TULF leader V. Anandasangaree has cautioned
security forces against targeting civilians when they engaged
LTTE targets in the Vanni.
The TULF leader, in a statement issued yesterday
severely criticised the recent SLAF strike targeting a Sea Tiger
facility at Kiranchi in the Pooneryn area which caused the loss
of civilian life.
The following is the full text of his statement:
The bombing of the Sea Tiger base at Kiranchi in the Poonakari
Division of the Kilinochchi Electorate is highly deplorable. I
am deeply concerned about the civilian casualties in this aerial
attack, in which men, women and small children numbering eight
were killed and fourteen injured some of whom are very serious
and awaiting at the Kilinochchi Hospital to be transferred for
specialised treatment elsewhere."
"Kilinochchi was an electorate represented by me
in Parliament for several years. It is a very quiet village
where over 50 years back 200 peasant families were settled is 5
acre plots of a coconut colonisation scheme along with some
middle class families in larger extents of land. I do not
dispute the fact that there was a Sea Tiger base, may be along
the coast. What I wish to know is whether it is the fault of the
innocent civilians if the LTTE cowardly and foolishly locate
their base in the midst of civilian population."
"In a situation like this it is obligatory on
the part of the Government Forces to safeguard the civilians at
any cost. There had been a number of instances in which various
countries had spent several millions to save one life. In this
instance, the Air Force that had knowledge of a Sea Tiger base
there, should have also known that the base itself is in the
midst of civilians and acted with extreme caution. The civilians
should have been alerted before commencing the attack. The LTTE
can descend to any level but the Government Forces can’t behave
like the Tigers. This incident is a serious violation of human
rights of a group of people living peacefully at least 35 km
away from the combat zone. This type of incidents should be
avoided by the Forces, lest they should lose their credibility."
"The LTTE, in turn, should learn to show their
strength to the Forces and not to the innocent unarmed
civilians. The bomb explosion in a bus at Mount Lavinia on
Saturday caused injury to 18 persons only, fortunately because
of the timely warning of a passenger. If not for this, it would
have ended up in a far worse disaster. The discovery of 20 kg of
explosives in Kerawalapitiya is another irresponsible act of the
LTTE, fortunately detected in time on some information received.
LTTE is very well aware that the Tamils who fled their homes out
of fear for the LTTE are now living in peace among the
Sinhalese. What the LTTE wants is a backlash. The LTTE is blood
thirsty and is all out to shed innocent blood. The task of the
forces is to prevent it. The duty of every citizen is to pass on
any information available to the authorities to help to detect
and prevent disaster."
