Minorities can’t demand, this country belongs to the Sinhalese – Army Chief

monson · Sep 26, 2008

Minorities can’t demand–Army Chief

Insisting that the minorities of this country should not make undue demands, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka yesterday said he believed the ongoing war would end in less than a year.

"The national leadership basically is determined to solve this problem. The task given to us is to eradicate terrorism. If we have the same commitment one more year, the LTTE's destiny is, I think, decided," Lt.-Gen. Fonseka said in a candid interview with Canada’s

National Post newspaper. He said the war was driven by Tamils who want a homeland and have chosen Sri Lanka as the place. But the country's Sinhalese majority would never allow the Tamil minority to break the country apart.

Lt.-Gen. Fonseka is a competitive swimmer who won the U. S. Green Card lottery but has remained in Sri Lanka, heading the army he has served for three decades. He is lucky to be alive. On April 25, 2006, a suicide bomber attacked his limousine in Colombo. He was seriously injured in the assassination attempt and nine others were killed. The Tamil Tigers never claim responsibility for such attacks but were almost certainly behind it.

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people," he says.

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

"We are also a strong nation. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

He dismisses concerns by international human rights groups about the conduct of his forces, saying that while civilian deaths are inevitable in war, relatively few non-combatants have died in the Sri Lankan conflict.

The Tigers’ central problem is manpower, he says. During the current phase of the civil war, the Sri Lankan forces have killed 8,000 rebel fighters in the north and 2,000 in the east, while another 1,000 have been killed in air strikes, he says.

According to the army's calculations, that leaves the Tamil Tigers with no more than 4,000 remaining cadres, while the Sri Lankan forces have 250,000 men and women, and plenty of weaponry.

"So it's a matter of time," Lt.-Gen. Fonseka says.

But the Tigers are well-armed; they have ammunition, artillery, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, multi-barreled rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and mines. "Every inch is booby-trapped in the jungle. De-mining those areas will take a minimum of 20 years," he says.

Meanwhile speaking at a book launch of senior journalist Tissa Ravindra Perera at the National Library and Documentation Services Board, yesterday, the Army Chief also said that the military campaign would continue until the country was completely liberated from the Tamil Tigers: “We will not stop the ongoing military campaign until we liberate our motherland from the LTTE terrorists,” he said.

Army Commander said that LTTE’s administrative town Kilinochchi would come under army fire from next week onwards, with further advances into the rebel-held town.

“The Army will fire its first shot towards the Kilinochchi town by next week, as the forces are some four kilometres away from Kilinochchi town,” said Lt. General Fonseka; adding: “We can even see some of the buildings in the town.”

He said that LTTE Leader Prabhakaran and his subordinates continued to boast of their military prowess: “They even said that the fourth Eelam war would come to Colombo. But now we can see our forces taking the war to Kilinochchi and now the LTTE Leader is like an animal trapped in a cage,” he said.

Speaking further, Gen. Fonseka said that when he commenced of the liberation of the east in 2006, some had said, “Gen Fonseka can’t do it.” But we have proved we can, and our forces are near the heart of Kilinochchi,” he said.

“We have done our duty during last two years as promised,” Lt. Gen Fonseka said, adding, “we need the support of the media institutes, for the sake of the country and to show we are strong enough to stand by ourselves.”

Speaking at the occasions, Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetilake said that the Air Force would continue to hunt for the LTTE Leader: “We are getting intelligence information about the whereabouts of Prabhakaran; we will continue with our raids, targeting those hideouts.”

At the event, ‘Wanni Satana,’ the third book of senior defence journalist Perera, was launched. The author had published two books earlier -- about the ongoing military campaigns. The publisher of the book is Phan Publisher.(SJ)

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=27437

CoolCartoon · Sep 26, 2008

thread topic is misguided people.

what he said is ....

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,"

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

"We are also a strong nation. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

earthling · Sep 26, 2008

agree if he said Unreasonable demands (Like what the LTTE is asking for)

within reason yes

x-pert · Sep 29, 2008

Yes CC, The topic of this thread and the article is misleading.

If the Lt. General is talking about the topic, then it is very wrong.
But he is talking about undue things

Not only the minority, but even the majority should not demand undue things.

Anyway the article shows that there is no solution nearby for the crisis.
As long as people concider others as minority/ majority/ sinhalese/ tamil etc; there won't be a solution for the current conflict from my point of view. People should realise that we don't OWN Sri Lanka even though one should love one's country. World belongs to everybody. Not only for a set of people who belongs to a particular lable coz of their birth.

War might end, but not completely.

jayanthah · Sep 29, 2008

Well, I see this as a slip of the toungue from a military leader, or reporter manipulated the words to suit his own agenda (that is evident from the row this is making in media, an also the fact that the reporter is from Canada),

Whatever, I dont believe that SL belongs to Sinhalese, it belongs to people to live in harmony,

But, some people are making a big issue out of this & they are so bloody crazy enough to ask President to immediately sack Sarath Fonseka, what a joke!!!

LTTE maust be waiting excitedly to see SF get sacked :lol:

mentor_ub · Sep 29, 2008

This topic completely misleads us...Army chief says that the minatory communities cannot demand undue things,like a part of the country....

mission · Sep 29, 2008

CoolCartoon said:
thread topic is misguided people.

yes i think so too

rush16 · Sep 29, 2008

no.. this country belongs to all the Sri Lankans. not only sinhalese. I dont agree with this :no:

sri_lion · Sep 29, 2008

jayanthah said:
Well, I see this as a slip of the toungue from a military leader, or reporter manipulated the words to suit his own agenda (that is evident from the row this is making in media, an also the fact that the reporter is from Canada),

Whatever, I dont believe that SL belongs to Sinhalese, it belongs to people to live in harmony,

But, some people are making a big issue out of this & they are so bloody crazy enough to ask President to immediately sack Sarath Fonseka, what a joke!!!

LTTE maust be waiting excitedly to see SF get sacked

THE SHOW MUST GO ON FOR MEDIA!!

And we playing right into their hands..........as usual!! :lol:

mentor_ub · Sep 29, 2008

rush16 said:
no.. this country belongs to all the Sri Lankans. not only sinhalese. I dont agree with this

Read the article first,sis.... :yes:

yasitha_o3 · Sep 29, 2008

Mr.Sarath Fonseka said

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,"

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

that's true, :yes:

there is nothing wrong :no:

this topic absolutely misguided one :confused:

this country belongs to all the Sri Lankans BUT NOT FOR LTTE :angry:

CjRox · Sep 29, 2008

yasitha_o3 said:
Mr.Sarath Fonseka said

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,"

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

that's true, there is nothing wrong
this topic absolutely misguided one
this country belongs to all the Sri Lankans BUT NOT FOR LTTE

yeah true...
But... If we ( Sinhalese people, Government and others) are repeatedly
saying that LTTE does not represent tamils then this comment of Gen.Sarath Fonseka looks a bit silly. Because ( as we say) all Tamils
doesnt ask for a seperate home land. Only LTTE is asking for a seperate
homeland. AND LTTE IS NOT EVEN A MINORITY THEY ARE A TERRORIST GROUP. We should not complicate things here. According to this I
beleive this comment is a bit unnecessary, and could hurt minorities who
doesnt ask for a seperate homeland.

kosandpol · Sep 29, 2008

The thread starter has intentionally changed the title.
In the daily mirror article, the title is : "Minorities can’t demand–Army Chief"

here's the full article as given on the daily mirror :
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=27437

Minorities can’t demand–Army Chief

Insisting that the minorities of this country should not make undue demands, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka yesterday said he believed the ongoing war would end in less than a year.

"The national leadership basically is determined to solve this problem. The task given to us is to eradicate terrorism. If we have the same commitment one more year, the LTTE's destiny is, I think, decided," Lt.-Gen. Fonseka said in a candid interview with Canada’s

National Post newspaper. He said the war was driven by Tamils who want a homeland and have chosen Sri Lanka as the place. But the country's Sinhalese majority would never allow the Tamil minority to break the country apart.

Lt.-Gen. Fonseka is a competitive swimmer who won the U. S. Green Card lottery but has remained in Sri Lanka, heading the army he has served for three decades. He is lucky to be alive. On April 25, 2006, a suicide bomber attacked his limousine in Colombo. He was seriously injured in the assassination attempt and nine others were killed. The Tamil Tigers never claim responsibility for such attacks but were almost certainly behind it.

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people," he says.

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

"We are also a strong nation. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

He dismisses concerns by international human rights groups about the conduct of his forces, saying that while civilian deaths are inevitable in war, relatively few non-combatants have died in the Sri Lankan conflict.

The Tigers’ central problem is manpower, he says. During the current phase of the civil war, the Sri Lankan forces have killed 8,000 rebel fighters in the north and 2,000 in the east, while another 1,000 have been killed in air strikes, he says.

According to the army's calculations, that leaves the Tamil Tigers with no more than 4,000 remaining cadres, while the Sri Lankan forces have 250,000 men and women, and plenty of weaponry.

"So it's a matter of time," Lt.-Gen. Fonseka says.

But the Tigers are well-armed; they have ammunition, artillery, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, multi-barreled rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and mines. "Every inch is booby-trapped in the jungle. De-mining those areas will take a minimum of 20 years," he says.

Meanwhile speaking at a book launch of senior journalist Tissa Ravindra Perera at the National Library and Documentation Services Board, yesterday, the Army Chief also said that the military campaign would continue until the country was completely liberated from the Tamil Tigers: “We will not stop the ongoing military campaign until we liberate our motherland from the LTTE terrorists,” he said.

Army Commander said that LTTE’s administrative town Kilinochchi would come under army fire from next week onwards, with further advances into the rebel-held town.

“The Army will fire its first shot towards the Kilinochchi town by next week, as the forces are some four kilometres away from Kilinochchi town,” said Lt. General Fonseka; adding: “We can even see some of the buildings in the town.”

He said that LTTE Leader Prabhakaran and his subordinates continued to boast of their military prowess: “They even said that the fourth Eelam war would come to Colombo. But now we can see our forces taking the war to Kilinochchi and now the LTTE Leader is like an animal trapped in a cage,” he said.

Speaking further, Gen. Fonseka said that when he commenced of the liberation of the east in 2006, some had said, “Gen Fonseka can’t do it.” But we have proved we can, and our forces are near the heart of Kilinochchi,” he said.

“We have done our duty during last two years as promised,” Lt. Gen Fonseka said, adding, “we need the support of the media institutes, for the sake of the country and to show we are strong enough to stand by ourselves.”

Speaking at the occasions, Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetilake said that the Air Force would continue to hunt for the LTTE Leader: “We are getting intelligence information about the whereabouts of Prabhakaran; we will continue with our raids, targeting those hideouts.”

At the event, ‘Wanni Satana,’ the third book of senior defence journalist Perera, was launched. The author had published two books earlier -- about the ongoing military campaigns. The publisher of the book is Phan Publisher.(SJ)

monson · Sep 29, 2008

kosandpol said:
The thread starter has intentionally changed the title.
In the daily mirror article, the title is : "Minorities can’t demand–Army Chief"

here's the full article as given on the daily mirror :
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=27437

Can't you see the same exact original dailymirror article with same heading and source url I posted in my post? :rolleyes:

Viewers has the chance to read the full article before voting.

In the thread heading in addtion to "Minorities can’t demand" line I added another "controversial"statement (in my opinion) "I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese" from him.

Here's the article that appeared in National Post.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=833045&p=1

lkdood · Sep 30, 2008

Minorities can’t demand, this country belongs to the Sinhalese – Army Chief

Do you agree with him?

No

Army commander should concentrate on the mission at hand

its like a cricket coach teaching an accountancy class

these comments are also very divisive

nobody needs more trouble in Sri lanka

its also very unprofessional

a highly decorated man like him should know better

chathu05 · Sep 30, 2008

CoolCartoon said:
thread topic is misguided people.

what he said is ....

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,"

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

"We are also a strong nation. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

I agree
We shouldn't misinterprit what he meant and said !!!

kalanaweerlk · Sep 30, 2008

lkdood said:
Minorities can’t demand, this country belongs to the Sinhalese – Army Chief

Do you agree with him?

No

Army commander should concentrate on the mission at hand

its like a cricket coach teaching an accountancy class

these comments are also very divisive

nobody needs more trouble in Sri lanka

its also very unprofessional

a highly decorated man like him should know better

Did you even read the article?? :confused:

mentor_ub · Sep 30, 2008

lkdood said:
Minorities can’t demand, this country belongs to the Sinhalese – Army Chief

Do you agree with him?

No

Army commander should concentrate on the mission at hand

its like a cricket coach teaching an accountancy class

these comments are also very divisive

nobody needs more trouble in Sri lanka

its also very unprofessional

a highly decorated man like him should know better

read the article bro...

kalanaweerlk · Sep 30, 2008

CoolCartoon said:
thread topic is misguided people.

what he said is ....

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,"

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

"We are also a strong nation. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

Machan u r damn ryt!!! :yes:

Guys first go through the whole article before you make comments!!!!

sri_lion · Sep 30, 2008

Someone has very cleverly, changed what the Army Commander said :lol:

I dont see a single statement here which should be corrected!

This country ofcourse belongs to Sinhalese, originally.....

We have moved on from that era and now have become multi-racial country and we prefer the term SRI LANKANS, but will that change the fact that this country's real inhabitants are Sinhalese? :lol:

OFCOURSE NOT!!!

If at all there's problem in the chief's statement, I would say.. Its not the best time to say it out loud!! BUT ITS TRUE!!!

And here's the funny part..... Chief said... minority must not demand UNDUE things, the keyword UNDUE is conveniently dropped from the heading!!! :rolleyes:

Boy.. Why am I not surprised :rolleyes:

Minorities can’t demand, this country belongs to the Sinhalese – Army Chief

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