SLMM action sought on stopping new SLA camps in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2003, 19:13 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday asked the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to take immediate steps to stop the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from establishing new camps in the peninsula and disrupting the normal life of the people in the name of strengthening security, sources said.

The LTTE’s political activists in Jaffna, led by district political head Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, made the request at a discussion held Tuesday at the political office of the LTTE in Jaffna, sources said

The head of the SLMM in Jaffna, Ms. Kareena Ericsson, participated in the discussion. The LTTE team comprised Mr.Ilamparuthi, Mr.Nishanthan and Mr.Suthas, all from the political wing.

The discussion centred on the latest developments in the Jaffna district, the LTTE said in a press release Tuesday evening.

The press release said that the LTTE team provided the following observations to the SLMM, and sought prompt action:

• Sri Lanka Army presently conducts checking here and there and everywhere in Jaffna. This has curtailed the freedom of movement of the LTTE activists from carrying out their political activities. The SLA should stop this type of checking immediately.
• The SLMM could search our camps as usual. However we cannot allow SLA to search our camps.
• SLA should immediately stop provoking people, assaulting and using firearms against them.
• SLA should stop harassing and disturbing the normal life of the people in the name of strengthening security. Establishing new camps is a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Hence SLA should stop constructing new camps in the peninsula
• We are not involved in any murders. We deny all allegations made against the LTTE regarding such killings.

The SLMM was asked to ensure that such acts of the SLA should not continue in the future. However the SLMM delegation told the LTTE that they would reply after holding talks with the SLA authorities regarding these requests, the LTTE press release said.