President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to the Nation last night (25th April), said that “by targeting the Commander of the Sri Lankan Army to a suicide attack, it is patently clear that the need of the LTTE is not to settle disputes through negotiations. It is abundantly clear to the International Community today that the response of the LTTE to the peaceful appeals by our government to settle disputes through negotiation is the use of the suicide bomb”. While stressing that the collective desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness and that he would never abandon “the responsibility to protect the honour and dignity of our people in general and the members of the security forces in particular”, the President also cautioned that there is “a small group among us who seek to use these threats to the nation to achieve their own narrow objectives” and called upon them “not to allow terrorism to achieve its aims, and unite to defeat these threats that face us as a nation”.

Click below for the full text of the President’s Address to the Nation:
http://www.news.lk/news_2006_04_259.htm