Govt. to reassess commitment
to CFA
by Zacki Jabbar
The government is to reassess its commitment to
the Ceasefire Agreement and resort to deterrent military action
in the light of yesterday’s claymore mine blast by the LTTE
which killed 61 and left 45 others injured in an attack on a bus
at Kongollewa.
Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle, fielding
questions at yesterday’s Cabinet press briefing, said that the
government would have to reassess both its political and
military approach towards the LTTE.
"We have to talk to the Co-Chairs about our
continued commitment to the CFA of February 2002. In the
meantime necessary military action will be taken to prevent the
LTTE from committing any further barbaric terrorist acts of this
nature."
Rambukwelle said that the government had been
pursuing a political settlement to the ethnic issue but the LTTE
seemed to have a different agenda.
He declined to describe yesterday’s attack as an
act of war and insisted that the peace process was still on.
"What is required is a restructuring of the CFA in a manner that
gives it some meaning," he said.
Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Anura
Priyadharshana Yapa said that the government was looking at the
whole issue very seriously and would act appropriately.
Asked about the government providing air
transport from Katunayake to Killinochchi for the LTTE
delegation that returned from Oslo, Rambukwelle said that they
honoured the assurances given to the LTTE when it agreed to
participate in the Oslo talks.
"The decision not to provide military aircraft
to the LTTE after it killed Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar
has not changed", he said.
