Spotlight

Justice according to the Tiger

Justice the Tiger way

State banks in Tiger heartland

Text and photos By Amantha Perera 

The Tamil Eelam Court complex by the side of the A9 in Kilinochchi appears the same as any other court complex anywhere else in Sri Lanka.

Lawyers in black coats huddle with clients, citizens who have arrived in court for various cases, sit on the side of the buildings hunched and contemplative.

The LTTE takes pride in its administrative apparatus, and it is the same attitude that is applied to the court system as well. 

E. Parajasingham, a former member of the Sri Lanka parliament and now head of the LTTE judicial system said that the LTTE was paying more attention these days  to its law college currently housed in Mullaithivu. "In one or two months we will open the new Tamil Eelam Law College," he said. There are 25 students studying law at the college now and almost 150 have passed out as lawyers. The college was established in 1992.

The expediency with which the Tiger court system works has attracted cases from areas outside their control. "People from Batticaloa, Trincomalee and other places are coming to our courts," Parajasingham said. Mostly cases in towns just outside LTTE held areas end up in Tiger courts.

However before such cases are taken up before the Tamil Eelam court, both parties have to agree that they would abide by the verdict. The LTTE court system was first initiated in 1993. Before that a system of conciliation boards was in operation in Tiger held areas.

"The courts system evolved from these boards which were lacking in legal acumen suitable for dealing with complex issues," says the booklet titled The Judicial System Of Tamil Eelam, published by the Tigers.

The courts work at breakneck speed compared to the south. Within 15 minutes between 10.20 am and 10.35 am on September 15, four cases were concluded at one court in Kilinochchi. In fact by law, a case cannot extend beyond six months. The entire court system is handling 36,000 cases at present and have concluded 30,000. Parajasinham said that only about 1000 cases has come up for appeal. "Appeal is very easy here. In the south a lot of money is needed," he said elaborating that with a payment of Rs. 1000 an appeal can be filed.

The LTTE court system includes district courts, high courts, a court of appeal, a supreme court and a special court. It also has its own chief justice and legal draftsman. Lawyers qualified from the Sri Lanka Law College can practice at the Tiger courts and there are about 11 such lawyers working at present.

Judges are LTTE members selected after a three-year study period. After the three years they do one year of internship as lawyers. The laws are drafted by a council. However LTTE Leader Vel upillai Pirapaharan has the ultimate say as to which laws are enacted.

"Only he has the authority to reduce or increase the sentences imposed by the courts wherever the need arises. All laws are made with his approval," the booklet explains.

The laws are a combination of the foreign influences that are reflected in the laws of Sri Lanka as well. "It is basically British law," said Parajasingham. There are influences of the Roman Dutch law, Thesevalama and other customs practised in the north east of Sri Lanka.

An unique feature of this justice system is that attorneys-at-law are not paid directly. The payments are regularised and made to the court office which in turn pays the lawyer. For the first appearance, the charge is Rs 250, Rs 150 and Rs 500 per appearance in the appeal court to file a motion letter at the district court, according to court registrar, A. Pahan. All lawyers have to register themselves at the court.

Cases against individual LTTE members can be referred to the court. However, cases involving two LTTE cadres against each other are taken up at special tribunals within the organisation.

At the Kilinochchi court, Mondays and Tuesdays are set aside for civil cases, Wednesdays for serious cases and the last two days of the week for criminal cases.

 The court is complete with its own staff, mudliyars and police officers.

According to Parajasinham, the most number of cases that are directed to the courts are ones connected with land issues. Since the ceasefire, returning refugees have found that their land has been taken over by others and seek legal help.

The ghost of bases past

By Dharisha Bastians 

For the people of the south, the name Elephant Pass brings to mind one of the worst military debacles in the history of the conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers, when the rebels overran the base and the risk of losing control of the Jaffna peninsula for the first time in over five years became a very real possibility for the government in April of 2000. Less than a decade before the camp was overrun however, Sri Lanka Army troops successfully repulsed a massive rebel onslaught on the same base, in one of the best defensive operations in the history of the war. This is that story.

Elephant Pass is situated along the neck of the only land route that connects the northern Jaffna peninsula to the rest of the island. Through the ages, the position has assumed significance in terms of inland security, since it was the point at which the flow of persons into the south of the island was monitored. With the escalation of the conflict in the north and east, what used to be a police checkpoint was converted into a military garrison, initially comprising only just over a 100 troops because of the strength of the army base less than 20km away in Kilinochchi. With the fall of Mankulam in the Wanni in 1990, Elephant Pass was quick to assume importance as the only obstacle in the path of the LTTE's northern push, between Vavuniya and the Jaffna peninsula.

The conditions at the Elephant Pass military complex were far from rosy even at the best of times. The only water fit for drinking was several kilometres away at the freshwater wells and tanks of Pallai and Iyakachi and the sweltering heat of the dry zone coupled with total lack of foliage to offer any respite at all, meant that it was probably one of the worst service assignments, enough to test the mettle of the strongest soldier. Training in those conditions, military sources say, was excruciatingly painful and several army personnel shot themselves in order to leave the camp for medical treatment. "The phenomenon of self-inflicted casualties was common back then, but at the end of the day it meant only the strongest were left to hold the Pass when it came to crunch time," military officials serving at EPS at the time said.

By 1991, the only supplies reaching the EPS complex were airlifted since there was no secure road head to keep a supply route open via land. But a mortar attack on the camp's helipad in April of the same year meant that helicopters too could no longer land in isolation at EPS and instead had to arrive in waves, accompanied by Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets.

When the Tigers launched their attack at dawn on July 10 therefore, the Elephant Pass camp complex was already under duress, with the airlifting of injured personnel in particular no longer easy. It was the southern end of the camp, facing the current LTTE stronghold Kilinochchi that was pounded in the dawn attack. The 1991 attack on the base is of significance, especially because it was the first time that the LTTE fired heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft ammunition to prevent helicopters from landing at the base, according to military analysts. It was upon a study of the attack later that it came to be known that the Tigers were using 30mm and 23mm guns to launch their attacks.

Besieged

By noon on July 10, officers at the base realised that the camp was under siege. An attack later that same night resulted in the first military losses and troops were forced to pull back unable to tackle the forward thrust of an improvised bulldozer being used by the LTTE.

Three nights later, the Tigers' bulldozer had cleared the bunker lines and was believed to be advancing towards the command base, firing heavily all the while. Security forces personnel however, managed to restrict the advance and destroy the bulldozer. And like joy that comes after a night of suffering, by sunset of July 14, General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and General Vijaya Wimalaratne who were heading Operation Balawega to save the base, had effected a successful sea landing at Vettilankerni, north east of EPS, and the force comprising three brigades began their march towards the camp complex.

The Vettilankerni landing meant that a significant amount of pressure was taken off the LTTE's onslaught on the EPS camp complex, senior military officials say, since the rebels' energies were shifted to trying to stop the three brigades advancing towards the scene of the battle. "The resistance Gen. Kobbekaduwa's men met with can be measured by the fact that it took them three weeks to finally arrive at EPS which was a mere five kilometres away," one officer involved in the defence of the camp in 1991 said.

Heavy casualties

Back at the base, the casualties were piling up, with several of them faced with the prospect of death because there was no qualified medical practitioner at the base to be able to amputate wounded limbs resulting in the setting in of gangrene. They could not be airlifted for treatment because LTTE fire was preventing helicopters landing with any regularity. Lt. Col. Sanath Karunaratne, the then commander of the EPS complex ordered an assistant medical practitioner at the camp to begin amputation with radio instructions about the procedure in order to give his men at least a 50% chance of survival. Suffice to say that many of these personnel are alive today.

"It was a tremendous effort by the troops. Towards the end of the three weeks the camp was held until reinforcements arrived, the walking wounded began manning the bunkers during the day in order to allow the able personnel to sleep in order to keep the night watch," an official who did not wish to be named said. Even as the drought season began to set in and water was scarce and rationed, orders were given that, half bucket of water daily allocation notwithstanding, every soldier was to shave each morning and keep their hair cut short to keep troop morale high. "It was important that the soldiers continued to have an interest in living - it is easy to get demoralised in conditions like those, being under siege for nearly three weeks," a senior military official present during the 1991 battle said.

Final thrust

In a last ditch effort, the LTTE launched a massive attack from the northern side of the camp on the night of July 28, with the Balawega troops only 3 km away. A radio call came in from General Kobbekaduwa, asking if the forward thrust should be accelerated so that the reinforcements would arrive at EPS that very night. Knowing that such a move would result in massive losses to the military, commanding officers at EPS decided they would hold the base with the current deployment. The soldiers repulsed five attacks that night, despite significant losses. August 2 saw a tractor being escorted across the lagoon by Balawega troops to transport the critically wounded for treatment, and two days later, on August 4 the reinforcements had arrived at Elephant Pass and the camp, under siege for nearly a month, continued to remain under Sri Lanka Army control.

The 1991 attack on the Elephant Pass complex resulted in one of the Tigers' biggest defeats, having lost 550 cadres, and paved the way for Balawega II and III troops to advance the army's forward defence lines and also connect and secure Vettilankerni, Pooneryn and EPS by making them army strongholds, effectively cutting off the LTTE's paths to the northern peninsula in 1992.

The Elephant Pass of today, more than two years since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, is a landscape strewn with the ghosts of battle - for the military, the valiant struggle of 1991 and an excruciating defeat nine years later; vice versa for the LTTE. There is no one left at EPS to tell the thousands of stories - despite it having fallen to the Tigers in 2000, there is no presence in the vast expanse of land. But it is unlikely that any one could retell them better than the war memoirs itself: the LTTE bulldozer Gamini Kularatna of Hasalaka village lobbed a grenade at to prevent it entering the command base in 1991- he was killed on his retreat; the spent ammunition and ripped armour; a single boot that once was part of an uniform; the destroyed army tank in front of a badly damaged sign board that reads -'Elephant Pass'.

Strategically, the recapture or holding of Elephant Pass, even in the event of a resumption of war, military analysts say, is not of significant importance, since other supply lines remain open. But sentimentally the situation differs. For both parties to the conflict, EPS remains and will always remain, a psychological trump card; for the Tigers, it is the gateway to the cultural capital of Eelam and the point at which the march forward becomes clearer; and for the military, it is the key to ensuring its presence in the north of the country and the preservation of some semblence of unification.

Financial centres on the A9 

The streets of Kilinochchi are paved with paradox: a separate court complex, professing to mete out justice as per the Tamil Eelam judicial system, all the while interpreting the constitution of Sri Lanka, the post office that is maintained (albeit inadequately) by the central government and a line of state banks existing beside the Bank of Tamil Eelam, which also adheres to Sri Lankan banking laws although it is not recognised by the state. Each of the banks boast almost equal customer bases and officers at all three banks affirm that people have taken a bigger interest in banking and finance in the area since the signing of the ceasefire.

Vaikyanathan Dhananathan is the manager of the Bank of Tamil Eelam in Kilinochchi, one of nine branches situated around the north and east. The unique feature of the bank, in comparison with the state banks next to it is that it remains open for business as late as 9 p.m. and Dhananathan himself oversees things even at that hour. "Most customers come to the bank for pawning and business loans. People in Kilinochchi have also begun to build houses again, so there are also requests for housing loans," Dhananathan said. The Kilinochchi branch employs 17 people, almost all of them residents of the town itself. In all, Dhananathan says the bank, which was opened in 1997, has about 10,000 customers conducting their banking business at his branch and they offer loans of upto Rs. 500,000.

Dhananathan's counterpart at the National Savings Bank, just two or three doors away, S. Thaneshwaran is a Jaffna Tamil with a pragmatic view of the conflict and its effects on the people. He was posted to Kilinochchi's branch of NSB in 2002 and has since been at the helm of a great many changes at the bank aimed at making it as modern and hi-tech as other branches across the country. During the years of conflict, the NSB branch in Kilinochchi functioned just barely, in a small shed for an office and just two people on the staff. By October 2003, the bank was housed in a brand new building and the staff had swelled in number to 12.

According to Thaneshwaran, NSB has about Rs. 360 million in savings deposits and about 10,000 current customers. "We face difficulties in granting housing loans since there is no insurance available here for construction, but many customers come in asking for agricultural loans and loans to reconstruct damaged houses," Thaneshwaran says. To him, war or peace, life has to go on and business as usual appears to be his motto. "We are a generation of war, we are ready to face war or peace because we have already been through it all and adapted to it," Thaneshwaran said. Given that NSB in Kilinochchi is one of the network's profit making branches, adapted well it has.

The Bank of Ceylon in Kilinochchi town was established in 1970 and had to be relocated to Wannipuram during the worst years of the conflict, according to its Manager, S. Tiruchelvam. With the signing of the MOU, the branch had been moved back into town although still the facilities available at the branch are inadequate, Tiruchelvam says. "People come in here with various needs but we are not in a position to meet them because the infrastructure is not in place for the smooth functioning of the bank," he says.

As for whether the months ahead would see the influx of private sector banks venturing into Kilinochchi, Tiruchelvam says  it is unlikely because even finding a building in the town is a difficult task since most of them have been damaged during the war. "There is a lack of water and proper telecommunication facilities, so they would naturally be hesitant to come in," he said.

Dhananathan, when asked about dealings with the state banks preferred not to comment, but since the Bank of Tamil Eelam is not recognised as a legitimate financial body, it would be left with no choice but to depend on the state sector players to encash foreign remittances and so forth. So for the banks along the A9 in Kilinochchi, co-habitation and co-existence seem to be the name of the game.

- DB

Alone in Tiger land 

On Februray 22, 1979,  M.M. Wejesiri alias Raju and his wife K.G. Hemalatha decided to visit Raju's elder brother living in Kilinochchi. Twenty five years ago, the ethnic conflict had not raised its head and Sinhalese were being encouraged to settle down in the area.

Raju and his wife liked what they saw, and decided to stay on. They applied for and received government land and raised a family. While the Raju family was blossoming in Kilinochchi, so was the bloody ethnic strife. When the violence increased most of the Sinhalese left for the south, including Raju's brother. "They all left, we stayed," he said.  Today they are the only  two Sinhalese people living and working permanently in Kilinochchi. Both have vegetable stalls at the market. "It was the late Denzil Kobbekaduwa who gave us the space in the market," Raju said referring to the time when Kilinochchi was under army control.

However, like their Tamil neighbours the two had to move when the army and the LTTE confronted each other in Kilinochchi. They left in 1996 to Kumarapuram and only returned in 2001. In 1991 their four  children left the Wanni and now live in the south. The parents last visted them this February.

"Business is good here, if it remains like this it will be good," Hemalatha said. It was not easy staying back  in Tamil dominated Kilinochchi, according to Hemalatha who said that they were checked and rechecked. There are a few Sinhala families living in LTTE controlled areas near Mannar, but Hemalatha and Raju are the only Sinhalese in the Tiger heartland. "There is this other woman called Anulawathi but she has forgotten all her Sinhalese," Hemalatha said.

But they don't complain about life now. "It is the same here and there, one and the same thing," she said. Though products now arrive in Kilinochchi without much delay and hassle, the LTTE tax system adds to the costs. For each month Rs 70 is paid to the organisation for the stall among other payments.

The two who are in their mid-50's appear like any other vendors at the market and speak in fluent Tamil. They said that they learnt the language when they came to Kilinochchi. "We have no problems here," Hemalatha said.

The ceasefire has given the two the chance to breath easier and interact with visitors from the south. The total absence of warfare however did not appear to make much of an impact on the two who have lived through heavy bombardment.  Both however,  were apprehensive about the possibility of resumption of hostilities.

That only two Sinhalese continue to live and work in Kilinochchi is indicative of the gulf that exists between the two communities. To the Tamil in Kilinochchi the Sinhalese is an alien and vice versa. Hemalatha and Raju live in Kilinochchi because they have been assimilated. And at 55, it would be pretty hard to relocate anywhere else.

- Amantha Perera

Kilinochchi pola - brimming with life 

In the years following the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the LTTE, it is the town of Kilinochchi, also the Tigers' administrative centre, that has shown the most signs of a rapid recovery from almost two decades of conflict. The central market at Kilinochchi teems with life on weekday afternoons, with vegetable vendors in particular doing brisk business. And while the LTTE imposes its own tax on consumer goods entering the Wanni, the array of items on sale at dress shops and grocery stores are indicative of how viable business in the area has become.

"Before peace there were no goods coming in to the market from Vavuniya or Jaffna. But now we get potatoes and carrots from Nuwara Eliya and other vegetables from Jaffna," said S. Kandan, a vendor at the vegetable pola.  Kandan and his counterparts sit beside each other selling almost the same varieties of produce with small differences in price. "We used to have to sell our vegetables at any old price before because there was no one here who wanted to buy, but now a market has been made and prices are regularised," Kandan added.

Two among the 15 or so vendors huddled with their wares inside the tent stand apart from the rest. Hemalatha and Wijesiri are Sinhalese, originally from Deraniyagala, and they have lived in Kilinochchi since 1979. Having been given her shop space by General Kobbekaduwa back in 1990 when the army still controlled the Wanni, Hemalatha continues to conduct her business with no interference from the LTTE or the other vendors. She speaks Tamil fluently now: "I got used to it," she says, and prefers to live in Tiger-controlled Kilinochchi because business is better here.

Her sentiments were echoed by Kandan who said that if there were no problems, Kilinochchi would be the best place to do business. Many of the vendors have lived through the years of conflict in Kilinochchi itself and so are living testimony to the fact that the 'times there are a-changing'.

Shanmugam Sivasam, who moved from Kurunegala to the north after the riots of 1983 says that business is certainly better than it was during the years of war, the money they earned was still insufficient to properly meet their needs. He is one of several coconut sellers at the Kilinochchi pola and says that coconuts are sold for anything between Rs. 8 and Rs. 13, fairly high prices for an area in which coconut trees are in abundance. "The price is high because many coconuts are transported to Jaffna and Vavuniya from the Wanni and this results in a demand here," Sivasam says. He earns between Rs. 100 and 200 a day, Rs. 70 of which is paid as rent to the LTTE for the stall space daily.

Still war isn't far from their minds, Sivasam says, adding that each time they read the newspapers old fears are renewed about a resumption of hostilities and a disruption of their livelihoods again. Sivasam and his family moved to Vavuniya during the Sri Lanka Army's Operation Sathjaya in 1996. Today his wife continues to live in government controlled areas while Sivasam earns a living in Tiger land and travels to visit her every two weeks or so. His future plans include selling his land in Kilinochchi at a time when he can get a decent price for the property and moving to Vavuniya to take up permanent residence there.

Like all thoroughfares, the Kilinochchi market too is an inter-mingling of cultures and personalities, bound by an economic common denominator. Mixing with the scents of fresh produce and talcum daubed women and children are the very palpable hopes, dreams and fears of a people, spent with war and just beginning to know a life sans barricades and battle.

- DB