Chronology of LTTE terror- Part 50

From the Daily News Archives

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When the euphoria of victory dies down, and together with it the media hype ceases, when the guns do not rattle and boom anymore and the sky, the land and the sea become calm and serene, when tranquillity reigns through it is natural to live in the present moment and forget the past. But one cannot live in the present without a past. Nor can one envision the future discarding the experience of the preceding events. Hence the Daily News is serialising the Chronicle of LTTE Terror taken from our own archives which would remind our readers how it all began. An awareness of the chronology of terror would help us prevent the recurrence of such terror and frustrate any attempts by misguided elements to repeat history to suit their evil designs. It was not simple terror. Nor was terror sporadic. It was all pre-planned, pre-determined, well-calculated terror. The victims were innocent people. Though it is too many innumerate we would like to recall the major episodes in the Chronology of Terror.

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Wednesday Oct. 31, 1990

Loudspeaker announcements to hasten process:

Muslims flee homes after Tiger threats

Colombo, Tuesday (Reuter) - The Sri Lankan government said on Monday hundreds of thousands of Muslims were fleeing their homes in Tamil-dominated areas of the island following death threats by Tamil rebels.

A further 45,000 Muslims had fled their homes in Mannar island off Sri Lanka's northwest coast in the past few days, a government statement said.

It said the Muslims were being chased away by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Spokesmen for the Tamil rebels were not immediately available for comment on the government's report of a mass exodus.

"These terrorists have looted the homes and taken away jewellery and money from members of this Muslim community," the government statement said.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, a political party, placed the numbers who had fled Mannar at more than 50,000.

Nearly 55,000 Muslims have been chased out with only the clothes they were wearing," the Congress said in a statement.

The Congress said 15,000 of them had fled in 300 or so boats and sought refuge at Kalpitiya, about 90 km (60 miles) south on the mainland. Fleeing residents from Mannar said they had been warned by the Tigers through loudspeaker announcements to leave their homes by Thursday or face death. An earlier deadline of October 28 had been extended.

A Mannar resident, who arrived in Colombo, said the Tigers had stolen their valuables. "They took money from traders and ransacked homes," the resident told reporters.

The man said the Muslims wanted to go back to their homes, but not until the government gave them protection. "If not, give an arms and we will look after ourselves," he said.

The government statement said the Tigers were trying to chase the Muslims away and alter the ethnic balance in the northern and eastern areas, which Tamils claim as their homeland.

Of Sri Lanka's 16 million people, 70 per cent are Sinhalese, 13 per cent are Tamils and seven per cent are Moslems.

LTTE terrorists chase Muslims out of Mannar

Wijitha NAKKAWITA

The year 1990 was to witness the most ruthless attacks of the LTTE terrorists who aimed at devastating the lives of rural communities in their cowardly night attacks on poor isolated villages of the Sinhalese and Muslims mainly in the eastern regions.

During September the terrorists' attack on Eravur killed 179 Muslims with nearly half of that number women and children. The excuse the LTTE offered was that some Muslims in the east were taking up arms for a religious struggle but there was no evidence to show that the Muslims were arming themselves.

In fact during the period the Tamil political groups including the Tamil National Alliance requested the government to disband the Muslim homeguards protecting their villages on the excuse that the homeguards were harassing Tamil villagers!

Of course some of these Tamil political groups including the PLOTE or EPRLF themselves also had carried arms and their request to disband the Muslim homeguards meant that the villagers were to be exposed to the attacks of the terrorists.

The request from the Tamil political groups coming weeks after the massacre of over 140 Muslims at prayer at the Kattankudy mosque and the mssacre of over 170 at Eravur showed the callousness of cynicism of those who had made the request.

The month of October was also to witness the attacks on Sinhala villages both in the east as well as the north central regions. On October2 terrorists killed two villagers at Vahalkada in Padaviya region but before that on September 27 they also attacked a village Pannemedawachchiya in the east killed four villagers.

In the last week of October1990 a large group of armed LTTE cadres arrived at the Muslim settlements in the Mannar district and ordered all the Muslims to quit the area immediately.

All the valuables including jewellery and household effects were grabbed by the terrorists and each person was allowed to take only one bag of clothing - the terrorists inspected all bags before the people left their homes - and one person was allowed to take only Rs. 150 with him/her.

The total numberof Muslims chased out of Mannar was nearly 50,000 and the LTTE did not allow those people to return to their villages again.

These Muslims came mostly walking for miles and miles and finally they were sheltered in temporay structures in Puttalam and other places where they languished till recent times.

Some of these Muslims who had visited the area of their homes had observed that all the door frames, window frames the timber and tiles or sheets on their roofs too had been removed after they had left the Mannar district.

These helpless people who were robbed of their cash,valuables and even their property were not allowed to come back of Mannar and they continued to live as refugees in the south proving that the LTTE terrorists were prepared even to go to the fires of hell if they could make a profit even by robbing the most harmless.

Tuesday Oct. 30, 1990:

Terrorists force 45,000 Muslims to leave Mannar

LTTE terrorists are reported to be chasing away Muslims, numbering over 45,000 from Karisal, Tarapuram and Erukulampiddy in Mannar.

The terrorists are said to have looted homes of Muslims and taken away jewellery and money. They had also issued an ultimatum to vacate the region to the Muslim community in the Vidithalativu, Silavathurai and Musali areas in the Mannar District.

An official report said that the terrorists were planning to alter the ethnic balance in Mannar district. Over 3,000 refugees were now being accommodated at the refugee camp in Vavuniya. It had also been reported that thousands of Muslims who had been thrown out by the LTTE terrorists from their traditional homelands in the districts of Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Mannar were now converging on refugee camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Anuradhapura.

The report said that security forces were conducting operations in the Batticaloa district to ensure that the terrorists did not sabotage the communication network in the area.

It also said that at Vandaramoolai and Talankudah the security forces who were conducting a search operation killed eight terrorists and recovered their weapons, ammunition and equipment. "Five soldiers who were wounded in this action have been evacuated. The terrorists attempted to attack the Meeradaya mosque but this was repulsed", the report said.

10,000 refugees in Puttalam

Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Social Welfare Minister A.M.S. Adhikari who visited Puttalam and Kalpitiya on Sunday found that about 10,000 Muslims from Mannar had come there on Friday following LTTE threats.

He was also told that another 8,000 families have flocked into Silavathurai Army Camp, and are awaiting transportation to Kalpitiya.

Minister Adhikari ordered cooked food parcels to be distributed to the refugees and instructed the officials to provide dry rations beginning yesterday.

He ordered that action be taken to supply private boat owners with diesel to enable them to help the security forces to transport the refugees from Silavathurai.

He also took action to release an officer from his ministry to the Puttalam GA to help in relief work and initiated action to put up temporary tents on lands belonging to the Salt Corporation and at JEDB estate to house the refugees. The Minister who describe the situation as pathetic said action was also being taken to provide adequate sanitary facilities.

Food supplies and medicines are being rushed to Kalpitiya.

Friday Oct. 05, 1990:

7 soldiers killed

Seven soldiers were killed and one wounded when a foot patrol between Mankulam and Yakawewa on the Medawachchiya-Mannar road was ambushed by LTTE terrorists, a situation report covering the 24 hours ending noon Thursday issued by the Defence Ministry said. It said that fleeing terrorists had fired on the Sinhala village of Thammannapura but no casualties had been reported.

Friday Oct. 26, 1990:

Quit tonight, LTTE orders Muslims

Tigers have ordered all Muslims in Mannar, Vavuniya, Jaffna and Mullaitivu to leave their homes by midnight today, a high ranking military official said.

In Mannar at Silavaturai nearly 1500 Muslim families sought refuge in the Silavaturai army detachment yesterday. The official said that all cash, jewellery and other valuable items of these families had been confiscated by the Tigers.

According to this official several Tamil families in Vavuniya have sought refuge in the main army camp as they have been ordered to hand over their children above eight years of age to the LTTE.

Reports reaching Colombo last morning said that troops were now clearing the KKS-Palaly area where the forces have consolidated themselves.

Monday Oct. 08, 1990:

Tigers kill two villagers

Colombo, Sunday (Lankapuvath) - Two villagers were brutally shot in their head and killed by LTTE terrorists at the Pulmuddai junction in Trincomalee yesterday.

Official sources told Lankapuvath that 05 villagers of Kurunduwinna in the Ampara district were missing. Another villager who had gone in search of them on a push cycle had ridden over an antipersonnel mine. The villager escaped unhurt. The Cycle, however was badly damaged. The sources also said that LTTE terrorists attacked two security force detachments.

The separate attacks were at Valaichenai in the east and Elephant Pass in the North.

Security forces in both instances had returned fire causing the terrorists to withdraw.

Friday Oct. 26, 1990:

Seven soldiers shot dead

Polonnaruwa group correspondent Elahera corr.

Seven army personnel were killed in a Tiger ambush near the 123rd mile post on the Habarana-Trincomalee road yesterday. The dead soldiers were identified as Jayatilleke Bandara, Chandrasiri, Ratnayake, Alwis, Karunaratne, Dayaratne and Susil Premasiri of the Kitulutuwa Army Camp.

Saturday Oct. 27, 1990:

Tigers kill 4 villagers

Colombo, Friday (Reuter) - Suspected Tamil separatist rebels shot dead four Sinhalese villagers in eastern Sri Lanka, military sources said today. They said the rebels stormed the remote farming village of Panmedawatchiya on Thursday, killing the four villagers and wounding two others. Troops found the bodies of four Tamil men in eastern Batticaloa district on Thursday, the sources said.

Tuesday Oct. 30. 1990:

5 shot dead by Tigers

LTTE terrorists shot and hacked to death five civilians including a female in the village of Thanthirimale in the Anuradhapura district, an official report said. More home guards have been sent to this area.

Monday: STF ambused at Panama

Yesterday: Death count tops 173