COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Army on Friday said its personnel were not involved in vandalising the statue of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran and asserted that interested parties with ulterior motives were circulating such reports.

In a statement here, the SLA said: "The Sri Lanka Army vehemently denies having anything to do with this uncivilised act of disgrace and extends its sincere regret to all those concerned." No vandalism on the statue of MGR had been done by troops, stationed in Jaffna, as alleged in a section of the Tamil Nadu media in the past three days.

"Two Tamil Nadu-based media reports, with no sources quoted or attributed to their origins of the reports, stated that the Sri Lankan military deliberately defaced the statue of Mr. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, in Velvettiturai, Jaffna," it said.

The statement also alleged that Mr. Vaiko, a staunch supporter of the LTTE told a news daily that the Sri Lanka Army had gone on to vandalise the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and a few others in the peninsula.

"The Sri Lanka Army, as a professional outfit with a wealth of ground experience, which has also closely liased and worked with the Indian troops at one point of time, has no mania whatsoever to defile those statues as alleged... , having remained in the Jaffna peninsula for over 20-25 years for duties.

"Judged by the contents of those Tamil Nadu reports, it is clear that an interested party, particularly with ulterior motives to discredit the Army image, stands behind this shameless defilement and dishonour on statues of those great leaders, who are also well-respected by many a Sri Lankan," it said. The SLA while unreservedly condemning the vandalism called upon the Jaffna public to share with either local troops or the police any information that could lead to the apprehension of those responsible for such "mean acts that serve no purpose."

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