Govt reiterates stand on CFA:
LTTE must disarm
Rafik JALALDEEN
COLOMBO: The Government’s firm stand on the Ceasefire
Agreement is unchanged, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said adding there
will not be peace negotiations with the LTTE unless it lays down arms
and surrenders.
Addressing the media yesterday on the weekly security situation at
the MCNS, Government Defence Affairs spokesman Minister Keheliya
Rambukwella said during the last few days certain elements behind the
LTTE proposed a CFA with the LTTE. “This was the normal practice of the
LTTE when they were defeated militarily and weakened. They call for
peace negotiation to halt the offensive and avoid the Security Forces’
humanitarian mission to liberate uncleared areas.
Our leaders experienced this during the last three decades,” he
added. “Whenever the LTTE proposes a CFA, it always ends it with
destruction and a calamity to the Government, public and sovereignty of
the country,” Minister Rambukwella remarked.
Minister Rambukwella reiterated that the Government categorically
rejects any peace negotiation settlement with the LTTE unless the Tigers
lay down arms and surrender to Security Forces. “When President Mahinda
Rajapaksa took office he immediately extended an invitation for peace
negotiations with the LTTE. The President called the LTTE to the
negotiation table in Geneva. The CFA was abused by the LTTE in many
occasions since then,” the Minister said.
Minister Rambukwella said during the CFA the Jet Liner ship carrying
unarmed forces on holiday and a Navy medical team had come under LTTE
fire.
A vegetable market too was bombed in Jaffna. 17 Commandos were killed
in an attack, then an attempt was made to assassinate the Army Commander
finally and Mavilaru sluice gate was attacked to disrupt the daily life
of people who depend on farming.
Following these abuses of the CFA by the LTTE, the Government had
decided to erase terrorism and liberate civilians from the LTTE
clutches. “The East was liberated and the democracy had been restored.
The Easterners were allowed the franchise and their political rights
restored, the Minister said.
Minister Rambukwella stressed that the North will be liberated and
the humanitarian mission will be continued by the Security Forces. The
Government has no any intention to negotiate with the LTTE unless it
lays down arms and surrender. We embarked on an humanitarian mission in
the North and troops are successfully marching forward and are now in
the victory of Kilinochchi.
The entire North and our brothers and sisters entrapped in the
Tigers’ grip will be liberated in near future. Democracy will be
restored in the North as in the East,” he added. |