Service Chiefs, SLMM visit Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 October 2002, 19:15 GMT]
The heads of three State armed forces and the Inspector General of Police are scheduled to visit Trincomalee Saturday to review the security situation in the wake of Friday violence in which three Tamil civilians were killed and thirty-eight others were wounded, defence ministry sources said. The Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde also is expected to visit the east port town Saturday, SLMM sources said.

Major General Anton Wijendra and the Deputy Inspector General of Police Mr. Lal Ratnayake arrived Trincomalee Friday evening on the instruction of the Prime Minister to take immediate steps to bring the tense situation in Trincomalee under control. The eastern port town is now under eighteen-hour curfew till Saturday morning 6 a.m. However, according to a defence ministry source the curfew is likely to be extended Saturday too.

Meanwhile, addressing a press briefing Friday evening the Defence Ministry Secretary Mr. Austin Fernando said that the Trincomalee incident would have no effect on the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers. "Peace talks will go on as scheduled," said Mr. Austin Fernando.

He added that it is the responsibility of the Government as well as the LTTE to confront such setbacks with strength of purpose and to carry forward the peace process with renewed vigour. The Ampara and Trincomalee incidents will not provide a reason for the Government and the LTTE to move away from the peace process.

He said that certain elements are distorting the Trincomalee and Ampara incidents to derail the peace process. People should be alert and not to succumb to rumours spread with ulterior motives.

The three killed in Friday violence in Trincomalee have been identified as Sonaimuttu Konalingam (18) of Ghandinagar, Christie Mayuran (22) of Anpuvallipuram and Kanapathipillai Sasikumar of Palaiootu.