Reconciliation commission will heal wounds of conflict, Sri Lanka President says

Reconciliation commission will heal wounds of conflict, Sri Lanka President saysMon, Jul 12, 2010, 09:07 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
July 12, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that the eight-member Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by him to probe and report on the lessons to be learnt from the events during the ethnic conflict will heal the wounds of conflict.
In an exclusive interview in his Colombo office at Temple Trees to the Philippine daily The Manila Times, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has described how he ended the 30-year long war in just three years and talked about his government plans to develop the country, especially the conflict-affected North and East.
The President has told the Philippine daily that he would like the world to perceive Sri Lanka as a country that had defeated terrorism. Having realized peace and stability, the country is now looking forward to a developed and better country, he has said.
"Without peace there is no development. And without development there is no peace," Manila Times quoted the President.
Offering tips to defeat the decades-long insurgencies in their country by 2013, the President has told the Philippine government that fighting their own battles without foreign intervention is the key to success. In the case of Sri Lanka using local state forces gave government a psychological advantage, the President has explained.
Soon after crushing the terrorists developing the area controlled by them is another successful strategy, the President has explained.
As soon as the government had controlled the East and the military campaign shifted to the rebel-controlled North, the government held local elections despite pressure from the international community not to rush into it and launched a massive development program to build infrastructure.
"When people in the North saw what the government was doing in the East, the troops had an easier time winning over the locals there," the President has pointed out.
Discussing the pressure from Western countries to investigate alleged war crimes during the last phases President Rajapaksa has told The Manila Times, that he is not worried.
"I�m not worried because we have nothing to hide. I have nothing to hide," he was quoted.
Standing by with his Army he has stressed that the military was instructed not to harm civilians, but it was not always easy to identify terrorists, who mixed in with civilians and posed as noncombatants.
President Rajapaksa has told the newspaper that he wants to focus on closing the gap between rich and poor in the country and accelerate development in the former rebel-controlled areas making the quality of life in the war-torn areas at par with the rest of the country.