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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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East remains volatile by Rashomi Silva With tension mounting and the number of killings on the increase in ethnically explosive East, have left both the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the security forces uneasy and the LTTE outraged. In separate incidents in the government held areas in the East and in the North Central Province, nine people including an official from the intelligence unit for soldiers and two Karuna faction cadres were killed last week, security officials confirmed. Military spokesperson Col. Sumedha Perera told the 'Sunday Observer' they had reasons to believe that 'LTTE Prabha faction' had been involved in the killings though they had no concrete evidences to charge any party. The most recent killings were reported on Saturday from Batticaloa District when a hand grenade went off killing four soldiers. A meeting was held between the Security Forces and LTTE representatives through the SLMM facilitation early last week at the Divisional Secretariat of Vavunathivu to explore possibilities to end killings and violence which had been rampant in the East. The most recent killing was reported from Vavuniya. The meeting headed by SLMM chief Maj. Gen. Trond Furuhovde was conducted in a friendly manner and concentrated on preventing further killings, clashes and improving investigative co-operation between the security forces and the LTTE, a joint communique issued by the Army and the LTTE said. Meanwhile, an official web site of the LTTE quoting its political leader S. P. Thamilselvam, alleged recent killings of the LTTE members in the East were carried out with the knowledge of the Army, and stated that the LTTE did not wish to be 'silent onlookers,' if killings continued. That appeared to be a warning from the political wing leader's statement when he said that repetition of such incidents would put the peace process and the peace agreement at heavy risk with dire consequences. The killings, which were apparently carried out by members of the breakaway 'Karuna faction' were believed to be an act of 'revenge' for the defeat of their leader, Karuna Amman (37), in a deadly battle that ensued early last month. Prabhakaran (49) declared war against Karuna Amman, his former Eastern Commander charging him with financial irregularities and violating what he termed 'founding principles of the LTTE'. Meanwhile, the Army, vehemently denying the LTTE charges expressed disappointment over the recent killings reported in Eastern and North Central Province, as the parties had already entered into an agreement through Nordic facilitators to avoid further killings. Commenting on the ceasefire violations reported so far, the military spokesperson said there had been over 2,000 such violations by the LTTE, during the last two years. These of them included major violations such as killing of Army informants and members of rival political parties. Most of the recent large-scale ceasefire violations were reported from the East. Owing to its ethnic composition, the Eastern Province proved to be one of the serious challenges to the country's fragile peace process, during the past two years. The situation in the East became more complex when Karuna Amman, one time trusted comrade of LTTE supremo, broke away from the LTTE claiming discrimination against Tamils known as Batticaloa Tamils. After a heavy struggle between the two factions, cadres loyal to Prabhakaran gained victory and took control of Karuna's territory in the East. The breakaway group leader Karuna was reported to have been escorted to Colombo for safety. The peace truce initiated in February 2002 had with stood many a test, and after much meditation with the new government and the LTTE, Scandinavian facilitators finally sounded optimistic about resuming talks. The Nordic facilitators were expected to make an announcement on the resumption of talks shortly. |
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