8th May 2000

I am addressing you today to explain to you the decision taken by me an my Government in the context of the national crisis facing the country. In particular I feel that I should keep you informed about the decision taken by the Government to place the country on a war footing from the third of May. 

For the last several months the LTTE has been waging a series of barbaric terrorist attacks on the civilian population living in Colombo and its suburbs. They also engaged in large-scale attacks on the security forces in the North and Tamil civilians. The LTTE's genocidal terrorist politics therefore is poised today against all the people of this country, be they Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims. The Government, the armed forces and the police need certain powers to successfully and strongly face up to this genocidal politics of the LTTE. For this purpose the government proclaimed special emergency regulations on May 3.

We have no intention whatsoever of suppressing the people of this country through these regulations. On the country the objective of this exercise is to ensure the security of the Tamil people and all other minorities and religions. They are also intended to prevent the attempt made by some political leaders and others as they have done from 1977 to the infamous Black July to exploit this national emergency for their own petty political or personal ends, fish in troubled waters incite the people and inflame the country.

I wish to tell you that the procedures we have been adopting for ten days since my return to the country curtailing medical treatment are now showing results. I am now paying special attention along with my cabinet of ministers and the service commanders to the difficult and complex exercise of putting and end to this wasteful war while attending to the welfare and requirements of our brave troops, ensuring the safety od the people and advancing our government's unflinching vision and course of action of bringing about peace.

It is our intention in arming ourselves with these special powers to act in such a manner that there will be a minimum of violations of fundamental human rights. That is why we have left out certain drastic provisions which were included in the emergency regulations proclaimed by the then government in 1985 and 1989. The present regulations too we will use only if the requirement so arises. The police and related officials have been instructed on how they should act towards the media and other sections. I wish to state that these regulations are purely temporary. The government has no wish whatsoever to administer the country under emergency regulations even for a single unwarranted moment.

Here I wish to reiterate on fact. We know that the Tamil people of the North and the east are clearly against the politics of fascist terrorism. What they ask for is to enjoy the rights that they are entitled to as Sri Lankans and live in dignity as Sri Lankans. Like other communities they too desire an end to the war and to live in peace. Today the barbaric conduct of the LTTE stands in direct opposition to the wishes of Sri Lanka's Tamil people. The LTTE's war waged for 18 years after the infamous Black July has become a curse to the progress of the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and Malay people of the country and the country's development as a whole.

Knowing fully well that the LTTE was barbaric terrorist organisation we did our best to seek a peaceful solution without having to sacrifice our youth to the flames of war. That is why we tried in 1994 as well as for more than a year now to discuss with the LTTE, establish the rights of the Tamil people, end the war and bring about peace. When we see the manner in which the LTTE spurned our offer twice as well as the way in which the LTTE itself ended the talks with the previous UNP government one thing becomes clear. That is that the LTTE is against the Tamil people being granted their rights. It is also clear that it has no wish to abandon the war and its terrorist politics and bring about peace. It has become the single obsession of the LTTE today to go against the aspirations of the very people whom they pretend to be liberating, make terror, its single weapon and subjugate the entire country including the Tamil people.

The people of this country elected us to office knowing well that we had always stood for human rights even at the sacrifice of the lives of my father, my husband and thousands of our political comrades in order to restore human rights and democracy. We shall never forget that it is chiefly for this that the people have made the People's Alliance victories at nine elections over seven years. We have defeated the state terrorism of the previous UNP government. If anybody else attempts to spurn offers of peace and tries to deliver our country and our people to terrorism it is the duty of all of us to rise against such forces. Let us resolve even now to place aside personal interests in such an endeavor and unite to obtain the rights and freedom of all the people of the country vanquish terrorism and advance towards the new age once again like a great country.

However, I wish to refresh your minds even briefly as to how the present crisis so deteriorated that such all-embracing regulations should be called for. We cannot forget that what we are suffering today are the grave ill-effects of the politics of petty political interest pursued for over five decades by some extremist communal groups and some political groups.

It was necessary in 1956 to make Sinhala the official language to liberate the Ceylonese people from the colonial culture and its attendant mind-set which had oppressed them for 450 years. As history has demonstrated the best medium and machinery for establishing a people's identity is language. Sinhalaese which was the language of 80 per cent of the population was adopted then in order to free our people of this slavish colonial mentality.

The Bandarnaike government of the day while making Sinhalaese the official language did take steps while establishing the rights of the Sinhalese to safeguard the rights of the minorities as well. The reasonable use of Tamil Act and the Bandaranaike - Chelvanayakam. 

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