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| LTTE stepping up its own agenda
On the sidelines of a presidential election campaign, gathering momentum after nominations closed last Friday, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appears to be stepping up its own drive. If the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP), the two main contenders, are busy with polls related activity, the LTTE is increasingly preoccupied with military preparations. Some of it in the form of violent incidents relate directly to the upcoming polls. That is causing a nightmare to the Police and the military whose task it is to ensure the event is trouble free. As a result of these developments, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe have had their personal protection groups strengthened heavily. Yet, it is a daunting task for these groups. On their campaign trail, the two main candidates have to reach out to the people. Such public exposure necessitates greater precautions and the need to avoid risks. Though to a lesser degree, protection of other candidates as well as the supporters of all those who are contesting has also become priority. This is particularly in the wake of warnings by state intelligence agencies that guerrilla pistol gangs and intelligence operatives have increased their presence in areas under Government control. This includes the City of Colombo and the Jaffna peninsula. Their targets, according to these agencies, are not only the candidates and their key supporters. They include senior officers of the Armed Forces, Police, rival political groups and intelligence operatives. Hard on the heels of this warning came two incidents last Thursday. In the first one at 7.45 a.m. at Nelson Place in Wellawatte, two chance telephone calls saved the life of Anthonypillai Jeyaraj, Private Secretary to Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) leader Douglas Devananda. Two of his colleagues had telephoned him on his mobile phone and asked for lifts from Mr. Jeyaraj who was ready to go to Mr. Devananda's office. He handed over the keys of the Toyota Town Ace van, parked opposite the Thinamurasu (the EPDP's official newspaper) to his clerk, Sutharsingh Vijaykanth. The latter had placed it on the ignition switch and gone out to spit into a drain when an explosion reduced the vehicle to pulp. He was slightly injured. But Mr. Jeyaraj escaped unhurt. Luck was on his side like in the case of his leader, Mr. Devananda, who has so far survived 13 attempts on his life. Police
found that a booby trapped explosive device had been fitted on to
the vehicle parked there overnight. It became clear that Tiger guerrillas
had mounted surveillance and observed the regular parking spot.
It also became clear guerrilla explosive handlers were now on hand
in the city to fix such booby-trapped devices. Police said Mr. Jeyaraj
had been advised to park his vehicle at the nearest police station
but he had not paid heed. He was on his way to see his mother when a Tiger guerrilla pistol gang fired six shots on his head. He was dead on the spot. Born to a mother of Tamil origin (Poomani), the late Mr. Weeraratne's father, K.P. Gunaratne, was Sinhala. A father of two young children, the deceased had been tasked by the EPDP with the distribution of Thinamurasu in the Trincomalee district. Police said guerrillas had warned him earlier not to distribute the EPDP newspaper since it has been banned in the area. He became the 26th EPDP supporter to be killed by Tiger guerrillas during the three-and-half-year-old ceasefire. Three days earlier, on October 3 Kitnan Parameswaran (42), described as a staunch EPDP supporter was shot dead at Vannarpannai in Jaffna around 7.30 a.m. A Music teacher by profession, the victim had been returning home on his motorcycle when a pistol gang who lay in hiding shot him at point blank range. Four pistol shots had pierced his skull and chest killing him on the spot. He had returned to reside in Kokkuvil in Jaffna from Trincomalee only a few months ago following the transfer of his wife to a school in Jaffna. On Friday, Kandasamy Senthilkumaran, described as a supporter of the EPDP was shot dead in Jaffna reportedly by Tiger guerrilla gunmen. He had been in Colombo only last week to seek employment from Mr. Devananda, who is Minister of Hindu Religious Affairs. The EPDP had planned to campaign, particularly in the Jaffna peninsula, for the candidature of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. EPDP leader Devananda told The Sunday Times, "these attacks will not deter us from taking part in the election campaign. I propose to travel to Jaffna and personally talk to people." Mr. Devananda added "Like them (the LTTE), I also took to arms then to fight the Sinhalese who threatened the Tamils. Then the LTTE claimed to do the same thing. What are they doing now? They are killing their own people and stifling all dissent." He said the two-hour Tamil programme Ithaya Veenai, aired on a channel obtained on lease from the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), was not only reaching Sri Lankans but also the Tamil diaspora abroad. He said the LTTE is badly hurt by this. "Our newspaper and the pamphlet campaign will continue despite all the LTTE villainy," he added. Besides the violence that impact on the upcoming elections, the security establishment is also worried about the daily rise in incidents and the military preparations of the LTTE. That it is continuing weeks ahead of their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran's "Maveerar (Great Heroes) Day" address on November 27 is heightening their concern. Incidents in the past ten days alone, coupled with other significant developments, highlight a seriously disturbing pattern. Though most activity has been concentrated in the districts of the Eastern Province, those in the North have not been altogether incident free. In the Trincomalee district where the LTTE staged a Hartal in Government-controlled town area on September 21 bringing life to a standstill, there has been considerable activity. In the guerrilla-dominated Mutur east, school teachers and other staff have been put through military training to become part of what is being called an "auxiliary force." Ninety two members of this unit took part in a "passing out parade" on October 4. Among those who addressed them were LTTE Trincomalee district "military commander Colonel" Sornam and Kuyilinpam, political leader for the Ampara district. It was only in August, this year; the first batch of 120 civilians who formed the "Civil Volunteer Force" received military training and held a "passing out parade" in Ganeshapuram in Mutur East. (The Sunday Times - Situation Report October 2). Last Tuesday, (October 4), armed Tiger guerrillas ambushed a bus carrying prisoners near Kiliveddi, some 23 kilometres south east of Trincomalee town around 11.40 a.m. They rescued two guerrilla prisoners being taken to Mutur Courts from Trincomalee. Army officials said the guerrilla gang had held the three jailors at gunpoint and threatened to kill them. They had opened fire below the knee on a jailor seated inside the bus. The two prisoners had been in remand jail for the murder of Anbumaran, an informant of the Security Forces. He was brutally murdered by the guerrillas on November 20, 2004 on the Ali Oluwa- Serunuwara Road. Two other convicts who were in the bus also escaped in the incident. On October 1, a Navy patrol arrested four Tiger guerrilla cadres in the high security zone near the Trincomalee Harbour, home for Eastern Naval Area Headquarters. Just before sunset, the foursome - S. Shanmugaraj (36), L. Ravindran (21), S.S. Jayakumar (29) and R. Jayakumar (33) were reportedly conducting surveillance. The four from Kilinochchi, Kopay and Jaffna were on a fibreglass boat mounted with an outboard motor. The men had in their possession a video camera, a microphone and two mobile telephones. The Trincomalee Police who took over investigations produced them before Courts and have had them remanded. It was last month three guerrilla cadres who tried to infiltrate the high security zones in Kankesanthurai, Madagal and Point Pedro were rounded up in separate incidents. (The Sunday Times - Situation Report September 25). Continued interrogation of them has confirmed they were conducting surveillance to prepare plans for attacks. Tensions have heightened in the Muslim areas of Mutur after reported guerrilla attacks on them. On October 2, a group of guerrillas directed ten rounds of T-56 assault rifle fire on a shop owned by a Muslim businessmen. The dusk incident where only two shots hit the shop has now become the subject of a Police investigation. The incident came amidst a Hartal staged by Muslims to protest guerrilla attacks. Protests which began with closure of shops and meetings in mosques took place on September 30 and continued till October 3. North of Trincomalee, in the seas off Mullaitivu, Navy officials invited members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to witness the suspicious movement of six guerrilla fast attack craft. They had also spotted two more small craft, all on October 3 around 1.30 p.m. The vessels said to belong to Sea Tigers had been moving between two shipwrecks reportedly on training activity. A Navy official said they showed SLMM representatives a huge object floating near the suspected training area, which they presume was used for target practice. The next day, Navy patrols reported the movement of seven Sea Tiger fast attack craft. Such activity has continued through out this week. In the Batticaloa district Tiger guerrillas directed gunfire and hurled grenades at a road block on October 3. The incident took place around 9.45 p.m. in Mankerni, 38 kilometres North West of Batticaloa town. Before the attack, guerrillas had fired at the checkpoint from the nearby village of Kirimichchiya. Corporal S.P. Sendanayake who was injured was first admitted to the Valachchenai hospital but was transferred to the Polonnaruwa hospital after his condition turned worse. The same day, around 7 p.m. in the evening guerrillas fired at a Police Jeep belonging to the Vellawali Police Station. It forced the driver to crash into a wall wounding two policemen. Police said the vehicle was badly damaged. They said the Jeep had been ambushed by guerrillas who lay in wait. The next day (October 4) four Policemen manning a post near the Sri Lanka Transport Board depot at Batticaloa escaped miraculously when guerrillas hurled a hand grenade. It wounded a female bystander, Charles Susila Devi. Also on the same day, guerrillas hurled a hand grenade into the residence of Bawa Abdul Rahman (35), Co-ordinating Officer in the district for the Ministry of Rehabilitation. The residents were away during the attack but a vehicle was damaged. On Thursday (October 6) a policeman and nine civilians were seriously injured when Tiger guerrillas hurled a hand grenade at an Army water bowser at Vipulananda junction in Valachchenai. The bowser had been moving towards the Jetty Army Camp. Five of the injured civilians who were found to be critical were shifted from the Valachchenai hospital to the Batticaloa base hospital. In the Ampara district guerrilla gunmen shot dead R.B. Wickremaratne, a businessman from Kalmunai. Police said the incident took place after he had refused to pay a ransom demanded by the LTTE. The incident occurred on October 1. Four days later, guerrilla gunmen killed two Muslim businessmen, S. Mohamed Wahab and Sulaiman Lebbe Jainoor, both of Kalmunai. Police said that Mr. Wahab had, with the help of his friend Mr. Jainoor, bulldozed a stretch of land where there had been the remnants of an abandoned guerrilla monument. The land had been owned by late Mr. Wahab's brother. Muslims staged a Hartal on the same day bringing life to a standstill in the Kalmunai area. Shops, offices and schools were closed. Transport services came to a standstill in Kalmunai and the adjoining areas. On
October 4, armed guerrilla cadres stormed the Ampara Central Camp
area and kidnapped a 20-year-old youth, T. Rajaratnam of Colony
11. Police said his son R. Danaraj was forcibly taken away by the
guerrillas after the inmates of the house were threatened. Army
officials say the guerrilla groups have been told to step up their
recruitment campaign. Forcible conscription was one of the methods
adopted by some groups. In the Jaffna peninsula, Army personnel deployed near Nagerkovil had reported that the guerrillas were extending their defence lines. This was on September 30. A new fence was being constructed well ahead of the existing defence line and tractors were being used to bring in loads of bricks. Groups of guerrilla cadres were being used to unload the bricks. The Army has lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and has pointed out that earlier too the guerrillas had extended their defence lines in the area. On October 2, the Army complained that a guerrilla cadre had walked to a strong point in Nagerkovil, some 31 kilometres east of Jaffna and threatened that the LTTE would hurl grenades at sentry points. The guerrilla had been only 15 metres away from the sentry point when the threats were made, the SLMM has been told. On October 3, guerrillas hacked to death Karthigesu Senthuran (22) for reportedly not obtaining a permit from the LTTE to dig for sand. Around 3 a.m. Senthuran had gone in a tractor to Vallipuram. However, he had been stopped at Kudathanai and killed with a blunt tool. Army officials said the youth, who had been selected to enter Jaffna University for a course next year, had been repairing his house. His parents were old and found it difficult to spend for it. The LTTE had decreed that sand collectors should pay a "tax." On October 3, a businessman in the jewellery trade who refused to pay a ransom was shot dead by Tiger guerrillas. Army officials said two guerrilla pistol gang members who came in a motor cycle opened fire at Ponnathurai Subendran (31) at Amban Street in Chunnakam. Police investigations revealed that the victim had been warned on previous occasions to pay up the ransom or face death. In Colombo, three persons who were reportedly carrying out surveillance outside the house of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) former parliamentarian V. Anandasangaree were arrested. Two youth from Trincomalee and another from Kamburupitiya were unable to provide the Cinnamon Gardens Police any valid reason for their presence outside the TULF leader's residence in Cinnamon Gardens. The suspects have been produced in Courts and remanded. These are some of the many incidents that have been documented both by the military and the police. They are continuing amidst intelligence reports that the guerrillas have stepped up training activity in camps both in the North and the East. Additional cadres are being inducted to expand activities of the Sea Tigers. Boats and trawlers built in an Asian country have been smuggled in through the North-East coast. Another significant move by the LTTE, according to reports from the Wanni, is to provide residents living in guerrilla dominated areas with photo identity cards. Digital equipment to photograph residents and provide them with cards similar to the National Identity Cards, these reports said, had already been installed in an LTTE office in the Wanni. The new registration programme is to get under way next month, according to these reports. The LTTE believes the issue of such cards will help them easily identify those living in areas dominated by them and assist in detection of infiltrators from outside. Such cards are to be made compulsory for residents to draw rations and obtain other services. Yet another significant move is the priority the LTTE is according to the creation of civilian militias. Besides the "auxiliary units" and "civil volunteer force," Tiger guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is said to have decreed that senior students in schools should also be given military training. In view of the criticism that is being levelled at the LTTE for conscription of child soldiers, he does not want the students to be enrolled. Instead, he is said to want such training to be akin to cadet corps but would still prepare the senior students to be a part of the civilian militia. These developments no doubt make Norway's efforts to ensure the continuity of the Ceasefire Agreement more critical. As the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said on Friday, "a meeting between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to discuss the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement is not likely to occur in the near future." This is in view of November 17 presidential elections. Yet, retired Norwegian Major General and former Head of SLMM, Trond Furuhovde arrives in Colombo tomorrow on an eight-day visit. The Embassy said "the visit is an opportunity for both parties to propose measures for strengthening the implementation of the agreement." He is to seek the views of the two sides on the status of the security situation and the implementation of the CFA. It was only last Thursday Norway's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar visited Kilinochchi to urge LTTE Political Wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan to call a halt to violence and keep the peace during the elections. Maj. Gen. (retd.) Furuhovde will follow in his footsteps in the coming week. Is the LTTE ready to heed their appeals? If one is to go by the rising incidents and enhanced military preparations, the answer seems a "no." One need not wait for long. The coming days and weeks will show. |
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