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Batticaloa
bustles no more The cinema halls are still having their late show, but less crowds now turn up. People who turned up in numbers around the lagoon at night cannot be seen any longer. The general lifestyle of this town has changed over the past few weeks with many people opting to go home before darkness sets in. The sudden change has come about after the spate of shootings in and around Batticaloa. At least six people have been killed in Valachchenai, Kiran, Saindhiveli and Batticaloa town with the latest of them being a former army informant who was shot dead outside a camp which housed tsunami victims. "We usually spend the evenings in the town after work without getting back home immediately. Now by 6 in the evening we are at our homes. If I get later than that my home people call me on my mobile," Telecom employee K. Thirunavakarasu said. He said many of his colleagues who usually did overtime leave home early. The situation is not confined to the Batticaloa town, but has spread into other villages including Valachchenai, Kiran, Kathankudy, Kurukalmadam, Chettipalayam, Ondachchimadam and Kalawanchchikudy. Even the adjoining Ampara district, Kalmunai and Akkaraipattu seem to be affected. Many long distance bus services have scaled down their operations. Some of the bus services which operated late into the night now wind up early. In some areas of Ampara where farmers used to carry on harvesting late into the night, work stops by evening. "Last year we were able to harvest late into the evening and then thresh the paddy by night. But this year the work stops by evening as workers fear to work at night," S.Thamodarampillai, a farmer from Tirukkovil said. The beginnings of the tense atmosphere can be traced to the assassination of LTTE's Ampara-Batticaloa political wing leader, E. Kaushalyan on February 7, at Pilliyarady, bordering the Polonnaruwa and Batticaloa district. Tamil guerrillas suffered a further set back, last Monday, when their women's political wing leader for the same districts, Kuweni, along with two others were shot and injured in a gun attack in Thambattai, Akkaraipattu. A sense of fear prevails even in the LTTE-controlled areas of the east. Instead of the usual scene of LTTE cadres greeting those who enter their areas, there were hardly any cadres to be seen in public. The few guerrillas seen in public confess that their presence is less compared to a couple of months back but they do not admit that their presence has been curtailed due to security reasons. In the backdrop of this tense situation, Kaushalyan's successor, Marshal this week held a meeting with a group of some 30 to 40 cadres sent from the northern Wanni district. They had reportedly discussed reorganisation plans. Marshal told The Sunday Times that he believed that Karuna's group did not exist in the east anymore and blamed paramilitary groups working alongside the security forces for the spate of attacks on their members. But, STF head, Nimal Lewke says he believes that the LTTE did not want to admit the presence of the Karuna group in the east because it would be an embarrassment to admit that another rival group was operating in the area. However, Marshal claims that without the knowledge of the security forces attacks on their members could not take place and warns that further attacks on their members could 'derail the peace process' and 'it was like playing with fire'. "There is a limit to our patience. Our leadership is ready to face any challenge. These killings cannot weaken us," Marshal said. But in reality, many of the public activities of the guerrillas have been scaled down. According to residents of the uncleared areas, the LTTE's interaction with the public, their political activities including recruitment drives and propaganda work have all been reduced. Though LTTE courts and police in the east continue to function, their roles too appear to have been reduced, the residents say. Though the people are afraid to speak openly about the rivalry between the LTTE and its breakaway Karuna group they believe Karuna loyalists were still within the LTTE movement and leaking out information. As a result there is added suspicion when LTTE cadres see strangers. As our photographer waited to capture photographs, LTTE cadres turned up and asked for his identity card. For civilians too who regularly cross from the guerrilla controlled areas to the army controlled areas the situation has changed as they are subject to more security checks compared to few months ago. The Security forces defend this move and say that they need to keep a check on civilian movements especially in view of the allegations against them over the recent killings. The tense situation is also affecting tsunami-rehabilitation work with voluntary organisations and NGOs showing reluctance to work in those areas due to security reasons. Reconstruction work appears to be at a standstill, with many displaced by the tsunami still living in welfare centres. Some of the rubble in the area have been cleared with the help of foreign teams who operated there soon after the disaster, but roads, electricity posts, and drinking water supplies are yet to be restored. Who’s
gunning whom? The victim, Subramaniam Dayanithi, 41 had been abroad and had returned to the country and was residing in Kalladi when the tsunami struck on December 26. His house had been completely destroyed and he had sought refuge in the former paddy marketing board warehouse, in a high security zone along the Bar road in the Batticaloa town. On the day of the shooting he had been with his family. He had gone on his motorcycle to town and was returning to the welfare centre, when a youth on a motorcycle had blocked his path and shot him. He was rushed to hospital and he succumbed to his injuries the following day. Before his death, he had reportedly made a statement to the police saying that he had identified the youth who shot him as an LTTE member. Family members said that after the tsunami he had been involved in relief work carried out by the LTTE backed Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO). The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) representative Steen Joergensen told The Sunday Times that it was difficult to investigate the killing as the police were not in a position to provide proper information. "We are often told that the police did not have personnel, with language skills to carryout the investigations," Joergensen himself who has served in the Danish police said. He said of the recent killings, only one case had been taken to courts. 'That too was the killing in the Batticaloa prisons where the suspect was another remand prisoner who was arrested inside the prisons." With the killings continuing and no proper investigations being carried out allegations and counter allegations continue while the public keeping guessing who the next victim will be. Conflicting
claims over Kuveni shooting The LTTE has again accused the military forces of complicity in this shooting but the military spokesman has denied the charge while President Chandrika Kumaratunga has appointed a commission to probe this and other incidents including the killing of Eastern political wing leader Kaushlayan last month. According to some reports the driver of the threewheeler -in which Kuveni and others were travelling had driven the three injured LTTE cadres to the Thirukkovil hospital, Later he reported the incident to the LTTE political office in same area. Having been alerted about the shooting, police had gone to the political office to get a statement from the driver but the LTTE had reportedly not allowed him to speak to the police. The next day the three wheeler driver, from Mahilladithivu in Batticaloa had reportedly gone back to his hometown. According to other reports, around noon on Tuesday the STF who were guarding the tsunami refugee camp at Fathima convent in Kalmunai had been alerted by a group of LTTErs that the suspect involved in the shooting of Kuweni had entered the camp. The LTTE had also alerted the the SLMM office about this. But, the man in question a 29 year old youth told a different story to the police. According to the youth, Jhonson Jeyakanthan, he was on his way to Kalmunai town to buy building material to reconstruct his house damaged by the tsuanmi when he noticed that members of the LTTE pistol gang were following him. The youth who was a former LTTE member and who was known among the group as 'Pradeepan' said he had later deserted the LTTE and joined the Razik group which worked closely with the Army Intelligence unit. The youth said that in 2000 he went to West Asia for employment. The youth said he had sought protection of the STF on Tuesday when he saw LTTE pistol gang members following him. The STF had subsequently handed the youth to the police as the LTTE had claimed that he was responsible for the shooting. He was produced before the Kalmunai District Judge K. Thatcinamoorthi and remanded till March 17. According to LTTE controlled 'Eelanatham' newspaper published in Kokkadicholai, one of the injured female cadres Aganila, said a youth who was following them on a motorcycle had overtaken them thrice before he blocked the path of the trishaw and shot at them. "We were travelling to Tirukkovil from Arasadithivu in Batticaloa. We registered ourselves at the Akkaraipattu STF camp. Normally the entry is recorded on a log book, but on that particular day the details were recorded on a paper. I asked Kuweni Akka about it, but she did not take it seriously. A dark tall person wearing a red checked shirt and trouser and travelling on a motorcycle was closely watching us. I asked Kuweni Akka whether she knew the person. She said no. He later followed us, overtook us and told us to stop. But Kuweni Akka told the driver to proceed. "On the third occasion he came parrallel to the three wheeler and wanted us to stop. As the driver slowed down, he pulled out a pistol from a shopping bag and fired at us," the newspaper quoted the girl as saying. |
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