by Shamindra Ferdinando
The government has urged Major General Trond Furuhovde, head of the SLMM to act firmly on truce violations on a priority basis, authoritative sources said.

Emphasising that high-handed Tiger ‘actions’ in government-held areas in the north-east jeopardise a ceasefire agreement reached a year ago, the government wants the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to take up the disputed issues with the group, authoritative security sources said.

"A complaint was lodged with the General," the sources said, adding that the issue was raised by a senior government official a day after Tigers forcibly drove away ten Sri Lanka Central Transport Board (SLCTB) owned buses parked at the Batticaloa bus depot.

Describing it as a provocative incident, the official has pointed out that the Tigers would be provoked if security forces did the same.

The government wants the SLMM to obtain a guarantee from Tigers that they would not repeat this type of incidents as it would create problems for both parties.

The government is under heavy fire over what the opposition describes as its failure to prevent Tigers from taking advantage of the truce agreement. The JVP holds a major rally in Colombo today in protest against the government and the ceasefire monitors ‘allowing Tigers to take advantage of the ceasefire’.

Army headquarters said approximately 60 Tigers led by a person identified as Adiyavan, a member of their so-called financial wing last Sunday entered the depot. Under the truce agreement there was no restriction on the number of cadres allowed to enter government-held areas. After conducting a meeting with employees of the Batticaloa depot, the Tigers demanded the release of ten buses to transport a large group of cadres and civilians to Karadiyanaru. But several employees had objected to the Tiger decision, the sources said. But SLCTB drivers were forced to drive ten buses across the army-guarded Vavunathivu road block around noon. The military said the buses were used to transport cadres and civilians to attend a meeting at Karadiyanaru on Sunday evening.

The buses were returned later. Since the truce agreement, Tigers routinely take over government and privately owned vehicles for their use.

Meanwhile Tigers brought life to a standstill in Batticaloa on Wednesday (19) morning by ordering people to remain indoors, shut shops and fly black flags in protest against the recent incidents at Manipay where Tigers clashed with troops over the army’s refusal to permit entry to LTTE woman cadres wearing milirary-trype belts and several other incidents, particularly the interception of a Sea Tiger craft and the subsequent deaths of three cadres.