Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka's President seeks "final solution"

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has told indiatoday.com that his government seeks a "final solution".

When asked if he is willing to negotiate with the LTTE he answered, "yes, only if they give up their weapons. They can’t have their cake and eat it too. Ceasefire will give them time again. We don’t want them to strengthen themselves and attack us. We want a final solution."

He then went on to say, "we would have cleared them out of the remaining areas long ago (the LTTE) but we also had to ensure no civilians were killed. I would say, in a year and a half, we might be able to do it.

All very well, but civilians have been killed by government forces and the defence forces as well as the LTTE, have used lethal Claymore mines.

Perhaps next time the President can omit the word "final" - and just say "we want a solution".

That's what we all want.