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TNA insists on withdrawal
By Shelani Perera
The Tamil National Alliance is scheduled to hold a second meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this week to discuss the evacuation of troops from schools and places of religious worship.

The TNA on Wednesday met the Prime Minister to hand over a report on the places which have not yet been evacuated. The government appointed a committee to inspect such sites.

TULF General Secretary R. Sambanthan told The Sunday Times the report would be fully probed by the Government. "At Wednesday's meeting, we discussed the inspection carried out by our representatives. The report gave a detailed list of the sites which have not been vacated. The Premier told us that he would convene another meeting to discuss the situation further after reports were received from the security forces," Mr. Sambanthan said.

He added the Prime Minister was clear that troops would be evacuated before August 2 in keeping with the ceasefire agreement. "We want the ceasefire to be implemented. We are only asking that what ever has been stated be implemented. The main issue is for the troops to vacate these places. This is to facilitate the return to normal life," he added.

Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission is also compiling lists of such places. SLMM spokesperson Teitur Torkelsson said the lists were being compiled with the cooperation of both parties.

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