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President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in a hard hitting statement said yesterday the Government can no longer ignore the inhuman act of killing members of disarmed Tamil parties committed by the LTTE.

The President said since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the LTTE had engaged in a continuing spree of killing members of Tamil political parties which had entered the democratic mainstream.

In terms of the ceasefire agreement, all Tamil political parties except the LTTE had been disarmed. Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the LTTE had continued its spree of killing members of disarmed Tamil political parties and the Government could not ignore this anymore. The President said when the ceasefire agreement was signed she warned in writing former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Minister of Defence about the possibility of a situation like this arising.

The President said, although she gave this warning several times, she did not receive any plausible reply to such warnings.

President Kumaratunga said she even raised this issue at every Security Council meeting held during the time of the UNF regime.

She said: "After our government came into power arrangements were made to provide security to every Tamil politician who requested such security. Defence experts have expressed the opinion that irrespective of the ceasefire agreement it is the duty of the government to provide security to all Tamils who had entered the democratic process."

The President said the Kumaratunga Government which did not accept the policy propounded during the era of former President J.R. Jayewardene which said people should look after their own security, believed that it was the Government's prime duty and responsibility to provide security to all citizens in the country.

The ceasefire monitoring committee was incapable of fulfilling its responsibility of preventing killings taking place in the North and East and other areas.

The responsibility for killings taking place in the South, especially Colombo, devolves on the government and the government will act with responsibility in this connection.

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