May 06, Colombo: Several ministers of the Sri Lanka government said today that the Pilliyan group, a LTTE breakaway party that "came out of the jungle", must not be forced back into the jungle.

Speaking at a press briefing at the parliamentary complex today, a group of senior government ministers said that the allegations leveled against the Pilliyan group are false and fabricated by the United National Party (UNP) to justify its “inevitable” electoral defeat.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that the two victims of election-related murders that have been reported so far were also Pilliyan supporters. Therefore, he said it was not the Pilliyan group that committed violence but was subjected to violence. He added that the election itself is a great victory for the government.

Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa charged the UNP with setting up a bogus election-monitoring mission to spread fallacy on election violations. He alleged that the said group, which is comprised of fulltime UNP supporters, is trying to hoodwink the world as an independent group and is engaging in false propaganda.