29.12.2007
Ranil Wijayapala

Defence Secretary urges:

The Government can make a fresh start to address Tamil grievances once it officially bans the LTTE and abolishes the Ceasefire Agreement signed with the LTTE, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said the Ceasefire Agreement has become a joke in the eyes of the people with so many violations.

“The Ceasefire Agreement exists only on paper. Obviously we can see that there is no Ceasefire. It has become a joke,” the Defence Secretary said.

He said so many Governments have signed a number of Ceasefire Agreements in the past since the Thimpu Agreement.

“Once you sign a Peace Agreement and then you come to the next Ceasefire Agreement or whatever agreement, you must abolish the other [previous] one. It had never happened. From the Thimpu Agreement there are so many peace agreements including the Indo Lanka Agreement,” Rajapaksa added.

“I think the most sensible thing is that we must end this Ceasefire Agreement by officially declaring there is no Ceasefire Agreement.

Why should we hoodwink the people by saying there is a Ceasefire Agreement?,” the Defence Secretary asked. The Defence Secretary said the LTTE should be banned since it is terrorist organisation.

“It is a terrorist organisation and we are fighting them,” he said.

He said President can come out with new proposals for resolving the grievances of the Tamil people after the Ceasefire Agreement is abrogated and the LTTE is banned.

“We should not give solutions to the LTTE which is a terrorist organisation. The LTTE is just a part of the Tamil people and solutions should be given to the Tamil people,” he stressed.

Asked whether the LTTE would be given ‘time’ before it is banned, he said the President would give an opportunity for the LTTE to mend its ways prior to imposing any ban, Rajapaksa added.

He said that the military victories will definitely pave the way for a peaceful solution to the North East problem as successive Governments had failed to combat terrorism though they had genuine political solutions.

Courtesy - Daily News