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Pathmanathan claims he never said anything
Last week's our front page report headlined 'Interim State resolution at Pongu Thamil rally' has drawn a response from the Prime Minister's Assistant Secretary, K. Pathmanathan.

Mr. Pathmanathan, who together with the Premier's media secretary, Saman Athaudahetti, were UNF Government's representatives at the Pongu Thamil ceremony in Jaffna says:

"I would like to bring to your notice that I did not make any public speech or endorsement at this rally as reported in the news item by Mr. Chris Kamalendran. Further I have not spoken to The Sunday Times at any point of time as mentioned in the news item.

The reporter perhaps may have inadvertently referred to a speech made by a person with a somewhat similar name as mine. I would appreciate if you could kindly make a correction in this regard, giving the same prominence as your news item of June 29, 2003."

Reporter Christopher Kamalendran adds:
My report did not say Mr. Pathmanathan made a public speech or endorsement at the rally. I did ask Mr. Pathmanathan several questions after introducing myself as a reporter from The Sunday Times.

He answered my questions and accordingly I attributed to him the remarks he made to me. Although our conversation was interrupted when Chelliah Pathman, the Government Agent for Jaffna walked in, I did not raise questions with any other persons present. The meeting took place at the residence of Thiagarajah Maheswaran, Minister of Hindu Cultural Affairs at Jaffna-Palaly Road, Kandharmadam. I standby my story.

LTTE marks first suicide attack
The LTTE yesterday commemorated the 16th anniversary of its first suicide attack with a series of events in the northern and eastern provinces. Tamil guerrilla representatives attended ceremonies both in the cleared and uncleared areas and offered flowers, garlanded their monuments and photographs and later in the evening had cultural shows.

In Jaffna, a series of events were held with the main function at Nelliady where the first suicide attack was carried out by Captain Millar on an army camp killing 40 soldiers on July 5, 1987. The LTTE was commemorating the deaths of 241 of its cadres, including 54 females killed since then.

In the cleared areas, senior LTTE members attended ceremonies in civvies while in the uncleared areas they were dressed in military uniforms, reports said. In Vavuniya, on Firday night masked men were seen putting up posters regarding yesterday's commemoration while the army was on alert.

In Ampara and Batticaloa, most of the ceremonies were held in the government-controlled areas. In Trincomalee, the ceremony was held in the LTTE-controlled Sampur.

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