Conspiracy to tarnish Govt's global image

Colombo: Facts have come to light regarding a conspiracy by a UNP-backed group to tarnish the international image of the Government through a propaganda drive on a 'humanitarian crisis' in the North.

Political sources said the group's ultimate mission is to stop the military advance into Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu citing a large-scale humanitarian crisis caused by civilians fleeing conflict areas.

The sources said the Government has already urged civilians in uncleared areas to come to cleared areas, where all facilities have been provided for their welfare (see separate story at right), but it was the Tigers who were forcibly keeping the civilians to be used as a human shield.

"Their idea is to help the terrorists by putting the Government in a weak position," they said. Even during the Eastern liberation, civilians from several areas such as Sampur, Muttur and Serunuwara went to other areas. They went back to their original homes once the Forces took control. The same phenomenon was observed in the liberation of Jaffna in the 1990s.

It has also been revealed that plans are afoot by this group to use foreign diplomats to visit polling booths and 'reveal' malpractices at the PC elections on August 23. In the early 1990s, a British envoy was expelled from Sri Lanka for commenting on the polling process after visiting a voting booth in the South.