Taking the Tamil community for a ride

The Tamil community in the country is undergoing difficult times.If any one says it is not that should be rejected outrightly. The Tamil community is suffering, in the North, in the East, in the South and also in the Upcountry. They suffer, not that they volunteered to undergo such suffering in the name of liberation as claimed by the LTTE, but they have been taken hostage by the LTTE to justify their cause of action, to justify their terror acts and to carryout strategic operations to hinder the Government efforts to bring peace for their lives.

They have to live up to the demands by the LTTE either by depositing demanded ransom in unknown bank accounts heeding to unknown callers from abroad, or by giving ransom to the unknown men visiting their homes on a monthly basis. Denying any of these demands ends with their bullet ridden bodies dumped somewhere in the country. They neither have the rights either to question or deny those demands.

Abductions

Adding to these fears undergone by the Tamil community in every part of the country the hourly news bulletins by certain media organisations highlighting slightest incidents blowing it out of proportion are making and trying to create a fear psychosis among the Tamil community.

The bottom line of these news bulletings and the voice cuts of certain people is to say that any Tamil person can be subjected to unlawful arrest at any moment in Colombo or suburb. The white van abduction psychosis is also developing in the society as certain media are repeatedly highlighting the fact that unknown men came in white vans and abducted certain people in Colombo and the suburbs increasing the fears among the public. Even the Tamil people who had never witnessed such incidents in Colombo during their life time tend to believe in those news reports and come to the conclusion that these things certainly are happening in Colombo and one day they would also be subjected to such abductions.

But, they are helpless when they are questioned whether they have witnessed those abductions. The only answer they can give is that they have heard and seen them over media. Certainly, they have no other explanation to their fears. The other factor is that these people also witness some political figures making public outcry saying that such a number of people have been abducted in Colombo and subjected to unlawful killings. According to Police these people have so far failed to give the exact details of the people who have been subjected to unlawful arrests by the Security Forces and also been subjected to extrajudicial killings.

The only thing they are doing is making media statements, compiling reports to international organisations, UN Agencies and countries that were working on certain agendas. It is important to observe the background in which the whole episode of these abductions, extra judicial killings, unlawful arrests come in to the political arena and also to the agendas of media organisation.

There are clear witness to say that the LTTE is behind all this stage managed campaign to create a false situation of human rights violations in the country in the backdrop of their military failures in the North and East and also when their intelligence network in Colombo and the South was broken due to the strong surveillance by the Security Forces and the Police. According to Human Rights Situation Report issued by the United States on Sri Lanka "During the year (2006) the LTTE was implicated in attacks on high-profile political opponents and civilians. An April 17 suicide attack at Army Headquarters severely wounded Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka and killed eight others (see section 1.g.).

In June a LTTE suicide bomber killed Army Third-in-Command General Kulatunga in a Colombo suburb (see section 1.g.).

On August 13, presumed-LTTE gunmen killed Ketheshwaran Loganathan, Deputy Secretary of the Secretariat for Coordination of the Peace Process (SCOPP).A former member of the Eelam People's Republican Liberation Front (EPRLF), Loganathan had served as Conflict Analysis Director for the Colombo-based think tank, the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

On August 14, Pakistan's High Commissioner escaped when a bomb hit his convoy; according to HRW at least seven people died in the incident".

These incidents including that of the assassination attempt on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was an eye opener for the Security Forces and the Police that LTTE may resort to major violent incidents in Colombo and suburbs when they are facing defeats in the North East battle fronts.

Understanding the tactics of the LTTE the Defence Ministry made a comprehensive security plan for Colombo and all parts of the south with Major General Lawrence Fernando heading the committee and were able to break the intelligence network of the LTTE in Colombo and in the South.

They understood that thousands of LTTE cadres have infiltrated into Colombo and suburbs with the intention of carrying out major disasters in an eventuality of large scale war erupting in the North East, so that can split the Security Forces attention and push the military to operate in the South.

The suicide cadres involved in Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka were classic examples to this situation as they have lived so many years in Colombo and the suburbs under different names even posing as different ethnic groups till they get their task done.

Therefore, it has been an extremely difficult task for the Security Forces and the Police to arrest those sleeper LTTE cadres in Colombo and other parts of the country, even after they have been identified as LTTE cadres, since any of these arrests would record as an arrest of a innocent civilian since they have no evidence to prove that they were upto a disastrous act until they accomplish their terror mission. The LTTE was so strategic in their plans and they had even made use of the Sinhalese people for their missions in Colombo and suburban areas.

The exposure of Southern cells of the LTTE was another land mark in the Security Forces and Police efforts to expose the terror network of the LTTE. If not for the arrest of the people connected to the Sinhala organisation the people in the South would have undergone several disasters, with troops in the East recording victories against the LTTE.

The recent statement made by LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan threatening to spread the war to the entire country would not have been a difficult task if Security Forces and the Police had not taken any action to breakdown their network and arrest those people including the LTTE suicide cadres who were awaiting for their missions in Colombo, killing all their political opponents and also the military intelligence operatives completely paralysing the intelligent network of the Security Forces. In the same manner the LTTE would have been successful in all military fronts if they could get the southern polity and the Sinhala community to raise their voice against the current military operations to liberate the areas under the control of the LTTE, if they could have exploded several bombs killing innocent civilians in Colombo as they did in Nittambuwa and Hikkaduwa in January using the Sinhala organisation trained under them.

With the plan implemented by the Defence officials to nab those LTTE cadres and with the arrest of senior intelligent cadres many of LTTE cadres arrived in Colombo and engaged in different jobs and businesses escaped from Colombo fearing their arrest by the Police and the Security Forces with the introduction of new regulations under the Emergency Law following the assassination attempt on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The Tamils who had closely associated with these people without any knowledge about whereabouts have complained to the Police that they have either disappeared or been abducted by people who come in white vans and by motorcyclists. According to Defence officials those politicians and the organisations. Taken in this background into account when they are pointing accusing fingers at the Government, security Forces and the Police.

However, the Security Forces and the Police had never denied the fact that they have arrested people. They claim that they had to arrest a lot of Tamil people who could not explain reasons for their arrival in Colombo or any other part of the country when they were detected at Security Check points and road blocks without any identification documents.

According to them most of these youth are from Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and Police are not in a position to investigate the authenticity of their claims. Even the US report on Sri Lankan Human Rights situation clearly explain this situation as saying " 528 arrests were made under the Emergency regulations during the year, although 288 of those arrested were released within 12 hours.

The majority of those arrested were Tamil, although detainees included Sinhalese and Muslims as well. In addition to suspicion of terrorism, people were detained for lack of identification, narcotics, and outstanding warrants (see section 1.d.). Observers estimate that 200 persons remained in custody under detention orders at years end".

Therefore, it is important for any person who is protesting against these arrests to remember that the country is at risk of becoming a victim of terror acts of the LTTE at anytime specially during these days in which they were facing defeats at the hand of the Security Forces in the East.

Responsibility

It is also their responsibility to understand that Security Forces also have the responsibility to keep law and order in the country without allowing any disruptive elements to sabotage the normal life of the innocent people.

The Police and the Security Forces also very closely monitoring the situation and has been able to arrest several underworld leaders and security forces personnel engaged in unlawful acts of abductions and ransom cases. The laws have effectively been used against those people and now they are under Police arrest.

When the issue of a ransom case was brought before President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the Estate Tamil community, President gave a directive to the Police and was able to apprehend the persons involved. Therefore, these organisations have the right to highlight such issues as well without making allegations without proper details of these people and after careful study of what had taken place.

If not they will automatically become the mouth piece of the LTTE. Going through the recent development, it is obvious that none of these organisation who so caringly speak about the human rights of the Tamil people had not cared when their rights were violated at the hands of the LTTE.

They made no big fuss when LTTE keeping them as human shield in Vakarai to counter the Security Forces efforts to liberate their areas and also the forcible child recruitments by the LTTE.

They should be more careful when talking about these missing people since there is a possibility the LTTE made use of the dead cadres to accuse the Government of abducting and disappearance of people giving dead ropes to these organisations.

As claimed by the Security Forces people displaced in Batticaloa still cannot account what had exactly happened to their children forcibly kept under the LTTE when they were fleeing Tiger held areas to escape from military fronts. They too are making complaints at the Police stations saying that their children have been abducted, or missing under the circumstances they are living as they are not in a position to find out what has happened to them.

Amidst all these negative factors the most encouraging factor is that Tamil people are seeking the help of the Security Forces and the Police in Government held areas in the East despite all these media blitz highlighting abduction of Tamil people.

They have realised the fact that whatever the circumstances they are undergoing now, they have a better future at the hand of the Government and the Security Forces rather than under the LTTE.

Therefore, the most viable thing that has to be done is to take up issues of abductions, killings, ransom cases as a whole and classify them according to their background for the benefit of the Security Forces and the Police and also for the international community to get a clearer picture about the exact situation in the country, that is now going on, without taking them as one issue.

The fact that has to be noted here is that Security Forces and Police, have not act in a barbaric manner as it happened in the western and european countries in the name of countering terrorism by indiscriminately firing at people.

The Security Forces and the Police in Sri Lanka maintains high standards of patience and proficiency in handling the human rights situation in the country as country which had faced three decades long conflict.