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Sri Lankan President Rejects Tamil Tigers' Denial on Minister's Killing

Posted on: Monday, 15 August 2005, 03:00 CDT

Text of report by Indian news agency PTI

Colombo, 14 August: Pledging not to yield to terror, President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Sunday [14 August] said she would redouble efforts for a political settlement to Sri Lanka's drawn out ethnic conflict despite the assassination of her foreign minister even as she rejected the Tamil Tigers' denial of involvement in the killing. "We shall never bow to terror or allow it to succeed or compromise the security of our people. However, we can't let hate and terror overcome us," Kumaratunga said in her first televised address to the nation since Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated on Friday by suspected Tamil Tiger snipers.

She said the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had killed Kadirgamar and rejected the rebel denials. "I will re-double the efforts of my government for the devolution of power based on dialogue, dialogue with all parties," said Kumaratunga. "For this, I need the continued support of our people and friends in the international community. If we are to achieve lasting peace we need to deal with the root causes of the politics of terror and redress it objectively and effectively."

Kumaratunga had unveiled a power sharing plan in August 1995 and again in 2000. But the Tigers had rejected her offers. However, in December 2002, the Tigers agreed to share power in a federal structure, but those talks remain suspended since April 2003. In a rare broadside against the Tigers, Kumaratunga said "initial indications of the investigations seem to reveal responsibility of the LTTE in the brutal murder" of Kadirgamar.

"It is unacceptable that a group that talks endlessly about being committed to a cease-fire could so blatantly violate it," she said. "Mr Kadirgamar was an idealist. Long before 11 September and the London bombings; long before terrorism became anathema to the western world he spoke out against terrorism in Sri Lanka and abroad," Kumaratunga said. "He was instrumental in having the LTTE recognized internationally for what they are - an armed terrorist group," she said.

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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