Tigers have infiltrated Vavuniya IDP camp- Minister Samarasinghe

The government has reliable information that LTTE cadres have infiltrated the ranks of the IDPs in Vavuniya and utmost care has to be taken in permitting even limited freedom of movement as the risk exists of LTTE cadres posing as civilian IDPs and entering the general population, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said while speaking at a seminar in Colombo today

Speaking on the on the topic “Winning the War to Winning the Peace: Postwar Rebuilding of Society” at the seminar organized by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies Minister Samarasinghe said the government has screened and readied for release over 10,000 persons from welfare centres and relief villages who are elderly, are pregnant or lactating mothers or are children.

“We have reliable information that LTTE cadres have infiltrated the ranks of the IDPs. Until the screening process is complete and these elements are identified and apprehended we have to take utmost care in permitting even limited freedom of movement as the risk exists of LTTE cadres posing as civilian IDPs and entering the general population. This is a chance we cannot afford to take. The decision was not taken lightly but rather by a careful balancing of the rights of the IDPs against those of the rest of the population, especially given the LTTE’s propensity to cause maximum carnage among the civilian population by launching terrorist acts.”

He also said that Sri Lanka needs to be on our guard against those, particularly Western, media outlets which, by disseminating disinformation spread by the LTTE network’s remnants and their proxies, constantly seek to besmirch the name of Sri Lanka.

He recalled that a few days ago a horrifying video of supposed executions of Tamil persons in January this year was played on a Western television channel’s news programme and the canard was immediately picked up by many news organs and given wide publicity. Read more ...