[ANN]400,000 Tamils trapped north of Sri Lanka, says main opposition party

Sri Lanka`s main opposition political party the United National Party(UNP) yesterday alleged that around 400,000 minority Tamils are trapped in the LTTE controlled northern district of Mullaithivu and are unable to escape the fighting between government forces and LTTE.

The party`s Assistant Secretary and Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Human Rights,Jayalath Jayawardena ,said that among the 400,000 civilians were 2000 pregnant women.

He, said that with the army`s advance,civilians in the northern district of Kilinochchi, had moved to Mullaithivu,the last area that remains under LTTE control- resulting in the number of internally displaced people swelling to massive proportions.

Expressing grave concern for the plight of the civilians,Jayawardena appealed to both the LTTE and Sri Lankan government not to act in any manner that would jeopardise innocent lives.

"The LTTE and government are under a moral obligation to ensure the safety and well being of civilians caught up in the fighting. They should also jointly facilitate the transport of the injured to hospitals and ensure a steady supply of medicine and food."

He, said that a request made by him to the Defence Secretary on December 31,2008 to permit a UNP delegation to visit the Vanni and attend to the needs of the IDP`s, was turned down on security grounds."Thereafter on January 16, I made a request in my capacity as Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Human Rights, for a delegation to visit the newly established government welfare centres in Mannar and Vavuniya. But this too was refused on the grounds of security concerns."

The government used "security", as an excuse to prevent us from visiting Mullaithivu, but how on earth they could debar us from government welfare centres in army controlled areas is mind boggling,he said. "If the government can permit a handpicked group of journalists to visit northern areas under its command, how can it prevent the elected representatives of the people from touring the area? This proves our repeated accusations that democracy, freedom of movement and ｅxpression is under serious threat."

The LTTE, which has been fighting for a separate state in the North and East of Sri Lanka since the July 1983 ethnic riots,has lost a major part of the land area it laid claim to and is now confined to a 20 by 15 square kilometer area, according to the Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka.

It is widely speculated that the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has fled to the Malaysian Peninsula while his son Charles Anthony who was in charge of the guerilla outfits air wing, had escaped to Thailand.

But, the LTTE hierachy and Sri Lankan government, insist that Prabhakaran is still in Sri Lanka.

The July 1983 riots were triggered off after the LTTE killed 13 soldiers in the northern district of Jaffna,considered the heartland of the Tamils.Organised mobs from the Sinahala majority community hit back by going on the rampage in the South ,killing a large number of Tamils and also attacking their homes and economic interests.

Over 80,000 people including civilians, security forces personnel and LTTE cadres are estimated to have died since July 1983.