The Army Headquarters today said it had not given any assurance to anyone with regard to the registration of Tamils in the North. Issuing a statement with reference to the Daily Mirror June 21 story titled ‘Registration of Tamils in North to be stopped’, in which ‘an assurance’ has been attributed to Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, the army headquarters said “…no such assurance to that effect had been conveyed by the Jaffna Security Forces Commander to anyone, associated with the said meeting of TNA parliamentarians and the statement was therefore far from truth.”
It also said “the army in the peninsula has nothing to do with the alleged organized registration of people in Jaffna since such work does not come within the scope of the Army serving the peninsula.”
However when contacted TNA MP and senior Lawyer M.A.Sumanthiran reiterated that Maj. Gen Hathurusinghe did assure to stop the registration of civilians, which happened till the morning of June 18, the day the TNA had a meeting with the army.
The MP also said the Security Forces Commander had also told the TNA delegation that the National Security Council had decided to stop the registration process and accordingly, the registration process would be stopped. (Daily Mirror online)