The Ceylon News

AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa received a threatening letter warning her of ‘serious consequences’ if she continued with her ‘opposition to the cause of Tamil Eelam and LTTE’.

The letter, purportedly sent by one Tamizhmaindan, organiser of the Canada headquartered Ulaga Tamizh Pathugappu Kazhagam, warned that Jaya would face a fate similar to former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, AIADMK sources said.

The sources added that party functionary and MLA D Jayakumar lodged a complaint with the city Police Commissioner R Sekar over the issue.

However, Police Commissioner Sekar declined to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa's advocate, Navaneetha Krishnan mentioned the matter before Justice M Jayachandran, judge of the Madras High Court and requested him to order the Tamil Nadu Government to increase the security cover to her in view of the threat.

The judge directed the registry to post the matter before him on Thursday.

The letter charged Jayalalithaa with being a hindrance to the creation of a Tamil Eelam, ‘which is the only solution to Sri Lankan Tamils' problems and LTTE is fighting for that’.

"You are working against them and if you continue your opposition to the LTTE, the day is not far off when your funeral procession will be held, you know very well we will say whatever we can do. You will meet the same fate as Benazir Bhutto did," the sources said quoting the text of the letter.

Colombo, Feb 25: The Sri Lankan Government on Wednesday claimed that LTTE has nearly 6,300 child soldiers under the age of 18.

"According to the latest figures, in December 2008, the total under age (below 18) recruitment by the LTTE was 6,287," an official release said adding, "of this 3,809 are boys and 2,478 are girls".

"There are claims that 2,059 such children or those recruited as children have been released, which requires verification," the statement by the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat said.

In a message on the eve of the Sri Lankan National Campaign against the Recruitment of Children for use of Armed Conflict, the country's President Mahinda Rajapaksa said this initiative was essential to prevent child recruitment.

"This special initiative is necessary because preventing child recruitment, in tandem with the freeing of all children already recruited and brutalised, is at the core of our final thrust to eradicate the scourge of terrorism from our nation," Rajapaksa said.

"We have watched our children suffer this terror, brutality and indignity for long enough," he added.

Washington, Feb 25: Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US Jaliya Wickramasuriya on Wednesday said Colombo is working towards a political solution to the present conflict in the country.

"President (Mahinda) Rajapaksa is working towards a political solution," the Ambassador said in a statement, a day after a Senate sub-committee hearing on Sri Lanka.

"He (Rajapaksa) has called upon all the Tamil political parties in the Parliament to begin planning for a post-conflict society. We realise that once terrorism has ended, the only way forward is to bring all the parties together," Wickramasuriya said.

Reaffirming the island nation's commitment to supporting all Sri Lankans, the Ambassador said, "It is the utmost priority of the President and the government to ensure the safety and security of all our civilians and to look after their welfare".

The official hearing record included a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama which stated that in order to protect the remaining civilians, the Government of Sri Lanka has declared a zero civilian casualty policy for the military.

The letter also said the government has already declared a safe area for the protection of civilians but the LTTE has infiltrated the area and resorted to firing shots into it while taking cover behind innocent civilians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN are also helping in evacuating the injured and attending to their medical needs, the letter said adding, the government continued to send food and other essential items even to the uncleared areas, with the assistance of the ICRC.

The Ambassador said "We are grateful to the US Senate for holding the hearing today and we appreciate the government's continued understanding of our mutual fight against global terrorism".

"Although there are challenges remaining in Sri Lanka, we are strongly committed to democracy and promoting peace in our country," he said.

He added that most of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka lived freely in peace and harmony with Sinhalese, Muslims and other communities across the country with equal representation of the three main ethnic groups in Colombo.

This conflict is not one of ethnicity, rather it is a struggle to rid Sri Lanka of a globally recognised terrorist organization- the LTTE- that has a history of oppressing portions of our society and endangering the lives of all the citizens, he said.