May 10, 2002	Friday	Safar 26, 1423

COLOMBO, May 9: The United National Front government of Sri Lanka, in a bid seen as humouring the LTTE and placating Tamil interests have in the past two months released over 1,000 Tamil suspects of terrorism acts.

The suspects are those arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which the government is considering scrapping with heightened persuasion in this regard by Tamil MPs.

The suspects released include those held in connection with the bombing of the Bandaranaike International airport of Sri Lanka, last September, the terrorist attack which then brought the country’s tourism to a total standstill.

According to the ICRC only around 700 more prisoners remain in government custody. ICRC sources in Sri Lanka said today that the UNF Government had informed them that more Tamil suspects will be released shortly.

Meanwhile Minister of Muslim Affairs Rauf Hakeem, who had intervened and stopped a hunger strike among prisoners in the Batticaloa prison had appealed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to look into the expedition of the cases against Tamil suspects. This appeal is a follow up to the ‘pledge’ given by Hakeem to LTTE war supremo, Vellupillai Prabhakaran when he met him in his hideout in the Vanni jungles last month.

Meanwhile the Scandinavian cease-fire monitors, overseeing the ceasefire agreement between the LTTE and the government left for the Vanni jungles on Thursday, to meet the LTTE leader and other Tiger members to obtain the ‘‘LTTE version’’ and conclude the monitoring mission’s investigations into the alleged violation by the LTTE.