Lankan Prez says his nation not ready to order ceasefire

T V Sriram

Colombo, Oct 16 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa Thursday ruled out a ceasefire with the Liberation
Tigers of tamil Elam (L.T.T.E.) as demanded by Tamil Nadu
politicians and vowed to continue the military offensive
against the Tigers in the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.

Rajapaksa has informed the Indian Government that it
is not ready to stop the ongoing offensive to evict Tamil
Tigers from their last bastion or to order a ceasefire as
demanded by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi,
and other politicians of the state, the state-run Sri Lankan
Broadcasting Corporation (S.L.B.C.) said.

His comments come even as a Lankan Foreign Ministry
Spokesman said operations in Kilinochchi were being carried
out by the armed forces following zero-civilian casualty
doctrine and all assistance was being provided to displaced
Tamil civilians.

The Lankan President said his government had no
intention to order a ceasefire at a time when
L.T.T.E.leadership had sent suicide bombers to assassinate the
leadership of his armed forces.

Rajapaksa was quoted as questioning the demand for
ceasefire saying that should we halt the operations to give
time to the suicide bombers to carry out their heinous
designs.

Earlier, last night the Foreign Ministry Spokesman
said "we have put in a zero civilian doctrine in place in
the areas bordering the government-controlled and the L.T.T.E.
held areas in the North."

He said the civilian casualty had been minimal and the
displaced persons were being provided relief on an emergency
basis.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and its top
military brass are claiming that their forces have reached the
outskirts of Kilinochchi and the city could fall any moment.

Kilinochchi is stated to be the nerve centre and
administrative headquarters of the Tamil Tigers and is only
one of the two towns still being held by L.T.T.E. cadres in
the Tamil-dominated North.

Rajapaksa assertions came as Karunannidhi and other
Tamil politicians and Members of Parliament have demanded
enforcing a ceasefire and a political dialogue to sort out Sri
Lankan Tamil issue.

The S.L.B.C. said Sri Lanka was a sovereign country
and "the government emphasises that the Wanni operations
cannot be stopped by politicians of Tamil Nadu.

It charged that L.T.T.E. had launched a conspiracy
against Sri Lankan government and its forces.

"Therefore the government requests Indian
establishment not to be misled by the conspiracy and that Sri
Lanka has taken every possible measure to provide relief for
the displaced in Wanni," the statement read out by S.L.B.C.
said.