There is no need to talk to Tigers once they lay down arms,
said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramasinghe on
Tuesday. “Sri Lanka will not give in to international
countries and bodies pressurizing it to stop the war on
Liberation Tigers," he said participating in an event held
in his office where his son, Vithura Wicremanayake, handed
over essential commodities collected by him for the soldiers
engaged in the war in the north and those injured, to Sri
Lanka Army (SLA) Northern Commander, media sources in
Colombo said.
“Though pressure is exerted in various ways by the
international countries the government will not stop the war
on the Tigers until they are defeated,” the Sri Lankan PM
said.
“Sri Lanka is a sovereign state and cannot be commanded by
anyone; the Tigers have to lay down their arms,
unconditionally, and there is no room for talks with them,”
he further said.
“The international countries say that the Tigers should lay
down their weapons and come to talks but the position of our
government is that there is no need to talk to them once
they give up their arms," Wickremanayake said.
“The truth is that some are asking us to stop the war in
their own interests but there is no need for our government
to act so as to fulfill their selfish motives,” he said.
His son, Vithura Wicremanayake, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
(SLFP) organizer and the prospective candidate for Korana
electorate, had walked a hundred miles in the electorate
with his supporters and had collected the things to be given
to SLA soldiers.
Our sovereignty must be respected," - PM
Sinhala Owned Sri Lankan Daily Mirror, 24 February 2009
Admitting that there was international pressure on it to
go for a ceasefire with the LTTE, Sri Lankan government
today said it would not bow to calls for a truce as the
rebels were on the brink of total defeat.
"We are not ready for a ceasefire and the war against
terrorism is at the last stage," Prime Minister Ratnasiri
Wickremanayake said at a function here. "Some countries are
pressurising us to go for ceasefire agreement. They think
Sri Lanka is a colonial country and it should abide by what
they say," he said.
Stating that Sri Lanka was a democratic country,
Wickremanayake added it was the government of the people and
that the policies were drafted according to their wishes and
expectations.
"We will listen only to the people (of the country)," the
Prime Minister said while ruling out any ceasefire with the
LTTE which he said was waging a war against the government.
"We cannot listen to the concerned international body or
community which is putting pressure on us to accept a
ceasefire agreement with LTTE," he said.
"Our (Sri Lanka's) sovereignty must be respected and
there should be no condition. We will not yield to any
pressure," he said.
