More of the beast within the LTTE

The LTTE's brutal sadism and its unsettling and enormous capacity for child abuse have been revealed through its seizure of some 24 schoolchildren along with their teachers in the outskirts of Batticaloa town.

What makes the situation of the children more heart-rending is the fact that they were engaged in revising their lessons for the G.C.E. Ordinary Level examination the next day, when they were pounced upon by the demented Tigers. Brutality and inhumanity of these proportions, the world would never have known.

Here is concluding evidence that the LTTE just could not care less for the wellbeing of the young of the North-East.

The students were forcibly taken directly to LTTE training camps for the purpose of being schooled in the skills of killing and unleashing cruelty. So much for the Tigers' care and concern for young Tamils.

Apparently, such brutality is the norm and rule among the Tigers. As our lead story yesterday indicates, not very far from the scene of the abduction drama, a second tutory, this time in the village of Kalawanchikudi, was broken into and another group of G.C.E. Ordinary Level students seized.

Their orders were that they should turn up for 'military training' as soon as they completed their examination.

There is food for thought here for the international community. Thus far, the Tigers have been at pains to point out to the world that child abuse and child soldiers are not in their line. The Batticaloa tragedy should open the eyes of the world fully to the LTTE-instigated child abuse horrors.

The Tigers have been taking the international community - including the relevant UN agencies - for a ride on this issue and it is high time it alerted itself into taking the necessary corrective action to weed out this evil of Tiger making.

Time is of the essence. The more dilly-dallying engaged in by the world community, the greater would be the excesses committed by the LTTE. The big stick should now be wielded on the Tigers and these brutes of the wild brought quickly to heel.

It is plain to see that the Tigers are sparing no one in their efforts to advance their savage separatist war against the Lankan State. Certainly, nothing is pristinely pure in the eyes of the LTTE - not even childhood.

We hope these Tiger excesses and grave abuses would be driven home to the relevant quarters at the international level by those who have been entrusted these tasks by the Lankan State. No time could be lost.

The relevant Web sites, for instance, should be full of this gruesome news. Our missions abroad should be working at break-neck speed, alerting the world to the LTTE's monstrous behaviour which words cannot easily describe.

There are lessons here for also the Lankan State. It is known for a fact that the Government is deeply concerned about the Tamil citizenry. Ship loads of essential goods, for example, are being sent to the North by the State for the purpose of meeting the everyday needs of the Tamil people.

Perhaps now, special attention may need to be paid to the young of the North-East. What special steps could be taken to care for the young of the North-East ? This question needs to be answered.

The Tamil people, on their part, should alert themselves even further to the brutality and savagery the Tigers are capable of. It would be in their interests to oppose the Tigers tooth and nail, and to alienate themselves fully from the LTTE.

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