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by L. B. Wijayasiri in Kandy

Lands, Irrigation and Power Minister and Deputy Defence Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte told a meeting of SLFP members at Mahaiyawa, Kandy, that in the event of the UNP winning a majority in the Parliament at the forthcoming general elections by any chance, government Security Forces and the Police would be recalled from Jaffna and they would be replaced with LTTE cadres. Such a step would be a traitorous one committed against those heroic Security and Police Personnel who sacrificed their lives to get Jaffna liberated from Tigers.

Addressing a party meeting Minister General Ratwatte added that by 1994 when the UNP was in power the Jaffna Peninsula was completely under the control of the LTTE except for two or three Army Camps so that the LTTE was able to tell the whole world that Jaffna was the capital of the North and the capital of the Eelam State was under their control.

"However under the PA headed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Security Forces recaptured Jaffna and other areas that were under the rule of the LTTE and they brought the Peninsula under the National Flag. The UNP from that day onwards was telling the country, that capturing of Jaffna was not a wise thing, despite the fact that thousands of lives were sacrificed to achieve this victory.

"Even at the previous General Election time the UNP had given an undertaking to the LTTE that if they returned to power the Security Forces would be withdrawn from Jaffna.

"In the event of the UNP led by Ranil Wickremesinghe coming to power at the forthcoming elections Security Forces would be brought back to the South and let the LTTE will gain control of those areas once again.

He was confident that the people of this country would never allow the UNP to come to power making them unable to fulfil the undertaking given to the LTTE," General Ratwatte added.

The UNP not contesting the Districts within the North at the forthcoming elections was a clear indication to the availability of an understanding between the UNP and the LTTE. They had left those areas to be contested by the Tamil Alliance who were closely linked to the LTTE. 

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