The head of the Jaffna Security Forces, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, dismissed the widespread news at the Sri Lankan military, along with the police, were responsible for attacks at Jaffna university over Maaveerar Naal commemoration events, and on the editor of the Tamil newspaper, the Uthayan.
Accusing Uthayan of attempting to discredit the military, Major General Hathurusinghe said:
"It is wrong to allege that military personnel entered the Jaffna Campus on this day,"
"I believe that it was the police who were deployed for security in the university."