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by Ranga Jayasuriya

When violence is permitted, it sets a cycle of violence in motion. It was only a few months ago that the LTTE gunned down rival Tamil political activists and the members of military intelligence and then denied its involvement, taking refugee at the deteriorating law and order in the North-East.

Then the term, unidentified gunmen was synonymous to LTTE covert agents. But violence could invite an equal violent reaction from the aggrieved parties leading to a cycle of violence.

This is the very situation, where the North-East is heading right now and deteriorating law and order situation is an incentive to unidentified gunmen who are now multiplying Understandably, the apologists of the LTTE violence and the LTTE itself must be feeling that the situation the Tigers themselves created has gone out of their control, one would perhaps say that it has boomeranged.

Mystery over the murder of five young men in Trincomalee, three of them wanted by the security forces for their alleged involvement in grenade attacks at the security forces is a pointer to the murky situation gradually developing in the North-East.

The circumstances of the killing of the five men were disputed by the security forces and the LTTE. Two youths were also injured in the incident.

Even though the Security Force earlier told that the five men died in an accidental grenade explosion, the local Judicial Medical Officer in the post-mortem has ruled that the men had died of gunshot wounds, and that wounds of the grenade explosion were not fatal.

The Tamil National Alliance and the LTTE have accused the security forces of killing the men in execution style while security forces have denied any involvement in the incident.

Three of the deceased youth are said to have been involved in several grenade attacks at the security forces check points and, indeed, the security forces were on look out for them.

One possibility as flouted by one security forces official is the men could have died during retaliation, when trying to lob a grenade. One more grenade had been found from the location of the murder.

Mystery is as to who fired at the youth even in self defence?

Hotbed of clashes

The East has been the hotbed of clashes between the LTTE and its breakaway group, the Karuna faction. But, Trincomalee has largely been spared from the LTTE's fratricidal war as when Karuna broke away from the LTTE, the Trincomalee district was under the leadership of Paduman.

A high level inquiry ordered by the President himself is now in progress. The Trincomalee Magistrate on Friday visited the two young men who survived the attack and now being treated at the Trincomalee Hospital to take evidence.

Indeed, the LTTE had trained and mobilised local youths to attack Security Forces. Two undergraduates of the Vavuniya Campus of the Jaffna University were wounded last week when a grenade went off during a failed grenade attack at the EPDP office in Vavuniya.

The mystery of the killing of the young men, albeit some of the deceased questionable involvement with the LTTE highlights the murky situation the North-East.

On Thursday night, In another incident, two young men were killed by unidentified gunmen. Thabendran Mathan, an employee at the Point Pedro Urban Council was abducted from his house and later his remains with cut wounds were found.

The other youth, Thangarajah Pradeeshkumar, 32, was shot dead by the unidentified gunmen at his house in Uduvil, Chunnakam.

In another incident, one youth was killed and three others wounded when unidentified gunmen hurled a grenade and fired gunshots at the youths Thursday night on Kanagaratnam Road, Valaichenai.

Meanwhile, another youth, who shifted his loyalty from the EPDP to the LTTE was shot dead in Kayts.

Same day, troops shot dead a suspected LTTE cadre in Kiran, Batticaloa. Troops said they fired in self defence when the man attempted to lob a grenade. The deceased, identified as Rajasanthram Puwanendran alias Wannan (23) was carrying two hand grenades along with a length of cord generally used for detonating claymore mines from a distance, troops said.

However pro-LTTE Tamilnet website reported that the man was a civilian, a father of an year old child.

Allegations and counter allegations, and the situation has become confusing. On Tuesday, troops retaliated when two gunmen riding a motor bike fired at the soldiers in Pannimadu. Gunmen escaped leaving the motorbike.

Same day, in another incident, one officer and soldier were injured when an LTTE pistol man attacked troops in Jaffna town. Two more soldiers were wounded when LTTE cadres lobbed a hand grenade at an army check point in Kallady, Batticaloa.

In another development, the bullet ridden body of the PLOTE activist Krishnasamy Thirunavukarasu (24) alias Manee who was abducted by the LTTE was found in a shrub in Vavuniya. Meanwhile,a number of grenade attacks and firing at the security forces personnel were reported in which one soldier was killed and scores injured.

Cycle of violence

All these developments points to a cycle of violence, where the civilians are the ultimate victims. The unrivalled violence perpetrated by the LTTE against its rival Tamil political activists and state military apparatus has bred further violence.

Security Forces have been instructed to act tough, they have been told they could retaliate when they are attacked. And the continuing cordon and search operations in Jaffna and the East are indicative that the Security Forces have launched a limited counter insurgency operation in order to flush out the undercover LTTE cadres in the peninsula and seize smuggled weapons.

One important point for those who lament at the inconvenience caused to civilians by such military operations is that it was only after the Tigers took the relaxed security situation for granted and blasted several deadly claymore mines that the security forces decided to resume cordon and search operations which had been halted since the signing of the truce agreement.

The LTTE infiltrated Jaffna and smuggled weapons exploiting the opportunities of political activities and freedom of movement offered by the truce agreement.

Perhaps, Prabhakaran misread the government's restraint. Through out the last four years of the truce agreement, the Security Forces had been instructed not to retaliate.

One fear was that such minor confrontations could snowball into a major incident. But, now it is open to question whether such restraint forced on the security forces by both the Wickremesinghe and Kumaratunga Administrations was an incentive to the LTTE to attack security forces personnel and non-LTTE Tamil political activists.

Claymore attacks at the security forces personnel in Jaffna and Mannar and the impunity with which those were carried out were the culmination of the LTTE's exploitation of the restraint exercised by the security forces, as instructed by the government for the sake of the continuance of the truce agreement. But, extremists and terrorists - irrespective of how you call them- view flexibility as a sign of weakness.

The dilemma of a government, which is faced with a shadow war perpetrated by its counterpart on the negotiation table is very much understandable, especially when the perpetrators of such violence keep on announcing their innocence and commitment to the peace process, at the same time planning and carrying out attacks against its counterpart

Flexibility sign of weakness

During the ceasefire, Fifteen thousand Mahaveerar families came to Jaffna, of which nearly 2,000 members later went to Kilinochchi for weapon training and returned to the Jaffna peninsula. Once the green light came from Kilinochchi, they launched a spree of hit and run attacks at the security forces.

Indeed, some Mahaveerar families have returned to Jaffna. Security Forces put the number at 70. And most weapons and ammunition recovered in recent search operations were found in the houses abandoned by these families.

Government offices in Jaffana were reopened last week, after a week long closure enforced by an LTTE front organisation.

And recent cordon and search operations seem to have contained the activities of the LTTE cadres, but, if Jaffna is to return to Normal, it is paramount for the government and the LTTE to resume the talks on the ceasefire review, which are now deadlocked over a dispute over the venue.

As Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who is also the Minister coordinating the Sri Lankan Peace Process is scheduled to arrive in the island on January 23 his priority would be to strike a compromise over the venue of the CFA talks.

That is, after all, the most sensible option to salvage the fragile peace process.

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