Sri Lanka seeks to protect Tamils


 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 9 (UPI) -- The Sri Lankan government Tuesday set
up committees in the capital Colombo and other major cities to protect the
minority Tamil community from any backlash.

 Heavily armed soldiers were deployed on the streets of the capital and
other major towns across Sri Lanka, while soldiers on motorcycles patrolled
the streets to prevent attacks on Tamils by the majority Sinhala community.

 The media minister and government's spokesman, Mangala Samaraweera, said
that the government would ensure that no harm came to Tamils and there was
no violence in the aftermath of serious military setbacks suffered by the
government troops in the north.

 "This government will ensure that there is no violence of any sort against
anyone, especially against Tamils," Samaraweera said.

 The government took the unusual step of establishing committees to protect
the Tamils as an anti-Tamil wave in the 1993 had left scores of Tamils dead
in the country. The riots were sparked by the hacking of 13 Sinhalese
security forces personnel in the northern Jaffna peninsula by the Tamil
Tigers.

 Analysts said that the government had to set up the committees and ensure
the safety of Tamils as it feared a fierce backlash from the Sinhala
community in the wake of recent reverses in the peninsula.

 The announcement of war losses by the deputy defense minister, Gen.
Anuruddha Ratwatte, in the parliament Tuesday and the ruling of the
Parliament's presiding officer that the proceedings of the parliament do not
come under the purview of government censorship could lead to a serious law
and order situation, analysts said.

 So far, the people were not aware of the losses suffered by the armed
forces as the government had clamped censorship down on local and foreign
media. But the deputy defense minister gave details of the dead and injured
soldiers in the parliament.

 The deputy defense minister told the house that the armed forces had to
pull back the defense lines because of the loss of Elephant Pass base and
the Pallai army camp. He said that the armed forces were determined to
regain control over the lost positions.

 "We have suffered a setback. But that does not mean that the war is lost
altogether. We will not be defeated," Gen. Ratwatte said.

 The government had rushed new military hardware to the north to increase
the fire power of the troops fighting the Tamil Tigers. Earlier, it had
moved thousands of additional soldiers to defend the peninsula, after the
government troops lost control over Elephant Pass and Pallai bases.
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