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by Ranga Jayasuriya

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said yesterday that the disputed LTTE court and police stations in the East are not in the Government held area, "but four kilometres inside the LTTE controlled area".

"Monitors of the SLMM Batticaloa office have informed us that the LTTE court in Arasatithivu and the police station in Palukamam are not in the Government held area, but four kilometres from the Line of control towards the LTTE held area," SLMM Spokesman Teitur Torkelsson told the Daily News.

The LTTE court and police station hit the headlines when some newspapers reported that the LTTE had expanded its de facto rule to the Government controlled area.

The SLMM comment came a day after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe ordered an investigation into the court and to "close it down if it exists".

President Spokesman Harim Peiris told a press conference on Wednesday that the President was aware of the "expansion of LTTE kangaroo court system and police".

Asked whether the setting up of LTTE court and police in the LTTE held area was a violation of the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and the LTTE, Torkelsson said the Ceasefire Agreement had not provided the SLMM with authority to work on "matters of this nature".

"The LTTE has been running a de-facto state in some parts of the North and East for years, so they must have some sort of legal mechanism," he said.

"In one way, this could be seen as a normalisation of lives in their area, because law and order which was maintained by arms has now been transferred to court and police."

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