TAMIL TIGER ALLY, R. SAMPANTHAN M.P. UPSET OVER GOVERNMENT’S IDEA OF RECRUITING 500 MORE POLICEMEN FOR MUSLIM PROTECTION
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
August 22.11.00 AM:R. Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and close ally of the terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said he was very upset that the Sri Lanka government was going to recruit 500 more policemen for the protection of the Muslims in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.
In an interview with the Sinhalese program of the BBC, the pro-LTTE Member of Parliament said security should be provided to all sections of the society equally and should not be restricted only to one group of the population.
After many incidents of murder and mayhem in which the Muslims of the Eastern Province became victims allegedly of the LTTE, the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe, under pressure from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress promised to recruit 500 new policemen locally for the protection of the Muslims. The government also depends on the Muslim group for its paper-thin majority in the parliament
The Muslims demanded increased protection, since under the Ceasefire Agreement, signed between Ranil Wickremesinghe and the terrorist leader Velupillai Prabhakaran only the terrorist group, the LTTE could carry guns. All other political groups were disarmed under the agreement. Muslim groups have charged that the LTTE making use of the agreement has been engaged in an ethnic cleansing program in the Eastern Province.
During the month of August five Muslims were murdered and two more are feared killed and missing.. Alleged gangs of the LTTE have maimed numerous others.
Instead of giving security to only one section of the society it should be provided to all sections, he insisted.
Sampanthan, extremely partial to the LTTE said any security enhancement in the Eastern Province should be done in a way that it would not lead to a security breakdown.
He said he had informed this to the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe
