Sri Lanka vowed yesterday to persevere in efforts for a negotiated peace with Tamil Tiger rebels while maintaining military pressure, which the government said is bringing results.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Sri Lanka's military had rooted out Tiger rebels from the east of the country in operations that complement efforts to negotiate a solution to the long-running conflict.
"With the exception of a few jungle hideouts, most of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, which was until recently terrorized by the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] has been rid of this menace," Bogollagama told the Shangri-La Dialogue of senior Asian defence and security officials and experts.
The LTTE's 35-year campaign for independence has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
"We see no contradiction in dealing firmly with the scourge of terrorism perpetrated by the LTTE, even as the government of Sri Lanka seeks to evolve a consensus for a negotiated political settlement to the armed conflict," he said.
That is why the government sought in recent months to battle the Tigers, "to convince the group that it cannot expect to achieve a military victory," he said.
Government troops and rebels have been locked in combat following the breakdown of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce.
Official sources in Sri Lanka said yesterday the rebels had launched a major attack on a military gun position in the country's north, wounding at least 15 soldiers.
Security forces were keeping up air, ground and sea attacks against the Tigers in the island's northern and eastern regions.
"There is no offensive by the government," Bogollagama told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. "We are only trying to have a limited engagement when it is needed ... The government never fired the first bullet."
On Friday, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse offered to open peace negotiations but the rebels have insisted they would not resume peace talks unless the government halted military action.
Rajapakse would enter negotiations with the rebels if they agreed to resume where they left off in October, his spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage said.
"I am a total democrat and I believe in a peaceful negotiated settlement," he quoted the president as saying.
Bogollagama reiterated the government was ready to talk.
"We have said so and we are saying it now. We will continue to engage LTTE at talks and we will expect them to respond and come early for talks," he said.
In his speech to the conference, Bogollagama called the Tigers a threat to shipping in the Indian Ocean and appealed for global action against the guerrilla group.
He said the LTTE were one of the few "terrorist organizations" in the world with a proven maritime capability.
Along with their Sea Tigers naval combat unit, they owned a substantial number of ships which carry out traditional trading and also smuggled military hardware, he said, accusing them of "numerous acts of maritime terrorism."
A top Sri Lankan defense official told reporters in Singapore that authorities had foiled a potentially devastating attack on Colombo when they intercepted a truck laden with 1,052kg of explosives on Friday.
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