TRINCOMALEE (Sri Lanka), Sept 17: A top Sri Lankan official said Monday that Tamil Tiger rebels need to be defeated ahead of any political settlement in the island’s long-running ethnic conflict.

Marking a shift in the government’s stated policy to negotiate while keeping up “defensive” operations against the Tigers, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse also called for more military action against the guerillas.

Rajapakse, who is the brother of the island’s president, argued that unless the Tigers were defeated, any political solution would be unworkable.

“Without defeating terrorism, we can’t have a political settlement,” he said in a speech in the northeastern coastal city of Trincomalee as part of celebrations marking the claimed sinking last week of rebel gun-running ships.

“The president is working hard on a political settlement,” he said, adding:

“Whatever the political settlement, it cannot be implemented unless terrorism is eradicated.” Sri Lanka’s government has been stepping up its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in recent months, while at the same time insisting that its operations have been defensive and humanitarian in nature.

Authorities have also been keen for it not to appear as if it is government forces who are responsible for the breakdown of a Norwegian-brokered truce that has been in place since February 2002.

The government had previously maintained that any military operations were merely aimed at bring the LTTE back to talks and freeing civilians living in guerrilla-held areas.

But the outspoken defence secretary clearly declared that government troops were on the offensive against the Tigers’ mini-state in the northern region of Wanni.

“Since we know that the terrorists are in the Wanni, there should be no doubt about our next objective,” he said. “Despite economic hardships, this government has met all the requirements of the armed forces.”—AFP