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UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe should publicly apologise to the people about the statement he made to the BBC that the LTTE has entered the Jaffna City, said Posts, Telecommunication and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a press statement yesterday stating that this is not the first time that Mr.Wickremesinghe issued statements on behalf of Prabhakaran. The Minister stated that acceding to a request made to the President by UNP General Secretary Gamini Athukorale in a press communique, we decided to release the cassette containing in full the discussion the Leader of the Opposition conducted with the BBC to the media. The Minister in his statement said:"It is mentioned in a communique released from the office of the Leader of the Opposition on May 16th that UNP General Secretary Gamini Athukorale has pointed out to the President that at a time when the UNP is participating in all discussions with the Government at this critical juncture, the Media Minister and the Government media on his orders are distorting facts and are engaged in a slandering operation directed at the UNP leadership and the party. According to the said communique Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe and UNP leader Karu Jayasuriya had taken part in the special talks held with the President on May 16th in addition to the UNP General Secretary. It is stated further in that communique that the UNP General Secretary requested the President at this special discussion to permit the broadcasting in full of the discussion Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe had with the BBC and the publication of the copy of that discussion in the print media to make the people to be informed of the truth. Acceding to that request we decided to release the cassette containing in full the discussion the Leader of the Opposition conducted with the BBC to the media. The people will accordingly get the opportunity of being well informed of the veracity or otherwise of our statement with regard to the unpatriotic statement of the Leader of Opposition. And also the people will come to understand as to how a responsible Opposition Leader acts at a decisive time such as this. As the Leader of the Opposition attempts to conceal what was really meant by what he told the BBC by issuing one communique after the other we believe that the people, too, should pay more attention to the BBC interview of the Opposition Leader. The Leader of the Opposition categorically stated that the LTTE terrorists have entered Jaffna city by saying "it is a very serious situation and the LTTE has entered the city". This statement of his definitely gave credence to the rumours that were being spread in the South by those who sympathised with the LTTE to demoralise the people and the Security Forces, that the Jaffna city has fallen to the LTTE. What the Opposition Leader has been trying to do by issuing press releases to various newspapers up to now is to highlight that it was the Government media itself that stated that Tiger terrorists entered Jaffna city and to conceal what is there at the back of his mind. What the Special Media Information Unit which clearly stated was that a group of terrorists hiding in Jaffna the town advanced towards Jaffna kachcheri and that Security Forces succeeded in killing them. The Government has never stated that the Jaffna city capitulated to the Tigers. Tiger terrorists attacked Colombo also several times. According to the logic of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, Colombo too should have fallen to the Tigers. The roof of Mr. Wickremasinghe's house, too, was dislodged by the bomb exploded near the Joint Operations Command Centre in Colombo. Accordingly, Mr.Wickremasinghe should have acknowledged that he also surrendered to the Tigers on that occasion. But Mr. Wickremasinghe's reasoning changes only with regard to the terrorists coming to the Jaffna city which is under the control of the Security Forces. However, in the statement issued today an attempt is made to distort what he said earlier. In it he states thus: "I stated like this at the interview. This is an extremely dangerous situation. The LTTE is within the Jaffna city". I do not want to teach the English Language to Mr. Wickremesinghe. But if what he wanted to express was that what he should have stated was not "the LTTE has entered the City" but "LTTE infiltrators are in the City." The Leader of the Opposition has also made an even more serious statement in his BBC interview. He has attempted to highlight that it was a political error for the PA Government to continue to protect Jaffna having liberated it from the grip of the LTTE. In his interview he says: "and with the taking of Jaffna the Government was really opening the doors to a defeat." The North-East was under the unofficial rule of Prabhakaran when the PA took over in 1994. The Tamil people lived under a fascist rule. It is the opinion of the Opposition Leader that the suppression of the LTTE, the liberation of the majority of Tamils from LTTE fascism and the valiant actions of the Security Forces to liberate the North, constitute a `political error'. What the enemy wants is to dislodge the Security Forces from Jaffna. Mr.Wickremesinghe has stated what the enemy wants. This is not the first time that Mr.Wickremesinghe issued statements on behalf of Prabhakaran. Ever since the death of Mr.Gamini Dissanayake, Mr.Wickremesinghe has continued to act in a manner supportive of Prabhakaran. He pledged to hand over the North-East to a interim ruling council inclusive of the LTTE if he won the 1999 Presidential Election. By indicating that sending the Army to the North to liberate the people from the fascist rule of the LTTE is wrong, he has exposed his subconscious support for the LTTE. Making such a statement as the Leader of the Opposition is a very serious matter. Regardless of his personal feelings towards the LTTE, he should have refrained from making such a statement at this moment when a decisive offensive is underway to defeat LTTE terrorism. Mr.Wickremesinghe has boasted in the BBC interview that he would not have let the country fall into such a situation if he was the President. He has used the international media to conveniently overlook the fact that terrorism has reached these heights as a result of the policies adopted by the UNP Government of which Mr.Wickremesinghe was a Minister, National Security Council Member and Prime Minister. That regime gave a fillip to terrorism by rigging the Northern elections, torching Jaffna and creating the 1983 communal riots. It was the UNP leadership which unofficially handed over the North-East to terrorists during a `honeymoon' period that saw the transfer of weapons, cement and money to the LTTE. The UNP leadership, which paved he way for the enemy to take over several Security Forces camps, advised policemen who were surrounded by the LTTE to surrender. When India was engaged in eliminating the terrorists, the UNP strengthened them by sending the Indian troops away without showing any gratitude. With such a history behind him, it is not necessary to predict how Mr.Wickremesinghe would act if he becomes President. In addition to criticising Mr.Wickremesinghe's comments in the BBC interview, I also expressed my displeasure at a CNN report which distorted the facts. CNN corrected their error the very next day and expressed its regret to the Government. Likewise, as a responsible politician, Mr.Wickremesinghe should publicly apologise to the Nation about the statement he made to the BBC.
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