Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed to eliminate terrorism from his country, but asserted that the government stands for a political solution to the issue of the ethnic Tamils.

During a meeting with visiting Special Envoy from Japan Yasushi Akashi on Saturday, Rajapaksa stressed on the need to defeat the LTTE and its leader Prabhakaran to eradicate terrorism from the island nation.

The President said he was firmly committed to ensuring that all the people of the country live together in friendship and harmony.

He said that his government is also committed to freeing the Tamil citizens who remained being held as hostages by the Tamil Tigers.

Rajapaksa welcomed assistance from friendly countries that appreciated the need to eradicate terrorism from Sri Lanka, for infrastructure development and other such needs to resettle the Tamil civilians who fled from the LTTE-controlled territories.

He assured that the resettlement would be done in the shortest possible time.

Meanwhile, the Japanese envoy commended the measures taken by the Lankan government "to provide food, shelter, medicine and other essentials to the civilians under trying circumstances due to the sudden influx of such a large number of people".

"I was glad to receive very firm reactions from President Rajapaksa that he attaches great importance to resolving the question of Tamil people," Akashi said.

Rajapaksa is of the opinion that it is only through political solution a sustainable democracy can be established in this country, the Japanese envoy said here yesterday at the end of his three-day visit to the country.

He said the Japanese Cabinet has decided to provide $4 million assistance to Lanka to arrange tents, water supply and other things for the IDPs in Wanni.

I hope that at the earliest time LTTE will change its attitude and free the remaining civilians, held as hostages in the No-fire zone, he added.

"We have assurance from the government that it will adhere to their announced policy of zero civilian casualty," he told reporters.

The Japanese envoy assured Rajapaksa of his country's assistance for the clearing of mines laid by the LTTE, and the provision of resettlement facilities in keeping with international standards.