Colombo takes exception to Ban's remarks

COLOMBO: Colombo on Thursday took serious exception to the remarks made by the UN Secretary-General on the situation in the north and complained that they could be "used to advantage" by the LTTE. Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) condemned the government directive to the UN and other International and National NGO’s to move out of Tiger occupied areas.
In a statement here, the Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat said it viewed "with some astonishment" the UN Secretary-General's remarks. "Though ostensibly his worries are for civilians, the exhortations about ‘the principal of proportionality and the selection of targets’ seem intended to send a message", it said.
It contended that since there had been hardly any civilian casualties during the recent offensives, it is possible that the Secretary-General was "prompted by reports of large numbers of civilian casualties in other theatres of war, which misled him" into believing that all forces fighting terrorism are alike.