Whilst admitting that there was international pressure on Sri Lanka to go for a ceasefire with the LTTE, the country’s Prime Minister declared the government will not bow to international calls for a truce.
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, further declared there would be no negotiations with the LTTE even if they lay down arms and said ‘the government will not stop the war on the Tigers until they are defeated’.
“The international countries say that the Tigers should lay down their weapons and come to talks but the position of our government is that there is no need to talk to them once they give up their arms," Wickremanayake said on Tuesday, February 24.
"We are not ready for a ceasefire and the war against terrorism is at the last stage," Wickremanayake said speaking at a function in Colombo.
"Some countries are pressurising us to go for ceasefire agreement. They think Sri Lanka is a colonial country and it should abide by what they say," he said.
“Sri Lanka is a sovereign state and cannot be commanded by anyone; the Tigers have to lay down their arms, unconditionally, and there is no room for talks with them,” he further said.
"Some countries are pressurising us to go for ceasefire agreement. They think Sri Lanka is a colonial country and it should abide by what they say," he said.
“Sri Lanka is a sovereign state and cannot be commanded by anyone; the Tigers have to lay down their arms, unconditionally, and there is no room for talks with them,” he further said.
Stating that Sri Lanka was a democratic country, Wickremanayake added it was the government of the people and that the policies were drafted according to their wishes and expectations.
"We will listen only to the people (of the country),"
"We will listen only to the people (of the country),"
"We cannot listen to the concerned international body or community which is putting pressure on us to accept a ceasefire agreement with LTTE," he said.
"Our sovereignty must be respected and there should be no condition. We will not yield to any pressure," he said.
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s comments follows LTTE’s announcement to United Nations and the Co-Chairs that they are ready to comply with international calls for a ceasefire with government forces.
"Our sovereignty must be respected and there should be no condition. We will not yield to any pressure," he said.
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s comments follows LTTE’s announcement to United Nations and the Co-Chairs that they are ready to comply with international calls for a ceasefire with government forces.
In a letter to the United Nations , Japan, Norway, the European Union and the United States, LTTE political wing head B. Nadesan said "already more than 2,000 civilians have been killed and more than 5,000 have been injured," and added a ceasefire was needed to end the miseries of the Tamil people.
"We are ready to discuss, co-operate, and work together in all their efforts to bring an immediate ceasefire and work toward a political settlement," Nadesan added.
Before the Sri Lankan government responded to the offer, the Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire and demanded the complete surrender of the LTTE.
"Our position is that they must lay down arms and surrender," he said.
"There is no shift in our position."
Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona responding to the ceasefire call, told Associated Press: "Instead of surrendering as the entire international community and the Sri Lankan government has called them to do, [Tamil Tigers] are calling the very people who have asked them to surrender, to save their miserable skins."
"Their delusion for Eelam is in tatters," Kohona added.
Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella lablled the LTTE ceasefire offer as hilarious considering the LTTE is on the brink of military defeat.
On Thursday, February 5, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said the army would decisively defeat the LTTE in "a few days". A month on, the army is bogged down in Mullaitheevu, taking heavy casualties and with no signs of an LTTE defeat.