In a hard-hitting speech, President Chandrika emphasised that the ethnic crisis could not be solved by war alone and called for unstinted support for devolution. But divisions within the PA surfaced during the seminar. Hardline Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte demanded support for the war stressing that the Army needed men, arms and motivation. The seminar ended by approving government’s “peace through war” strategy. The resolution was unequivocal in its demand for the defeat of the LTTE before implementation of the devolution package.
Government representatives were prohibited from attending a seminar titled Sri Lanka peace process in Lauzanne, Switzerland on 28 July, arranged by London-based NGO International Alert. Prominent participants in the seminar included former Sri Lankan Army chief and Defence Secretary Cyril Ranatunge and former Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka JN Dixit.