Tamil Tiger Terror Machine Forcibly Holding Civilians in the Vanni as a Human Shield

by Mahinda Gunasekara

(September 13, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Tamil civilians living in the areas usurped by the Tamil Tiger Terrorists in the Mannar, Killinochchi and Mullativu districts have been held under the iron grip of the AK47 wielding killer cadres of the terror machine, devoid of the basic rights and freedoms which are the birth right of every human being. They were virtual slaves who were required to give up family members including underage children to be brainwashed and turned into robotic killers specializing as pistol gang members, sniper assassins, suicide bombers, black tigers, machete wielding ethnic cleansers, fed on the venom of ethnic hatred towards members of the Sinhalese and Muslim communities whom they often targeted, and even members of their own Tamil community who were considered dissidents that had to be eliminated if they did not tow their line. It has come to light that the civilian population is forced to undergo military training and engage in the war preparations of the LTTE.

The LTTE made a pretense of wanting to reach a negotiated settlement of their grievances by agreeing to temporary ceasefires during the last two decades whenever they were militarily weak in order to buy time to rebuild their weapons stockpile and fighting units, only to use the flimsiest of reasons to unilaterally abandon the talks and resume hostilities. Even the last ceasefire (CFA) facilitated by the Norwegians in February 2002 was yet another farcical peace process where the LTTE refrained from discussing any substantive issues and merely played for time, whilst they smuggled in over eleven shiploads of weapons and began drawing up plans for their final war of liberation towards the latter part of 2005. The Nordic Monitoring Mission (SLMM) ruled that the LTTE had violated the CFA on 3830 occasions during the first five years, including the murder of over 400 persons made up of dissident Tamils, other Sinhalese and Muslim civilians, members of the security forces and political leaders of the calibre of the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, as against 351 violations on the part of the government’s security forces mainly relating to harassment at checkpoints. UNICEF also reported that the LTTE had abducted and forcibly conscripted over 5200 children during the same period, many of whom were under the age of 15 years which is considered a war crime.

The government of Sri Lanka sought fresh talks in 2006 despite the fact that the LTTE had carried out unprovoked attacks killing over 200 and further causing serious injury to over 400 security forces personnel from December 2005 onwards. The talks scheduled to be held in Geneva and Oslo under the auspices of the Norwegian facilitator were a total failure, as the LTTE delegation which travelled to Europe did not participate. It was only after the LTTE cut off water from the Mavil Aru (Maha vila) reservoir in mid-2006 depriving 30,000 families of their living source, that the government withdrew from a meaningless CFA and took steps to stop the haemorrhaging of the nation. The retaliatory attacks launched by the security forces has resulted in the defeat and withdrawal of the LTTE from the eastern province, the liberation of the Tamil civilians from the dictatorial hold of the terror outfit, bringing with it democratic governance and the dawn of a new era of development and the promise of a better life for the resident population.

Having re-taken the east from the terrorists, the security forces are today advancing on four fronts into the usurped territory in the northern province, and are making steady progress against the well entrenched terror forces of the LTTE, marching over acres of minefields and explosives laden booby traps, re-gaining control and extending the writ of the state into the newly liberated areas. The borders of the illegal regime controlled by the LTTE terrorists are fast shrinking, and they are seen to be taking desperate measures by forcibly holding the Tamil civilian population as a protective human shield for their cowardly fighters who are running away from battle and taking cover behind the civilians. We have seen pictures of the three cornered barbed wire holding pens erected by the retreating LTTE forces, which had apparently been made to imprison and punish non-cooperating civilians who refused to participate in the LTTE’s armed warfare.

The government for its part has provided a security corridor to enable the civilians removed to Killinochchi by the LTTE from areas that they withdrew and other resident civilians to move to a safer locality in the Vavuniya district, where their safety and other needs could be met. Furthermore, the government continues to ship food, medicine and other essentials for use of the civilian population still remaining in the dwindling region controlled by the LTTE terrorists. There is no assurance that these humanitarian supplies are released for use of the civilians as it is well known that the LTTE diverts a large portion for use of its cadres. Even the government operated hospitals were found to have been vandalised and medicine pilfered by the retreating LTTE forces. It is also commendable that the government has permitted the ICRC to remain in Killinochchi to overlook the distribution of humanitarian aid, whilst requesting all other INGOs, NGOs and UN Agencies to withdraw to Vavunia in the interest of their own security as it is difficult to guarantee their safety within the war zone.

It is important to note here that several INGOs, NGOs and UN Agencies have acted in a suspicious manner in carrying out their mandated functions in the LTTE controlled Vanni area. In this connection, we would like to refer to the disinformation carried out by UNICEF’s Penny Bourne who had served in the area for ten years when the normal term is just three years, especially with regard to the air raid in August 2006 on the LTTE’s military training camp and transit centre in Chencholai which she referred to as a strike on a kindergarten children’s school, the reported loss of the heavy equipment and vehicles belonging to Norwegian People’s Aid which are now being used by the LTTE to dig deep trenches and build defensive earthen dams, the transfer of high protein biscuits and food packs brought in by the World Food Program (WFP) supposedly for use of patients in hospitals to LTTE military camps, and other acts which tends to diminish trust in these foreign based and foreign funded outfits. Added to which, the following quote from the recent letter written by one Selva Gnanam of Melbourne makes one wonder about the real motives of these bleeding hearts rushing in to resolve conflicts in distant lands such as Sri Lanka? “I read of young girls (who had escaped from the Vanni) being raped by senior LTTE cadres and later offered to foreigners as'entertainment' (these girls would later volunteer as suicide bombers because they were not 'pure' any more). Then I realised why so many Westerners came to the Vanni for 'direct negotiations' with the LTTE, and why they were backing the LTTE in Sri Lanka, while fiercely opposing terrorism in their countries. It was an 'erotic escaped' in an exotic island, far away from wife/husband and family.”

The LTTE in its so called ‘defacto state’ has only managed to develop concrete bunkers, acres of landmines, deep trenches, neatly laid out cemeteries to bury the misguided cadres used in their unceasing waves and other maniacal missions, child soldiers, suicide bombers, kangaroo courts and torture chambers, with the vast resources extorted and gained through illicit means such as narcotics smuggling, human smuggling, passport racketeering, credit card fraud, and every conceivable criminal activity estimated by Janes Intelligence at the astounding figure of $300 million per annum. The civilian population was deprived of all democratic and fundamental rights during the period extending to over two decades that the LTTE controlled the usurped terrain by armed force. It was up to the government of Sri Lanka to maintain the schools, hospitals, roads, and ensure the continuous supply of food and all essentials, provide welfare and all other public services at an annual cost of over Rupees 15 billion, whilst the LTTE waged war including suicide terrorism against the government and people of Sri Lanka in pursuit of a mono-ethnic, mono-political, fascist separate state through force of arms.

As a first step, we call on the LTTE to open the Gates of Hell and let the civilian population go to a place where they could be provided with safety and the necessities of life without endangering their security by forcibly using them as a human shield. The brain washed cadres too could also decide to lay down their arms and submit themselves to a program of rehabilitation without spilling more blood or losing their life in battle against the superior forces of the legitimate government, or biting into the cyanide capsules around their necks to satisfy the gory commands of their aging megalomaniacal leader who is acting out his last scene in his hole in the Vanni. Velupillai Prabhakaran, alias Suriya Thevan the Sun God whose flickering flame is fast dying out as his illusive dream of a Tamil Empire in the mythical land of “Eelam” is fast fading away, should pay heed to the mass suffering and endless tears of the civilians whom he is holding against their will, and allow them the freedom to move to any place of their choice without any further delay.- Sri Lanka Guardian