Chaos in a once peaceful community

From Anura Maitipe in Kantale

The Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils who lived in amity in Mutur have now sought refuge in Kantale as a result of LTTE terrorism, who were mainly farmers, traders and fishermen.

Now, they have left their assets and belongings to save their lives. Those who were not that lucky were killed by LTTE gunfire during the four days of 'war' that broke out in the city. Tigers in vengeance killed over 150 Muslims accusing them of being informants of the security forces.

Eternal fear

I visited this war torn area last weekend and the people looked to be living in eternal fear and panic. Even the sound of a flat tyre would excite them. They had been paying taxes to the ruthless LTTE, in return they were forced out of the village when the war broke out and some of them were killed.

The Kantale Divisional Secretary Sirimewan Dharamasena said, there are about 20,000 displaced people who had fled Mutur. They have been provided with shelter at temples and Schools in Thabalagamuwa, Kenya and Mollipothana.

The Presidential Secretariat has made arrangement to provide foodstuff and other essentials for those people via the Trincomalee District Secretariat. In addition, the World Food Organisation (WFO) also provides food supplies to these displaced people in Kantale.

Special counters have been set up at the Trincomalee District Secretariat and in Kantale Divisional Secretariat to receive donations from the public. The public who wish to help could sent their donations.

The Provincial Director of Health Services Rohitha Silva said, "We have made arrangements to provide sanitary and medical facilities to displaced people in all the camps. A team of doctors will be mobilised on a rotational basis to conduct medical clinics in these camps. All hospitals in the area have been provided with essential drugs and injections to meet the need of patients".

Former school Principal Siddik Lebbe (65), a resident of Mutur said " The LTTE were charging us Rs. 1000 per acre of paddy and Rs. 500 from each fishing boat per day and we never thought that they would kill us. They assaulted me and asked me to leave my house. I left my house along with my three children as we left,they set fire to our house.

Stories

M. Hidaya, a housewife, from fourth mile post Mutur said, a few weeks ago my husband was abducted along with two other Muslim men while they were collecting firewood in the jungle. Later they were released after paying Rs. 15,000 to the LTTE. As war broke out, they rampaged our village and set fire to our houses and chased us away from the village.

A Tamil woman who lives at Mutur town who did not want to disclose her name said it was not only Muslims, even the Tamils who lived in Mutur were asked to leave the area.

"The LTTE abducted our children and forcibly send them to war. They killed people on the suspicion that they were helping Karuna", she said.

She said, that the majority of people hate the LTTE but they keep quiet as they have no alternative. "We cannot oppose them openly because then they will kill us. We would like to live in peace with the Muslims and the Sinhala people but the LTTE do not allow us to live in peace.

Lived in harmony

R. Thangadori, former school principal who lives at Mutur South said, We have been living with Muslim and Sinhala communities for so many years. Mutur was a very peaceful village, but it was the LTTE that created all these problems. They started collecting ransom, torturing people for not paying ransom and killing opponents. The Tamil community in Mutur were against the LTTE practice of extortion.

That was why they set fire to our houses and chased us away along with the Muslims.

He said, the LTTE began to fight to liberate the Tamil people, "to meet this goal, we sacrificed our men, women and children but now it has become a vicious force against the Tamil community. The Tamil community wants liberation from the LTTE now." `

Meanwhile, security forces have taken the initiative to tighten security in the threatened areas. The STF, Army and Police have provided security for all threatened villages.

A farmer, T. M. Gunabanda (82) of Pillumale said, "I was born and bred in this village and there are about 250 families.

Our livelihood is paddy cultivation and we had been farming over 500 acres. The LTTE threatened us not to cultivate our lands as a result these lands are now being neglected."

The Tempitiya Purana Vharadipathi Gnana Nanda thera added, "a few months ago the LTTE threatened villagers and asked them not to cultivate their lands and as a result they neglected over 500 acres of paddy land."

Meanwhile, security forces in the area have beefed up security for farmers to cultivate their land but still, they are reluctant to go there due to fear of the LTTE. Because, these lands are situated in between the defence lines of the STF and the LTTE.