Sri Lanka's Prime Minister has accused some people with ulterior motives of misinterpreting the ethnic crisis in the country, saying the government has the ability to differentiate between LTTE's terrorism and the rights of the Tamil civilians.
"I and others are against terrorism. But this does not mean that we are against Tamils. The welfare of Tamils and the terrorism are two different issues. Government has the capability of looking separately at these two issues, said Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.
Certain persons influenced by certain international groups were attempting to misinterpret that reality and paint a different picture to the world on whats taking place in Sri Lanka, the premier said at a public rally on Sunday.
"However the people of this country are well aware of what the government is doing," premier said, adding several steps had been taken for rehabilitation of the displaced Tamil civilians.
The premier said that it was well-known that the government was totally against terrorism. One should not entertain any doubts on the matter," he said.
"However, we are not against the Tamil people. There are two issues. The first is terrorism and the other deals with the rights of the Tamil people. These two are separate issues. We have the strength to understand these two issues, Wickremanayake stressed.
