Mahinda Samarasinghe interviewed by Stephen Sackur for BBC "Hard Talk" /= Sri Lanka =/

In a HARDtalk interview originally broadcast on 3rd March 2009, Stephen Sackur talks to Mahinda Samarasinghe , Sri Lankan Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights.

Click here to watch the full interview

The Sri Lankan Government is intent on destroying the Tamil Tigers once and for all.

The military offensive in the north east of the island has reduced the Tamil militants to a tiny sliver of territory, but at what cost?

Mahinda Samarasinghe is Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management and human rights.

Has respect for international law, and basic human rights become collateral damage in Colombo's war? Mahinda Samarasinghe talks to Stephen Sackur.

This interview will be shown on BBC World News at 0430, 0930, 1430, 1830 (except Middle East and South Asia), 2130 and 2330 GMT

HARDtalk is also broadcast on the BBC News channel at 04:30 & 23:30 GMT

Source (You can hear all Interview hier ): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/7921185.stm

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• LTTE
• Human
• Rights
• Sri
• Lanka
• Tamil
• Tiger
• War
• Sinhala
• Mahinda
• Rajapaksha
• Army
• Vanni
• Diaspora
• UN
• BBC
• Sandeshaya

[sarathj]

You are of very high caliber, Mr Minister. We are proud!

[crazybhoy3]

Well Said Minister Samarasinghe !

[tigernov6]

Please upload part 2

[tigernov6]

I think they used it in extreme situations. So in general they didn't.

[david75sl]

Great so the anger of the bus and train bombings by the LTTE on civilians and tamil politicians killed, what do you say about that, "Subject of Discussion" my ass

[meetthechamp]

@truelankan1

I do not think that you are clear of the subject of discussion here. The subject matter is the not the "war against LTTE", it is the killings of innocent civilians in so-called NO WAR ZONES.

Your anger on LTTE should not shadow the plight of innocent people being killed in the war, be it Lankans or Tamils..

[meetthechamp]

Also, I need to ask one simple question. During the last minutes of the video,d minister says that d govt. has already given explanation for the deaths of civilians by stating that they cannot distinguish between civilians&terrorists.

Also,he states many times, that rescuing civilians is their primary objective.

I ask, why does the SL govt. even plan(and use) heavy weapons in "secured" areas, wherein, even the "unintended kill" of a single civilian is a great blow to their "primary objective"?

[meetthechamp]

Yes! Prem, you have pointed something that many would not realize in this video. I second your words. What you have pointed is a very clear discrepancy between what the SL govt. is doing and saying.

SL govt. should realize that the more they lie the more they would be penalized. SL govt. is preparing itself for hell..

[premkumar1980]

see the date of the video, 3rd mar 2009 exactly goto the time 3.40 in this video.Where he says that they are not using heavy wepons. Why they declared combat ceasefire just last week....?

[sinthuja19]

SL government think that they can continue the GENOCIDE on the minority of Tamils by using their famous line which they copied from Bush..."War on Terrorism"

If there is nothing to hide...why are you not allowing independent journalist? Are you scared that they will report the truth about how you, yourselves are killing innocent people, raping innocent girls, and forcing abortion?

SL GOV'T AND ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS THEM ARE GOING TO HELL....