go.com,  Mon Feb 13 07:19:57 EST 2006

    COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday ruled out Tamil Tiger demands for a separate homeland in the island's north and east, but said he would rein in armed groups — a central rebel demand ahead of crunch talks.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have threatened to resume an armed struggle that led to two decades of civil war which killed more than 64,000 people up until a 2002 truce unless the government gives them a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils.

"There's only one country, we can share power. Not a separate state. That idea must be taken off … it is completely out," Rajapakse told Reuters in an interview ahead of upcoming talks with the rebels in Switzerland to avoid a slide back to war.
Full Story


_________________
- The Academic

Its interesting to note the equanimity with which MR treats armed groups in NE.

Good starting point to wipe out the LTTE.

 



Last edited by The Duke on Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:11 pm; edited 2 times in total

Yeah right.GOSL has been wiping out LTTE since 80's  .
That's why LTTE is growing bigger and bigger and 60,000+ of members of SL military AWOL.Only political solution can bring lasting peace.

Well, though it's hard to accept, truth is this and MR has the guts to spit it out.

If everone in the SL ask for Home land, there will be no land to left as one country. If anybody supports the Homeland, lets start it with India it self and we can see how many more divisions will take place other than the bangladesh and pakistan.

Other than the language barrier tamils have no problem in SL compared to even in india. If MR can implement a better method to improve the Tamil converse officials in the government departments, problem will be eliminated.

Economically, all races (sinhala, tamil, muslims) are alike in one ship. The rich are richer and poor are poorer. The war is carried out by the missinary educated Sinhalese and Tamils only. Senanayakes, Bandas, Chelvanayakams, armirtalingams are very few examples only and all western powers are interested in eliminating the buddishst and hindus to the cross.

This is the reality and if either party wish to igonore this perish in the war and terrorist and arms dealers will have the day.

Please DO NOT use derogatory terminology on the forum.


_________________
Wannilage Gomarie
Dambana
Sri Lanka

I am afraid that Mr Rajapakse by his clear statement has closed the doors on any kind of rapproachment with the Tamils, let alone the LTTE. It is unfortunate that the focus is always on ethnicity rather than on economic developement to the level of the developed countries.

One of the problems in Sri Lanka has been that the outlying provinces including the north and east have been neglected by successive governments located in Colombo. An option which might have been considered and none has is the desirability of a federal constitution for Sri Lanka but with four or five states and a federal government sited in a central location. That would have defused the division of Sri Lanka along ethnic lines which is dangerous and unacceptable to a modern civilized nation respecting fundamental human and civil rights and at the same time by giving full control for economic developement in the hands of the state governments it would have ensured a confidence among people living in each state to be the best among equals thus creating an island wide example of natural and economic beauty and tranquility. The coastal waters and the air space should be exclusively controlled by the Federal Government thus the tricky question of ownership of resources in the coastal waters can be exchanged for a formula of sharing of the benefits of the common resources among all the four or five states. The unity of Sri Lanka is preserved not by an empty paper constitution but by spirit and shared values.

The UK Government model of sharing power with the Welsh and the Scots is in my opinion a charade and will unravel in the long run with  the Scottish nationalist party gaining ground and clamoring for an independent Scotland. It is a bad example for the Sri Lankans and will only result in postponing the inevitable. I suggest a miniature version of the US Model of Government based on a clear separation of the executive, legislative and judiciary. Many of the problems in Sri Lanka have arisen from the fact that the executive body is drawn from the body of members of parliament, the proportional electoral system and the unsavory practice of unpopular politicians coming into power via so-called national lists of selection. Instaed, Ministers should be drawn from the best in the society by an enlitened and responsible President. Mr Rajapakse and his advisers would be well advised themselves to go back to the drawing board with an open mind and a mind not dwelling on the communal pasts of the country.

MR wants to keep the south happy.

They (Tigers) already have a piece of their homeland.
MR cannot go in there. Can he? He could, I guess, if he applies for a Visa.
 
With the next war, the land mass of the homeland will increase in size.

We see lot of statements against LTTE from Mahinda during peace time.  When Ranil was talking peace,
we heard a lot from LTTE.

If Sinhalese or Muslims can't call part of Sri Lanka as their homeland, so can't Tamils.

Time to stop the “Kiddy Back Ride” and work on something achievable.


_________________
.... inspire me

HardX,

Never support a criminal to fight for your freedom

According your motto, where do you place Karuna and Douglas.  Friends of Sri lanka


_________________
Be patriotic .. think of the motherland

Once again another Sri lankan leader's promise to Sri lankans !!

Hi guys

We have heard these kinds of statements since 1983. Words from all these leaders never carried any values. Since Jawardena to Rajapakse all the presidents wanted to wipe out LTTE within a certain period of time. They tried really hard to annihilate the LTTE machine. Further, they brought the mighty Indian Army also. On the other hand what these armies did? While they were fighting with LTTE, they use their mussel to crush the Tamils and also their genuine grievances. Apparently, the reality is, LTTE has grown from less than 25 lads with less than 10 shot guns to a strong force with their control of 70% of the land mass of the north and east.  My point is these leaders before pore their thoughts into words they have to think twice even thrice.  If they start thinking, solving this problem is not a hard one.  No hard feelings.

Regards
Suren

vsuren.,

LTTE grew from 25 lads, with a bank-robber and assassin of the Jaffna Mayor as it's leader. A good qualfication, no doubt. The LTTE's ability to thwart the Indian Army was in no small part, due to the help of President Premadasa, who basically shot himself in the foot by doing so and got himself splattered all over Maradana for his pains, courtesey of the LTTE.

Anyway, LTTE has been in existence since 1976., they have been carrying on an armed uprising since 1983 at least., Let us examine carefully what they have to show to the Tamilian people for this effort.

25+ years.... Big Fat ZERO, many dead Tamilians and no nearer to Eelam that on Day 1.

But I agree with you "If they start thinking, solving this problem is not a hard one"

no hard feelings



Last edited by proximus on Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:56 pm; edited 1 time in total

FedAuto wrote:

Yeah right.GOSL has been wiping out LTTE since 80's  .
That's why LTTE is growing bigger and bigger and 60,000+ of members of SL military AWOL.Only political solution can bring lasting peace.

Also,
LTTE has been wiping out other Tamil groups since 1974

hanumanth wrote:

HardX,

Never support a criminal to fight for your freedom

According your motto, where do you place Karuna and Douglas.  Friends of Sri lanka

…unrelated question.
Do you believe they are killing innocent Tamils or fight against internationally branded criminals?


_________________
.... inspire me

Quote:

…unrelated question.
Do you believe they are killing innocent Tamils or fight against internationally branded criminals?

As always in these cases, both.

SLH-Saviour wrote:

Well, though it's hard to accept, truth is this and MR has the guts to spit it out.

If everone in the SL ask for Home land, there will be no land to left as one country. If anybody supports the Homeland, lets start it with India it self and we can see how many more divisions will take place other than the bangladesh and pakistan..

For starters India has a federal constitution. Tamils have Tamil Nadu, Malayalees have Kerala, Maratis have Maharashtra etc...

In the current situation MR should have set the expectations right for the masses for a solution. Like you pointed out here MR has spit out what he wants to say and this is the first time anyone in Sri Lankan conflict has mentioned UK as an example for unitary. It will be interesting to know what he is trying to tell the world.

When everyone around the world are talking about at least a federal set-up (including UN, US and EU), MR is talking about unitary. Unfortunately this will make it easy for the LTTE to walk-away from the CFU even with some support from the US. Significantly LTTE wanted to have the talks on Feb 22, which is the fourth annivesary of the signing of the CFU.