Sri Lanka to deal with terrorism "firmly", senior diplomat says

Sri Lanka will deal with Tamil Tiger rebels' terrorist acts "firmly and decisively", a senior diplomat said Thursday in Beijing.

Palitha Kohona, Secretary of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, told a press conference, "The government is committed to a negotiated peace, and will deal with terrorism firmly and decisively. All over the world, no country deals with terrorists with kid gloves."

Kohona said the government's attacks on the Tamil Tiger rebels, especially in the east, had been successful.

Kohona is here to prepare for the upcoming China visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the countries.

"But as long as they (the rebels) adopt terrorist approaches to achieving political objectives, the government will deal with them in an appropriate manner,"

Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels ended with no agreement last year in Geneva, with a series of attacks, bombings and clashes having taken place.

Kohona, who is also the head of the government's Peace Secretariat in charge of negotiations with the Tamil Tiger rebels, said the Norwegian-backed peace process was not dead.

"We hope that the Norwegian facilitators will continue to play a critical role in bringing the Tamil Tiger rebels to the negotiating table," he said.

Norway's peace effort began in 2000 saw the LTTE and the government meeting face to face eight times for negotiations since 2002.

Over 67,000 people have been killed in the armed struggle waged by the LTTE on behalf of the Tamil minority since the mid-1980s, with nearly 4,000 killed since December 2005.

Source: Xinhua