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The LTTE, desperate for cadres for their fighting units are resorting to high handed action including abduction of children and confiscation of property of families who do not comply with their demands, says The University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR-J), in a communication released to the press on Thursday.

It said; " Recently, children returning from school were confronted by LTTE recruiters in a white van with tinted glasses parked nearby. Individual children were cornered by groups of recruiters. Expressions of reluctance by the children were met by the recruiters with severe abuse. Teachers passing by were helpless witnesses to this press-ganging. A child showing the slightest sign of weakness was loaded into the white van. Those caught were then spirited away into the unknown, leaving the parents completely in the dark."

In the Batticaloa district even the senior leaders like Kari Kalan, Robert and Ramanan have addressed meetings to recruit children, thus exposing the desperation of the LTTE.

UTHR-J says that at recent meetings in the interior of the Batticaloa District the LTTE demanded, often in temple premises, that each family should submit one or two of their children to the movement. According to the UTHR-J.

The penalty for families that do not comply is seizure of property including land. The properties of those who fled the LTTE controlled areas have already been officially sealed and confiscated, said the UTHR-J release.

Though the recruitments earlier were from the most economically deprived sections of the population, the present recruitment drive has also affected even parents in relatively more stable circumstances.

Compulsory military training is also being imposed with elders and government servants having to do one hour a day, says UTHR-J.

Parents are hiding their children for fear of the LTTE and mothers who talk back are humiliated publicly alleges the UTHR-J.

Information from hospital and police sources in Batticaloa point to several cases of suicide by affected parents. Some parents have already been taken to custody by the LTTE. The number of children attending school has gone down with certain schools reporting 'zero' attendance.

According to the UTHR-J LTTE, area Leader Kutty had threatened the Principal of Vipulanatha School at gun point demanding forty children for training.

The LTTE recruitment drive has triggered an exodus from the LTTE held areas to the Army controlled area. About 1,200 refugees have come to Valaichchenai and scores of families have arrived in Chenkalady. Police here have recorded 900 refugee families in the army controlled area.

Spontaneous resistance, including clashes with the LTTE recruiting agents have been reported.

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