Sri Lanka's ethnic troubles shouldn't be solved through military means, but the government will not seek a political solution as long as Tamil Tiger rebels engage in terrorism, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday.
"There has to be a political solution," Rajapaksa told a news briefing, his first remarks to the media since the government last week formally scrapped a 6-year truce with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels (LTTE).
"(But) This (solution) is not with terrorists," he said. "You can't allow them to go free."
Rajapaksa said that after two years of having his patience tried, he was forced to abrogate the truce because the rebels had escalated attacks on civilians.
"I wanted the terrorists not to harm the civilians, but they were doing that," he said. "It was very clear what their intention is, so I had to take a decision."
The LTTE has been outlawed as a terrorist group by a host of nations, including the United States and European Union members, following a series of attacks and assassinations.
But a previous Sri Lankan government lifted a ban on the group in 2002, paving the way for direct peace talks that later collapsed.
Rajapaksa said the government had not yet decided whether to ban the rebels again.
The Tigers are seeking to carve out an independent state in the island's north and east.
Reclusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said in November that he had no hope of a political settlement with the government to the 25-year civil war after the chief of his political wing was killed in an air force bombing raid.
The government has said it aims to destroy the Tigers militarily and evict them from territory they control in the far north. Analysts expect the war, which has killed around 70,000 people since 1983, will grind on for years.
The military say more than 40 civilians, 29 soldiers and over 560 rebels have been killed since the scraping of the truce.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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