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| Sunday, 6 June 2004 |
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LTTE blames Karuna by Rashomi Silva Nordic facilitators last week arranged a meeting between the security forces and the LTTE, aimed at ending the killings that threaten the fragile truce between the two sides. The LTTE blamed their renegade leader Karuna and the security forces for the string of killings and warned there will be 'calamity and destruction' if steps were not taken to curb the increasing killings and violence. The Army vehemently denying any involvement in the killings and said, they had "no hand in intimidating or assassinating Journalists or any other prominent personnel in the North-East". At the meeting held in Divisional Secretariat of Vavunathivu the LTTE agreed to coordinate with the security forces and the Police to trackdown and eliminate criminal elements in Batticaloa area, a press release issued by the SLMM announced, the parties agreed to hold regular meetings. The meeting was chaired by the Acting Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Hagrup Haukland, security forces were led by the new Eastern Overall Operational Commander Maj. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda, and the LTTE was led by its Batticaloa commander Ramesh. This development, however, irked Karuna loyalist in the East, sources close to breakaway leader Karuna said: "The LTTE who labelled Karuna as a traitor of the Tamils are now joining hands with the Sinhalese Army to kill Tamils from Batticaloa terming them as criminal elements". Despite the pressure from the donor community and the Nordic facilitator to break the deadlock and to resume talks the recent development showed the Tiger supremo is more keen on reorganising and bringing back law and order to his outfit than resuming talks with the government. Prabhakaran has entrusted the fullest responsibility of tracking down Karuna to his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and had recently appointed a senior Wanni cardre Swarnam as the 'overall commander' of the East while Ramesh functions as the Batticaloa commander. Meanwhile the Army expressed concern over possible targeting of the Army by the LTTE to drag them into the conflict. A Senior military official from the East told 'the Sunday Observer' "We have alerted troops about a possible targeting and they are taking maximum precautions. We have remained neutral throughout and are keen to avoid involvement." According to Eastern military sources the logic behind 'targeting the Army' is to strengthen Army security in the East and to convince, people in the East, that Karuna was the cause of their troubles. "Invertible reaction of attacking the Army would be tough security measures in the East. Tight security would make it difficult for 'Karuna faction' to act in the manner they do now. Tight security would also hinder the civilian life and this would make civilians believe that Karuna and his men were the cause of their troubles," the sources said. Meanwhile the cardres who deserted the organisation in the wake of the internal split are now pausing a serious threat to the day-to-day life in the East. Rapes, robberies and murder LTTE deserters are causing the same problems in the East as the Army deserters are causing in the South, 'the Sunday Observer' learns. Rapes, robberies and murder had reached an unprecedented height in past few weeks as LTTE deserters run amok in the rebel held areas. Probably due to the absence of war during past two years and the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the country, the mood of people of the North-East and the South had turned against the war making it difficult for both the Government and the LTTE to attract people in their recruitment drives. The Army had decided to strengthen its chances to participate in future UN peace keeping and humanitarian assistance missions around the world by training their troops in peace keeping and humanitarian activities. This first-ever mega Multinational Platoon Exercise (MPE) on UN Peace Support Operations Training, will be launched during the latter quarter of this week at Kurunegala, the Army announced. The event is co-hosted by US Army Pacific Command with over 180 troops from Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal and USA and two platoons from Sri Lanka participating. Newly-opened institute has the capacity to train about 600 officers and other ranks. "This venture will generate foreign exchange to the country," the military spokesman said. |
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