 Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that while his country would not prefer the direct intervention of ‘“even our best and closest neighbour,’ it believed that India could play an important role in helping resolve the crisis on the island.
In an interview to Hard Talk Magazine published from here, Mr. Rajapaksa also gave his views on the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord, which he indicated, was unable to fulfil most of the objectives it had set out to accomplish.
On Indian involvement in the peace process, Mr. Rajapaksa said the most important lesson from the accord was that “we should not let things develop in Sri Lanka which would require the intervention of even our best and close neighbour. We should learn to resolve our own disputes within our country.”
At the same time, the President said he believed India could play a useful role in resolving the crisis. “I am also aware of the political realities in New Delhi. I cannot blind myself to these realities. I cannot set a time-table for when India can get involved in the peace process here,” he added.
Mr. Rajapaksa appreciated “how India has acted to control the activities of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in Tamil Nadu. Such cooperation is most encouraging.”
Asked to evaluate the India-Sri Lanka accord, he pointed out that the conditions had changed considerably since then. First, the Sri Lanka Government had been able to ‘liberate’ the eastern part from the LTTE. Second, the Supreme Court had held that “the temporary merger of the north and the east carried out under the accord is not legally valid. And, there is also one unchanged factor which the accord sought to change – the inability to disarm the LTTE.”
Mr. Rajapaksa denied that he was seeking a military solution and blamed the LTTE for most of the violence and keeping the Sri Lankan Tamils in ‘bondage.’
“This is totally incorrect (quest for a military solution). I firmly believe in a political solution. But one must not forget that the enemy I face is fully armed. There are situations when a military response is needed for armed attacks on the government. That does not mean I seek a military solution.”“It is my policy to bring about the widest possible measures of devolution, which will meet the aspirations of the people in the north, the east and rest of the country. It must suit the aspirations of the Tamil people who are at present held in bondage by the LTTE.”
Asked whether the LTTE is the cause or effect of the ethnic strife, he said, “the LTTE is very much the cause of most of the violence and terror this country has seen in the past decade. As for ethnic strife, it is a larger issue. This goes beyond a decade and requires a serious political solution.”
The Hindu
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