• No talks amidst war, says LTTE
• Hakeem, Ferial carry on till Feb
• Premier's car smashed up in crash
• Troops capture more territory, says Ministry
• Woman soldier allegedly beaten up

No talks amidst war, says LTTE

The LTTE last night responding to the government's call to begin peace talks immediately while the military operations were on, virtually ruled out any talks amidst 'war conditions'.

The LTTE in a statement issued from its London Headquarters called on the international community to use its good offices to persuade the Sri Lankan government to abandon what it called 'hard-line militaristic approach' and seek a negotiated political settlement.

The rebels were responding to remarks on Tuesday by Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar who declared that the government was prepared to open unconditional talks with the LTTE while the war was on and conditions could be considered as talks progressed.

The LTTE statement said it was disappointed about Sri Lanka's categorical rejection of a process of de-escalation of the armed conflict prior to peace talks, and reiterated 'genuine peace talks could not be held under conditions of war, violence and hostility'.

The statement came as Minister Kadirgamar who is in India ruled out chances of any talks starting before the end of the year.

Mr. Kadirgamar told journalists yesterday in New Delhi that the Sri Lankan government had had no reply from the LTTE regarding its offer for immediate talks to end the war.

Responding to a question the Minister had ruled out the possibility of opening any talks before the end of the year, adding that 'this was not practical'.

'There is no intention, certainly on our part - and as far as we know there is no intention on the part of the LTTE because we haven't heard from them yet," he said. Mr. Kadirgamar met Jaswant Singh, his Indian counterpart, on Friday and briefed him about developments regarding peace talks, among other matters.

The LTTE in its statement blamed the government, saying it had not abandoned its 'notorious project of war for peace'. "The history of our armed conflict has demonstrated the fact that peace talks without a stable cease-fire do not succeed."

Criticising the delayed response of the government to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's call for unconditional talks, the LTTE's statement said the government's position contained ambiguities and contradictions. "Though the government proclaims its readiness for unconditional talks, it reiterates its previous preconditions of a limited time frame and a pre-conceived permanent solution to be worked out at the commencement of the talks. These conditions are unacceptable to the LTTE.

"By refusing to de-escalate the war and by stipulating conditions for talks, the Kumaratunga government is making a deliberate attempt to scuttle the peace process. Therefore, we appeal to the international governments to use their good offices and persuade Sri Lanka to abandon its hard-line militaristic position and to seek the path of peace, rationality and fair play to find a negotiated political settlement to the Tamil national question', the LTTE statement declared.

Hakeem, Ferial carry on till Feb

Muslim Religious Affairs Minister Rauf Hakeem has left for special Ramazan prayers in Saudi Arabia amidst reports of a continuing row in the party over leadership.

At an emergency meeting of the SLMC high command, it was decided that Mr. Hakeem and SLMC founder leader M. H. M. Ashraff's widow Ferial Ashraff should continue as co-leaders till a national convention on February 10.

They had been appointed as co-leaders for two months after Mr. Ashraff's death in September but problems arose as the party was divided on who should be the leader.

Ms. Ashraff's mourning period ends by the end of January and the final decision on the leadership is likely to be taken at the February 11 convention. Before leaving for the Holy city at the invitation of the Saudi King, Mr. Hakeem spent time in the east, apparently building up his support in the home base of the SLMC.

Premier's car smashed up in crash

The official bullet-proof Benz car of the Prime Minister was badly damaged in an accident along the Malabe-Kaduwela main road last morning, Police said.

The car had dropped Prime Minister Ratansiri Wickremanayake and was returning from Balangoda when the accident took place.

The prime Minister was in Diyatalawa taking part as a Chief guest at a passing out parade of the military.

Police said that though the vehicle was badly damaged, the occupants had escaped unhurt.

The vehicle had swayed on to the right and hit a truck on the opposite side of the road.

Troops capture more territory, says Ministry

Troops backed by air and artillery cover in a fresh offensive launched yesterday recaptured about 11 square kilometres, including part of a key highway which they lost to the LTTE in the Jaffna peninsula mid this year, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.

At least 12 soldiers and 26 LTTE cadres were killed in the offensive code-named 'Operation Kinihira - V, Stage II which was launched at dawn yesterday in areas south of the Jaffna town.

Troops advanced towards the Kaithady and Nunavil bridge as the offensive began and during the advance had bypassed some of the strongholds of the LTTE as they were mined or booby trapped. LTTE cadres had abandoned their positions and withdrawn and some of them retreating were engaged with artillery and mortar fire, the Ministry said.

The military until late last evening had not got full details of the LTTE casualties, but had confirmation that two guerrilla leaders identified as Rajkumar and Kowlan had been reported killed.

Troops during the offensive captured an area encompassing Madduvil north and Nunavil including three kilometres of the A9 highway linking Chavakachcheri upto the Kaithady bridge. A stretch of three kilometres on the road linking Point Pedru and Sarasalai was also captured, the Ministry said. During the offensive the Air Force provided assistance by taking on enemy artillery and mortar positions, it said. Late evening the security forces were still consolidating their positions and clearing mines in the area.

Forces in the past two months have been carrying out a series of operations to clear some of the area which they lost during the debacle in the middle of this year.

Woman soldier allegedly beaten up

By Chris Kamalendran

The Government appointed Human Rights Commission on Friday moved in to investigate a complaint about the illegal detention and alleged torture of a female soldier in the custody of the Army.

A Human Rights Commission spokesman told The Sunday Times they had recorded the 22-year-old woman soldier's statement at the Colombo National Hospital where she was undergoing treatment after being allegedly assaulted.

The soldier had been allegedly beaten up while she was being questioned in connection with the activities of a senior officer of the women's corp. The soldier had been serving as the orderly of the senior officer.

The HRC spokesman said they had written to the Army Commander calling on him to investigate the case of alleged assault and illegal detention.

'We are awaiting a response from the Army Commander', he said.

The soldier's mother told The Sunday Times that her daughter had been taken into custody on December 8 and was being held at the Anuradhapura women's corp camp.

'We visited her last Sunday and she told us that she was detained soon after she returned for duty after two week's leave. She was limping and we noticed scars on her. It was clear that she had been beaten up', the mother said.

'On Monday when we called they told there was no such person in detention. Later we were told that she had been transferred to Medawachchiya. But we felt suspicious because my daughter could not serve due to her condition', she said.

'During further inquiries the following day we found that she had been admitted to the Anuradhapura hospital, thereafter to the Kurunegala hospital and subsequently to the Colombo National Hospital', she said.

At the National Hospital the soldier had told the mother that the Military Police were trying to extract a statement from her against her superior officer.

Quoting the daughter, the mother said an allegation had been made of an attempt to poison a women's corp officer on the instructions of the senior women's corp officer whom her daughter was serving.

The incident came two weeks after the previous orderly of the senior women's corp officer was detained by the Military Police allegedly to obtain a statement against the officer.

The orderly was questioned regarding the senior officer and kept in detention for more than one week and thereafter released from custody.

The driver of the senior women's corp officer had also been questioned.

Military spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said HRC officials had contacted the Army, seeking more information related to the incident.

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