Thousands of activists from the National Patriotic Movement
(PNM) of Sri Lanka staged a demonstration on Monday in capital
Colombo, demanding the banning of the Tamil Tiger rebels and
withdrawal from the Norwegian backed truce.
Wimal Weerawansa, a member of Sri Lankan parliament and the
convener of the PNM told the gathering that "we want the president
to ban the LTTE and withdraw from the cease-fire agreement."
Weerawansa said by trying to kill the Army commander and the
defense secretary, the LTTE had demonstrated that they were no
longer interested in the Norwegian backed peace process that began
in 2002.
The LTTE rebels on Dec. 1 carried out an unsuccessful suicide
bomb attack against Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the defense secretary and
the brother of the president.
Late April the rebels failed in an attack against Army Commander
Sarath Fonseka.
Responding to the attack against the defense secretary, the
government last week introduced new counter terrorism laws.
The LTTE was banned as a terrorist organization in 1998 but the
ban was lifted in 2002 with the rebel group's entry to the process
of negotiations.
Several nations including the United States, Britain, Canada and
the European Union have banned the LTTE as a terrorist outfit.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's military said Monday that 24 soldiers
have been killed in the last three days during clashes with the
Tamil Tigers in the east.
Prasad Samarasinghe, the military spokesman said 68 soldiers
were also injured in the fighting with the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa and Trincomalee area.
Samarasinghe said the security forces restrained artillery and
MBRL (Multiple Barrel Rocket Launcher) retaliation to counter
intense Tiger shelling following intelligence reports that the LTTE
has moved heavy guns into densely populated areas.
"If the security forces retaliated with artillery, MBRL and
mortars, hundred of civilians would have been killed in Tiger-held
Vakarai," said the spokesman, adding that ground forces were
deployed in the region to minimize civilian casualties.
Samarasinghe said that there were no major clashes in the east
on Sunday following four days of fighting between the two
sides.
The government said six civilians were killed while another 16
including 10 school children were injured in the battle.
It also said 3,210 people mostly ethnic Sinhalese had been
displaced since the LTTE stepped up attacks against civilians from
Thursday.
The international community has been urging the two sides to
stop violence and return to talks. The clashes escalated after
Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer failed on Friday to
break the deadlock between the warring parties.
(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2006)
