Now We have to win the Hearts of Tamils - Rajapaksa

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared on Wednesday that now was the time to “win over the hearts of the Tamil people.” At a colourful ceremony at Galle Face Green, facing the Indian Ocean, to mark the end of Eelam War IV, Mr. Rajapaksa spoke his first few sentences in Tamil. “The Tamil speaking people should be protected,” he said. “They should be able to live without fear and mistrust. That is today the responsibility of us all.” The who’s who of Sri Lanka and the diplomatic corps attended the event. His speech at the three-hour long ceremony was preceded by a presentation of scrolls by tri-service Commanders informing him of the conclusion of the war. The Defence Ministry described the ‘National Victory Parade’ as a tribute to all war heroes. One of the contingents at the march past by the forces had soldiers in wheel-chair. “I declare with great pride and dignity that I have hoisted the national flag in a single country unified under a single standard,” Mr. Rajapaksa said at the commencement of his address. Breaking into Tamil he said, “This is the motherland of us all… There can be no differences here. The war fought against the LTTE was not a war fought against the Tamil people… It is a victory for all who live in our country.” Reverting to Sinhala, Mr. Rajapaksa said the LTTE chief remained unharmed till November 2005 though his organisation had waged a war against four Heads of State and assassinated one of them. “They fought the powerful Indian Army and in the end assassinated a great Prime Minister of India. A Commander of our Navy, Admiral Clancy Fernando, was also assassinated.”Sri Lanka President said that during the period of the ceasefire agreement (brokered by Norway in 2002 and unilaterally terminated by the Rajapaksa government in January 2008) the terrorists were able to develop into a dictatorial government. “When I was elected President in 2005, our troops could move about in the North carrying weapons, but without ammunition… it was such an unarmed group of troops that was killed in an attack by the terrorists in December 2005,” he said. Mr. Rajapaksa said that nearly 24,000 brave children of the country fought for freedom and were resting eternally in their motherland. “Similarly, nearly 5000 children of Sri Lanka are wholly disabled.” Talking of the people in the north, Mr. Rajapaksa said that they had to be provided all the facilities they were denied for 30 years. Sri Lanka was not a carbon copy of any other country. The island nation gave courage to Asia by defeating terrorism that could not be defeated elsewhere in the world, he said. Appealing to the people to emerge from ideological differences, Mr. Rajapaksa said, “I am the proudest Head of State in the world for being able to see with my own eyes a future generation such as you who love your country so much.” Separately, Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama briefed the newly appointed United States Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on the current situation in Sri Lanka at a meeting on the sidelines of the eighth Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. A statement by the Foreign Ministry said that Mr. Bogollagma emphasised that the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on devolution of power would be implemented in the form of a 13th Amendment-plus plan. He said Sri Lanka wished to have a wider and more comprehensive engagement with other countries in the post-conflict era.