Friday, July 15, 2005

Is CFA only for the Army, asks JHU by Damitha Hemachandra

The Jatika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday questioned the validly of the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE, which was being abided only by the Sri Lankan military.

While urging the government to allow the military to retaliate against any LTTE attacks without restricting them to the camps, JHU General Secretary Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera said the Army was no longer responsible to the CFA, which the LTTE had already violated nearly 3,000 times.

“The LTTE continues to kill innocent civilians, Army intelligence and political opponents despite the CFA,” he said adding that the LTTE had continued this violent behavior despite being admitted to the Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS).

He further reminded that the SLMM failed to respond when the LTTE was assassinating pro-Karuna members and that it overlooked the incidents as being internal disputes of the LTTE.

Ven. Sobitha Thera said the Army had no need to provide protection to LTTE caders from the Karuna faction and questioned the present stance of the SLMM and the Norwegian peace facilitators.

The JHU questioned whether the government was to continue with the CFA at the expense of soldiers’ lives as nearly 50 of them were injured by LTTE attacks.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/07/15/front/5.asp)