PM briefs Thai counterpart on latest situation

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka who was on a visit to Thailand recently met the Thai Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva at Bangkok and the two leaders discussed matters of bilateral interest and relations between the two countries. Premier Wickramanayaka also briefed his Thai counterpart about the latest situation of humanitarian operations in the North of Sri Lanka and about the influx of civilians to the government administered region of the north.

Premier Wickramanayaka during his visit attended the Magha Pucha Day, an important day in the Thai Buddhist calendar at Wat Phara Dhammakaya temple at Pathuvithani. He said during the last 30 years successive governments of Sri Lanka negotiated with the LTTE to reach a durable solution to the national problem but without avail as the LTTE deliberately stymied every attempt at settlement, an Asian Tribune report said.

It was only when the attempt at negotiating a settlement failed that the government decided on a course of action to eradicate terrorism and today the LTTE are cornered to a narrow area that is shrinking but they are preventing the civilians who wish to get away from the LTTE clutches. But thousands have crossed over and more were arriving in the government administered areas the Prime Minister told the Thai Premier Vejjajiva, the Asian Tribune said.

(WN)