Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapake has rejected the request by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a pause in military action between the government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, the presidential secretariat said Tuesday in a press release.
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In this photograph released by the Sri Lankan military April 21, 2009 shows civilians escape by boats from an area controlled by Tamil Tigers in the north-east of Sri Lanka. [Xinhua] |
President Rajapakse also rejected Brown's offer to send a special envoy to Sri Lanka to address the humanitarian issue during a telephone conversation initiated by the British prime minister on Monday, said the release.
"The request by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a pause in military action was deemed as unnecessary by President Mahinda Rajapakse considering the unexpected exodus of 35,000 civilians to the cleared areas from the No Fire Zone (NFZ) (on Monday)," the release said.
Rajapakse assured Brown that these displaced persons would be re-settled in their areas of habitation within the shortest possible time, following the clearance of landmines, and when the environment is secured.
The president also told Brown that once terrorism has been eliminated, political proposals in terms of the Sri Lankan agenda will be presented.
Meanwhile, the government troops entered the NFZ on Tuesday after large number of civilians were rescued on Monday, said the Ministry of Defense.
The LTTE on Tuesday called for the attention of the UN and international community to the situation unfolding in the NFZ.
"Since last 48 hours, the Sri Lankan armed forces are using Tamil civilians as human shields to move into these territory through two fronts, Puttumatalan and Valiynarmadam. The Sri Lankan armed forces are trying to weaken the resistance of the LTTE by using the Tamil civilians as human shields," said the LTTE in a media release.
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In this photograph released by the Sri Lankan military April 21, 2009 shows civilians escape from an area controlled by Tamil Tigers in the north-east of Sri Lanka. [Xinhua] |
The LTTE said over 1,000 civilians were killed and near 2,300 civilians were injured on Monday.
It requested the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)to provide medical supplies and evacuate by ship the 2,000 people injured and facing imminent danger.
The less than 20-sq-km NFZ was declared by the government early this year to accommodate large number of civilians trapped in the northern battle zone.
Actual number of civilians trapped in the NFZ is being debated. International aid agencies said more than 100,000 people are still being trapped in the NFZ, while the Sri Lankan government said the figure is only about half of that.
A concerned international community has pleaded with both the government and the LTTE to care for the safety of civilians amid allegations that a large number of them are receiving injuries or getting killed in the crossfire.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's long drawn-out civil war since the mid-1980s when the LTTE began to rebel against the government based on claims that the minority Tamils were being discriminated in this Sinhamese dominated island.
(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2009)
