Military ops only to pressure LTTE

President insists terrorism is terrorism anywhere

President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the UN general Assembly yesterday the Government launched military operations against the LTTE as part of moves to exert pressure on the rebels and convince them that it would not be possible for them to obtain a military victory.

Speaking in Sinhala in the presence of world leaders at the 62nd UN General Assembly in New York the President stressed the ultimate goal of the Government remained to seek a ‘negotiated and honourable’ end to the conflict and said the All Party Representative Committee was working successfully towards that goal.

His comments came a day after the LTTE, in a statement, said the Government must end what it termed were deceptions, military oppressions, ethnic cleansing and serious human rights violations and accept the aspirations of the Tamil people and come forward to find a resolution that is based on the right to self-determination of the Tamil people.

“I am proud to inform you that despite the significant challenge posed by the ongoing conflict with a ruthless terrorist group in the North of the country, we have freed the Eastern Province from terrorism, and restored law and order there. My Government has already launched a massive program of rehabilitation and reconstruction in the East. We propose to make the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka a model for development and rehabilitation, essentially with our own efforts but also with the assistance of all donors,” President Rajapaksa said.

The President said the Government was taking steps to return the usurped rights of the people by conducting Provincial and local government elections in the East by early next year and added that there was a clear opportunity for the international community to play a vital role in breaking the cycle of conflict by focusing on development.

While stressing that terrorism was terrorism anywhere President Rajapaksa stressed on the importance of concluding negotiations on a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism which he said was for the moment limited to endless discussion.

“Sri Lanka has taken an upfront position in the global community’s efforts to deal with terrorism. We have become party to 11 of 13 UN Conventions for the suppression of various acts of terrorism…All terrorist attacks whether in New York, Mumbai, Cairo, London or Colombo are acts that threaten the democratic way of life and must be condemned unreservedly,” he said.

The President said Sri Lanka believed, as one of the founder members of the Human Rights Council, human rights was also too important to be used as a tool to victimize States for political advantage and it was essential that international action to facilitate compliance with human rights standards was fair and even handed.

“Human rights have to be protected and advanced for their own sake, not for political gain.”

The President further said that although the UN system has set up mechanisms to deal with many problems the capacity of the UN to address these challenges effectively has been brought into question. He said the UN must always remember that its primary function was to render assistance for the well being of its Member States.

“As resources received by the UN are limited, it has been only possible to deliver limited results. We need to focus on these as they have often been characterized by countless, poorly coordinated, ineffectively designed, ineptly staffed and overlapping programs, with unnecessary inter-agency rivalry,” he said.President Rajapaksa also said that the World Bank established for economic development, the IMF set up for financial stability, and other regional banks established at the same time as the UN need to implement new programs to assist the countries that are affected by several challenges.