The Sri Lankan Government has admitted members of the army helped a top rebel defector escape and wage a covert war of attrition against the Tamil Tigers. The Information Minister Mangala Samaraweera said an informal inquiry was being held into the incident. He described it as "rather disturbing" and an attempt to sabotage the peace process.
| They're real peaceful when they're dead. |
The whereabouts of Colonel Karuna, who until recently was second in command of the Tigers, is still not clear. He broke from his organisation four months ago and, after a brief spell of internecine fighting, vanished. Now an opposition MP has admitted he transported Colonel Karuna from his jungle hideout to the capital. Rebel fighters who were with Colonel Karuna, but escaped, say he has been in hiding in army safe-houses in Colombo for more that two months, masterminding a series of killings of rebels and their supporters in an attempt to weaken the Tigers.
| And this is a bad thing, how? |
All this while the government has been trying to re-start the peace process.
| Of course, the fabled Peace Processor. |
| Lot easier to restart the Peace Process™ when the rebels have had the fear of death put into 'em. |
After repeated denials from the army that they had anything to do with Colonel Karuna, the information minister has now admitted military personnel were involved. However, he stressed this was without the knowledge of the government. Indeed, the minister says this assistance to a rebel defector was actually a plot by the opposition to sabotage the government's chances of doing a peace deal with the Tamil Tigers.
| Sigh, sounds like our State Department. |
For its part, the opposition has denied any knowledge of what its MP was up to, and the MP in question, Ali Zahir Mowlana, has resigned. |