Government Defence spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwelle, addressing the weekly defence briefing, said no formal notice had been issued in relation to the clauses which had become void but emphasized it was manifested on the ground situation. LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, in his heroes day speech last year, also noted that the CFA as a whole was defunct but both sides had so far not given notice to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, as was required per the agreement, of any withdrawal nor had they sought the removal of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The SLMM could not be reached for a comment on the latest government views.

Minister Rambukwelle stressed there was no land area that belonged to the LTTE, although demarcated in the CFA, adding that what existed now was only a “temporary measure” as all areas belonged to the government and the people of Sri Lanka.

“Our target is to liberate the Tamil people from the LTTE. As we do this the process can be termed as an offensive or whatever but that doesn’t mean the doors for peace talks are closed. Any time Prabhakaran says he is ready for talks we are ready but if he continues with his terrorist tactics we will have to respond to that, the Minister said when asked if there were moves to capture northern areas held by the LTTE.

His comments came after the government said it had “liberated” Silavathura, in the South of Mannar, considered a focal point of the LTTE in its sea tiger operations directed towards Kalpitiya and Negombo as well as terrorist attacks in the Wilpattu national park.

Minister Rambukwelle added that with the capture of Silavathura, the Puttalam – Mannar road could be open for civilian traffic in the very near future. He further noted that the international community should treat Prabhakaran as a terrorist on the lines of Al – Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and other rebel organization leaders in light of the internationalization of LTTE activities.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed