International

Displaced civilians’ welfare top priority: Sri Lanka

COLOMBO: On the eve of the visit of Basil Rajapaksa — senior adviser to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa — to New Delhi, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama asserted that the current “military operations are being pursued under a government directive to the military to adhere strictly to a strategy of zero-civilian casualty.” He said the welfare of displaced civilians is the government’s top priority.

The purpose of Mr. Rajapaksa’s visit is to discuss New Delhi’s ‘serious concerns’ over the humanitarian crisis triggered by the war between the forces and the LTTE. These concerns were repeatedly articulated in the October 6 demarche, and statements made by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In response, President Rajapaksa telephoned Mr. Singh last week and said military operations in the North were intended to disarm the LTTE and usher in peace.

At a meeting to mark the 63rd U.N. Day on Friday, Mr. Bogollagama said the success of the government’s strategy in the East is now clearly visible with the restoration of democracy in less than a year of the province being “freed from the clutches of terror.”

He said successive governments had endeavoured to address the root causes of the 25-year conflict, and the Rajapaksa government, through the All-Party Representative Conference, is engaged in an effort to finalise “political and constitutional solutions to meet the aspirations and rights of all communities.”

The government has received compliments from the international community, which has noted the “unusual situation of a central government providing relief aid to persons under the control of a terrorist group, despite the fact that a large portion of this aid is being expropriated by the LTTE,” he said.

The partnership with the U.N.’s networks is valuable at this moment when the security forces are moving to clear the Northern Province in order to restore democracy, he said. Separately, another convoy of 75 truckloads carrying food was scheduled to be sent to IDPs in Wanni on Friday. Disaster Management and Relief Assistance Minister Risath Bathiyutheen said necessary arrangements have been made to transport the trucks from Vavuniya. The Defence Ministry has said it has temporarily suspended the reporting of all casualty figures with regard to the ongoing counter-terrorist operation in Wanni.

Meanwhile, ‘Col.’ Karuna Amman has decided to change the name of his organisation by removing the word ‘tiger’ from it. “I have decided to remove the word ‘puligal’ [tigers] from the TMVP [Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal] as it is disturbing the Sinhala community and international organisations because the people know the LTTE as ‘Puligal’,” said Col. Karuna.

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