Mahinda Rajapaksas’s enemy Eelamists become the friends of Karu Jayasuriya and the UNP. That is what has happened to Karu Jayasuriya. Now Wickremesinghe has another one more competitor. That is Sajith Premadasa.

Q: What is the purpose of some of these UNP MPs taking up this white flag issue and war crime charges from time to time?

A: The UNPers don’t have a policy or strategy. They don’t know where they are. They level baseless allegations against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Q: Has the Government decided to introduce a political solution to solve the grievances of the Tamil community?

A: Yes. Even in the Tamil diaspora there are moderates and extremists. We have to win the moderates. When I go to UK, I meet this moderate Tamil diaspora. They are getting weaker day by day and the Eelam lobby is getting stronger and stronger because of their well propaganda, because of their main slogan that the Government won’t give any political solution. There is a Tamil forum in Sri Lanka as well. Political parties have come together. I also had discussions with the TNA.

We want to bring all people together and strengthen the hands of the President and go ahead with a political solution. We develop the North and the East. Those are physical things. But every person has self respect. In the same way, the Tamils too have their self respect. The self respect of the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims is also the self respect of the Sri Lankan nation. We have to build it. We have to ensure the self respect of each community. That is the political solution. With a political solution, the moderates in the Tamil diaspora will be strengthened and Eelamists will be weakened. That is what we should do. That is what the President is aiming at.