I look forward to Sri Lankan hacks visiting Israel and teaching them the ways to defeat “terrorism” (bombing hospitals and refugee camps will come as second nature to them both):
A strong leadership and a disciplined military are the keys in wiping out separatist movements that have resorted to terrorism in our country, the Sri Lankan ambassador to the Philippines said at a roundtable with editors and reporters of The Manila Times.
The LTTE was known for its violent secessionist campaign to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Behind the longest running armed conflict in Asia until its defeat, the group became known for recruiting child soldiers, carrying out massacres of civilians, assassinating political leaders, suicide bombings, and other high-profile attacks. It went in and out of negotiations with the Sri Lankan government from 2003 until 2006, prompting the Sri Lankan military to wage major offensives against them that led to its demise.
“Our President went to the United Nations [to say] that we [Sri Lanka] are not against Tamils. We are against terrorism. We want to destroy and eradicate these terrorists,” Cooray said, referring to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“It [LTTE] is the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. [Its members] assassinate, stage suicide bombings [and] destroy Tamil leadership to get hold of power. They want a separate state, when we should instead collaborate to develop our country,” he added.
The Philippines is also dealing with separatist movements, which include the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The peace process between the Philippine government and the MILF broke down in August 2008 over the botched signing of an agreement on ancestral domain that would have expanded the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The agreement was stopped by the Supreme Court, saying it was unconstitutional. on Tuesday. Nawalge Bennet Cooray said those two assets were Sri Lanka’s principal weapons in mounting the offensives that neutralized the 30-year-old separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009, just three years after the country’s military launched an all out-war against the LTTE in August 2006.