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| Sunday, 12 March 2006 |
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Tigers growl at the national barrier Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake Although the Malaysian Prime Minister was shown tucking away at chicken
flesh to prove there was no bird flu in his country, over here, Health and
Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala
Talking of Tigers, it was interesting to see the delegation of Tigers being checked at the Customs barrier at Katunayake when they returned from the Geneva talks via Oslo. Thamilchelvan had asked his colleagues whether they should not carry out a sit down protest at the humiliation of being searched by the Sri Lanka Customs. The idea did not find much favour because some members in the party said that would make the Customs officers do a more thorough search. Thamilchelvan was not pleased. "Why the search this time?" he asked, adding that they were never searched on the several earlier occasions on returning after negotiations in Thailand, Oslo and Germany, or after study tours of federalism in Europe. The Customs officers explained they were only carrying out routine duty, the times had changed and Tiger negotiators were not diplomats. "But we must be given diplomatic status" said "hora police" Nadesan, the so-called IGP of the LTTE. "Earlier we were allowed to take in anything we brought, and were even given special assistance by the boss of the Airports Authority to transport the heavy baggage that we brought." "We were also allowed to clear millions of rupees worth of transmission equipment from the port with no search or duty, with diplomatic clearance all the way to the Vanni." "The difference is there are no documents from the Norwegian Embassy saying your baggage is meant for its use," explained a Customs officer. The Tigers growled as the search continued and a large stock of miners' lights - those flashlights worn by miners over their hard hats when going down to work in mines was found. "Why do you need these?" asked the Customs officers. "They are for fun. It is boring at the Vanni, and we thought of using these when playing games of hide and seek in the jungles at night" one member explained. "Are you sure these are not for any military purposes?" "Not at all; what use can these be for military purposes? These are adult toys. We liked them so much the Norwegians gifted them for our playtime." With the miners' light not being a prohibited item, the Customs officers let each member have one of the toys, but imposed duty on the balance consignment, much to the annoyance of the Tigers. When the duty was announced one Tiger was overheard saying, "Don't worry we will send the bill to the Norwegian Embassy. They are sure to reimburse us." A further search of the baggage produced handbooks and manuals on a variety of weapons. The Customs promptly seized them. The Tigers explained they were books that could be bought anywhere, but they had to get them in Oslo as there were no bookshops in the Vanni that sold them. They explained the books were Do-it-Yourself guides, for assembling of small arms, and not for arms procurement. "Are you sure these are not for the child soldiers with you, to teach them how to assemble small arms?" asked one perceptive Customs officer. "What nonsense" said an angry Thamilchelvan; "We have always said we do not have child soldiers. We only have underage volunteers, who like to carry weapons, for the fun of it. We don't like to spoil their fun." "But why do you need to have manuals about small arms, when you boast of such a large armoury with many big guns and other weapons smuggled in?" asked the Customs. "This is the proof that talk about our having big guns is all propaganda by the majoritarian Sinhala chauvinist forces. We only carry small arms for self defence, and have never been caught smuggling weapons," said hora police Nadesan. The Customs officers took a closer look at the manuals and handbooks and let them be taken by the Tigers, as they were for small arms and did not appear to be a security threat. The Tigers growled in anger at their being delayed at the Customs and subjected to a search. "We will remember this at Geneva," said one member. The Customs officers later informed higher authorities that the Tigers may have started mining operations for some valuable natural resource buried in the Vanni area, or they could be digging tunnels to creep out of Tiger controlled areas for surprise attacks on security services positions. "I'm sure the miners' lights were for a special game of night searches for that elusive Karuna," said one Customs officer. |
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Silva, only declared there was no cause to fear eating both local chicken
and eggs. He didn't demonstrate the safety of local chicken by chomping on a
drumstick, because just now he is busy getting his teeth into the flesh of
two legged Tigers. 
