Pakistan to help Lanka in fight against LTTE

Walter Jayawardhana

Pakistan's Defence.pk website said reports indicate that Pakistan has decided to bolster what Sri Lanka Military says its final push to defeat Tigers and end their war for a separate State in the country's North-East.

In a story entitled "Pakistan to help in Colombo's final battle against Tigers" the website said the country has pledged to send a large quantity of ammunition to help the Sri Lankan Government finish off the rebels in the final phase of Elam War IV quoting a newspaper.

Further quoting the newspaper the report said that Pakistan had promised one shipload of the wherewithal every 10 days in coming months, adding that it was Pakistan's assurance of solid support which prompted Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to publicly state that Kilinochchi, the headquarters of the LTTE, would be liberated by the end of December.

The Defence Secretary declared last week that the Wanni would be liberated by the military by the end of this year.

"It's possible by the end of this year," the Defence Secretary was quoted as saying by the Times newspaper of London last week. "You have to search for them and completely eradicate them. Only then can peace come."

Rajapaksa's comments come in the wake of Army Chief Lt-Gen Sarath Fonseka's declaration that his forces had wiped out the conventional military capability of the LTTE and that the Tigers were no longer able to resist Security Forces using conventional tactics and were resorting to hit-and-run attacks, the military related website said.

The reported assistance from Pakistan comes as the Security Forces began forging ahead this month with heavy fire power coupled with continuous air raids on Killinochchi and Mullaitivu, the report said.