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All the trappings of a war zone

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Many Sri Lankans living on the edge because of the conflict

KINNIYA (TRINCOMALEE): An ideal post-card town, across a lagoon which separates it from the Trincomalee town, Kinniya has all the trappings of a war zone. Every day residents wake up and sleep to exchanges between the military and the LTTE.

Life has come to a virtual standstill and people are bracing themselves up for more bad news. It is no longer a question whether they would be victims of a full-fledged war but when.

Unaffordable luxuries

"The atmosphere here has changed drastically in the last three to four months. Most things we had taken for granted about chores of the day to day life after the 2002 ceasefire have slowly but steadily turned into unaffordable luxuries. Venture out of your abode only as an absolute necessity has become the thumb rule," was how Amir Khan, who runs two separate schools for boys and girls in the town, summed up the situation.

Life and times in the Trincomalee city, which accounts for nearly three lakh citizens, is largely a mirror reflection of Kinniya. "It is a city under seize with military and police looming in every nook and corner with suspicious eyes on every moving object and person. The occupancy rates in the hotels and resorts in the town are down to below 10 per cent. "What is worse, no one knows what the next hour could bring," says an aid worker who did not want to be identified either with his name or organisational affiliation.

Trincomalee is no ordinary town in political, military or strategic terms. It houses the eastern naval command and the regional headquarters of the Air Force. The Lanka Indian Oil Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), draws its supplies from the oil reservoirs in the city.

Bloody battles

In the last three weeks the naval base took pounding from the LTTE twice and the air base once. The military was engaged in one of the bloodiest battles with the Tigers at the naval base in the last week of July, just before the LTTE overran Army posts in Muttur and created mayhem for over four days, and again in the third week of August.

The Tiger operations aimed at the naval base and Trincomalee are believed to be directed from over 40 km distance in the Sampur.

It was precisely for this reason that last week that President Mahinda Rajapakse told the Co-Chairs that there was little chance of cessation of hostilities unless Sampur stopped posing a threat to the vital interests of the nation.

The LTTE has not even bothered to respond to Mr. Rajapakse and has kept up its offensive.

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