The Hindu : Talking peace and preparing for war?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2003

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Talking peace and preparing for war?

By V.S. Sambandan

TRINCOMALEE: Seventeen months after the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) signed a ceasefire agreement, there are reports of a sudden increase in its recruitment of children in the north and the east. In addition, the eastern Trincomalee district is trapped in a politico-military controversy that has raised fresh concerns on the progress of the peace process.

According to sources in Vavuniya and Trincomalee, there has been a spurt in the recruitment during the last two months.

In the north, five fresh cases are reported every week and in the east, at least 15 cases in August and 30 so far during September.

According to police, abductions, kidnapping and conscription was the single largest violation of the ceasefire agreement, with a total of 128 such cases being reported in the three eastern districts — Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai — between last February's ceasefire agreement and August. The Tamil-majority Batticaloa had the highest number of such cases (67), followed by Trincomalee (40) and Amparai (21).

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) confirming an increase in the complaints of child recruitment, declined to release figures. Religious leaders in the region also expressed dismay over the trend, but some maintained that it was more pronounced in the Batticaloa district. The LTTE district leaders could not be contacted. Neutral observers see this as a part of the LTTE's way of sending the message that though they are talking peace they would continue to prepare for war.

In Trincomalee, Kamala, an aged mother, said her son was taken away from a school that was in an LTTE-dominated part of the district early this year. "They came and gave consent forms to the children to fill up. My son evaded them and went to the toilet, but he was taken away in a van, which was parked outside the school," she said. Her 16-year-old son then reportedly escaped from the LTTE, and was helped by a Muslim family to reach home. "Even now he is scared to rejoin school. His late father was keen that he should study, but after that episode, he does not want to go to school, as he fears that he would be taken away again," she said.

In addition to the local reports of child recruitment, at the national level, the island's main Opposition party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) touched a raw nerve last month when it said that the LTTE had put up new military camps in the region, posing a "fresh threat" to the strategic eastern port.

Security sources in the east, however, express confidence that the port-town is secure and that the alleged military bases of the Tigers could be neutralised with ease. Barring one camp, according to sections in the security forces, the other rebel camps are in areas that were dominated by the Tigers before the ceasefire. Admitting that Trincomalee would be a target for the Tigers, in case there is a resumption of violence, senior police and military personnel, however, do not see a "fresh threat" to the town. Military observers also doubt the possibility of the rebels moving one of their long-range guns into the east, given the condition of the terrain there.

"All that the Army has to do is to turn its guns and fire a few rounds. The locations where these camps are would be flattened. Nothing would remain. There is no fresh threat," security forces say.

The eastern military standoff started in July when the LTTE refused to accept a ruling by the SLMM asking them to vacate a camp in Kurangupaanchaan, about 17 km south of Trincomalee.

Security forces and military observers in the east do not see any strategic importance to this camp.

However, given the past experience of the ceasefire breaking in Trincomalee, this eastern town, particularly the port, would remain vulnerable.

(Concluded)

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