Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama
New Delhi
7 December 2007
Colombo will be willing to talk to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) for a political roadmap to resolve the decades-old ethnic conflict in the island
nation but issues like ceasefire will not be discussed, visiting Sri Lankan Foreign
Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said in an exclusive interview to this newspaper.
"We will not speak in terms of ceasefire or any of those things. What we are speaking in
terms of if they are prepared to understand the political issues ... they can very well be
part of a dialogue and there is nothing stopping us from speaking but at the same time
we will deal with terrorists as they deserve to be dealt with," he said.
He said that the process of finalising proposals for a greater degree of devolution of
powers will pick up momentum after December 17. "We have entered the final phase of
the All Party Representative Committee proposals and it will be soon getting concluded
and with that in mind, we'd like to see that the unrolling of political map will take place,"
he said after holding bilateral talks with Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee.
Mr Bogollagama visited New Delhi for the 29th SAARC Council of Ministers meeting.
He said that the government headed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not
looking at a military solution to the ethnic conflict but he maintained that Colombo also
has to combat terrorism. "There is nothing hidden in terms of that ... countering terrorism
is an important factor [but] at the same time we are trying to pursue a goal of political
solution," he explained.
Does that mean Colombo will retain the military option? "Obviously," Mr Bogollagama
replied, "terrorism needs to be countered only through military means. He, however,
hastened to add that "way is open for them (LTTE) to look at the political side of matters"
and that Colombo is trying to encourage a pluralistic, democratic environment that will
satisfy all sections of the Sri Lankan society.
The minister sought to justify Colombo's approach by saying that sovereign states take
decision based on domestic requirements and compulsions. "When you are being
confronted at your doorstep, when your children are getting killed when they are going to
school, that is the confrontation ... that is prevalent in the country," he reasoned, adding
that "we have to go after terrorists in order to see that terrorists do not go after our
civilians."
On Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi's poem eulogising the slain LTTE leader SP
Tamilselvan, Mr Bogollagama said that Colombo sees it from a wider perspective and
not necessarily as endorsement of terrorism. "Poetry is a major gift, everyone cannot
write poetry," he said, adding that one must value the DMK patriarch for his
"creativeness."
Mr Bogollagama said that he apprised Mr Pranab Mukherjee of the political proposals
pending with the APRC and reviewed the India-Sri Lanka bilateral ties. He welcomed the
communication and coordination between the navies of the two countries for maintaining
maritime security in and around the Palk Straits.
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