The Jaffna Army commander, Maj. Gen Hathurusinghe, warned families of detained Jaffna University students, "don't even dream" of getting them released on Friday at a meeting between the army and the university's representatives at Palaali military headquarters.
Several reports (see here and here) have quoted Hathurusinghe as having said,
“If you think that you would restart the academic activities only after the release of these four students, it would never happen. Do not even dream of it,”
“These students continue to remain in our custody because they are repeatedly saying that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran is still alive, he is their leader and he would regain control of the north-east very soon. I can help to get them released if their parents could convince them to say that they have no links with the LTTE and would not get involved in such activities in the future,”
“We are not against any religious activities, but we will not allow LTTE’s Heroes Day to be commemorated in any part of the country,”
Speaking to JDS, academic sources from Jaffna said:
“The Jaffna Commander was angrily insisting that the University administration should take all actions to resume academic activities immediately without wasting our time on getting the students released. This is nothing but a dangerous and open military intervention with the routine activities of our University,”
