Majority for military thrust - Minister
Irangika Range and Shirley Wijesinghe
The Government will go ahead with its plan to militarily defeat the
LTTE, which has received the endorsement of a majority of people as
revealed in a survey conducted at district level throughout the country,
Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said yesterday.
Speaking at the Press briefing to reveal cabinet decisions Minister
Yapa attacked the statement by UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella that the
Government was misleading the people by taking cover behind the
conflict.
“The results of the survey will be made public soon and the people
can learn the truth,” he said.
“UNP MP Lakshman Kiriella has said that Ranil Wickremesinghe was able
to contain terrorism while at the same time having strong backing of the
international community when he was a Prime Minister.
However there was no peaceful environment in the country and the UNP
merely signed the CFA agreement. The LTTE never came for peace
negotiations with the UNP for one and half years,” the Minister said.
“LTTE took many advantages taking cover under the CFA agreement and
they killed many members of Intelligence Unit. The LTTE was also
received a tremendous boost by being able to acquire modern weapons and
air planes during this time”.
“They strengthened their air power by building hangars to land e
planes,” the Minister said. He observed that security deteriorated
during UNP regime with the consequence that the Mahinda Rajapaksa
Government was being dragged to a war following the Mavil Aru incident.
He said allegations made by the opposition were baseless and they were
merely political slogans. |