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Sri Lanka says it is determined to free civilians held hostage

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Troops halt march as Tigers are using civilians as human shield

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa welcomes Japan’s special peace envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi to a meeting in Colombo on Saturday.

COLOMBO: With the military advance into the remaining seven square kilometre area inside the no-fire zone (NFZ) under LTTE occupation considerably slowing down and proving to be torturous, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the visiting Special Envoy from Japan, Yasushi Akashi, that his government was determined to free civilians being held hostages by the Tigers.

Authoritative sources in the military said the march of the troops virtually halted as the Tigers were holding a large number of civilians as a human shield. “After the last major breakthrough in the early hours of April 20 in which the military succeeded in breaching a 3-kilometre earth wall-cum-bund, paving the way for the escape of 1.15 lakh civilians from LTTE clutches, the troops have made little progress in their mission to rescue the remaining civilians,” a senior official told The Hindu.

The sources said any hasty move by the military could lead to serious collateral damage and the government was keen on avoiding such a scenario. “We can run over the remaining defences of the military in half an hour, but the consequences for the civilians being used as the wall of defence by the Tigers would be terrible,” the official said.

At a breakfast meeting with Mr. Akashi, Mr. Rajapaksa exchanged views on a range of issues on the humanitarian situation in the North, especially the continuing presence of civilians held hostages by the LTTE in the NFZ Zone and nearly 1.90 lakh internally displaced sheltered in temporary government camps.

A statement by the President’s Office said that in the course of his meeting with the Japanese envoy, Mr. Rajapaksa welcomed assistance from friendly countries that appreciated the need to eradicate terrorism from Sri Lanka, for infrastructure development and other such needs to resettle these people which, he said, would be done in the shortest possible time.

“Among the constraints on speedy resettlement was the need for the clearing of mines laid by the LTTE, and the provision of resettlement facilities in keeping with international standards,” it said.

The Defence Ministry said troops at the NFZ faced heavy resistance from the remaining LTTE cadres. “Confrontations with troops of the 53 Division flared at Velayanmadamsouth, caused heavy losses to LTTE and minor losses to troops.”

The pro-LTTE TamilNet, in a report, charged the Army with shelling the only remaining makeshift hospital inside the NFZ twice, killing 64 patients and their relatives, and injuring 87.

The military denied the charge and said it was cheap propaganda by a beleaguered LTTE.

The government on Saturday demanded an impartial investigation into a leaked U.N. document that consisted of “sensitive information and a number of satellite pictures of the Sri Lankan terrain.”

The U.N.-procured satellite images aired on BBC and Al-Jazeera purportedly show craters created by shelling and aerial bombardment by the military inside the no-fire zone (NFZ) for a month from the third week of March.

The government has vehemently denied the charge that the shelling and aerial bombardment in the NFZ took place during the period mentioned by the television channels.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne was summoned by the government to explain how the images could have been leaked from the U.N.

“This is not the first time such key information of the U.N. is leaked to the media and the U.N. should investigate this incident soon,” Minister for Human Rights and Disaster Management, Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

“The time has come for it to turn the searchlight on itself. This is aimed at tarnishing the image of Sri Lankan armed forces. Sri Lankan armed forces are so disciplined and meticulous in search operations and such adverse situations not only tarnish their image, but also weaken their morale.”

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