President Mahinda Rajapaksa says Sri Lanka still faces a severe threat from separatists though the LTTE has been militarily crushed and the country united after a 30-year war. He says people should recognise the growing threat to the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He accused SLMC leader, Rauff Hakeem of trying to revive the separatist movement once spearheaded by the LTTE. He said that a fresh threat of terrorism would cause another disaster.

President Rajapaksa made this statement addressing the print media at Temple Trees on Wednesday (13 Jan).

Commenting on his talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which recently pledged its support to the Opposition presidential candidate Gen (Rtrd) Sarath Fonseka, the President said that he had refused to give in to TNA’s demands. The TNA had, he said, called for merging the Eastern Province and the North and the withdrawal of security forces from that region, the Island reported.

The President said that the government would gradually ease security restrictions imposed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as well as other parts of the country because the LTTE no longer posed a conventional military threat. Emphasising his readiness to scale down HSZs in the Jaffna peninsula, the President said that could not be done overnight though the war ended last May.

He said that even in times of peace, security of key installations couldn’t be compromised. He said that no one should seek political advantage out of a purely security matter and easing of restrictions would depend on a careful study of the ground situation.

Since the end of war, the government had taken a series of measures to facilitate civilian life, including opening of the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road, the President said.

Dismissing criticism that he had undermined the country’s foreign policy, the President said he was not aligned with any particular country. He reiterated that their relationship with any country would not be at the expense of another and he intended to continue that policy. He strongly defended growing relations with Iran while underscoring the importance of unprecedented Iranian financial assistance received at a time the country was facing a severe economic crisis. He gratefully recalled the grant of an interest free Iranian credit facility to Sri Lanka to purchase Iranian crude oil. That followed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Iran in November 2007.
Under the credit line, the government of Iran agreed to provide seven months of credit, out of which four months were interest free. The rest were given at a concessionary interest rate of 0.5%.

The Opposition Katakatha Brigade was engaged in a village-level campaign. Although, the government had countered several big lies propagated by the Opposition, it would not be an easy task to expose each and every lie, the President said. According to him, Opposition politicians were going ahead with their despicable campaign even though they could not deceive the public.

The President said that the Rajapaksas were a cosmopolitan family though their opponents would not accept that publicly. Several Rajapaksas were married to Tamil speaking people. Although some people targeted Nirupama for marrying a Tamil, she had contested the Hambantota District and won. He said that a section of the press did not want to reveal the fact that the Rajapaksas had Tamil relations, the President said.

The President said that the Tamil speaking husband of his niece had been killed by the LTTE.

The President said he was ready to discuss his proposals with regard to Constitutional amendments, including electoral reforms. Whatever political parties might agree to, nothing could be implemented without the consent of people. The President said that he wouldn’t make promises that couldn’t be met but strive to reach a consensus among political parties. He called for cooperation among political parties to achieve a lasting solution to the national question. The merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province was out of the question, the President said reiterating his commitment to thwart whatever attempt made to divide the country on the ethnic lines, the Island reported.