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Ceasefire pact valid says Defence Secretary
By Shelani Perera
The ceasefire agreement signed between former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran will continue to remain in force, Defence Secretary Cyril Herath told The Sunday Times yesterday.

Mr. Herath said that despite a change in government, the ceasefire would be in force as Mr. Wickremesinghe had signed the agreement on behalf of the country and not the party.

"The ceasefire agreement is very much in force. We are continuing to work with it. The agreement stands as it is. As far as the Defence Ministry is concerned, we are co-ordinating with the truce monitors," the Defence Secretary said .

However, he said the Peace Secretariat which earlier functioned under the Prime Minister's office was likely to be shifted with the President taking a decision on it. Till then Peace Secretariat Chief Bernard Goonetilleke would continue to function," Mr. Herath said.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's deputy chief Hagrup Hauckland told The Sunday Times that monitoring was continuing as usual and they had not been notified of any change.

"We co-ordinate with the Defence Secretary. We have not been informed of any change to the Peace Secretariat" said Mr. Hauckland.

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