He said yesterday that the envoy, who had been directly sent by the government had already left for Trincomalee. However, he declined to comment further about the latest moves by the government.
However, last week LTTE's Political Head S. P. Thamilselvan at a meeting with SLMM Head Trond Furuhovde in Colombo had rejected the government demand for the release of the two home guards.
He had told the monitoring mission chief to convey to the government that it would consider the release of the home guards if the government were to agree to release ten of the LTTE’s cadres, who are in custody in the south.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake told the 'Daily Mirror' that the defence ministry had been in constant contact with the Ceasefire Monitors regarding the issue and every week Defence Ministry Secretary Cyril Herath discussed the issue with the SLMM.
He said as Mr. Thamilselvan was out of the country at the moment, they were unable to meet him to pursue the matter further.
Meanwhile, the two week deadline within which the government promised the North-East Sinhala Organization to explore all avenues to get the home guards released is to end next Thursday.
Leaders of the North-East Sinhala Organization last week warned the government that they would be compelled to resort to a confrontational struggle for the liberation of the Sinhala people if the government failed to obtain the release of the two home guards detained by the LTTE, before October 7.
The assurance had been given by a special ministerial delegation comprising Cabinet Spokesman Mangala Samaraweera and SLFP General Secretary Maithreepala Sirisena who visited Trincomalee two weeks ago.
It said, "the government failed for the past two months to have the home guards released, which means we have to rally the Sinhala people in the North-East for this purpose."
A sit -in fast, launched opposite Trincomalee clock tower continued for the twentieth day yesterday demanding the immediate release of the home guards.
