Situation: From the battlefront...

by Ranga Jayasuriya

Kallar junction, Serunuwara (Wednesday)

Mortar blast sounds were reverberating in the air as we drove towards Serunuwara, an agrarian village in the centre of the water dispute.

The A 15 road going past Serunuwara itself is a dangerous terrain and public transport has been off the roads since the Tigers began retaliatory shelling on the villages.

Two weeks ago, the troops began an operation to secure the Mavilaru anicut, the lifeline of the local farmers.

The Tigers hit back fiercely but it proved to be a costly offensive to divert the attention of the troops, engaged in Mavilaru, where the LTTE had closed the sluice gates of the anicut, cutting off the water supply to 15,000 families and 30,000 acres of paddy.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, the LTTE attacked Kattaparichchan,Selvanagar, Mutur and Mahindapura security camps.Mahindapura is in close proximity to Serunuwara and the Tigers fired a few rounds of 81 mm mortar shells at the Serunuwara police post. Shells damaged nearby houses, causing panic among civilians. Villagers began to vacate their houses, seeking refuge at safe places.The places supposed to be safe, were not so. As villagers gathered in nearby temples, a few rounds of Tiger mortar fell nearby. Fear-struck villagers had no choice, but to vacate the temple. Civilians moved to a nearby school. At 10 in the morning, the Tigers in small groups had infiltrated nearby jungles.

Past Kallar junction, from where a foot pathway into the jungles leads to Mavilaru anicut, a nervous home-guard stops our vehicle. We were on our way to Seruwila temple.

He told us that a small group of Tigers had positioned themselves under a small bridge in Arippu. Before, taking cover under the bunt, the Tigers shot dead two home-guards.

The two men mistook the Tiger cadres for soldiers and as they cycled towards them, the LTTE cadres shot them. Their bodies lay on the bridge and could not be recovered due to the presence of the Tigers. The Tiger team, which took cover under the Arippu Bridge, cut off reinforcements to the Mahindapura camp.

Mortar attacks

Taking cover from the concrete structure, and using a communication set,the small group of Tigers, at least four to five cadres noticed troops movements and gave locations for mortar attacks. The LTTE fired two 81 mm motors at close range. Later in the day, two small teams of Special Forces were air-borne to locate and destroy the two 81 mm mortars. A nearby school was packed with people, fleeing shelling. Around 600 families took refuge in the school.

Two local youth were seen organising the security of villagers - none of the villagers wanted their names to be mentioned for security reasons.

The unity of the villagers in the face of emergency was very much evident and the entire village is somewhat of an extended family.

In the school, they cooked for the entire 2,000 villagers and arranged evacuation of pregnant women to hospital. In the absence of public transport, the villagers had to seek the assistance of media men. Public transport had come to a halt since Tuesday due to shelling by the LTTE. Mavilaru, the reason for the conflict was never out of bounds for villagers. "We used to swim at the anicut, two to three months ago", a village lass who like the rest of the villagers did not want to be identified.Men used to fish in the anicut and go for hunting wild boar in the nearby jungles. The villagers sensed something fishy in the conduct of the LTTE in recent times. At a farmers' meeting in early March with government officials to discuss preparatory plans for the new season, farmers alerted the government that the Tigers could block the water supply for paddy cultivation.

Fear struck

"We noticed that due to the conduct of the LTTE most Tamil farmers did not harvest this time," said a young farmer who took the brunt of organising the evacuation and security of fear struck villagers.

But, at the very meeting, the government officials assured them of a continuous water supply. However, when the Tigers closed the sluice gates two weeks ago, all hell broke loose.

Helpless farmers agitated demanding to restore the water supply, but the government could do very little.

"Even, if the gates are open tomorrow, it can do very little to salvage our paddy lands. They have already dried up. This season would be a misery,'said an elderly villager, Robert Jayasinghe.

Compensation

The government has, however, promised to pay Rs. 25,000 per acre as compensation. But there is confusion in the issue as despite the government's pledge, local officials have delayed payment insisting that they alone could not decide on the amount of compensation.

"A Govijanaseva officer said he wanted to assess the damage to crops.

That is a thing, which will only delay payment. From past experience, I could easily say, after following all these procedures we will not get Rs. 500 or Rs. 1,000 per acre,' Jayasinghe said.

Jayasinghe (60) said Serunuwara is his home. He along with his parents moved to the agricultural village in the Eastern jungles in 1952. Since then, this village became his home and he will not leave the village, even at the cost of his life.

While Jayasinghe spoke to us in the vacated temple - villagers and the resident monk moved to the school- a shell fell nearby, causing a massive blast. The stray shell hit a tree. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Why do most villagers fear to be identified by their name? Because they say the Tiger cadres who now shell their villages were the residents of adjacent Tamil villages. On a normal day, they would come to Serunuwara to buy their essentials and have a cup of tea at the village tea kiosk."They have been our neighbours for decades. Hence we know them and they know us by name," a local villager said.

Later in the day, Security Forces at the Kallar camp sent troops to mop out the Tiger cadres who had infiltrated Mahindapura and adjacent villages.Troops killed the Tigers positioned under the Arippu bridge and retrieved the two bodies of home-guards. In the afternoon, an ambulance brought the injured civilians from Mahindapura to the Kantale hospital.

Villagers remained in fear of possible LTTE retaliation in the night. Though that was not to be the following day 600 villagers came to Kantale fleeing Serunuwara.A greater catastrophe was in store for Muslims in Mutur.

On Friday, they fled their shell-struck villages and walked miles to reach Serunuwara carrying white flags.

During the journey ten Muslims died on Friday after they were hit by stray shells.

(Also see Defence Diary)