Govt must take steps to control Jaffna situation - JHU

by Chamikara Weerasinghe

Leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya, Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Mahanayake Thera said yesterday that the Government must take quick steps to control the situation in Jaffna.

"The Government must eradicate terrorism in Jaffna," said the Ven. Medhananda Thera.

"The Government must stop the wave of killings carried out by the LTTE against its Armed Forces in Jaffna at once," he pointed out.

Referring to several incidents which had taken during the month, the Thera said there was no point trusting the leadership of the LTTE nor its self-declared position as the sole representative of the Tamil people. Commenting on the murder of Joseph Pararajasingham, MP of the Tamil National Alliance, Medhananda Thera asked if it was possible for other members of the TNA, to trust the LTTE any longer. He also asked if it was possible for these MPs to free themselves from the LTTE's grip.

"This is but one killing . They have killed 28 Tamil Parliamentarians upto now," he said.

Enough blood has been shed over the years owing to this group of terrorists in the country, he said. The government must deal with this situation directly.

"It is wrong to identify or simplify this problem by calling it an ethnic crisis. This is a terrorist problem. They operate in the guise of a rebel movement to get the sympathy of international community with a well organised computer network."

Medhananda Thera also said that it would be the duty of the Government and the Opposition arrive at a firm position on this matter and disclose the truth about the LTTE to the world.

The Thera charged that the LTTE had managed to get international sympathizers behind them because the Governments of Sri Lanka had maintained a lukewarm attitude to their terrorist acts.

"One must not forget that these freedom fighters live in mansions, but they call them bunkers," the Thera said.

"These terrorists have become very rich people over the years as with their system of taxation they collect over Rs. 9 million by taxing each and everything transported on the A9 road beyond Omanthai," he added.