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Kumaratunga vows to fight LTTE

President Chandrika Kumaratunga last night vowed she would repulse any attempt by the LTTE to recapture the Jaffna peninsula and said her government was determined to win the war at any cost.

Her statement came hours after the Tamil rebels made a unilateral offer for a temporary ceasefire to facilitate withdrawal of some 40,000 government troops from the war-torn Jaffna peninsula.

''The government will not allow the LTTE to fasten its grip again on the 500,000 Tamil people in Jaffna,'' the president said in her address to the nation on Rupavahini Television.

The LTTE yesterday said from London they were prepared to declare a temporary ceasefire, suspending all armed hostilities to facilitate the government troops to be evacuated safely from the Jaffna peninsula.

Analysts say her statement was a clear rejection of the LTTE's offer though she did not refer to it directly.

Jaffna was recaptured by the army from the control of the LTTE in December 1995. Since then the rebels were fighting with government troops to take over the peninsula, which is described as the cultural capital of the 'Tamil Eelam'.

Within hours of the LTTE's offer, the president's confidant and media minister Mangala Samaraweera asserted that ''troops will not be pulled out from the peninsula.''

He said the offer by the Liberation Tigers was part of a ''psychological warfare'' and the government had no intention of withdrawing from Jaffna.

''There won't be any withdrawal,'' the minister said.

The government was doing everything possible, including the deployment of additional firepower in the peninsula, to face the terrorist threat and international help was also coming in.

The LTTE said a positive response to the offer will ''create cordial conditions for a permanent ceasefire and peace talks,'' but a rejection could lead to ''disastrous consequences of heavy military casualties.''

''We call upon the government of Sri Lanka to consider our proposal seriously and respond positively without delay,'' said the LTTE, which is fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamil in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983.

In her first address to the nation after her government declared emergency regulations on May 3, the president assured that these rules and regulations will not be used to ''harass'' the Tamil community.

''The emergency regulations will be revoked as quickly as the government brings the situation under control,'' she said.

On the war front, she said, ''It was about six months ago that the present crisis occurred.''

"The armed forces faced setbacks in the Vanni and Elephant Pass.

"Although this is a temporary setback, it is a serious setback. It is the full knowledge of the seriousness of this situation that we decided to place the country on a war footing,'' she said, adding that the government was determined to end the war with a victory as soon as possible.

The war footing was essential as the government, armed forces and the police need powers to successfully and strongly face the ''genocidal politics'' of the LTTE, which are aimed against all communities in the country, she said.

''We have no intention of suppressing people through these regulations. On the contrary, the objectives of this exercise is to ensure the security of Tamil people and all other minorities and religious groups,'' she added.

The president called on youth to actively support the present move ''to protect'' the motherland but did not specifically requested them to join the security forces.

UNI

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