Sri Lankan president appeals to Tiger rebels to 'accept reality'

COLOMBO, July 19 Kyodo

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse appealed Thursday to Tamil Tigers rebels to ''even now accept the reality that it is not possible to bring liberation to the Tamil people through guns, bombs and cyanide capsules.''

He was speaking at a controversial celebration organized in Colombo to mark what the government called a ''new dawn'' in the east of the country following last week's eviction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from their last stronghold in multiethnic Eastern Province.

The military-dominated celebration, similar to the traditional annual Independence Day event marking the anniversary of the ending of British rule over the country, was boycotted by opposition political parties who described the nationally televised event as a ''waste of public funds.''

Rajapakse said the military operation ''against terrorism'' had been concluded with minimum harm to the people of the east and least harm to the security forces.

''(It) stands out as an example of such action to all the armies of the world that battle terrorism,'' he said.

Within days of the government claiming the east had been cleared of the LTTE, the chief civilian administrator of the province was murdered by a gunman in his office in the harbor town Trincomalee.

The victim is being accorded a state funeral Thursday evening.

Rajapakse said the success of the operation had debunked the myth of ''areas of (LTTE) control'' and he called clear understanding of the difference between human rights and terrorist activities.

''Do not confuse the two,'' he said in a pointed reference to strictures on his government for human rights violation both at home and abroad.

He also called on the main opposition party not to denigrate the victory of the security forces.

The opposition has accused the government of striking a deal with the LTTE to permit the rebels to withdraw with their heavy armor from their fortress on Baron's Cap, a rocky hat-shaped mountain on the eastern plateau.

''This is a people's victory,'' the president declared.

''I invite the Leader of the Opposition not to be an outsider but to be a stakeholder in this victory...but do not insult the security forces. Do not belittle or underestimate our security forces. It is with the sacrifice of life and limb that they have won these victories for our motherland,'' he said.

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