A final solution to the ethnic conflict has to evolve through the All Party Representative Committee, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said during an interaction with the Foreign Correspondents’ Association at Temple Trees last week

 Asked if Provincial Councils will offer the solution to the ethnic conflict, he declined to go into specifics, saying a committee has been appointed to come up with an answer. "So we will have to await their report".

 Probed on how soon he thought a consensus might emerge, Rajapaksa replied with a shrug, "even after 42 sittings, the APRC has not been able to agree on changing ‘a word’".

  The ongoing military operations were aimed at crushing LTTE terrorism, which can and will be achieved in the near future, he said. "One has to differentiate between the LTTE’s violent ways and Tamil issues."

 Rajapaksa said that he attempted to negotiate with the LTTE for seven months after being installed as President in November 2005. "I was actually pleading with them to start peace talks, but they spurned all offers. Matters reached a point of no return when the LTTE took control of the Mavil Aru anicut and deprived farmers of water. It was thereafter that I asked the security forces to get going."