Rajiva Wijesinha

“ This Sri Lankan government has long known that discussions are the only way forward to find a political solution to political problems. Though it tried to negotiate with the Tigers, it realized soon enough, when the Tigers refused to talk but instead attacked, that the Tigers were not interested in negotiations, but only used them to build up their military strength. It has therefore continued discussions with Tamil parties that wish to discuss, and has promoted democratic elections in the East and will soon promote them in the North too. ”

“ With their encouragement, the private sector also participated actively, to make clear to youngsters in the North the development that would be available in those areas in a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka.
In such a context, when the government and the forces together were making clear their vision of a pluralistic democratic Sri Lanka, it was ironic that the United States was reported to have 'urged the Sri Lankan and Tamil Tigers to start negotiating over the "legitimate" demands of the Tamils after Colombo announced a key win over the rebels'. ”

“ The Tamil Tigers have been one of the most notorious and brutal terrorist organizations over the past 20 years and a peaceful dialogue is what's called for in order to resolve the differences and the legitimate concerns of the Tamils. ”

“ Not being very logical, it never occurred to that particular do-gooder that it was those who had been elected in the unfair 2004 election who were most against any other election - i.e., the position they enjoyed, through murder amongst other strategies, of being the elected representatives of the Tamils of the East (Sambandan preposterously claimed that 95% of people in the North and East had expressed support for the LTTE) should not be endangered by any chance for the people to express their views in freedom. ”

“ America surely should not fall into the trap of the Europeans, who issued a sort of demarche to our ambassador in Brussels, saying we should not have elections in the East since they were told that elections there would be unfair, and that the previous elections there, in 2004, were manifestly unfair. ”

“ As importantly perhaps, they have also shown that such care also means thinking of the future, of creating opportunities for our fellow Tamil citizens who have had to live so long in the shadow of terrorism. ”