President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said he had no personal grudges against anyone including LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran whom he described as a ‘blood-thirsty’ person who could not be trusted.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday the President also said there would be no incentives for the LTTE even if they surrendered or gave up arms.
“What can we offer a terrorist outfit which wants a separate state,” President Rajapaksa asked.
The President said now was the time for the LTTE to lay down arms and surrender as it was the only option left for the Tigers who have reached the end of the battle.
“Most cadres want to surrender. Some have already done so,” he said.
President Rajapaksa said the military campaign would continue till the terrorists were defeated and a political solution would found thereafter.
“The final solution will be a political solution. There is no military solution but terrorism must be defeated,” the President said in the interview.
He went on to say that successive governments in Sri Lanka had tried to persuade the LTTE to negotiate a political solution and failed, and that under the circumstances, the Government could not offer anything else, especially to a terrorist group. When asked whether it would take some time to convince people that the peace process would bear fruit following what is acknowledged by many to be an inevitable military defeat of the LTTE, the President said within a short span of time the Government was able to change the minds of the people of East Province as the Government is familiar with their aspirations and culture.
The President was asked if the war has turned into a personal issue between him and the Tiger leader. “It is nothing personal. I don’t have personal grudges against anyone…not even against Prabhakaran,” the President said.
-Dailymirror
In an interview with Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday the President also said there would be no incentives for the LTTE even if they surrendered or gave up arms.
“What can we offer a terrorist outfit which wants a separate state,” President Rajapaksa asked.
The President said now was the time for the LTTE to lay down arms and surrender as it was the only option left for the Tigers who have reached the end of the battle.
“Most cadres want to surrender. Some have already done so,” he said.
President Rajapaksa said the military campaign would continue till the terrorists were defeated and a political solution would found thereafter.
“The final solution will be a political solution. There is no military solution but terrorism must be defeated,” the President said in the interview.
He went on to say that successive governments in Sri Lanka had tried to persuade the LTTE to negotiate a political solution and failed, and that under the circumstances, the Government could not offer anything else, especially to a terrorist group. When asked whether it would take some time to convince people that the peace process would bear fruit following what is acknowledged by many to be an inevitable military defeat of the LTTE, the President said within a short span of time the Government was able to change the minds of the people of East Province as the Government is familiar with their aspirations and culture.
The President was asked if the war has turned into a personal issue between him and the Tiger leader. “It is nothing personal. I don’t have personal grudges against anyone…not even against Prabhakaran,” the President said.
-Dailymirror
