Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday accused the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP)of overstepping their mandate and making statements to the media before the Committee of Inquiry had released its statement on the proceedings.

Rambukwella was addressing the weekly media briefing at the Media Centre for National Security.

The government is highly perturbed over the statement made by staunch LTTE supporter and South Indian politician Waiko claiming at a confab in Oslo that: "The Muslims were expelled from the North of Sri Lanka by error, but the LTTE will not tolerate them if they return to their homes in the North now," Rambukwella said.

Waiko has said that the Muslims are collaborators of the Sinhala dominated government, he added.

"They are talking about ethnic harmony, but I don’t know how sincere they are," The Defence Spokesman said.

The Minister questioned the safety of the statue of Our Lady of Madhu in the uncleared area called Thevanpiddy as this area is under the control of the LTTE and its safety cannot be guaranteed.

"The action of the church leaves a serious question mark," he said.

Rambukwella pointed out that the security forces have engaged the Tigers in the North, East and South of the Madhu Shrine, but they have declared the area a no war zone because it is considered a sacred area and guaranteed that the security forces would never harm the church.

Answering a query that UNP parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne had said in Parliament that when the troops launched an offensive in the North to capture Jaffna in 1995, they avoided the Nallur Kovil area, Rambukwella said that Seneviratne could say anything using his parliamentary privileges but it is the security forces who fight the war and they know best how the war should be fought.

"Seneviratne has misled Parliament with such rhetoric," he said.

The Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha was taken from place to place to protect it from invaders, but this is a different scenario and the Statue of Our Lady of Madhu is quite safe where it is and it need not be moved to a area controlled by terrorists, he said.