Sri Lankan President Denies Anti-truce Pact Remarks

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 28, 2002

Sri Lankan President Denies Anti-truce Pact Remarks

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Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Wednesday denied media reports which said that she could order the annulling of the truce pact entered between the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels by writing a single letter to the country's army commander.

The President remains fully committed to a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict and "she does not have any intention to hinder the negotiation process which she herself began", a statement issued by the Presidential Secretariat said.

Kumaratunga, who is also the commander-in-chief of the country's defense forces, was quoted by local media as saying at a gathering of her political party activists that she could nullify the ceasefire agreement with just one letter to the army commander.

"There are several suspicious clauses in the agreement with theLTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). I have appointed a committee to study the agreement and the report would be out in a day or two. Then I will take necessary action", Kumaratunga was quoted as saying.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last Friday signed a cessation of hostilities agreement with the LTTE rebel leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the first step of a Norwegian-backed peace process to end the country's drawn out ethnic conflict that has left over 64,000 dead since 1983.

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