World: Son disowns Premadasa's anti-India approach

Sunday, 01 October 2006

The politician-son of Ranasinghe Premadasa, the Sri Lankan president who ordered Indian troops out of the island in 1989 sparking a diplomatic row, says he is keen to develop excellent ties with New Delhi.

In an interview before ending an 11-day visit to India, Sajith Preamadasa of the opposition United National Party (UNP) also credited President Mahinda Rajapakse of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) with pursuing a military campaign against the Tamil Tigers that he said was seen widely as "most efficient and prudent".

The 39-year-old MP chose words carefully when he was asked about his father's demand made in 1989 asking Indian troops trying to disarm the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the island's war-hit northeast to go home, saying Sri Lankans were capable of resolving their differences themselves.

The Premadasa administration also provided arms and ammunition to the LTTE to take on Indian soldiers, the last of whom left Sri Lanka in March 1990. Within months, the LTTE resumed an armed conflict that continues to this day, having claimed around 65,000 lives.

"I have done an authentic critique, a realistic critique of my father's policies," Premadasa told IANS. "I have ascertained the pros and cons, its negatives and positives. And I have formulated my own vision. But since my father is no more, I do not intend criticizing his policies."

He quickly added: "I have a great deal of passion and determination to surpass my father's noble achievements in the domestic arena.

"But when it comes to external relations, generally with the international community, more specifically with our great neighbour India, my thoughts and my vision and my perception are totally and absolutely different. I shall work for a frank, direct, authentic and transparent relationship with India.

While making it clear that he was only articulating popular feeling in the Sinhalese-majority southern Sri Lanka, Premadasa explained why Colombo had the upper hand in the fighting against the Tamil Tigers.

"In terms of military strategy, it is perceived to be a success by a vast majority in Sri Lanka, particularly in the so-called south," he said. "I also see a situation where the government has very efficiently and methodically utilized all available resources to conduct a military and diplomatic approach to the conflict...

"I see the government approach extremely popular. It is very well received. For the first time people are beginning to state that here is a government, unlike any other, using a military approach in the most efficient and prudent manner. This is the perception."

He said incentives provided to security forces in the form of encouragement and quick promotions coupled with better weapons were "the distinct features of the present government's military strategy".

President Rajapakse, who took power in November defeating the UNP's Ranil Wickremesinghe, is "quite popular", Premadasa said.

"Right from inception he was very keen on achieving a settlement through the peace process. But for a variety of reasons, the process was scuttled. Ultimately these and other factors pushed him towards the warpath. Presently he is popular among the masses. I think he is quite popular among the masses."

Rajapakse, he added, would not be "a one-term president but a two-term president".

Premadasa, however, underlined the need for a political solution to the ethnic conflict.

"While military victories have given an upper hand (to the government), it is indispensable to have a political solution to this intractable issue. Many may claim that military strategy alone can achieve the objectives. I don't subscribe to that."

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Concerned said:

Not only the President and his henchmen are stupid aith no common sense in their brains but it now appears that the opposition also have no grey matter under their skulls.

2006-11-23 17:09:29

Jay Jay said:

Here is proof, if ever one was needed, that the majority of the Sinhalese want to annihilate the Tamil population. So, SLFP, UNP, JVP and JHU are all in it together. What piece can Tamils expect through negotiations from this lot? Wonder what Premadasa's response would be if the boot was on the other foot? His father provides arms to murder Indian forces and now he is providing his support for the massacre of the Tamils. What kind of human beings are these?

2006-11-23 22:29:36

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By M.R. Narayan Swamy