Govt. rules out CFA, talks

KOTTE: The Government will not enter into a CFA or talks with the LTTE at this juncture unless it was prepared to lay down arms, Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maithripala Sirisena told Parliament yesterday.

The Minister said the Government will not accept LTTE political Leader Nadesan’s claims for a Ceasefirebecause it had enough experiences on the LTTE’s double standard ceasefires.

Minister Sirisena replying to a question raised by Ranaweera Pathirana of the JVP, said the successful campaign launched by the Government to defeat LTTE terrorism will not be stopped at this juncture as heroic Armed Forces have achieved numerous victories.

“We will not go for peace talks until the LTTE is totally defeated militarily,” he said. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that the LTTE could not be defeated by military, means President Mahinda Rajapaksa proved him wrong by achieving a number of military victories in combating terrorism. He said the Government will not take any action to discourage or demoralise the Forces engaged in the humanitarian mission to liberate the North from terrorism.