Tamil Leaders Call for an End to Conflict in Sri Lanka
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Tamil leaders appealed to the international community to press Sri Lanka’s government to stop its military offensive in the east, saying more than 115,000 people have been forced from their homes in the past week.
Army shelling drove civilians from villages near Batticaloa as part of the military’s “attempt to invade” the rebel-held area, TamilNet cited T. Ariyanenthiran, the parliamentary representative of the Tamil National Alliance, as saying Sunday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are preventing civilians trying to reach government-controlled areas, the government said last week.
“The terrorist outfit, running short of fighting cadres, is conducting an extensive recruitment process” in the east, the Defense Ministry said on its Web site.
The LTTE, which is fighting for a separate homeland within the nation, accused the government of trying to impose a military solution after the army captured 16 rebel bases in the northeastern region since January. Sri Lanka’s peace talks collapsed last year when fighting broke out in the north and east, leaving 200,000 people homeless in the past six months, according to the United Nations.
Soldiers killed at least 20 LTTE fighters during operations Sunday in the Chenklady and Mahaoya areas outside Batticaloa, the Media Center for National Security said in a statement. The army arrested hundreds of civilians in villages in the area, TamilNet cited Ariyanethiran of the TNA as saying. The party has 22 seats in Sri Lanka’s 225-member parliament.
A total of 18,454 people reached areas under government control around Batticaloa since Jan. 23, the Media Center said March 9. Civilians escaped after being forced by rebels to return to their villages where many are used as human shields or made to join the group, it said last week.
“The notion of winning means different things to both parties. But, from a human-rights angle, it’s disturbing that both parties define winning in violent terms,” said Sanjana Hattotuwa, senior researcher at the Center for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based independent body. “It’s high time they move away from this and return to a political process.”
About 600,000 people remain cut off in the Jaffna region by fighting that began last August, UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, said last week, adding that the violence between the army and LTTE is at the highest level since a cease-fire was declared in 2002.
