Lankan PM says no truce with LTTE, slams foreign peace envoys

In his first public appearance after assuming duties as acting defence Minister in absence of Kumaratunga who went abroad on Friday, he said the Tigers wanted a truce because they were weak.

In direct reference to his meeting on Thursday with visiting British Junior Foreign Minister Peter Hain, Wickremanayake said Northern Ireland experience cannot be “planted” in Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka cannot compare its situation with that of (northern) Ireland as (LTTE leader) Prabhakaran is the embodiment of brutality, killing even his own comrades,” Wickremanayake was quoted as saying in the state-run Daily News.

He said there will be no let-up in the military campaign against the LTTE despite the latest moves by Norway to bring the warring sides to the negotiating table.

“We will carry on the military option until the enemy is eliminated,” he said adding, “The Government is certainly not for ceasefire as previous experiences have shown that the enemy insists on ceasefire when it is weak.”

The Premier said he had been asked by unnamed “foreign delegates” if his thinking on Sri Lanka’s ethnic strife was the same as that of Kumaratunga who was seen as keen on pressing ahead with peace talks.

British Junior Foreign Minister Peter Hain left Colombo last Thursday after an overnight visit during which he asked Sri Lanka to use the Northern Ireland peace process as an example and move towards a settlement.

The Prime Minister’s outburst against foreign peace delegates came as the Government and the diplomatic community here awaited a policy speech today by Prabhakaran.

Prabhakaran is due to make the speech as part of his `Martyrs’ Week’ commemoration of some 16,000 of his cadres killed in fighting since 1982.