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Hush-hush meeting amidst tit-for-tat killings in the east
By Chris Kamalendran and Asif Fuard
A meeting reportedly held between members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and armed cadres of the Karuna faction in Batticaloa has raised many eye brows.

According to local intelligence sources these cadres had been offered safe passage out of Sri Lanka with all expenses paid. However, an angry SLMM, head Hagrup Haukland strongly rejected these claims saying,"do you think we are here to offer money for people to go abroad.”

Mr. Haukland said SLMM members have a right to meet any organisation or individual when carrying out their duties. “That means we meet not only the parties to the ceasefire agreement, but also stakeholders, organisations and individuals important to our work. That does not mean we recognise or justify any organisation’s activity."

Last Thursday Mr. Haukland along with Norway's Deputy Ambassador, Oddvar Lagreid, had met LTTE's Political Wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi. Mr. Thamilselvan had reportedly brought up the matter of SLMM representatives meeting Karuna faction cadres.

SLMM chief Haukland was quoted in the pro-LTTE Tamilnet website as saying that the purpose of the meeting was to confirm this group’s presence in government-controlled areas and confront the Sri Lankan government on the ground reality which is being continuously denied by the Sri Lankan government.

The Sunday Times learns that the SLMM Batticaloa head Steen Joergensen was one of the members who had met the two Karuna faction cadres, Markkan and Pradeep.

Meanwhile, in the wake of escalating violence and sporadic attacks in the east, President Chandrika Kumaratunga has directed STF Chief Nimal Lewke to look into the security situation there.

During the week, eight people, including an STF officer, LTTE cadres and Karuna group members, were killed in more than 10 incidents in the east.
In an incident on Friday, a PLOTE member and a bystander were killed in an attack in Vavuniya. The PLOTE cadre was identified as 45-year-old Gopal Vilvaraja alias KD. He was a PLOTE member from 1985.

According to military sources, Vilvaraja had been shot at Thirunavatkulam, Vavuniya by a suspected LTTE pistol gang member who had come on a bicycle. The civilian victim was an English tutor, who died in the National Hospital after he was transferred to Colombo.

In a strongly worded letter to the SLMM, PLOTE leader D. Siddharthan has said: “This letter is written to you for record purpose only, because I know for certain that you will not take any action regarding this matter since previous incidents have been ignored.”

Mr. Haukland told The Sunday Times that SLMM members can only act as intermediaries and not policemen. “We are here to monitor the ceasefire agreement and not investigate into every killing. Unless it’s proven beyond doubt that the LTTE was involved we can’t pass judgement on these incidents. I received a sarcastic letter from the PLOTE and I will not respond to such letters,” he said.

The Sunday Times learns that since February 7, 2005 to August, 150 people have been killed allegedly by the LTTE and the SLMM has not been able to probe most of those killings.

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