Nine Tamil youths escape from LTTE bondage

(October, 31, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka Guardian) Nine Tamil youths who fled from LTTE captivity sought refuge at the Sri Lanka Navy and Police Fishing Marshalling Point at Pallemunai in Mannar 30th October 2007 around 7.15 a.m according to a milittary source.
Preliminary investigations revealed they had arrived from Papamotai and cited several instances of harassment, abduction, forcible conscription and killings meted out by the LTTE to those who defy the terror outfit’s dictates as their main reason for escaping from the LTTE clutches, he added.

All the escapees are males in the age group of 18 – 26. They were in the prime of youth. They had expressed their desire to live a normal life enjoying the benefits available to their counterparts residing elsewhere in the country where normalcy prevails.

There were two youths aged 18 from Mannar and another two aged 24 and 26 from Mullaitivu. One youth, aged 19, had escaped all the way from Jaffna. The rest were from Kilinochchi and were aged 21, 22, 24 and 25 respectively.

One youth talking to the security forces perrsonnel stated that they were taken forcibly from their homes for training in LTTE camps. They had fled from their training camp since they found the training hard and declined fighting. Another claimed that they were forcibly retained at the training camp under harsh conditions.

"They lacked food and no place to sleep while in training. They were not given medical treatment when they fell ill. All said in unison that they all had to look after their aging parents and had family members who were dependent on them for financial support,"the soucre also said.