‘Terrorism cannot co-exist with democracy’ - PM

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

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Implementing the 13th Amendment

The All Party Representative Committee recommended implementing the 13th Amendment as an immediate step towards a political solution. But one must realise that this implementation cannot be done in toto immediately.

It should happen gradually due to the simple fact that there would be so many problems when the implementation is in practice. For example if we consider granting police powers under the 13th Amendment, while we give the powers to all the other provinces we cannot restrain ourselves from giving the North and the East the same.

But we do not have a sufficient number of Police officers fluent in Tamil to serve the people of the North and the East. We might need approximately 4000 Police officers who are able to converse in Tamil.

This cannot be met immediately. It is not only for Tamil language, a Sinhala person requiring a service in that area should be treated equally. So we need people with bilingual skills.

Hence, we will implement the 13th Amendment as we are continuing now.

Thereafter we will definitely implement the rest, step by step. It will be for the benefit of the people. We need to make sure that the aspirations of the people are met accordingly.

Since I have taken oaths as a Member of Parliament I am bound to protect the Constitution of the country. The 13th Amendment is part and parcel of this constitution.

So how can certain Members of Parliament publicly say that they are against the 13th Amendment? Is it reasonable?

The North and the East - merged or demerged?

We are there to abide by the decision of the highest court of this country.

The Supreme Court said the amalgamation was illegal. We do not wish to clash with the judiciary.

The judiciary, the executive and the legislative must not have clashes. We respect that judgment and we adhere to it.

The touchy 17th Amendment

The 17th Amendment was brought in a very hurried manner and there is a Parliamentary select committee to ascertain and identify the weaknesses of the 17th Amendment; because certain points do clash with one another.

Therefore the Select Committee is sitting at the moment. Hence, once the Select Committee publishes its report and when it is accepted by the Parliament, the 17th Amendment need to be amended accordingly. So the Parliament has realised that the 17th Amendment, in its position today, needs amendment.

Hence, the Select Committee is on progress. It is not correct to jump into conclusions in advance. Let the deliberations come out in a report and when it is placed before Parliament and if Parliament accepts the report then the required amendments should be made to the 17th Amendment. But with the 13th Amendment that is not the situation. Everybody has agreed.

This is the law of the country. But of course practical problems arises while on progress.

The new turn in the political arena

A different picture is emerging in the political sphere of this country.

After 14 years people of the East are getting the privilege to exercise their votes. They will select their own leaders to govern their own areas. It is a democratic right of these people.

Now thereafter we will hold Provincial council elections for the Eastern province. We will be there only to fund. Their own people will implement their own programmes.

Once these disturbing situations are over we will hold elections in the areas that were used to be Tiger strongholds. We will let the people of these areas use their democratic right.

Terrorism Vs Tamil people

We are against terrorism

Any person would like to enjoy equal rights.

Terrorism is one thing and reasonable demands of the normal Tamil speaking people are another. Terrorism cannot co-exist with democracy. Terrorism needs to be wiped out.

What do the Tamil people want? We have to identify this as well.

They are not in a position to conduct their affairs in their own language. Why? Because, we lack Government officials with Tamil proficiency. That is the basic truth. Whenever they send a Government Department a letter in Tamil those people will receive a reply letter either in Sinhala or English. Is that fair? Definitely not. These people will feel humiliated.

These people need sufficient expert teachers. For example, Jaffna area, at one time produced the best people of the country. Then the administrative service of the country had many Tamil speaking officials.

They had their own education system there to achieve their goals. But unfortunately due to this problem this education system has got disturbed. Hence, we need to attend to those matters. That will take time. But there is a distinct difference.

Reasonable demands of the Tamil people should be met. They must be able to live in peace, harmony and with dignity anywhere on this island.

They must genuinely feel that they are citizens of the country. We, the Government, are committed to meet these aspirations. We are definitely not anti-Tamil. No, not at all. Some are trying their best to identify the Government as an anti-Tamil institute. But, I assurethat it is not.

But we are against terrorism. Whether it is coming in the North or the South of the country, we are against terrorism. We will beat up terrorism. We do not want anyone to take law of the land into their hands illegally. Sovereignty of the country must be safeguarded.

That is how we look at the problem.Any person in this country, irrespective of his or her ethnicity, would like to live as equal citizens of the country.

Certain political parties stick to their agendas and claim for many demands. Confined to those political parties they have their own theories and demands. They are asking for a separate State.

How can one concede to that idea? We are a small nation living in harmony. Just see the number of Tamil people living in Colombo alone. Are we not treating them as our brethren? Do not we attend to each others’ celebrations often? Even I do.

That is the way we live. There is no need to ask for a separate State.

We, as a Government, will not carve out Sri Lanka into separate parts. We are committed to that.

Bipartisan approach

I have high regards to the meeting between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. I believe it is a fine start.

They should meet often. Meeting alone would not do. The need of the hour is building a constructive dialogue on issues of national interest; bring in national policies for the betterment of the nation. I believe that is very important.

I believe, wherever possible, at national issues the political parties should get together. We should have a dialogue to find solutions to erase off the disagreements.

The Government is already having discussions with all the other political parties as well. My view is that, at least now the main responsible political parties must realise that there must be a continuous dialogue, particularly on issues of national interest.

Assessing the security situation

Our soldiers are dedicated to eradicate terrorism and hope to end this as soon as possible.

The LTTE have only two districts under their control. Out of these, one is gradually and steadily falling under the control of our armed forces. Our soldiers are freeing the land which were previously under the LTTE stronghold.The LTTE is trying to create disturbing situations in the south as well.They are deliberately created instances.

This is clearly in order to divert the security forces towards the south. This has been a prolonged tactic of theirs. We are aware of all these.

We will never withdraw any of the soldiers from the Forward Defence Lines in the North and Wanni. Very soon there will be an end to this conflict.

Government plays no role in handling the affairs of the war. We have instructed the armed forces to indicate what they require in the process of eradicating terrorism. And we are there to support them. Of course we are not in a position to say exactly when this war is going to be over.

Our people, soldiers and the Police are on the look out. Their vigilance prevented massive destructions. We are grateful to the people for being patient and tolerant.

People are still tolerant. They have not declared war. They have not got in to streets. Because, they are feeling for the first time that we are tackling the problem correctly.

Cost of living cannot be brought down in a day or two. We must be self sufficient in our own productions. Having an ideal climate and soil why cannot we produce our own food?

Why should we make the foreign farmer rich? Let us be mindful that this is our country. We feel that this mentality has reached people. We are very happ for that. It is a very great achievement.

But remember what is happening in Colombo does not reflect the situation on the rural areas.

Luckily, the prices of the items of the plantation sector, which we export, have gone up. Where does this money reach? It is with the rural farmer. So, definitely their income levels are increasing as a result.

We even feed our enemy

When we are sending food and essential items we surely know the terrorist would grab most of it. We know that very well. But, in spite of that we continue to do so. Why? Because we all belong to one country.

They might fight with us but still they have the right to live.

Mainly, we are a Buddhist country. Our culture is deeply embedded with Mettha , Karuna and Muditha . No country in this world would ever feed a group who are fighting with you.

Those terrorists who are getting wounded are treated at Government hospitals in these areas with the medicine provided by the Government.