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| Sunday, 16 March 2003 |
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Mullaitivu incident top on agenda : LTTE leaves for Hakone today by Ananth Palakidnar The LTTE will participate at the sixth round of peace talks in Hakone , in Japan on Tuesday , but its delegation will lodge a strong protest to the government negotiators about the Mullaitivu incident at the beginning of the talks. This was announced by the LTTE theoretician and chief negotiator Dr. Anton Balasingham who officially confirmed the participation of his organisation at the peace talks, at a special briefing held in Kilinochi yesterday . Speaking to the media Balasingham said that following a series of discussions with the LTTE leader Veluppilai Prabhakaran for the past few days it had been decided to attend the sixth round of peace talks in Japan and also to table the protest of the LTTE to the Government negotiators on the Mullaitivu incident at the beginning of the talks. "We will give the utmost importance to the attack on our vessel by the naval gunship and discuss in detail the other serious ceasefire violations in the recent past." Dr.Balasingham said. The LTTE delegation for the Japan talks will leave Kilinocchi at 11am today on a special Air Force helicopter to Colombo and will leave for Japan from the Bandaranaike International Airport this evening. The LTTE delegation will be headed by Dr. Balasingham and it will comprise Adele Balasingham, the head of the LTTE's political section S.P.Tamilchelvam and its special military commander colonel Karuna. Explaining further on the matters to be taken up at the Hakone Talks , Balasingham said that the federal issue, sharing of foreign assistance and also the High security zone issue would be discussed in detail . Meanwhile, the head of the political section S.P.Tamilchelvam has written a letter to the Minister of Defence Tilak Marapana yesterday explaining the LTTE's position on the attack on their ship . This letter has been written in response to the letter sent by the Minister with regard to the attack on the LTTE vessel. S.P.Tamilchelvam's letter is as follows :- "We wish to point out that the captain of the unfortunate vessel reported to us that the SL Naval gunship opened offensive fire and set the vessel on fire without any provocation on their part. "We are surprised to note that your response to our protest over the incident failed to mention the location of the incident. This is a crucial factor since the incident took place 220 nautical miles off Trincomalee. There is a notable discrepancy over the version of the SLN with regard to the location of the incident. Finally, the navy has concocted the location within the economic zone of 185 nautical miles. "Surprisingly your government fails to recognize the fact that there is a ceasefire agreement and that clause 1.3 of the MoU forbids the SLN to enter into combat with the LTTE. Furthermore, the SLN has also failed to solicit the assistance of the SLMM in handling this affair." |
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