JVP wants to instigate another war - retired SL General

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2005, 23:22 GMT]
Airing his views on the current political trends in Sri Lanka, retired Sri Lankan Military Commander for Jaffna, Major General Sarath Munasinghe, said Wednesday that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was behaving in a highly "irresponsible manner to instigate another war."

The retired commander was making his comments at the News Line discussion programme on the MTV conducted by journalist Lasantha Wickramatunge on Wednesday night.

"The army suffered a big loss due to the two decades of war. Even from my home town Kurunegala, several hundred soldiers lost their lives, many were maimed and a large number of them are still missing in action," he said. "It is the boys from innocent rural families who will suffer as soldiers when war breaks out," he added.

Commenting on the extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, he said: "The JVP is talking now about patriotism, but I know very well how they threatened the families of the men serving in the armed forces. Even my parents were intimidated during the insurgency of the JVP in the late eighties."

"Therefore, it is ridiculous to see that JVP talking about safeguarding the country and calling for the Government to withdraw from the ceasefire," he said.

The armed forces should be completely re-organised with hightech machinery and a sophisticated modernisation process has to be carried out, if the army has to face a new war, he noted adding that he had enough experience serving as an officer in the war-torn North and East and later wound up his career as the Jaffna Commander.

Sarath Munasinghe was the first military spokesperson of the Sri Lankan army and a Deputy Speaker in Parliament during the Peoples Alliance (PA) Government.

He contested on the United National Party (UNP) ticket in Kurunegala in the 2001 elections.