LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                11. June 1997

SPECIAL PRESS RELEASE
                                           
RATWATTE'S FABRICATIONS ARE A DIVERSIONARY PLOY
	Sri Lanka's junior defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte is quoted
	in an AFP report (11 June 1997) as saying the LTTE yesterday
	pounded civilian areas killing 60 people. It should be noted that
	the allegation comes on the back of an overwhelmingly successful
	military strike by LTTE forces on a military camp in which Sri
	Lanka has suffered heavy troop casualties and finds itself in an
	extremely precarious situation militarily with regard to its
	latest offensive, "Jaya Sikuru". To cover up this disaster from
	the Sinhala people and the international community - and also
	anticipating further military disasters on the battlefield in the
	coming weeks and months - frantic efforts are being made by Sri
	Lanka's military high command to divert attention from troop
	casualties. One reliable diversionary tactic is to fabricate
	stories of "civilian casualties" directly following efficient
	LTTE attacks on military targets, which is what has happened in
	this instance. We categorically deny minister Ratwatte's baseless
	allegation of civilian casualties, independent verification of
	which is not possible owing to the government's ban on the
	international press from the war-zone. The LTTE, for its part, is
	a liberation army committed to evicting foreign Sinhala forces
	from the ancient homeland of the Tamils. It has no interest in
	"pounding" civilian centres, which is rather the preoccupation of
	the Sinhala military, which continues to strike at Tamil civilian
	centres including Odduchuddan, Mankulam, Kanakarayankulam,
	Puliyankulam and Mulliyawalai. It is reasonable to expect that as
	the desperation of Sri Lanka's military high command heightens,
	many more frantic (and devious) fabrications are likely, to try
	and discredit the leadership of the Tamil independence struggle.
	Only the entry of western journalists into affected areas can
	deny Sri Lanka's military hierarchy this luxury of concocting
	false stories about the LTTE at will.
	
'PARENTS OF THE DISAPPEARED' APPEAL TO PRESIDENT
	Hundreds of Tamil parents of children recently 'disappeared' by
	Sinhala armed forces in Jaffna have sent a strong letter to
	Sinhala president Chandrika Kumaratunga, asking to meet her face
	to face. These parents have found no other avenues to air their
	grievances or get information about their missing sons and
	daughters, believed to have been tortured and killed by Sinhalese
	soldiers. The government's Human Rights Task Force (HRTF) -
	ostensibly there to follow up on such cases - was totally
	ineffective anyway, but has now actually closed down its Jaffna
	office and returned to Colombo, while the Sinhala military high
	command in the occupied peninsula refuses to discuss anything at
	all with the Tamil mothers and fathers. With no other options
	remaining, the parents have called on the president to intervene
	if she is sincere. Their letter further states that the
	government media has twisted and perverted their predicament,
	portraying their children as having gone abroad or joined the
	LTTE. Such false stories indicate an official cover-up by
	government authorities trying to hush up and wash their hands of
	these military crimes against Tamils. This demonstrates how
	little power Tamils have under the rule of a Sinhala government
	and Sinhala military. The parents, for their part, say they are
	in no doubt their children were arrested by the Sinhala army
	prior to going missing.
	
SINHALESE SOLDIERS ROUND-UP TAMILS IN JAFFNA
	A massive round-up and search operation has taken place in
	occupied Jaffna city covering the entire Stanley Road area. Sri
	Lankan soldiers barricaded all entry and exit points between the
	Wellington theatre junction (east) and Vivekananda pass junction
	(west). The search continued for hours and the location happens
	to be 50 yards away from the Sinhala military commander's
	residence - the Gnanams hotel, which was taken over for military
	use earlier this year.
	
TAMIL MAN LOSES FOOT IN MINE BLAST
	An elderly Tamil civilian out collecting firewood lost his right
	foot when he stepped on a Sri Lankan army landmine in Kopay. The
	victim is Sinnapody Kathiravel, also from Kopay (occupied
	Jaffna).

CORRECTION - WRONG IDENTITY
	We apologise for mistakenly naming Mrs. Thayanithy as one of the
	victims of Sri Lanka's artillery raid on Mankulam. Mrs Thayanithy
	- a teacher - has been found alive; the dead body identified
	belongs to fellow teacher, Mrs. Imagret Mallika Ganesamoorthy
	(32).


Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom. Tel:0181- 503 4294 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)