Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, under pressure from the international community to negotiate peace with the Liberation Tigers launched a blistering attack on the movement during his address to Summit of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana, Cuba. Without referring to it by name, he described the LTTE as “a dictatorial terrorist group” and said that “all efforts that have been taken by successive governments, including mine, to enter into dialogue with this group, have so far failed.”
“Terrorism is, without doubt, the most de-humanizing and politically de-stabilizing phenomenon of our time,” President Rajapakse, who speech was published on SriLankan government websites, said.
Addressing the leaders of 118 members of NAM, President Rajapakse theorized on the difference between liberation and terrorism.
“Terrorism and liberation differ from each other, as much as the sky differs from the earth. Liberation, unlike terrorism, is a creative and a humane force. It is a humane vehicle of new visions for the progressive change of power structures on the one side and socio-economic structures on the other. Terrorism, by contrast, is a destructive force, - a de-humanizing force, - that cannot in any way be justified,” he said.
“The people of my country have suffered for long years at the hands of a most ruthless terrorist outfit which resorts to the most hateful forms of terror,” he said.
“Suicide bombing, mine attacks, massacres, indiscriminate armed assault, and the forcible conscription of young children for battle, comprise their modes of action,” he said. “They indulge in the progressive elimination of all political leaders, human rights activists, journalists and all those who do not approve their methods and agree with their views and objectives.”
“All efforts that have been taken by successive governments, including mine, to enter into dialogue with this group, have so far failed. Yet, even in the face of extreme provocation, we continue in our attempts to transform this dictatorial terrorist group that engages in violence, into a political force that would engage peacefully with the state and with other political parties and participate in a democratic political process,” he said.
President Rajapakse did not elaborate.
“Let us call upon the Non-Aligned Movement as well as the United Nations to strongly renew the commitment to fight terrorism whenever and wherever it decides to raise its ugly head,” President Rajapakse said.
“At the same time all of us together need to find innovative means and ways to combat terrorism, as it poses a grave threat to the political and economic well-being, sovereignty and territorial integrity of nation states,” he told the NAM leaders.
