The LTTE, in utter desperation, declared a unilateral ceasefire, saying it was the only way to end the humanitarian crisis involving thousands of civilians trapped in the narrow tract along Eastern coastline still held by them. But the government interests were otherwise.

“Halt in combat operations only facilitates innocent civilians to cross over without harm, but not for the LTTE to resettle for another brutal war,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa said referring to LTTE’s notorious history of unilateral breaches of ceasefires.

 

President not only rejected the Tiger ploy, but also demanded them to surrender and lay down their weapons. “The Tiger offer is either a last ditch attempt to circumvent a final bloody defeat, or a calculated attempt aimed at exerting international political pressure on the government to suspend combat operations, at least to get a small respite,” war veterans said.

“Now, the tigers are fighting out of uniforms, and it’s hard to distinguish between tigers and civilians. This forced us to slow down offensives for fear of causing harm to civilians,” Brigadier Shavendra Silva, who has been commanding the advancing troops, told journalists. He further said that their major concern is the safety of civilians and campaigns have been launched around the country to collect essential items and the UN has issued an urgent appeal for funds.

“In our advances into the Tiger domain, we are extremely careful to distinguish civilians from the terrorists. We must win the hearts of our brothers trapped in the North. The landslide victory the government registered is an endorsement of the president’s fight against terrorism. The President’s campaign is hugely popular even in Colombo,” a government spokesman said.