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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 9.25 GMT |
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Batti polls show govt’s commitment to peace and
democracy- Foreign Minister |
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The local government elections held in Batticaloa
shows this government has a plan and will deliver
its promise to restore normalcy in the areas
affected by the present conflict, said Foreign
Minister Rohitha Bogollagama addressing the
Diplomatic Corps at the Foreign Ministry today
(March 12).
The Minister said the completion of election is
significant in respect of the following: Firstly, it
is an important milestone in the government’s policy
of restoring democratic rights to the people in
areas that were previously dominated by the LTTE.
Secondly, we are seeing the transition of the TMVP
into the democratic political mainstream.
Thirdly, the successful conclusion of this election
augurs well for the planned Provincial Council
elections that will follow this May in the entire
Eastern Province as recommended by the 23 January
2008 proposals of the All Party Representative
Committee (APRC).
The Minister also said “It must be remembered that
the elections held on Monday would have been
inconceivable a year ago if not for the successful
clearing of the LTTE terrorism and the restoration
of normalcy. It is also noteworthy that these
military operations were conducted with great care
to ensure minimal disruption to civilian life. Other
than for a single incident where civilians were
killed when the LTTE fired mortars from their midst,
there were no reported incidents of civilian
casualties. Sri Lanka has proved through its Eastern
operations that terrorism can be defeated with far
less damage to civilians that in any comparable
situation.”
The Minister recalled his earlier observations to
the Diplomatic Corps that the government of
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while dealing
militarily to eliminate the scourge of terrorism
from Sri Lanka, will spare no effort in its bid to
arrive at a practical and sustainable political
settlement.
He said that with the proposals of the APRC we took
the first step in this regard. After 20 years, Sri
Lanka made a commitment to see that the 13th
Amendment of 1987 was to be fully implemented to
benefit the areas it was most intended to serve.
This was a first step in a continuing process for
greater devolution of power, with the objective of
achieving a final and durable political settlement.
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