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In reply to a letter from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation, Army Chief of Staff Major General Lionel Balagalle yesterday denied claims that troops were responsible for blocking civilian movement out of the battle zone. The following is Major General Balagalle's reply to the ICRC delegation, dated 6th April 2000 "As you are aware the LTTE ordered the civilians living in general area Pallai to vacate their houses and move towards Kodikamam and Chavacachcheri on 31 March 2000. This move has cauised immense hardships to the people of Pallai, in many ways, disrupting their livelihood and their day to day activities.The children prevented from attending schools. This is not the first time LTTE has resorted to displacement of civilians to gain advantages. In 1995 LTTE ordered people of Jaffna to vacate the peninsula within 72 hours. This caused untold hardships to the civilians. They had to leave all their personal belongings and life earned savings. The misery caused to the civilians will never be forgotten and forgiven by the people of Jaffna. Even in Wanni the LTTE has displaced people for their own advantages. The harassment of people of Vedithalthive on 9th June 1999 and ultimately chasing them out of the village and the artillery attack on innocent pilgrims of Madu on 20 November 1999 are classic examples of the LTTE attitude towards the safety of the people In the above referred letter you had mentioned that the army had not allowed the displaced persons to proceed beyond Kilaly. This position that you had taken is incorrect and the Army has not imposed any restrictions to the displaced civilians. I believe that you are aware of the fact, that the LTTE cadres have infiltrated into the area Pallai. Therefore, the displaced persons who are moving Northwards for safety are being checked for their identity to prevent any of the LTTE cadres infiltrated, merging with the civilians to move on to the other areas. This process had taken a little extra time than expected I am happy to inform you that the Security Forces are more concerned of the safety of the people of Jaffna. The people who fled the area after the "Riviresa" operation came back to Jaffna because of the confidence they had on the Security Forces. Further, I should state that the Security Forces achieved a lot of success because of information provided by the civilians in the Jaffna Peninsula and had made many recoveries, too. Further, to this, I would like to add that the Sri Lankan Security Forces have never used and will never use the civilians as a human shield as done by the LTTE. At present, there are 4143 displaced persons belonging to 1186 families and are being looked after by the Government. They were issued with cooked meals on the first three days and now are being provided with dry rations."
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