Surgical bombings to gain access to anicut, no low intensity war, says Min. Rambukwella [Friday, July 28, 2006 - 16.30 GMT]

Denies arbitrary aerial bombings, saying bombing done specifically targeting cadres blocking access to the Mawilaru anicut.

“The Government is definitely not engaging in a low intensity war, but instead working according a strategy designed by the Forces and Defence Authorities to gain control of the Mawilaru anicut and distribute water to the families”, said Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

The LTTE on Monday (24) closed the sluice-gates of the Mawilaru anicut, causing immense hardship to the mostly Tamil populated area as the local population depends upon this for their drinking water as well as the water needed for agriculture.

“Sri Lanka is an agricultural country, people depend upon agriculture for their very livelihoods. The LTTE preventing the opening of this anicut disrupts not only the drinking water, but their livelihoods as well. We will have 15, 000 refugees, if their crops are ruined,” he said.

Describing the idea of aerial bombings as “rubbish”, the Minister said the Forces were engaging in identified, surgical bombings, targeting cardres that were blocking access to the anicut.

“As a government we need to take necessary action to solve the issue. For the past five days we have negotiated, yet we cannot spend too much time negotiating since the issue deals with a basic need of people, water”, he said.

“It is a war crime to deny people of water. The LTTE is a most ruthless organization that does not care about civilians”, stressed the Minister.

The Minister said the whole situation was not a question of winning or losing but a question of water and that the Government was working towards gaining access to the anicut, through a well designed plan so as to provide water to the people.

Minister Rambukwella totally denied the reports of army casualties.

As to the Finnish monitors decision to leave the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) by the LTTE’s given deadline of September 1, the Minister said it was up to the International Community to decide if they were going to succumb to threats given by terrorists such as the LTTE and Hizbollah guerrillas.

The SLMM today confirmed that the 12 Finnish monitors of the SLMM were leaving due to a lack of security guarantee by the LTTE.

 PRINT THIS STORY

Contact Information: Send mail to gosl@presidentsl.org with questions or comments about this web site. 
Last Updated Date: July 28, 2006 -16.30 GMT