Forces eradicating LTTE - Defence Secy
COLOMBO: Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the Army is
on target to capture Kilinochchi town in the next four months.
“It’s possible by the end of this year,” he said.
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Gotabaya Rajapaksa
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“You can’t just push them into the jungles and wait. You have to
search for them and completely eradicate them. Only then can peace
come,” he told the The Times in London.
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives said:
“On the face of it, the Government has made great strides: they [the
Tigers] are really hemmed in this time.
“I’m just not sure the military progress can be translated into
political progress.”
The Army says it has shrunk the Tigers’ territory from 6,500 to
5,000sqkm and reduced their Forces from 13,000 to 5,000 ‘cadres’.
Last month, it captured one of the Tigers’ main naval bases. Last
week it entered Kilinochchi district.
Meanwhile, since recapturing the 400-year-old shrine of Our Lady of
Madhu in April, the Army has repaired the shell damage to the church
roof.
It has whitewashed the outhouses that it says the Tigers used as a
regional headquarters and cleared the booby traps they left behind.
Father Emilianuspallai has his church back. All he needs now is a
congregation and permanent end to the conflict.
Madhu is a powerful symbol of the territorial gains the Army has made
since launching a massive assault on the Tigers Northern jungle
strongholds in January.
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