Air Strikes Threaten Peace Process: S.Lankan Rebels WarnSri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels warned on Monday that the air strikes against their bases could permanently damage a Norwegian-brokered peace process.In a statement issued from Wanni, headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north of the country, the rebels denied they planned an assault against government forces to recapture Jaffna peninsula. "We can say categorically that there is 'no imminent offensive plan' by the LTTE as fantasized by the Government. The so-called intelligence report to this effect is a sham," it said. The Sri Lankan Air Force commenced attacks on LTTE rebel bases in the north on Saturday which continued till late Sunday night destroying several targets. The government said that the air strikes had been launched following reports that the LTTE rebels were preparing a major assault in the north. "The Kumaratunga Government, facing a no-confidence motion by its political opposition, has resorted to military adventurism and false alarmist reports as a desperate measure to mobilize Sinhala chauvinistic sentiments in its support to overcome the current crisis," the LTTE statement said. The government is facing a no-confidence motion tabled by main opposition United National Party (UNP) on June 22, which will be debated in Parliament later this month. The government has lost its majority in the 225-member Parliament when its ally, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, pulled out of the government two days before the submission of no- confidence motion by UNP when Muslim leader Rauf Hakeem was sacked by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The government now has 109 seats in the Parliament, four short of the 113-seat simple majority for its survival. The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces in the north and east of the country since 1983 for an independent Tamil homeland. The bloody war has killed some 64,000 people. |
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