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| Sunday, 14 March 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Batticaloa in suspense by ROHAN CANAGASABEY in Batticaloa
Four Sri Lanka Army soldiers stood guard in front of St Michael's school, located in the heart of Batticaloa town, its premier school, last Sunday afternoon. An establishment not normally fronted by armed security. It was an indication of tension in the air. The next day, Monday, March 8, the streets of Batticaloa were eerily quiet, save for a few three-wheelers, buses and several cyclists. A bullock cart that would normally gingerly traverse the busy roundabout in Puliantivu, the town's centre, now only had a single three-wheeler to avoid. Shop-lined streets nearby, offered only closed shutters to the few pedestrians or cyclists who went by. It was a clear indication that the hartal, called by Karuna, the LTTE's regional military commander now stripped of his title, was being observed in Batticaloa.
Meanwhile, the nearby Muslim town of Kattankudy was its usual busy self, with a smiling policeman beside a group of men, perhaps reflecting SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem's reported statement that the issue was an internal LTTE matter. The Muslims shops in Batticaloa, however, also observed the hartal. By Tuesday, commercial activity had resumed and schools re-opened the following day. Fears of an LTTE internecine war were the worst case scenario, for most residents of Batticaloa and the rest of the Eastern province, when initial reports that Vignamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Colonel Karuna had refused to obey orders of LTTE leader, Vellupillai Pirabakaran, were confirmed. Particularly, when Killinochchi announced last Saturday, that Karuna had been stripped of his position, though later offered an amnesty if he apologised to the LTTE leadership, which his spokesperson, at the time of writing, has rejected.
The reasons cited by Karuna for his rift with Pirabakaran, who he said he still wished to accept as Tamil National leader, concerned LTTE administrative and development policies in favour of northern Tamils. There has always been a long standing feeling among Eastern Tamils, even before the beginning of the ethnic war in 1983, of the Jaffna Tamils dominance in administrative positions in Batticaloa. On International Women's Day, the Batticaloa LTTE function to mark this event, reiterated through speeches and slogans that Pirabakaran was the leader of Tamil Eelam, but that Karuna was the leader in Batticaloa. A message that was earlier pasted on the walls beside the gate of the Eastern University, in Bandaramoolai, north of Batticaloa. Most of its lecturers and a significant proportion of its students, who were from the north, returned home, hence its closure. But the effect of this rift between the LTTE leadership and Karuna has also left many of the LTTE institutions - built throughout the Northeast during the two-year ceasefire - in disarray within Batticaloa district. Though some LTTE offices were open, including one with female cadres standing on the roadside pavement, others, like the one at Kommathurai, were closed.
In the LTTE's Batticaloa-Ampara administrative centre at Kokkodichcholai, the district court and reportedly the LTTE proclaimed Tamil Eelam Police Station, as well as all other LTTE Police Stations were closed. The notice on the closed gate of the LTTE district court, announced in Tamil that it was shut until further notice. The LTTE flags were removed from their flagpoles in these premises, before being vacated. Apart from flag-less flagpoles, these premises all had one thing in common. Its LTTE staff had left for the Vanni, as they did not wish to be part of Karuna's rebellion. Several top Batticaloa Tamil LTTEers have also left for the same reason. In the case of the LTTE District Court and Police Stations, these were directly controlled and staffed by northern Tamils, who naturally now felt insecure. However, not all activity in LTTE controlled areas has ceased. The motorised ferry platform connecting government held area, thirty minutes drive south of Batticaloa to Kokkodichcholai, the LTTE administrative town, was still manned last Sunday and reportedly continues to be so. The young men manning the checkpoint, duly collect the fare for the few minutes ferry ride from passengers, on bicycle or motorbikes, as they leave or cross back to LTTE held area.
Later while returning, when dusk was casting an orange hue on a truck laden with sacks of paddy, the single pole barrier was lifted to allow it to roll onto the ferry and cross over to sell its produce in government held Batticaloa or elsewhere. In Kokkodichcholai itself, though the district court and Police Station were closed, outside the weekly LTTE newspaper, "Tamil Alai", a young Kalashnikov armed LTTE cadre, stood guard. The single storey newspaper office inside was still staffed and its printing press running. In a situation where the reasons for the LTTE rift can only be gauged by what each party is reported to have said, or actually said, unless one is closely connected to the LTTE, Batticaloa is rife with rumours. Accusations made against Karuna range from his action being instigated by a foreign intelligence agency, a progression from its possibility as raised by the LTTE leadership, to the actual allegation by the LTTE leadership that Karuna is acting only in his own interest. Karuna is rumoured to have over 5000 LTTE cadres under him, while Pirabakaran is rumoured to have sent his armed cadres from the Vanni to track down and eliminate Karuna. None of these can be verified. Despite the issues raised by Karuna as his reasons for disobeying orders, most Batticaloa Tamils perceive the Jaffna Tamils as their brothers and are sad at this rift. A source in the Batticaloa Catholic church said that local people as well as local LTTE cadres were confused as to how to respond to this situation and were perplexed and disappointed at Pirabakaran's silence. Those that I spoke to, in the local Tamil community, wished that this dispute, seen by some as one between brothers, was resolved amicably. To this end the Batticaloa District Development Society organised a meeting of local intellectuals and other eminent citizens last Sunday morning at Mahajana College in Batticaloa. Together with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Batticaloa Rev. Kingsley Swampillai they sent a delegation to the Vanni on Monday to attempt a peaceful resolution and returned after meeting Thamilchelvan. The LTTE leadership conveyed that Karuna could have raised his objections on several prior occasions without resorting to the action he has taken. A source from within this delegation later informed me, that when they subsequently made contact with Karuna's delegates on Tuesday, they reiterated that the LTTE's intelligence chief Pottu Amman and two other senior LTTE'ers were responsible for preventing Karuna from directly communicating with Pirabakaran, and therefore only their removal would enable him to rejoin the LTTE. Karuna himself is reported to be deep within Batticaloa jungles. Whether these efforts for an amicable resolution to end this dispute will succeed or not, and dissolve Eastern Tamils' fears of an internecine LTTE conflict, remains to be seen. |
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