By IANS,
Colombo : The Tamil Tiger guerrillas Monday night offered unilateral truce to the Sri Lankan government between July 26 and Aug 4, as a goodwill gesture for the upcoming SAARC summit that opens here Aug 2.
Claiming that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was always keen to develop friendship with the countries around the world, especially the neighbouring countries, the group however warned that it would retaliate if the government disregarded its goodwill gesture and carried out military offensive.
“We are sincere in our efforts to create the external conditions in order to build these friendships. We wish to express the good will and trust of the Tamil people. As a sign of this goodwill, our movement is glad to inform that it will observe a unilateral ceasefire that is devoid of military actions during the period of the SAARC conference from July 26 to Aug 4 and give our cooperation for the success of the conference,” the LTTE’s political wing said in an e-mail statement to the media late Monday night.
At the same time, if the government carried out military operations, “our movement will be forced to take defensive actions”, it said.