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| Sunday, 11 July 2004 |
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Return of the human bomb Peace Trail by Ranga Jayasuriya The woman suicide bomber, Thyagarasa Jayarani brought the Tiger hierarchy to a dilemma when she killed herself and four others, but not the intended target, in the first suicide bombing in two and a half years. The LTTE leadership in Kilinochchi had been pondering for hours before denying any involvement in the suicide blast which bore all the hallmarks of the LTTE. Wednesday's suicide bombing could have been viewed as a stark reminder of the LTTE's past conduct and an indication that the Tigers had not yet renounced terrorism. Furthermore, it came at a time when the Tigers were campaigning for de-proscription. It was only a day before the blast that Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam met US Undersecretary of South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca to request the United States to lift the terrorist tag from the LTTE. (Gajendrakumar however had to return empty-handed, Rocca as expected reiterated that the US will not de-ban the Tigers till the movement consciously and firmly rejects violence.) The US Embassy, in a media statement later condemned the suicide bombing while pointing out that the incident bears the hallmarks of an LTTE attack, although no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Tigers' denial of the bombing, attributing it to a third party, is characteristic of its past conduct in the East in the face of allegations of killings of intelligence operatives and Muslims. An unseen third party was always the LTTE's excuse for all such incidents and even the ceasefire monitors had held a third party responsible for communal clashes in the East and for an abortive attack at the Navy vessel, MV Lanka Muditha. The Tigers complain that the Army intelligence wing has set up a big network of operatives in the East to function against the LTTE in violation of the MoU. And to substantiate the claim, the LTTE say 14 pro-Karuna cadres arrested in a temple in Hingurakgoda with three T-56 and a T-81 gun in possession had been released on bail, following the police, under the influence of army intelligence wing, withdrew charges of possessing weapons. The ceasefire monitors were alarmed by Wednesday's bombing with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Chief Trond Furuhovde writing to the Government and the LTTE, warning the suicide blast and recent killings in the East have endangered the truce agreement. Later Furuhovde met Peace Secretariat Chief Jayantha Dhanapala in a previously scheduled meeting. Meanwhile, in the wake of the suicide bombing, Amnesty International charged the Tigers of using threats and violence in a recruitment drive for child soldiers. Amnesty said 190 children, some as young as 14 years, had been recruited since this April, bringing the total number of children recruited this year to 330. "With today's news of a suicide bombing in Colombo, the fact that the Tamil Tigers have started a new wave of child recruitment is alarming," said Amnesty International. "If the armed conflict were to resume, these children would likely be among the first to die." The international human rights watchdog accused the Tigers of re-recruiting former child soldiers by force and using violence against parents who resist their kids being taken away. "The Tiger leadership must issue orders to its cadres to stop these tactics immediately. Children in its ranks should be returned to their homes and not face the threat of re-recruitment," said Amnesty International. |
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