After weeks of terror , mental anguish and starvation, biscuits might have tasted like the best biriyani for a displaced woman as the troops distributed biscuits and bottles of drinking water among tens of thousands of refugees pouring out of LTTE-controlled areas.
Partly-damaged or destroyed houses and truncated trees here bore testimony to the intensity of the fighting between Tiger guerillas and government troops during the past few week, before the security forces gained firm control of the area.
Weary civilians were seen trekking out of the remaining LTTE-held area into the army-controlled areas on Friday -- some of them, for the first time, seeing a Sri Lankan soldier as they have been living under the control of the Tiger guerrillas for more than two decades. Most of them were carrying a ragged bag which possibly contains a few clothes and their meagre belongings.
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| Troops at Puthukkudiyirippu junction |
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| Destruction of war: Truncated trees in Mullaitivu |
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| Weapons recovered in Kilinochchi |
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| Smoke rising from area where the LTTE is believed to be holed up in the no-fire zone |
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| Road to
Puthumatallan |
About 50 local and foreign journalists were flown into the area on Friday. The visit organised by the Media Centre for National Security to the recaptured areas, including the western side of Puthumathalan, an area from where thousands of civilians escaped into the government controlled area last week.
Some of the civilians were visibly moved as they entered the government-controlled areas. They were apparently aware that the miserable life they led during the past few months, living under trees, open grounds and bunkers with little food or medicine, had come to an end.
The sandy terrain with limited water resources and little or no trees in the area gives a hint of the life of the civilians who stayed on there for the past two or three months. In addition, the heavy artillery and gun battles and the fear of being struck would have aggravated the situation there.
“We have had little or nothing to eat in the past few days,” a displaced woman said as she stretched out her hand for biscuits distributed by the army.The troops who had moved into the area were distributing bottles of drinking water and biscuits. Parents were seen trying to feed their children with the biscuits.
Most of the civilians were in no mood or condition to speak. But a few who spoke said there were more people trapped and some of them had their relatives back in the areas still held by the LTTE. Others said their kith and kin had gone ahead of them and they had lost contact with them.
The civilians, including hundreds of women and children, were eager to get to the closest shelter where they could get a breather or some relief after months of languishing in varying degrees of deprivation, destitution and degradation.
Most of the 109,000 civilians who moved in from Puthumathalan into army-controlled areas had fled after Monday, when the security forces blasted a huge LTTE bund and launched a big operation to rescue the civilians.
Looking deeper into the remaining LTTE-controlled area, we heard occasional blasts and saw clouds of smoke -- signs of intense military activities in that area.
We spoke to several soldiers who expressed relief that the long, bitter and bloody battle was coming to an end. The thrill of victory was, however, dampened by the awareness that some of their colleagues and close friends were not with them. They had sacrificed their lives for the motherland.
Brig. Shavindra Silva at a news conference for the visiting journalists outlined the military operation which began from the western coast of Mannar and was now in its final showdown on the eastern coast of Puthumathalan.
He said he believed the troops would complete the operation soon, but declined to give dates.
Brigadier Silva said they had interviewed the LTTE’s former media coordinator Daya Master (Velautham Dayanidhi), one of the Tiger top rankers who had surrendered last week. Daya Master had said he believed LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was still in the area and that he was reported to be keeping a submarine ready to escape if and when necessary.
In Kilinochchi, we were shown a large amount of weapons, artillery pieces and explosives captured from the Tiger guerrillas over the past few months.
Gemunu Wellage was a member of a team of journalists taken on tour of the Wanni by the Army |
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