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LTTE TO BOYCOTT DEESCALATION COMMITTEE MEETINGS IF ARMY DID NOT RELAX HIGH SECURITY REGION IN JAFFNA TO RESETTLE REFUGEES
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles The long-drawn campaign of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to get rid of the high security zones in Jaffna Peninsula took a new turn when LTTE’s Eastern Commander Karuna announced that the group would boycott the de-escalation and normalization sub-committee meetings between them and the government if a plan was not submitted to the army commander by the Northern Command of the army before December 21 enabling the resettlement of refugees in high security zones. . LTTE’s frustrations heightened when the Northern Commander of the Army Major General Sarath Fonseka was totally opposed to any relaxation of the high security zones of the Jaffna peninsula. LTTE’s chief negotiator Anton Balasingham openly expressed the frustrations of the terrorist group about the high security zones during Oslo sessions when he said that the Northern Commander Major General Sarath Fonseka was vehemently opposed of removing the high security zones of the Jaffna peninsula. The LTTE claims that Jaffna’s war refugees should be resettled in the high security zones maintained by the Sri Lanka Army and other security forces in Jaffna. Citing Fonseka as a major obstacle to removing the high security zones in the peninsula the terrorist group was bringing pressure on the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration to remove him from his position. Issuing a statement to the press after a seven hour long meeting of the sub-committee of de-escalation and normalization the chief representative of the LTTE delegation Karuna, the terrorist group’s Eastern Commander, said that unless a plan to relax the high security zone and resettle war refugees was not submitted to the sub-committee before December 21, the LTTE saw no useful purpose in participating in the sub-committee meetings. Karuna, the LTTE Eastern commander said after the previous sub-committee meetings high security zone restrictions were relaxed in the Ampara and Batticaloa Districts by opening up some closed down roads. But he said the Sri Lanka Army was extremely reluctant to relax high security areas in the Jaffna peninsula and the LTTE was highly disappointed by the army’s attitude. He warned if the boycott started the sub-committee matters would have to be discussed at direct face to face meetings of the Sri Lanka Government and LTTE meetings in the future in foreign capitals. The last meeting of the subcommittee was held at Muhamalai in the LTTE controlled area of Northern Province presided over by Defense Secretary Austin Fernando, December 14 Saturday. Sri Lanka Army’s Northern Commander Major General Sarath Fonseka also participated in the meeting. It was decided to set up this subcommittee as a result of the second round of direct talks between the LTTE and the government in Nakhom Pathom in Thailand in early November to deal with security problems in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Re-settlement of the war refugees, the return of private property held by the government forces and the resumption of economic activities. (EOM) (02/12/16 go2lanka.com) |