“I am committed to negotiated solution” – President Rajapaksa to Ambassador Boucher

[June 1, 2006 - 11.45 GMT]

President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Ambassador Richard A Boucher, US for South and Central Asia that he was committed to a negotiated solution to the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka, and would call on the All Party Conference that meets tomorrow (June 2) to work out suitable proposals for devolution of power to achieve this end.

Ambassador Boucher was told by the President that he would ask the All Party Conference to have a fresh outlook into this matter, and arrive at consensus on proposals that could be placed before the LTTE for negotiation. He stressed that the failure of earlier proposals to solve this crisis was because they did not have the agreement of the LTTE, and it would not be practicable to impose any unilateral solution, without agreement with the LTTE.

President Rajapaksa explained the need to seek a Sri Lankan solution, and not be confined to the solutions in other countries, although he did not rule out the possibility of some of those solutions being suitable in the Sri Lankan context.

The President further explained to Ambassador Boucher that the LTTE too should look at the present opportunity to arrive at a negotiated settlement and come for discussions, while also understanding that acts of violence such as massacres of civilians, attacks on children, Human Rights violations and the tactics of terror cannot achieve the desired results for the Tamil.

Referring to the pattern of violence in the country, President Rajapaksa told Ambassador there was a pattern of provocation and attempts to put the blame on the government for acts which it would never do. He also said the LTTE was seeking to provoke reprisals from other sections of the Sri Lankan population. He referred to the assassination of TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham at Christmas Midnight Service inside a church; the attack at Trincomalee just before the traditional Sinhala & Tamil New Year and Good Friday; the and the attempt to attack a ship carrying over 700 unarmed troops and ceasefire monitors on the eve of the Vesak festival, the most important day in the Buddhist calendar, which marked 2550th anniversary of the Buddha’s birth.

Referring to possible allegations of government complicity in acts of violence such as the attack on the Udayan newspaper, the President questioned as to why the government should carry out any such acts which would only hurt itself, with this attack taking place. He noted that this attack took place when a large number of foreign journalists were in Colombo to mark World Press Freedom Day.

President Rajapaksa also explained the difficulties the government had in apprehending and punishing those involved in certain acts of violence, due to the lack of evidence as required by the Courts in a democratic society. He said it was necessary for it to be understood that the Government had to act within the limits of a democratic society, and could not act carry out summary justice as an illegal organization may be able to.