Sri Lanka urged Norway to consider banning LTTE

Minister Nimal Sripala de Silva, the Leader of the House and the one who led Sri Lankan side for negotiations, has urged Norway to consider banning LTTE. He has told that Norway’s soil should not be made use for the terrorists to regroup themselves.

Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management and the Leader of the House together with Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Minister of Environment were in Norway for a high level meeting with Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, speaking to Asian Tribune said “We had very cordial and successful meetings in Norway. I explained to the Norwegian Foreign Minister the Sri Lanka’s position regarding various issues and reiterated our position regarding Darushman Report and about the LLRC.

He said that he has emphasized that Sri Lanka need time and space and “without pushing us to the wall and every country should help us in the reconciliation process. I have welcome Norway for cooperating with the Dutch investigation that is going on.”

Minister said, I have told that in the future we should cooperate at the same time it is high time for the Norway to consider the banning of the LTTE.

He pointed that the perpetrator of the 22nd of July Twin Tower Attack has made statement and has said that he was following the LTTE model. Minister said that he has urged Norway in the best interest of all countries that the Norwegian soil must not be made use of by the LTTErs and it should not be the place for regrouping for terrorists activities.

Given below the full text of the statement made regarding the visit of the two Ministers to Norway:

Pursuant to the bi-lateral meeting between Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Jens Stoltenberg Prime Minister of Norway in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management and the Leader of the House together with Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Minister of Environment visited Oslo and had a high level meeting with Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway.

Sri Lankan Ministerial Delegation in Oslo

The Ministerial delegation also had meetings with Mr. Erik Solheim, Minister of International Development and Environment and Mr. Morten Høglund representing the Leader of the Opposition and the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense on the 14th of October 2011. The two Ministers were accompanied by Rodney M. Perera, Ambassador, Mr. C.V. Rajapakse, Deputy Chief of Mission and Ms. Shani Calyaneratne-Karunaratne, First Secretary of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Oslo.

Ministers paid floral Tribute victims of the Twin Tower attack

Immediately upon arrival in Oslo, the two Ministers visited the Oslo Cathedral and paid floral tributes to the victims of the twin terror attacks of 22nd July 2011.

The same evening, the Ministers were hosted to dinner by the Norway-Sri Lanka Business Council.

Meeting with Jonas Gahr Støre, Foreign Minister

The highlight of the visit was the bi-lateral talks with Jonas Gahr Støre, Foreign Minister of the Royal Norwegian Government. Jonas Gahr Støre warmly welcomed the delegation and acknowledged the longstanding bi-lateral relationship between Norway and Sri Lanka.

Ministers briefed in detail to Norwegian Foreign Minister and his delegation regarding the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka with a special focus in the Northern Province. The Ministers stated that several billion rupees have been spent on infrastructure development and livelihood support and also for the programs to uplift the quality of the lives of people in the North and East out of local funding. The Sri Lankan delegation thanked the Norwegian Government for the assistance extended to Sri Lanka for some of these programs. They also briefed the Norwegian Foreign Minister that restrictions on fishing had been fully withdrawn and people in the Northern peninsula are happily engaged in agriculture and fisheries and other areas of livelihood fully thereby contributing to the national economy. The schools and the government buildings devastated as a result of terrorist activities have been rehabilitated in several areas and new schools and hospitals constructed to deliver a better service in the field of health and education.

The Sri Lankan delegation emphasized that the emergency regulations have been totally lifted and checkpoints and road blocks have been removed and people are free to travel to any part in the Northern Province without any restrictions.

In the area of reconciliation, the Government of Sri Lanka has taken several commendable steps towards this process. More than 10,000 ex LTTE combatants have been rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society after giving them vocational training. Currently there are only less than 800 former LTTE cadres under custody suspected to have been engaged in terrorist activities awaiting the conclusion of investigations.

In the resettlement process, nearly three hundred thousand displaced persons had already been resettled in their native villages. There remain only around 8000 persons to be resettled in due course when remaining areas with land-mines are completely cleared. The Sri Lankan Government, with the assistance of several agencies, has embarked on an accelerated process of clearing land mines.

The Indian Government is assisting with fifty thousand housing and the construction is already underway for the benefit of displaced persons.

In order to re-establish the civil administration and bring back normalcy in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, provincial council and local government elections were held in the Eastern Province long ago and through the democratic process of elections Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan was elected as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province. His provincial administration consists of Ministers and elected representatives from all three major communities.

In order to strengthen the civil administration through elected representatives of the people at the grass root level, elections to local bodies were conducted two months ago. People living in the Northern Province were afforded an opportunity to elect their representatives democratically for local bodies after several decades. It was notable that the majority of the elected representatives are from the Tamil National Alliance demonstrating that the elections were just and fair. The Sri Lankan delegation further emphasized that the government is considering the possibility of conducting the Northern provincial council elections in the near future.

Talks with TNA

Nimal Siripala De Silva further informed the Norwegian Government leaders that, under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapakse, he along with Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs, Rajeeva Wijesinghe M.P., and Sajin Vas Gunawardena M.P., have been engaged in discussion with a TNA delegation on various issues. He also stressed that a motion has been submitted to the parliament for the purpose of establishing a parliamentary select committee to examine and report on these important issues. This select committee will be appointed by the Speaker of parliament very soon as the relevant motion is already included in the order paper of the parliament. The TNA has agreed to participate in discussions with the Government delegation and also to take part in the Parliamentary Select Committee proceedings. This is a positive step towards the reconciliation process. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva reiterated that there are many challenges in realizing this effort, but the Government of Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is determined to make it a reality.

LLRC Report

The Sri Lankan delegation briefed the Norwegian side regarding several baseless allegations raised by some organizations and groups especially in the international arena and Sri Lanka’s stand in connection with those issues. The delegation informed the Foreign Minister that the LLRC report is due in mid November and Sri Lanka expect the international community to give space and time for Sri Lanka to complete its domestic mechanism without rushing into premature conclusions. The Foreign Minister of Norway expressed the view that they too await the release of the LLRC report.

Darusman Report

Sri Lankan delegation further briefed the Norwegian delegation that the Darusman report is based on hearsay information and that it is not an investigative or a reliable report that warrants any serious consideration. It was a report prepared by a panel to advise the UN Secretary General at his own request but with no inter-governmental sanction. It was pointed out that the Sri Lanka had requested the panel members, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations and any other interested organizations to furnish information and give evidence before the LLRC. This request regrettably has not been honored by these organizations including the Channel 4.

The Sri Lankan delegation raised their concerns regarding the double standards adopted by some of the countries and international organizations regarding the issue of accountability.

The Sri Lankan delegation informed the Norwegian Foreign Minister that the purpose of this high level visit was to brief the Norwegian government on the above issues and expressed confidence that the Norwegian government would understand the ground realities and support Sri Lanka in the process of national reconciliation and the development agenda of the country.

LTTE & Norway

Nimal Siripala de Silva pointed out that although the LTTE has been banned in many countries including the European Union, Norway has not done so as Norway was the facilitator of the Peace Process some time ago. As Norway is no more playing the facilitator’s role, Minister requested the Norwegian Government to consider listing the LTTE as a terrorist organization in Norway.

Minister brought to the notice of the Norwegian Foreign Minister that the Dutch authorities have already embarked upon a criminal investigation in to the LTTE terror network in the Netherlands with connections to some elements in Norway.

The Minister thanked the Norwegian authorities for the co-operation extended to these investigations and emphasized that further co-operation is needed to unearth the illegal activities of the LTTE. He urged that Norwegian soil should not be a breeding ground for the re-grouping of the LTTE to carry out terrorist activities detrimental to Sri Lanka’s national interests. The Sri Lankan delegation pointed out that the reference made by Anders Berring Breivik, the Norwegian perpetrator responsible for twin attacks of terror on the 22nd July 2011, to the LTTE in his manifesto is another clear example of the potential influence of terror organizations on such other groups and individuals. Therefore banning such organizations would be beneficial to security and stability of both countries.

The Ministers also welcomed the keen interest taken by the Norway-Sri Lanka Business Match Making Programme and were confident this would bring new investment to Sri Lanka, as well as build a broader business relationship with the Norwegian Business Community. The delegation also appreciated the cultural cooperation programme that is currently underway between Norway and Sri Lanka.

Meeting Erik Solheim

The Sri Lankan delegation also met Mr. Erik Solheim and the parliamentary opposition and briefed them on the current developments in Sri Lanka along the same lines. Ministers briefly interacted with the Sri Lankan community residing in Norway comprising of all ethnic and religious backgrounds during the visit.

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- Asian Tribune -