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| Sunday, 13 October 2002 |
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Calm returns to East ; LTTE: ceasefire will be upheld by Anton Nonis and R. Thurairatnam, Batticaloa Correspondent While a largely peaceful protest 'hartal' brought much of the North-East region to a standstill yesterday, the tensions of the past week in the East have begun easing as top East region LTTE chief C. Karuna assured Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission head Major General Trond Furuhovde that the LTTE would not allow isolated incidents to undermine the 8-month-long Ceasefire. Meanwhile, the two-member inquiry team headed by Army Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Anton Wijendra, which went to Trincomalee to probe Friday's incident in the Abeypura suburb, was reportedly busy meeting various officials and inspecting the scene of the incident yesterday. Defence Ministry Secretary Austin Fernando told the 'Sunday Observer' that the tense situation in Trincomalee had been quickly brought under control due to the swift action taken by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to ensure law and order and to investigate the incident. He said he was closely monitoring the situation on the instructions of Defence Minister Tilak Marapana and was awaiting the report of the inquiry committee. He had asked Major Generals Wijendra and M. D. S. Chandrapala, who comprise the committee, to act in a fair and balanced manner. A total curfew imposed on Trincomalee town was lifted at 6 a.m. yesterday after the authorities had decided that things were returning to normal. Strong contingents of police and armed forces troops were patrolling Trincomalee and its surroundings, especially the trouble spot of Abeypura, and also in the Akkaraipattu area. On Friday SLMM chief Furuhovde met the LTTE's Eastern military leader, Colonel Karuna, who assured the Monitoring Mission that the Tigers were strongly committed to the sustaining of the Ceasefire and would not let such incidents, as that which occurred in Kanjirankudahn (near Thirukkovil) on Wednesday and Trincomalee on Friday, to disrupt the overall peaceful conditions in the country. An LTTE Eastern Command statement yesterday said that the meeting between the SLMM head and Colonel Karuna had been "fruitful". The LTTE East leader had told the SLMM chief that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had issued instructions that the Ceasefire should be strictly observed. The LTTE supremo had told him that the Tigers remained committed to the Ceasefire, Karuna had informed the SLMM chief. Yesterday's region-wide 'hartal', called by LTTE-linked groups to protest Friday's deaths in Trincomalee, went off peacefully, according to reports, although there were incidents of burning of tyres on roads and other protest actions in some areas, police sources said. Our Jaffna Correspondent reports that the University of Jaffna's annual convocation, which was due yesterday had to be postponed and is expected to be held today. Tamil National Alliance spokesman and TULF General Secretary R. Sampanthan, who represents Trincomalee in Parliament told the 'Sunday Observer' that the Government should be "extremely cautious about elements that are going all out to undermine the on-going peace process". Mr. Sampanthan said that the incidents near the Kanjirankudah STF camp and in Trincomalee may have been provoked by groups attempting "to de-stabilise the present atmosphere of peace". The Tamil people and the LTTE were focusing their energies on ensuring a durable peace, he said. Grenade explodes in the melee According to Head Quarters Inspector, Trincomalee, IP Nissanka Dassanayake, it all began early on Friday morning, few days after the Kanjirankudah STF camp incident earlier in the week, which was brought under control ended in eight deaths. A mob numbering around 150 were on a protest march last Friday and became unruly, placing barricades on the road and started pelting stones. They were protesting against the deaths in Wednesday's incident at Kanjirankudah. Where the Police had to grapple with protestors and finally resorted to tear gas to disperse the crowd. All three deaths in Trinco, were attributed to a bomb blast, police said. They presume that this may have happened when someone in the crowd, had lobbed a grenade, in the melee. The funerals of the dead is scheduled to take place today. Deputy Inspector Generals Indra de Silva and Patikirikorala are in charge in Trincomalee. |
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