The Sri Lankan government has rejected an international call for an immediate ceasefire on the Vanni front to facilitate a meeting between UN representatives and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in the civilian safety zone on the Mullaitivu coast.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Thursday evening told the visiting Chief of Staff of the UN Secretary General, Vijay Nambiar and Hitoki Den of the UN Department for Political Affairs that a fresh lifeline wouldn’t be given to the LTTE.

On Friday, Nambiar had one to one meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa over breakfast at Temple Trees. Government sources revealed that Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and two senior Foreign Ministry officials were previously scheduled to join the discussion but it was later decided that the meeting would be one on one.

This followed by a luncheon meeting attended by Bogollagama, Nambiar and the Colombo based envoys of the US, India, EU, UNDP and ICRC. But Norway and Japan, both co-chairs of the group set up after the 2003 Tokyo conference, hadn’t been present. Nambiar was returning to New York through India, sources said.

Well informed sources told The Sunday Island that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had emphasized that a fresh ceasefire would only strengthen the LTTE, thereby prolong the misery of the civilians trapped in the war zone.

The meeting took place at the Defence Ministry shortly after the Defence Secretary returned from Kilinochchi along with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Nambiar has been also told that a visit by UN representatives to the LTTE leadership was not in Sri Lanka’s interest. The sources said that Nambiar has agreed that a meeting between UN and the LTTE leadership could cause unnecessary problems for the world body.

Well informed sources said that there was every indication that Nambiar had been influenced by a western diplomat based in Colombo to make this request for a meeting between the UN and the LTTE leader.

The UN Secretary General on March 3, 2006, announced the appointment of Nambiar as his Special Adviser with the rank of Under-Secretary-General. At the time he received the appointment, the veteran Indian Foreign Service officer served as Deputy National Security Advisor to the Government of India and Head of the National Security Council Secretariat.

The sources said that Nambiar had revealed that he told US Ambassador in Colombo Robert Blake that direct UN-LTTE contacts would cause unnecessary problems.

Government sources said that there was absolutely no need for a UN role as the LTTE could use the ICRC if it wanted to send a message to the government. The ICRC with staff based in the civilian safety zone continued to evacuate the sick and wounded by ship in keeping with a tripartite agreement involving the government, ICRC and the LTTE, the sources said.

Government sources told The Sunday Island that a section of the Colombo-based foreign envoys was of the opinion that the army would carry out an all out offensive on the LTTE regardless of civilian presence.

“We are a professional army fully capable of conducting a large scale rescue operation,” a senior army headquarters spokesman told The Sunday Island. “The ground commanders wouldn’t use tactics that were directed against LTTE fortifications to carry out an operation in the midst of civilians.’’

The official said that international interest meant that the LTTE leader, his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and several other key figures were trapped in the security forces cordon. The navy has thrown bulk of its assets to thwart boat movements out of the LTTE-held 12 km stretch on the Mullaitivu coast.

The deployment of radar facilities along with hitherto unused technology had helped the navy to swiftly track unauthorized movements and take deterrent action.