Sinhala Tigers received 1.1 million from LTTE, police tells judge

By Walter Jayawardhana

TERRORIST INVESTIGATION UNIT TELLS MAGISTRATE THAT ‘SINHALA TIGERS’ RECEIVED 1.1 MILLION FROM THE LTTE

The four alleged Sinhalese recruits of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who were railway trade union activists were remanded till April 5 and ordered to be kept at the Boosa detention jail for suspected terrorists by Colombo magistrate Sarojini Kusala Abeywardena.

Replying to the magistrate suspects said they were treated all right by the state authorities who were imprisoning them. The magistrate said the relatives could visit them once a month at the detention center.

The Police terrorist Investigations Division seeking a further detention of the suspects who were alleged to be trade union activists and media personnel informed the courts the suspects had received 1.1 million rupees from the LTTE to carryout a massive violence like bomb blasts in the country.

The Terrorist Investigations Division filing their report before the magistrate said among their intended violence had been attacks on Kolonnawa oil tanks and Sapugaskanda Oil refineries, the main oil supply centers for the island. They said LTTE leader Kapila Amman had provided money for the attack.

The TID said the money had been paid to the four main suspects as an initial motivator and an advance for the job of attacking and planning for it.

The police told the magistrate the suspects had undergone military training given by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and they have organized themselves into an organization called Revolutionary Liberation Movement under the direction of the LTTE. The police said Lalith Seneviratne had served as the leader of the organization and Sisira Priyankara was his deputy.

The main objective of the organization was to lure youths with behavioural and personality disorders and to organize them in to a militia to attack innocent civilians in the South. The organization has already carried out 13 operations including several bomb blasts in the south, the police said.

The TID also made several other arrests on the information provided by the arrested suspects. The Investigation is still continuing.

LTTE ABDUCTED 6241 CHILDREN AND KEEPING 1710 OF THEM SAYS UNICEF

By Walter Jayawardhana

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND SAYS 6241 TAMIL CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ABDUCTED AND BLAMES LTTE FOR RECRUITING 6006 OF THEM FOR WAR AND STILL KEEPING 1710

The United Nation’s Children’s Fund said as of January 2007 they have recorded 6241 child abductions in the Tamil provinces in Sri Lanka and blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for having recruited 6006 of them for war.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also blamed the breakaway Karuna group for abducting 235 out of the recorded 6241.

The UN agency said 1879 children are being still held by both groups out of which 1710 are still being kept by the LTTE while the Karuna group uses 169 of them.

Meanwhile the report said released children and other male youth continue to seek UNICEF’s assistance for special protection in fear of assassination arrests and abduction by the terrorist groups.

The report further said, “The Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (comprising Government, UN agencies and civil society) under UN Security Council Resolution 1612 has compiled its first report on grave violations against children. Resolution 1612, adopted in July 2005, established a monitoring and reporting mechanism on six grave rights violations committed against children, including the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.”

The report further commented that the unresolved conflict and the dangerously fragile ceasefire agreement between the Government and Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continue to gravely impact the lives of children and women in Sri Lanka and are the most important factors hampering rapid and sustainable development of the economy.

The report said, “While the entire country has suffered from the consequences of the conflict, the eight North East districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara have borne the brunt of it. Since August 2006, over 200,000 persons have been displaced (including multiple displacements from Trincomalee to Vaharai and in January 2007, to Batticaloa governmentcontrolled areas). Some 600,000 people remain cut-off in Jaffna district. Rehabilitation activities have slowed down significantly because of the worsening security situation. Access to Jaffna by the A9 road has not been possible since August 2006, severely hampering relief efforts. Humanitarian assistance is only possible by UN chartered aircraft. Food and other items are in extreme shortage.”

The report further said, “Outside conflict-affected areas, two separate bus bombs – one on the road to Kandy, the other on the main road to Galle – resulted in the death of over 20 people and injured many others. These incidents may be a major turning point of the conflict with targeting of civilians by LTTE in areas that have not been affected by the conflict for many years. The UN has condemned the incidents and called for the protection of innocent civilians throughout the island.

“There are more than 26,000 displaced students and approximately 1,000 displaced teachers across the North and East. However, given the pervasive violence and stress in the North it is assumed that all children in Jaffna, the Vanni, Vavuniya, Mannar and Vaharai and Muthur zones are acutely affected by the conflict and are directly impacted by both physical threats, access issues and deterioration in the quality of education. This represents more than 250,000 students. Displacement of teachers and students has led to teachers having decreased access to their students; insecurity in key areas has also compounded access issues in some of the most vulnerable communities leading to partial or complete disruption of education. Students in the Vaharai and Muthur zones were unable to attend schools for six months in 2006 because teachers were displaced or unable to access communities.”

Five Colombo murdered identified as Karuna faction Tamils

By Walter Jayawardhana

FIVE OF THE ASSASINATED IN COLOMBO MARSH IDENTIFIED AS KARUNA FACTION TAMILS; LTTE PRIME SUSPECTS SAY POLICE

The five decomposing dead bodies shot in their heads and found in a marsh close to Colombo have been identified as those of members of the Karuna group virulently opposed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Police sources said they now suspect the gruesome murders, probably done in execution style, would have been committed by the LTTE assassins after the five Batticaloa resident supporters of Karuna led Tamil Makkal Viduthale Pulikel (TMVP) were abducted by the LTTE operatives in Colombo.

Karuna faction sources told the investigation that the people who had been murdered had been sent to Colombo under the aegis of the party to find overseas employment.

At a press conference held in Colombo the Chief of the island nation’s police Victor Perera, said they believed the five bodies left in the marsh called Muthurajavela in Colombo and the another five bodies left near Anuradhapura are suspected to be part of a plot to raise a human rights cry against the government and bring disrepute against Sri Lanka in international circles.

The BBC’s Sinhala language program, Sandeshaya, broadcast interviews, comparing the murders done in 1989 in relation to a JVP insurgency and allegedly done partly by the then government and partly by the JVP itself. In those news broadcasts they did not draw attention to the LTTE’s execution style murders created. They created allusions that they could be murders by the government.

The country’s Ministry of Defense in their official website declared, “A bloody plot to tarnish the good image of the government before the international community is getting bared as the bodies of five Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) members found in the Muthurajawela swamp were positively identified by one of their comrades.”

Some human rights organizations made attempts to create an impression that both Colombo’s Muthurajawela Marsh murders and Anuradhapura murders were the works of the government.

Insepector Genral of police, Victor Perera, the police chief said special teams of detectives have been employed to investigate about all ten murders.

Police announced yesterday, that the victims were identified as Karanasingham Suresh, Subramaniam Prabakaran, Siva Prakashan Madiruban, Kandasamy Vellayan, Ponnaia Kamal all residents in Batticaloa.

The bullet ridden bodies of them were found in the marsh, March 2, after residents there informed the police about the presence of dead bodies. Police said the bodies were laid there in a way so they could be easily seen. The man who identified the bodies said the victims had come to Colombo few weeks back hoping to get overseas interviews.

It had been revealed the above had been approaching supporters of the LTTE to get them over to their side, in the intense struggle going on in the Eastern Province to capture political power to the hands of the anti-LTTE groups defeating the LTTE.

TMVP sources in the course of the investigations told the police that seven people were sent to Colombo to go abroad for employment, since they had exposed themselves to the LTTE leadership in the East.

It is suspected that two people among them had betrayed them to the LTTE operatives in Colombo. The five were allegedly abducted by the LTTE operatives in Colombo, during the month of February. Several news items had appeared about the missing persons, the man who identified them said. He also asserted that the deceased had no other enemies than the LTTE.

Under the Ceasefire Agreement signed between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran under the brokerage of the Norwegian leftist Eric Solheim, unarmed LTTE could freely enter government controlled areas. Using this clause LTTE assassins have entered those areas and assassinated the Foreign Minister of the country, Deputy Peace Secretary, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army. They also attempted to assassinate the Commander of the Army and Secretary of Defense.

Referring to the anti-government propaganda linked to the dead bodies found the Defense Ministry said, “pro-LTTE media networks shows how deliberately they have undertaken the propaganda part of the coupe by implicitly blaming the government for violating human rights.”

Alleging that these very murders could be used against the government the Defense Ministry said, “that the recent escalation of abduction, assassinations and disappearances have a clear correlation to the up coming United Nations Human Rights Council, which will be held on 12th March, in Geneva this year.”