The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) cannot be divided and conquered despite the continuous efforts by the President in the last few months, said TNA Parliamentarian Rajavarothiam Sampanthan at a press conference in Parliament yesterday. He made this statement responding to media reports that there is a rift within the party.

“The President was able to create a split within the United National Party (UNP) the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and he tried his best to create a split within our party. TNA is an alliance of many parties and we have different ways of looking at things, but we talk and we compromise, that is why he could not divide us,” he said.

The TNA MP also called for an immediate ceasefire from the government so that there could be an arrangement to ensure the safety of the civilians trapped in the LTTE-held areas. He added that there is a severe shortage of medicine and sanitary facilities in the LTTE-held areas. “There should be an immediate ceasefire. If the government shows willingness, the LTTE will soon fall in line and then we can decide what to do with the civilians. In the last two months 2,000 civilians have been killed while 4,500 have been injured due to artillery, shell and multi-barrel fire by the Sri Lanka Army,” he said.

“Although there is a massive humanitarian crisis in that area no independent person is allowed to go there and assess the situation. There are a number of IDPs in Trincomalee and when I wanted to visit them as a MP from that area, the Defence Ministry did not give me permission. What are they so afraid of, if they have ‘zero civilian casualties,” he queried.

The TNA MPs also denied government’s claim that the LTTE is attacking the civilians who are moving to government-controlled areas.

TNA MP Nallathamby Srikantha claimed that the civilians have been trickling into government-held areas without being attacked in the last few months.

“Since we can’t go there we really can’t verify the government’s claims. However, we

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During the press conference Sampanthan’s statement that there are 350,000 to 400,000 civilians trapped in the LTTE area was challenged by the Al Jazeera journalist who asked whether it is possible to have that many people in an area of 150 to 170 square kilometres.

“I think they are crammed in that area. We are quoting the numbers given by the Mullaitivu Kachcheri,” Sampanthan responded.