Several factors led to CFA abrogation - President

The killing of TNA MP T. Maheswaran and indiscriminate attacks on civilians prompted the Government to abrogate the Ceasefire Agreement, President Mahinda Rajapaksa disclosed yesterday.

Addressing senior media personnel at Temple Trees, President Rajapaksa said Maheswaran, though an Opposition politician, worked closely with him to solve the problems of the Tamil people.

"He took me to Jaffna to open a training centre for Hindu priests. He provided us ships to transport goods to the people of Jaffna when the A9 road was closed. His death moved me deeply and made me think, is there any use of having a CFA," the President told the media.

He said the assassin, who was wounded in the Police retaliatory fire, was one of the frontline members of the LTTE pistol gang.

One of the other factors that led to the annulment of the CFA was the LTTE's attacks against innocent civilians, he added.

"I warned them not to attack civilians. But they continued to attack civilians. There were so many incidents of this nature."

The President said he was opposed to the CFA from the very beginning. In fact, when the CFA was presented to Parliament, he was the first to speak against it.

But he waited patiently for more than two years to withdraw from the agreement, despite the LTTE's provocations. "They violated the CFA more than 7,000 times. They left peace talks on flimsy excuses. Some expected me to abrogate the CFA on the very first day of assuming power. But I did not, because of our commitment to peace. But the LTTE had no regard for it."

He said the Government was not contemplating banning the LTTE at the moment.