Tamil Tigers strike terror in Sinhalese heartland

By P.K. Balachandran, Colombo, Jan 18 : In the new phase of the Sri Lankan war following the abrogation of the ceasefire agreement, Tamil Tiger rebels are systematically terrorising villagers in the deep south of the country, the heartland of the majority Sinhalese community.

After the massacre of 28 Sinhalese civilian bus passengers and poor farmers in the Buttala area of the southern district of Moneragala Wednesday, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) went on to kill nine Sinhalese villagers in Kalawalgala in the same district Thursday.

The defence ministry said that troops combing the area had recovered six bodies and that three more remained to be located. Progress was impeded by the anti-personnel mines laid by the LTTE.

After blasting the passenger bus full of factory workers and some schoolchildren, LTTE operatives had opened fire on the hapless and screaming victims, military spokesperson Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara told IANS.

The assailants then started hacking and shooting villagers in the area, who were farmers eking out a living through the primitive technique of "chena", or slash and burn cultivation.

The villagers chosen to be eliminated were dragged into the jungle and hacked, the defence ministry said.

According to local military experts, who did not want to be identified, the LTTE is now trying hard to bring the war to the Sinhalese heartland in southern Sri Lanka, which is the main support base of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

For the last 25 years, the war has been fought in the Tamil-speaking northeast. If there were terrorist strikes, they had been almost entirely in the capital city of Colombo and its surroundings. The hinterland, the main political base of the Sinhalese politicians, had not been touched.

But it is different now.

The LTTE is angry with Rajapaksa for unilaterally calling off the 2002 ceasefire agreement with it. It had said so when withdrawing Scandinavian truce monitors met its leaders in Kilinochchi a few days ago.

Apparently, the LTTE is hoping that the terrorisation of the Sinhalese heartland in the south will sooner or later result in the people there asking the Rajapaksa government to go slow on the military operations in the north, and perhaps even enter into a ceasefire agreement again.

Already, there are signs that the people in the deep south are feeling the pinch. Schools in the Uva province were closed for the week Wednesday, after the bus blast and the hacking of villagers.

The other worrying aspect is that the areas in which terror had struck are close to major tourist and pilgrimage centres.

The famous temple for Lord Skanda or Muruga, is nearby, at Kataragama, and the Yala National Park is not far away.

Yala is now well and truly an area of military operations. The army chief, Lt. Gen. Sarath Foneska, had rushed to Yala to inspect the security arrangements there following the bus blast and the gruesome hackings of villagers.

Source: newkerala.com