Opinion - News Analysis

LTTE prepares to move in

By Nirupama Subramanian

Kokaddicholai (Batticaloa) March 5. In this village deep inside the LTTE-controlled territory, a group of people waited at the main LTTE office to see the area leader, Sivagnyanam Karikalan. Inside, Mr. Karikalan, dressed in a grey shirt and trousers, was in a lunch meeting with a team from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to discuss development projects for the area. Ever since the ceasefire, the 51-year-old political wing leader of the LTTE for Batticaloa and Ampara has been entertaining an unending stream of high-profile visitors, from the leader of the Indian plantation Tamils from central Sri Lanka and Cabinet Minister, Arumugam Thondaman, to foreign delegations. ``The ADB official told me he had believed the LTTE to be a terrorist organisation, but that he had changed his mind about that after coming here,'' Mr. Karikalan told The Hindu later, clearly revelling in the respectability.

In the specially-constructed waiting area of the office, a distraught mother pleaded with a minor LTTE functionary to be allowed to see her 17-year-old son at least once. Her three other children were also LTTE cadres, and were killed in battle. ``He is my only remaining child,'' she murmured in appeal, as the functionary moved away. She reasoned later that the LTTE could not have taken him away forcibly. ``They know we are a heroes' family. My son must have gone by himself. I will be happy if I can just have a glimpse of him, but they say they have sent him to a camp,'' she said.

Those who have refused to part with their children or money have been punished. People who fled the LTTE-controlled areas have been asked not to return, and their homes and paddy fields, if they had any, taken over. But Mr. Karikalan denied that there was forcible recruitment of children, or that the LTTE was extorting money. ``The fear is being created artificially by those who are against the peace process,'' he told The Hindu, accusing Tamil militant groups who have been sidelined in the latest peace process of attempting to tarnish the LTTE's image by committing atrocities against the people in its name. He claimed that the LTTE recruited only ``volunteers'', and said it collected money from only those who were affluent enough to give, in order to maintain the strength of the organisation. ``It is only because of the LTTE's strength and the realisation that we cannot be militarily defeated, that the Sinhala government has decided to talk peace with us now,'' he said. Mr. Karikalan said the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, wanted to give the Wickremesinghe Government a chance to prove its sincerity. ``But we have been cheated before, and we have to be prepared for any eventuality,'' he said.

Seeking to dispel the impression that he had differences with the top leadership of the organisation, Mr. Karikalan described the ceasefire agreement as ``sacred'' to all the LTTE cadres, because it had been signed by the leader himself.

Under the agreement, after 90 days, the LTTE cadres will be allowed into the government-controlled areas of northeast Sri Lanka for ``political work''. Mr. Karikalan said the LTTE would set up an office in Batticaloa town for this purpose. He said the activities would include collecting funds for the organisation and recruitment of volunteers. ``Once we open our office in the town, people will get to know us better, and they will realise that we are not responsible for any of the activities that we are being blamed for now,'' he said. But there are concerns that once the LTTE becomes a legitimate force, it will begin a rapid takeover of the administration and civil affairs of the entire district.

There are signs of it already. Among those waiting to see Mr. Karikalan at his office was a teacher, who had been transferred to a school in an area not to his liking. ``We have come to appeal against the transfer and to ask for a better posting,'' said the teacher's wife, who had come with him. Asked how the LTTE could help when it was the Government that had ordered the transfer, the wife replied: ``We first appealed to the department. But they told us it is all in the hands of the Tigers, so we came here.''

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