The move by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to open "Police Stations" and "Courts of Law," for the first time in the East appears to have caused a furore.

More so, after The Sunday Times of November 24, front paged a photograph, accompanied by a news report, of the guerrilla "Law Courts for the Batticaloa-Ampara district."

Among those most piqued is a self-acclaimed messiah turned propagandist. Even if he was least qualified to speak on the subject for reasons of conflicting interests, he spat venom in his inimitable style. He accused The Sunday Times of sending an "agent" all the way from Colombo to Batticaloa to obtain the photograph. A sinister conspiracy seemed afoot.

Those who care to watch his programme saw him make the charge, first on Sirasa, the Sinhala network of Maharaja Television (MTV), on the night of Wednesday (November 27), and then in Maharaja television itself challenging the editorial judgements of a newspaper he envies.

Why was it being done? The spin-witch-doctor took it on from there to speak from the colder confines of Norway of a "conspiracy to wreck the peace process." He told his new buddy and many others that "something has to be done about these spoilers."

The "spoilers" were those in The Sunday Times who obtained the photograph through an "agent" and published it in the front page. They were abusing the new found media freedom and prostituting the truth or so the pundits thought. The peace process cannot be allowed to suffer through their actions, the champion propagandist, who has publicly expressed discomfiture over the better access The Sunday Times had to news sources, was heard to tell his many mentors. He was also miffed that some bungling bureaucrats, whom he prefers to treat as sacred cows, had come in for severe criticism by The Sunday Times.

Why was a blatant attempt made to bury the truth and mislead the public? Here are the answers:

The LTTE sent out printed invitations to Government officials and media representatives in Batticaloa for the "ceremonial opening of their first "Court of Law" in Arasadytivu in Kokkadicholai.

Seven media representatives were invited and they covered the event. They were S.Jeyanandamoorthy, a schoolteacher and a photographer, who is Valaichchenai Correspondent for The Virakesari, Sri Lanka's leading privately owned Tamil newspaper, T. Vethanayakam, Batticaloa North Correspondent for Thinakaran, the Tamil daily published by State run Lake House Group, G. Nadesan, Batticaloa Correspondent for Virakesari, R. Thurairatnam, Eastern Province Correspondent for Lake House, V. Uthayakumar, BBC Tamil service, S. Thavarajah, Battticaloa Correspondent for Thinakural (a Tamil newspaper printed in Colombo) and M. Latif, Information Officer of the District Secretariat, Batticaloa.

As he usually did, Mr. Jeyanandamoorthy sent his photographs to several media heserviced as a freelancer. The Sunday Times received three pictures.

One of them was published in the front page on November 24. The Tamilnet website, accessed worldwide and known to be most accurate in reporting on the LTTE, published the identical picture with a news report in the website on the same day, November 24.

The Sunday Virakesari of November 24, published two photographs and gave credit as "pictures by Valaichchenai Correspondent, S Jeyanandamoorthy." The caption to one photograph said "Para, head of Tamil Eelam Judicial Service opened the "law courts" yesterday (i.e. Saturday, November 23). In other words, the "LTTE Court" was not even one day old when the photograph appeared in The Sunday Times.

That is not all. The Thinakaran (Sunday Edition), the Tamil flagship of the State run Lake House Group, published a front page colour photograph and story on the opening of the "LTTE law courts" in its issue of November 24, the same day it appeared in The Sunday Times. That was from their Batticaloa North Correspondent, T. Vethanayakam, whose name was published alongside. On this very day (Sunday), the Swarnavahini television channel showed footage and reported on the opening of the same "law courts" in their night news bulletin.

Why then did the propagandist single out only The Sunday Times and say on Sirasa TV that an "agent" had been sent to procure the pictures. Why did he suggest a conspiracy? Alas, the slip of the propagandist, now the prima donna of the hurrah boys, is showing.

That was in respect of the very first LTTE "court of law" in the East located in Arasadytivu in Kokkadicholai in the Batticaloa district. Unable to hide their embarrassment as the truth began to unfold, some apologists then began to ask why The Sunday Times had not said that the "law court" in question was in an uncontrolled or an area dominated by the LTTE? Neither had the others who printed pictures or published reports said so.

All media reports merely mentioned the location. If the earlier contention was that there were only one Police, only one system of law courts in Sri Lanka, by now arguing that they existed in "uncontrolled areas," they were publicly acknowledging the legitimacy of the LTTE "police and courts " - a paradigm shift in attitude, if not policy.

Why did not The Sunday Times say it was in an "uncontrolled area?" The answer - the "uncontrolled areas" in the East, in marked contrast to those in the North, are yet to be properly defined.

Dealing with this subject, the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22 states as follows:

Separation of forces

"1.4 Where forward defence localities have been established, the GOSL's armed forces and the LTTE's fighting formations shall hold their ground positions, maintaining a zone of separation of a minimum of six hundred (600) metres. However, each Party reserves the right of movement within one hundred (100) metres of its own defence localities, keeping an absolute minimum distance of four hundred (400) metres between them. Where existing positions are closer than four hundred (400) metres, no such right of movement applies and the Parties agree to ensure the maximum possible distance between their personnel.

1.5 In areas where localities have not been clearly established, the status quo as regards the areas controlled by the GOSL and the LTTE, respectively, on 24 December 2001 shall continue to apply pending such demarcation as provided in article 1.6. 1.5 The Parties shall provide information to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) regarding defence localities in all areas of contention, of Article 3. The monitoring mission shall assist the Parties in drawing up demarcation lines at the latest by D-day + 30".

Whilst lines of control in the North are mostly defined, on the basis of information provided by the Security Forces and the LTTE to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), such a determination in the east is not complete. As a high ranking Security source explained to The Sunday Times, "SF and guerrilla positions in the North are clear from their bunker lines. There are no such bunker lines in the East." In fact, a map defining all Tiger guerrilla positions in the East is yet to reach the Security Forces.

In that context, even if the Tiger guerrillas have been holding ground in the general area of Kokkadicholai, in the East, for a longer period, can one reporting on the opening of the first LTTE 'law courts' justify it on the grounds that it was in an "uncontrolled area?" Would that not invite accusations that a newspaper has "conceded territory in the east" to the LTTE?

In reporting the event, The Sunday Times of November 24 disclosed the exact location of the "law courts," Arasaditivu in Kokkadicholai. If that was the first LTTE "law courts" in the East, the second one came into existence on Monday, December 2, in Kattaiparichchan village in Mutur, south of Trincomalee. See picture on this page by The Sunday Times Trincomalee Correspondent, Sinniah Gurunathan.

Reporting on this first "law courts" in the Trincomalee district, the Tamilnet website said "The second Thamileelam law court in the eastern province was opened Monday at Kattaiparichchan village in Mutur area held by the Liberation Tigers in the Trincomalee district".

And now, Iliyathambi Pararajasingham, LTTE's head of "Legal Admini-stration" has declared categorically that no "LTTE" courts existed in the East . (See box story on this page)

The opening of "Police Stations" and "law Courts" by the LTTE have been carried out publicly, in the full glare of the media. It was by no means a clandestine exercise. By their own admission, the two "law courts," in Arasadytivu and Kattaiparichchan, preceded earlier by the opening of two of their "Police Stations" in the East, have been set up for the very first time. That too, after the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22.
In other words, for the first time, the LTTE was extending its writ through "Police Stations" and "law Courts" from the North to the East.

As Chief Justice, Sarath Silva, told Laila Nasry of The Sunday Times (see interview on page 5) "judicial power is part of the sovereignty of the people and it cannot be exercised by any other persons than those vested with it. If someone else is administering justice, then he is doing it on his own accord."

Evidently, the UNF leadership was unaware of the changing scenario in the East. Either the State intelligence agencies were grossly ill informed of the fuller developments or have not adequately briefed them. It is not surprising when even simpler matters are not reported properly.

Take for example the report forwarded by Police Chief, T.E. Anandarajah, to Interior Minister, John Amaratunga, after The Sunday Times photograph and news report appeared. He claimed the photograph had been made available by the LTTE and asserted those in the newspaper made the disclosure.

He will now know this is far, far from the truth. One cannot fault Mr. Anandarajah. He has to depend on his men. If this is what they feed him, one dreads to think how reports on serious national security issues would be.

The Sunday Times report was misconstrued as a "spoiler" for ongoing peace talks. To the contrary, besides keeping the public informed of the real truth, the report should have come as strength to the Government's peace negotiators. That would have given them the opportunity of raising issue with the LTTE why they were extending a system that only existed in the North to the East after the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22. Needless to say the matter assumes much greater importance now that the LTTE is reported to be willing to accept a federal solution.

It is clear that would encompass areas in the East where they are now busy further establishing their writ in the form of "police stations and courts of law."

In other words, until the ceasefire, it was the writ of the Government of Sri Lanka, its Police Stations and Law Courts that prevailed in the East though the LTTE held ground in some areas. That was throughout the more than 19 years of the separatist war. In the past, the LTTE only ran some "reconciliation boards" in these areas. Even if it had hurt the bloated ego of the propagandist, does revealing that truth make one a "spoiler" of the peace process?

In the case of North, at various times, the LTTE has had their own "law and order machinery" as well as a "judicial system." Most of it was during the period when they ran a "parallel administration" in the Jaffna peninsula, paradoxical enough, with funds for all public utilities coming from the central government in Colombo. From 1992 onwards, there were LTTE "Police Stations" in over 16 towns in the North. Similarly, there were ten different "kangaroo" courts also in the north. However, there were none in the east.

All this changed in the north in 1995 when the People's Alliance government of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, launched "Operation Riviresa" to seize control of the Jaffna peninsula. In December, 1995, the LTTE retreated to the Wanni. For seven long years, until the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22, they had built up an extensive administrative infrastructure inclusive of a "law and order" and "judicial machinery."

During a visit to the Wanni in late May, this year, I was the first journalist to be given access to visit their network of "Police Stations." There were 14 "Police Stations" then. I visited nine of them at Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu (Puthukudiyiruppu), Viswamadu, Pallai, Mankulam, Akkarayan, Thunnukai and Puliyankulam. In addition there were Police Stations at Mulliyawalai, Wattakachchi, Nachchikuda, Mannar, Jeyapuram and Nedukerny. (Situation Report - June 9).

During that visit, the "Police Chief of Tamil Eelam", Balasingham Mahendran alias Nadesan told me in an exclusive interview the LTTE was making arrangements to open Police Stations in Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts (Situation Report - June 9). As he forecast, these two Police Stations were opened in Palugamam (Batticaloa district) on November 5, this year, and Sampur (Trincomalee district) on November 6, this year (Situation Report - November 10).

From Mr. Nadesan's declaration, it was clear from June, this year, that the LTTE had plans to open their first "Police Stations" in the east. That was, therefore, no secret. The LTTE "law courts" which are a corollary to these Police Stations followed. The first "law court" was opened in Arasadytivu in Kokkadicholai (for Batticaloa and Ampara districts) on November 23 and Kattaiparichchan (Trincomalee district) on December 2.
The Sunday Times has learnt that more LTTE "police stations" and "law courts" are to be opened in both Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts.

If only LTTE "reconciliation boards" existed in the east before, the "Police Stations" appear to be better organised. Printed notices are sent out by the "Police Stations" in the east to residents to appear for inquiries. This is not only to residents in guerrilla-dominated areas but also those living in areas that are under government control. See copy of an LTTE "Police notice" sent to a resident in Bar Road, Batticaloa town, an area that is under the writ of the Government. The name of the recipient has been deleted for obvious reasons.

The Sunday Times also learns that Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader, Rauff Hakeem, now at the eye of an internecine party power struggle, has raised issue with UNF leaders over Muslims in Government controlled areas in the east being summoned either by "LTTE Police" or "law courts" to appear before them.

This is only a part of the changing scenario in the East. To keep them away from the public is to deny them knowledge of what is going on in an increasingly volatile region of their country.

Hurrah boys, who toe the line and distort the truth, are not only placing a Government in peril but also a nation.

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