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Sri Lankan forces not to withdraw from Jaffna

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to withdraw from north, east

COLOMBO: As the fighting continued between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapakse on Wednesday asserted that forces would not withdraw from the Jaffna peninsula.

Addressing a gathering of private and public sector mediapersons here, Mr. Rajapakse said the Government was not engaged in a war and forces were retaliating against the LTTE offensive to safeguard the sovereignty of the country.

Urging the media to act with responsibility in dealing with issues of national importance, Mr. Rajapakse said he did not believe in censorship or issuing media guidelines. He said, "This is not a war, if this is war we would have gone on an offensive and captured territory. What we have launched is purely retaliation against the LTTE attacks. It is the duty of the Government to protect its people and its territory."

He said the LTTE thought the forces would withdraw in the face of onslaught launched by them but the forces would not withdraw from Jaffna. "I'm sure that no mediaperson or media institution would want the terrorists to win. So, they should never try to promote the terrorists as a heroes or liberation fighters."

Separately, the military said after prolonged confrontation with the LTTE, troops are now consolidating their positions in Mavil Aru, the blocked waterway by the Tamil Tigers. TamilNet claimed that air force jets on Wednesday bombed LTTE-controlled Vadamaradchi East. A civilian was wounded when the bombers hit Thattuvankotti.

Worsening situation

In view of the deteriorating security situation, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has said that it might "withdraw" all the monitors to Colombo next week. SLMM is a consequence of February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.

With its headquarters in Colombo, the SLMM has six district offices, and a liaison office in Killinochchi. In addition, the SLMM has established points of contact in various locations in the north and east.

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