No ceasefire now - PM

Some people talk of a ceasefire today. The Government will never concede a ceasefire until the LTTE lay down arms and abandon terrorism, Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka said.

Speaking at a ceremony held at his office to hand over a consignment of medical equipment and other essential items, collected by the Horana electorate, to the Army, he said: “We are on the last lap of our battle against the terrorists. Some people think we are still a colony under their domain.

We are a free, sovereign country with a democratically-elected Government. It is neither correct to exert pressure on such a country “nor can we yield to such dictates. We are on a mission and it would not to completed until the last terrorist is vanquished”.

Our heroic soldiers are fighting tooth and nail under severe stress. In the Horana electorate we have launched a housing programme to provide shelter to soldier families and I am extending my full support to make it a success, the Prime Minister stressed.

“Our next top priority is the development of this country. We were a self-sufficient nation in the past. It is time for us to consolidate our efforts to boost agriculture with the involvement of gallant solders”, he concluded.