New Delhi
12 November 2008
There is no going back on the military engagement against the LTTE, is
Colombo's terse response to the demand by a section of the Tamil diaspora here in India
for cessation of hostilities in the island nation.
A combative Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama ruled out a ceasefire on a
day when the troops killed at least 10 Tamil Tigers in the LTTE-dominated north, where
the capture of Palavi town has cut off escape routes of the LTTE.
"We have made good advances in the Wanni and today we are in the Kilinochchi
district," Mr Bogollagama said in an exclusive interview to this newspaper here
Wednesday on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC ministerial meeting.
So has the Lankan Army been instructed to catch LTTE chief Prabhakaran dead or alive?
"You can't catch people dead, you catch people alive, that's why you use the word catch
and ... that's how I look at it," pat came the reply.
"LTTE has never ever kept their word in terms of a ceasefire and we cannot go back in
terms of what we've undertaken," he added. "... we can't allow any space for LTTE to get
further strengthened."
Mr Bogollagama said the more the LTTE gets into dire straits, the more the need for it to
advocate ceasefires. Therefore Colombo's rejection of ceasefire is a message to the
LTTE to renounce violence and embrace democracy, he asserted.
He thought the issue of fishermen is a fundamental one for Colombo because there is
mounting evidence of fishermen and fishing boats being used as conduit to smuggle
arms and ammunition for the LTTE.
"There's enough evidence from the Navy including lot of satellite pictures and other so-
called radar pictures that we have now secured that there'd been lot of boats bringing
arms to the LTTE under the guide of fishermen," he said.
He did not consider the statements emanating out of Tamil Nadu as amounting to
interference in Sri Lanka's internal affairs. He insisted that Colombo respected the
concerns recently voiced by Tamil Nadu politicians.
Mr Bogollagama iterated Colombo is only looking at a sustainable political and peaceful
resolution of the decades-long ethnic conflict. "It is a political solution we are after," he
said, welcoming India's support for political negotiated settlement.
'LTTE will be dealt with the way terrorists deserve to be dealt'
Rohitha BogollagamaMinister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka
New Delhi
17 November 2008
How is the military offensive on the LTTE progressing? What is the situation on the
ground today?
The need for us to engage with the LTTE is for the reason that LTTE still does not get out
of its terrorist agenda and terrorist characteristics. So thereby in order to protect the
territorial integrity of Sri Lanka against a separatist movement and that of our
sovereignty and national security of our country and the people's security, we have to
engage with the terrorists and we expect the military engagement limited to the extent of
the LTTE having to be dealt the way terrorists deserve to be dealt. At the same time,
LTTE should pick this as a message for them to give up arms and renounce violence and
embrace democracy and that's where the process should take its course. Till such time
we have made good advances in the Wanni and today we are in the Kilinochchi district
and our forces are approaching the situation with lot of caution so that we don't have any
civilian so-called casualties or collateral damage and that's how we are trying to position
ourselves towards looking at this agenda, to see that LTTE will not be able to control or
subjugate the people of any given location in Sri Lanka.
How do you view the LTTE proposal of ceasefire? Do you think it's possible?
The LTTE has never ever kept their word in terms of a ceasefire and we can't go back in
terms of what we have undertaken and also, we've seen from the time of Dr
Balasingham (the late Anton Balasingham was the chief political strategist and chief
negotiator of LTTE), then came Tamilchelvam (the late LTTE spokesman SP
Tamilchelvam) and now it is Nadesan, these pronouncements and announcements are
taking place. The more LTTE gets into dire straits, the more the need for them to
advocate ceasefires. As for the government, our president has gone very clearly on
record to state that we are only looking at a sustainable, political and peaceful solution
to the conflict and it's a political solution we are after. As for the terrorists, they have to
give up their arms and renounce violence as I said and embrace democracy. Then we'll
have not only ceasing of fire but there will not be a need for fire at all and that is the
process that we are after.
What would be a logical conclusion to the military offensive? What is your objective?
We have to stand by the country's and the people's needs. The reason being, we can't
allow any space for the LTTE to get further strengthened and we've seen how they have
manipulated the system in Sri Lanka. Every successive government they've been able
to manipulate into situations and [that has led] to compromising of national interests and
that of national security. So many lives have been lost as a result of that. Now we're
looking at the process through very careful engagement to the extent of eliminating
terrorism in Sri Lanka. We need to eliminate terrorism in order to empower the people.
We can't go back on empowerment of our people, greater democracy and greater
opportunities for them to seek economic upliftment, and we have to continue on that
agenda. We strongly believe every subject of our country should be given the liberty to
which we, as a democracy, are committed. So we want to empower the people with
liberty, and [for that] we need security for the people. When we secure the people, we
have development in terms of the economic pursuits.
What is the instruction to the Sri Lankan army? Is it to catch LTTE chief Prabhakaran
dead or alive?
You can't catch people dead, you catch people alive. That's why you use the word catch,
and that's how I look at it.
What are your expectations from India?
We fully believe in the honesty and the sincere commitment [of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee] to see Sri Lanka is
free of terrorism and we have democracy to all sections and the empowerment of our
people and that is something that we could be very frank about.
How do you view the statements emanating from Tamil Nadu? Would you say the
statements amount to interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka?
We do not consider mere statements as interference. Statements are statements. At the
same time, we also respect certain concerns that gets expressed. We're all part of the
same agenda when it comes to serving the people, and our government, our president,
has said more than once, and repeatedly, that we are interested in the well-being of our
Sri Lankans whatever part of Sri Lanka they live in, in terms of their betterment and their
security and their well-being. We are committed, as a government, to ensure that the
humanitarian aspect of their needs are being well taken care of. To ensure that there are
no civilian casualties when there are military engagements with the LTTE. No one can be
denied of food, health, education, those elementary things that Sri Lanka is providing.
We are very comfortable in providing for all people and people in need most like in the
Wanni at this very moment. When Tamil Nadu expresses concerns on the humanitarian
aspects, we share the same concerns and we're the ones who are responsible to look
after our people, which we look after. We've looked after the ones, the Tamil people, the
Muslims, the Sinhalese, in the eastern province a few months ago and today we've
empowered the region with greater democracy. We're looking after every segment of the
people in the country and all efforts have been done, particularly when certain interested
groups, so to say, come to make certain conclusions. We look at those conclusions the
way they deserve to be looked at. We see certain connotations [of] nexus getting built up
sometimes with the LTTE maybe, sometimes it may not be with the LTTE, but with some
other interested sections of the community, so these things we're able to assess through
a greater dissection of the so-called positioning of the word play and then we come to
better understanding of issues.
How serious is the issue of fishermen and what danger do they pose for Sri Lanka?
Fishermen's issue is a fundamental issue here for the reason that in the Palk Strait we
have the international maritime boundary. Sri Lankan fishermen sometimes stray on to
the Indian side, Indian fishermen sometimes stray on to the Sri Lankan side, and then
we have to see that these fishermen are not used by the LTTE or when the fisher boats
come in, in thousands [and] crowd the area, that the LTTE terrorist boats won't find some
type of a gateway into our shores under the cover of the fisher boats. So when it
happens, obviously they're bringing arms into the country from [various] sources. There
is enough evidence from the [Sri Lankan] Navy, including lot of satellite pictures and
other so-called radar pictures that we have now secured, that there had been lot of LTTE
boats moving under the guise of fishermen. Boats were bringing arms to the LTTE. I
would not say from where the arms are coming but I'll say the boats bringing arms have
been found in terms of our own verifications in the seas.
Have you communicated your concerns to New Delhi and how has it responded?
I'd like to retain what we communicate in terms of our bilateral communications to be
within what we term as the closed-door diplomacy.
Would a political solution be vigorously pursued only after the ongoing military
offensive is over? Can both proceed simultaneously?
The political process has to have its course. We have now set up the so-called vehicle
to take the political process and that is the All Party Representative Committee and they
are very much at it. That's what I termed as one approach in accelerating the political
process. [On] the terrorism situation[,] countries without political process still are dealing
with terrorism. In Sri Lanka we are dealing with terrorism while having the political
process. Many a country has no political process but they are engaging against
terrorism [but] we deal with terrorists simultaneously.
What is the status of the devolution package and the 13th Amendment?
The 13th Amendment [is there because we have] already amended the Constitution, that
is why you call it the 13th Amendment. Whatever is there in it, and arising from the Indo-
Lanka accord, is already part of the Constitution of Sri Lanka and it has been so for the
last 21 years. It is our government that has taken this bold step of taking the devolution
proposals forward and implementing it. That is why we have created for the first time the
eastern provincial council in Sri Lanka. There was no eastern provincial council hitherto.
That is because we want to create the units that can take on the devolved powers and
devolution is a sine qua non to the Constitutional process and thereby it is a part and
parcel of our system. Our president is having a greater vigour in making the process go
faster and that's how he has looked at it.
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