We always considered the battle as a humanitarian operation, says Defence Secretary

Though most critics talked about the war in Sri Lanka no one spoke of the hardships the armed forces had to undergo to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa during his submissions to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LL&RC) in Colombo today.

The government had to study the strengths and weaknesses of the LTTE prior to engaging them. The President always maintained that the armed forces should consider the final battle against the Tigers as only a humanitarian operation and not as an all out war, the Defence Secretary further added during the fourth day of the LL&RC session.

Suicide missions were introduced to the world by the West Asian terrorist groups. But the LTTE was the outfit that introduced suicide carders as human bombs, said Mr. Rajapaksa. The Tiger outfit grew to its strongest position somewhere in 2005.

There are video and other visual evidence of the atrocities against civilians which could be shown, he added.

But today areas like Kilinochchi are returning to normal. They are calm and most of the displaced have been resettled and development is proceeding apace, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said.

Some criticize the government over certain detained Tiger leaders. Top rung LTTE leader like Kumaran Pathmanadan or KP was arrested in Malaysia and brought into the country.

Likewise Karuna, Pillayan and persons like them though members of the LTTE had later helped the Security Forces to fight the Tiger terrorists. They helped us to eradicate terror from the island, said Mr. Rajapaksa.

Making special mention on the medical capabilities of the Tiger cadres, Mr. Gotabhaya said the Northern youth had availed themselves of the university facilities to further their studies and most of those medical students had assisted the LTTE in its medical care of the injured cadres.

One time Parliamentarian and former Sri Lankan High Commissioner in the UK and India Mangala Moonesinghe and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa made submissions before the LL&RC in Colombo today.

source: dailynews.lk