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Rajapaksa serves ultimatum on LTTE

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa served an ultimatum on the LTTE on Monday to either “free” the citizens stranded in the war zone in the north by January 1 or face a formal ban by the government.

Addressing a gathering at the presidential palace here, Mr. Rajapaksa accused the Tigers of using innocent citizens as “human shields” and said that if the LTTE did not allow civilians to cross over to the “safe areas’ it would face proscription.

The hard hitting speech came amid intense battles between the Sri Lanka forces and the Tigers in the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullathivu and reports of large casualties on both the sides.

Since the Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE are already face to face in the battle field, it appears that a formal ban on the LTTE would be a mere formality.

However, it could have consequences on some other aspects. It was not immediately clear what would be the fate of the 14 pro-LTTE Tamil National Party MPs in the event of the LTTE being designated as a banned outfit. The position of Norway, which continues on paper to be an official facilitator of peace talks between the government and the Tigers, is bound to become untenable.

In his address Mr. Rajapaksa asserted that his government would ensure that 2009 was the “true Year of Heroism for the troops” and wipe out of LTTE terrorism from the pages of history.

“There is only one enemy in the country, and that is terrorism. The Sinhala people are not the enemies of the Tamils, as the Tamils are not the enemies of the Sinhalese. Separatism and terror are the enemies of all, be they Sinhalese or Tamils; Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or Christians. People should come together to fight the savagery of terrorism,” he said.

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