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18 Tigers killed in battle, says army

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Tamil Tigers on Saturday charged that as a result of the recent declaration of certain areas in Muttur by the Government as High Security Zones (HSZs), 90 sqkm of area has been confiscated and thousands rendered homeless even as the military claimed that at least 18 cadres of the LTTE were killed in the continuing fighting in the north and east in the last 24 hours.

In a statement, the LTTE maintained that the latest “Military Zone” (MZ) in Muttur east in Trincomalee district has led to confiscation of private land from the Tamils who were displaced from their homes by indiscriminate shelling and bombing.

Muttur was captured by the military in August last year on the ground that the Tamil Tigers were targeting the Trincomalee naval base and other vital defence and economic installations of the Government.

A senior official in the Government justified the decision of the Government to declare parts of Muttur as HSZs. “Two factors influenced the decision. The Government had to safeguard its defence and economic interests in Trincomalee district as Tigers regularly used their bases in Muttur to hit at Government interests. Besides, the Government has received representations from at least 380 Sinhalese who were apparently displaced from the area in the 70’s and 80’s not to re-settle those displaced in August 2006,” the official told The Hindu.

The Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think-tank, last week filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Government to declare Muttur as an HSZ. The apex court is yet to take a view on the petition.

The LTTE alleged that thousands of Tamil families, who have been “historical inhabitants” of several villages in this area, would be affected by the latest declaration. “Despite this historic inhabitation by Tamils, even the Members of Parliament for this area were not consulted before making the MZ declaration.”

According to the Tigers, the declared of MZ in Muttur-East covers half of the present Muttur Divisional Secretariat which is 179.4 sqkm in territory.

“There are 18 Hindu temples and one Methodist church in this area. The area has 88 water tanks that are used for irrigating farmlands and grazing land for livestock.

“About 2000 hectares of such land are owned by the people. There are many fishing villages in which people depend on fishing as their main livelihood. Two hospitals, Sampur Hospital and Paddalipuram Hospital are situated in these newly declared MZ”, the Tigers claimed.

The LTTE maintained that such MZ declarations over the last three decades are a much ignored phenomenon and claimed that the land confiscations through MZ declarations have created more than 300,000 long term refugees.

Separately, the Attorney-General has advised the Government that his Department will forward an indictment of a soldier and a constable in the case of the killing of five students belonging to the Agricultural College, Thandikulam in November last year.

The killings of the five students followed an explosion in which five Sri Lanka army personnel lost their lives.

The army men were travelling along the A9 highway towards the Kokilai army camp when an explosion hit their truck. The explosion, which killed five personnel, occurred opposite the Agricultural College premises. “Investigations revealed that, soon thereafter, a group of persons arrived at the college, assaulted the students and shot at them”, the AG’s office said.

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