Sri Lanka vows to flush out LTTE

Colombo, Jan 14: There is no looking back on the military offensive against the LTTE, declared Sri Lankan govt spokesman for Defence and National Security, Keheliya Rambukwella. Rambukwella said he will dismiss the calls by ethnic Tamil political parties and politicians from Tamil Nadu for cessation of hostilities.

He also said that a friendship network on social utility site such as Facebook would be a useful tool for building trust and confidence between the Tamil minority and Sinhalas. In an interview to a news agency Rambukwella said the Sri Lankan troops would press on with military operations against the LTTE.

“We have restricted them to a 30 sq km area and we are very confident that we will flush them out," he said. He thought the only sliver of hope left for LTTE chief Prabhakaran was to lay down arms. “If the LTTE lays down arms totally and physically, not symbolically, and we are satisfied, then we could (consider talks)," he said when asked whether doors were still open for negotiations.

Invoking the reformation of bandit Angulimal after an encounter with Lord Buddha, Rambukwella said Buddhism preaches tolerance and Prabhakaran could still attain “Nirvana" if he laid down arms. He dismissed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi"s calls for a ceasefire as his “political compulsion". “We have excellent relations with India, which has come to realise that terrorism at any cost has to be stopped. We cannot give into it whether it is Mumbai or Gaza or Colombo or Jaffna," he asserted.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)