SLA, paramilitary collusion can lead to talks breakdown- TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 08:15 GMT]
"Escalation of paramilitary activities assisted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops in Valaichenai villages pose serious threat to peace process," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy, in a press release, issued Wednesday. Meanwhile, Mr Ariyanendran, another TNA parliamentarian, accused the SLA troops for assisting the paramilitaries in the cordon and search operation held in Valaichenia Tuesday, and urged the International Community to condemn this act which openly violated the commitments made by the Sri Lanka Government in Geneva talks.

Translated version of the press release issued in Tamil follows:

"In the pasts several days armed paramilitary groups have started openly operating in the east. They freely hold public meetings forcing people at gun point to attend them. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and the police openly work with them providing security for the paramilitaries. I consider this as a sinister scheme to disrupt future peace process.

"At the Geneva talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lanka government agreed to disarm the paramilitary groups and expel them from NorthEast, but instead, SLA troops are helping them in the Batticaloa district.

"This potentially dangerous development is certain to impede the peace talks and even likely to lead to a breakdown. If the talks collapse, the Sri Lanka Government should bear the full responsibilty to bring calamity to Sri Lanka and its people," the statement said.

Meanwhile, sources from Batticaloa said, cadres belonging to Karuna group who were in Vinayagapuram in Valaichenai Tuesday are still present in the area. Many families are fleeing the area out of fear, sources said.