Moderates of the world unite to defeat terrorism: Lanka

New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera today said a centrist middle path was the only way of resolving the conflict situation in the island nation and around the world, and called upon the right thinking governments and people to unite to defeat terrorism and protect democracy.

''The slogan of our times should be 'Moderates of the World Unite,'' he said, taking a leaf out of Marx and Engels' 'Communist Manifesto'.

Mr Samaraweera said the more powerful democracies must come to the help of the less privileged democracies in their struggle against extremism.

Delivering the 14th Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture here, he said the middle path of the radical centre must be based on the courage of convictions based on the principles of decency, freedom and the rule of law.

''It must be a philosophy based on bringing the socio-economic extremists fearlessly and vigorously into a radically committed centre where the rule of law prevail. In doing so, it should engage civil society as its ally,'' he said during his lecture on 'Forging a Radical Center: A Response to Extremism and Intolerance'..

In this context, Mr Samaraweera said his government was committed to a negotiated settlement of the ethnic question as it was aware of the obligation to respect the rule of law and the need to address the grievances of the affected minorities.

He described Lal Bahadur Shastri as an example of 'radical centrist' and Mahatma Gandhi's concept of non-violence as a radical affirmation of centrist values.

''The tyranny of the few as opposed to the silence of the majority is perhaps the biggest challenge many of our democracies have to face today.... Like poverty, terrorism anywhere is a threat to humanity everywhere. It must be fought vigorously and fearlessly,'' he said.

But he added that the answer to extremism should not be more extremism.

''The vital imperative of remaining civilized is to avoid at all costs the trap of becoming terrorists to fight the terrorist,'' he said quoting from former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh's book 'Call to Honor'.

UNI