COLOMBO, February5 2012: C President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that there was a concentrated efforts by pro-Tamil Tiger groups using foreign influence to destabilise Sri Lanka and divide the country.Addressing the nation on the country’s 64th Independence Day celebrations, the president accused pro-Tamil Tigers of trying to create chaos similar to that which split several nations in the recent past. “Propaganda of terrorists based overseas has not abated still. When such things happen abroad, some people here do various things to destabilise the motherland. They expect to achieve in Sri Lanka certain results that happened in some countries. Both these groups are one,” said the president. The president also urged the nation and its political leaders to come together to find a solution to the country’s ethnic issues that remain to be resolved after a three-decade war with Tamil Tiger terrorists that the government won in 2009. Instead of trying to find “imported solutions and utilising foreign influences”, solutions have to be reached through a parliamentary select committee that would represent all the people, he said. “The country shall not be divided based on different ethnicities,” Rajapaksa said in his message from the historic city of Anuradhapura. “Ethnic communities have no separate regions. The entire country belongs to all ethnic communities,” stated the President. Reiterating his stance on devolving powers to minority Tamils in the country, the President blamed pro-Tamil Tiger terrorists’ conspiracies trying to undermine Sri Lanka’s position in the international platform and an attempt to divide the country. “We are engaged in the task of creating a stable peace and national unity after liberating the country from terrorism. This is not a task confined to one individual or a party. Remember, the country would not benefit by trying to please selfish groups who receive foreign funds. Similarly solutions cannot be obtained by implementing the proposals of extremist groups of whatever persuasion. “All those who act according to their conscience should take heed of this statement,” said the President. He also stated that the executive powers of the president will not be used against the people. And that the government is committed to “parliamentary democracy as well as to the country’s law, independence of the judiciary and good governance.”
