9.9.2008

The Government is not planning to let the LTTE terrorise the people of the country forever, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake told Parliament today (09).

Opening the debate on the Emergency Vote, the Prime Minister said that the LTTE which bragged that it was the saviour of the Tamil people is today forcibly employing these innocent civilians as a human shield, unable to withstand the determined forward march of the heroic troops, adding that nothing will stop the security forces now.

In the common struggle to ensure the security of the general public, it is imperative that everyone should be united and that this was the one guarantor of victory, he observed.

He said that it was regrettable that certain persons and groups, in the pursuit of petty political agenda, were compromising this effort.

The constant vigilance of the security forces and the general public was instrumental in minimal damage being caused to life and property in the preceding month, he pointed out.

"With each passing day, the end comes closer and we should all unite to remove this terrible cancer," he said.

"We have scored many victories and the honour should go to the security forces, police and the intelligence units."

The Prime Minister also pointed out that the security forces have scored many victories that a lot of people said were not possible and appealed to everyone to support the forces to the end.

Citing reports, Prime Minister Wickramanayake said that during the period between August 1 and September 1, 155 members of the security forces had made thesupreme sacrifice to the nation and another 983 has been injured in confrontations with the enemy. Four civilians were killed and another 52 injured, he added.