If the LTTE lays down their weapons
tomorrow, there will not be any reason for
us to fight. There will be an automatic
ceasefire.
As long as the LTTE is using weapons, as
long as the LTTE is not allowing the
civilians to leave, their freedom of
movement being restricted, the civilians
being shot and killed in cold blood and
massive human rights violations being
committed against the civilian population,
our job is to ensure that this kind of
terrorism is wiped out once and for all,
Disaster Management and Human Rights
Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told BBC’s
HARDtalk last Monday, March 2, 2009.
"There is absolutely no justification to use
heavy weapons and, in fact, about ten days
ago, the Armed Forces took a conscious
decision not to use any heavy weapons. As
you know, the LTTE is now restricted in fact
to a very small area of about 48 sq. km. and
we cannot use heavy weapons", said minister
responding to allegations on the use of
heavy weapons in the security forces.
"We have never targeted civilians and we
will never target civilians, because, as I
mentioned earlier, our fight is to liberate
the civilians from terrorism We consciously
avoided civilian areas because as I said
earlier, what is the objective as far as the
Government is concerned in targeting
civilians, who are our own people,”he said.
"These are Sri Lankans whom we are trying to
liberate from the clutches of terrorism," he
added.
Commenting on the allegation that civilians
that have come from the LTTE held area are
to be kept for three years the Minister put
the record straight.
He said: "The plan has always been to
resettle them in the shortest possible time
but we cannot afford to take short-cuts...
The de-mining has to take place, the basic
infrastructure has to be put in place,
services have to be provided, 'go and see'
visits have to take place.
It has to be an informed choice that the
people themselves make. We do not want to
keep these people a day later than we can
help to avoid."
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