[see also யாழ் உதயன் பத்திரிகை உண்மையில் தமிழ் தேசியத்திற்கு குரல் கொடுக்கிறதா? நடிக்கிறதா?]

பாடுவது திருவாசகம்...

இடிப்பது சிவன்கொயில்...

the Word

the Deed

Sri Lanka President calls for talks with Tigers "In return of my trust, I want the LTTE to trust us" - Sri Lanka State Controlled Daily News, 23 January 2006

BY DILIP Ganguly  (the Indian Hand & the Spin?)

COLOMBO, Jan. 22 (AP) - President Mahinda Rajapakse, on Sunday called for immediate talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels to halt spiraling violence threatening Sri Lanka's four-year-old ceasefire and taking this tropical island again toward the brink of war.

Rajapakse also had a warning for anyone who might take his wish for peace as a sign that the government was unable to take on the Tigers.

"Don't take my patience as my weakness," Rajapakse, 60, told The Associated Press, one day before Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim was to arrive to try to bring the two parties who have fought for almost two decades, losing 65,000 lives back to the negotiating table.

"We are strong militarily, but I firmly believe that talks with trust can solve this problem," said Rajapakse, who won the Nov. 17 presidential election on pledges that he would not divide this island of 19 million people along ethnic lines, as the Tigers want.

"Let us sit down together and talk and from there we can pick the thread up and carry on."

But, he said, he was still willing to reach out to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the ruthless separatist army that controls large parts of northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

"I am willing to trust the LTTE," Rajapakse said when asked about rebels' record, which includes unilaterally withdrawing from previous peace agreements.

"We can start the talks," as a confidence-building measure, Rajapakse said, adding "before we go into details how to address the issues, the killings must stop."

About two weeks after Rajapakse's election victory, Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the reclusive rebel leader, announced that he would intensify the struggle for an independent homeland if the minority Tamils' grievances were not addressed.

The rebels' Nov. 27 statement was followed by a sharp surge in violence, with suspected rebels attacking Sri Lankan security forces almost daily.

"Yes, 78 of our brave men have been killed by the LTTE," Rajapakse said. .."In return of my trust, I want the LTTE to trust us. We are all Sri Lankans and we can't let this small country go back to war," said Rajapakse, speaking in a room at Temple Trees, the Prime Minister's official residence.

Rajapakse was Prime Minister before becoming President, and the presidential palace is currently being renovated.

Dressed casually, in a yellow T-shirt and jogging pants, he was protected by an enveloping security detail. Bodyguards with small arms were stationed every few meters (yards) along the pathway leading to the house.

Two armed guards stood at the entrance of the room where Rajapakse was seated in front of a jumble of Sri Lankan newspapers. Marksmen in full battle dress were posted on sections of the parapet of the house, which is just a few hundred yards (meters) from the island's shoreline.  Referring to the killings, Rajapakse said "It is becoming too much. They must stop."

The rebels say they are not involved in the killings, but say "people" who are angry and frustrated by the presence of Sri Lankan troops were carrying out the attacks.

"They have not given me time to even breathe," he said of the rebel attacks that started soon after he assumed office. "When the talks start and the killings stops, we will take the issues one by one and try to solve them. This is the only way."  "Nothing can be pushed down their (rebels') throat or our throat," he said of the rebels sweeping demands for autonomy.

The last peace talks broke down in April 2003. "I am spending too much time in dealing with this problem," he said of the attacks and uncertain future of his country. His dream, he said, was for a little time off. "I wish I could go and see a rugby match."
 

"In return of my trust, I want the LTTE to trust us"
Disappearances, Killings & Rape by Sinhala Sri Lanka  Security Forces - the Record Speaks...

ஓ....எங்கள் குரல் கேட்கிறதா ?

...Iyathurai Baskaran, Nadarajah Yogeswararajah, Illayathamby Ramakrishnan, Thurairajah Ravichandran, Kanapathy Murugesu, Mariyanayagam Maruthanayagam, Bojan Renuka, Bojan Shanuka, Bojan Arthanageswary, Tharmarasan Tharmaseelan,  N Kandeepan,T Tharmasri, Soosaithas K Marinthiran,  Sebastiampillai P Ruban,  Selvarajah Uthayarajah, S. Thanabalasingham, Balakrishnan Rajeevmohan, Thangathurai Sivanantha,  Logithasan Rohanth,  Shanmugarajah Sajeenthiran,  Manoharan Rajeehar, Yogarajah Hemachandran,  Joseph Pararajasingham, Jude Sugathy (Theresa) Croos , Jude Arokiyathass Fernando, Emmani Croos, Emmani Anthonikkam Croos, Ilaiyathamby Tharshini...

"..The Sri Lankan military has noted the people at the forefront of the Pongu Thamil events and now appears to be on an extermination drive to eliminate these people. People have commented that those who are terrorising the people are doing so with a list of names... We hear a lot of stories of people coming in “white van” and abducting people. Nothing is heard about the abducted people after that. People have been abducted like this in Ilavalai, Point Pedro, Nelliady and many other places”."Jaffna Displacement caused by Sri Lanka Military's Extermination Drive - NESHOR

 -  "Over the last six to seven weeks atrocities by the Sri Lankan armed forces and paramilitaries against civilians in Northeast have escalated to alarming levels. Sri Lankan armed forces so far have been responsible for at least 45 deaths and more than 100 disappearances and innumerable shooting/beating and injuring of civilians who were going about their daily lives..."North East Secretariat on Human Rights Appeals against Sri Lanka Army Atrocities - Dr N Malathy, NESOHR Secretary General, 6 January 2006

"No time to breathe"
or 'three months' to reorganise the army?

".. (On election, President Rajapakse) hurriedly removed the Army Commander – Lieutenant General Santha Kotegoda, who was... considered a peacenik, with the hawkish Colonel Sarath Fonseka, who was.. promoted to the rank of a Lieutenant General.The Commander has asked for three months to reorganize the army and prepare the army for hostilities against the LTTE. The appointment of the hawkish Ratnasiri Wickramanayake as the Deputy Minister of Defence, the appointment of the President’s brother as the Secretary of Defense, the appointment of Kotakadeniya, the dreaded former DIG and treasurer of the JHU, as an advisor on Police affairs suggests that the President is appointing hardliners into the defense establishment.. As a sequel to Kotakadeniya’s appointment search operations are underway and nearly 900 Tamils of both sexes have been arrested and detained in Colombo .To bolster the hard-line approach, the President who is also the Minister of Finance voted Rupees 91.6 Billion for Defense spending under the 2005/2006 Budgetary allocation, being the highest monetary allocation for Defense in its history." The Finale of Tamil Patience - Roger Ratnarajah, 19 January 2006

"When the talks start we will take the issues one by one and try to solve them"

"..What kind of positive change can you expect from a fumbling President, completely out of depths in governance, who has to depend for his majority in parliament from his back-seat driving racist allies, the JVP, and for support from a cowardly Kotakadeniya gang that unable to stomach the repeated losses of their armed soldiers and sailors take their revenge on unarmed civilians both in the north and east and in Colombo? What can you expect from a President who listens to rumours and uses rowdy language on the phone to a reputed editor? ...What have you got in your hands to offer, Mr.President? You have precious little. You have only small change in the form of a political solution. Going back on fifty years of Sinhala racism at this deathbed hour would be beyond you. May Guruvayur Appan be with you!" Oru Paper Editorial - Solheim meeting Pirabhakaran will mean nothing if he comes to Vanni with small change, 20 January 2006