Sri Lankan security forces to crush Tigers before political deal
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, Sept 18, IRNA
Sri Lanka-Tigers-Political Settlement
Sri Lanka has vowed to crush Tamil Tiger guerrillas before any political settlement with the island's drawn out Tamil separatist conflict.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the country's top defence official and younger brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, said in a televised ceremony that security forces will crush the Tigers before a political deal, Zeenews portal reported here.
"Without defeating terrorism, we can't have a political settlement," Rajapakse said at a ceremony to welcome a fleet of six Naval vessels involved in sinking three rebel ships last week, what is described as the Navy's biggest success.
"Whatever the political settlement, it can't be implemented unless terrorism is eradicated," Rajapakse said in the presence of his elder brother and the government's top peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva.
The previous peace negotiator, G L Peiris, was also in the audience when Rajapakse made the stark policy declaration which went against the government's earlier position that a political process should go hand in hand with "humanitarian defensive military operations."
Rajapakse said the security forces must build on their latest success and needed to score a "100 per cent victory" against the Tigers.
"We have confined the LTTE and Prabhakaran to the Wanni, since we know that the terrorists are in the Wanni, there should be no doubt about our next objective," he said.
Despite economic hardships, the government had met all the requirements of the armed forces, Rajapakse said. "We have provided everything that the service chiefs wanted. That is why they were able to be successful this time."
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