Batti on the boil

Batticaloa, specifically the two Muslim strongholds on either side of the town, Kathankudi and Eravur, have been on the boil since May 22. The trouble started with the murder of  Kumar Sathisaran alias Shanthan, the Arayampathi head of the TMVP.

He was shot and killed using a T56 weapon near the Kathankudi bus stand, and trouble that erupted following this murder has not stopped since, though there have been heavy reconciliation efforts undertaken by TMVP Head Sivasuntharai Chanthrakanthan.

Chanthrakanthan known until March 10 only by his nom de guerre Pillayan has been holding hectic meetings one after the other to quell the violence. He has met with Muslim leaders, visited mosques and even a funeral house of a Muslim woman who died on May 26 in Eravur. He has gone as far as admitting that some of his own TMVP members may be to blame for inciting violence.

His diplomatic efforts have been only partially successful, tension and violence have been sporadic, but fear has remained.

Due to violence

Relief workers in the district that still has 18,000 IDPs and 124,000 new returnees restricted work for a whole week, between May 22 and 28 because of the violence.  Agencies have been fearful of getting caught in the violence, as one unfortunate local staffer of World Vision did on  May 26.

He was returning home to Chenkaladi when he ran into Muslim crowds on the main road near the Eravur fuel station. He was set upon and later hospitalised.

The attack meant that agencies were not too keen to send staff out north or south of Batticaloa if they were travelling through the two troubled spots. Tamils were more fearful of travelling.

There was more trouble in Kathankudi when the body of a Muslim vegetable vendor was discovered near Kalladi Bridge, just outside Batticaloa town on June 1 afternoon. The victim later identified as 45 year old father of three, Abdul Farook Mohamed, was originally from Eravur but had settled in Kathankudi after marriage.

Immediately after the news of the discovery of the body on Shivanantha Road, Kalladi, Kathankudi became tense with agitated youth getting on to the streets and calling for a three day work shutdown.

To defuse tension

The funeral of the victim was held the next day, and reports in the area said some religious and political leaders had called for the funeral to be held on the same day, June 2 in an attempt to defuse tension.

On June 3, angry Muslim youth had taken to the streets to protest the murder that increased the number of deaths since the Shanthan assassination to seven, including five Muslims.

The tension in the area can be gauged by what transpired  on June 5. In the morning, news spread like wild fire that two more Muslims  had been killed in the troubled Arayampathi, where three Muslims were hacked and killed on May 22.

Panic spread in Kathankudi and shops put up shutters. By late afternoon what happened in Arayampathi became clear. A Muslim who had gone to the village had been threatened and his shirt ripped off, leading to the rumour that two Muslims had been hacked to death.

Muslims assaulted

However, 14 Muslims including a school principal were assaulted in and around Kathankudi on June 5 by an unidentified armed group during the morning tension when crowds once again took to the streets.

Muslim youth who were on the streets in Kathankudi also stopped public transport and burnt tyres. One van travelling from Kalmunai with Tamil passengers was stoned just outside Kathankudi.

TMVP sources said the attack was on an ambulance that was travelling from Akkaraipaththu to Batticaloa with nine patients and six medical staff. After the attack on the vehicle, police in Batticaloa had to face another protest by medical staff over their security.

Later that day Police Headquarters said that police had to be deployed in the area after 15 persons were injured when crowds took to the streets in Kathankudi after the rumour spread.

This is not the first time that rumour had led to public unrest. It was the same sequence on May 26 when rumours swept  through Eravur that a Muslim youth had been abducted and panic spread with crowds on the roads.

Muslims abducted

There was reason for the panic - two days before, on  May 25 two Muslims had been abducted and then released by police but not before they were assaulted at a TMVP camp.

Rumours led to street protests because no amount of dialogue had helped to ease the underlying tension between the two communities.

Muslims in Kathankudi said that a van carrying a delegation from the mosque was also stoned just outside Batticaloa on June 5 late afternoon.

Two policemen  were also shot and killed in two incidents in Batticaloa on June 5. One was shot near the Kalladi Bridge while manning a checkpoint around 5.30, while the other died when two police officers on patrol were shot in a by-road. Both attacks were blamed on unidentified gunmen riding motorcycles.

The TMVP also faced another threat when Iyathurai Pushpanathan alias Kattalan, the chairman of the newly formed Eruvil local authority  and Arasakonpulle Mohandas alias Amburaj were shot and killed in Eruvil, on June 3 morning.

Tigers blamed

The murders were blamed on the Tigers operating in the Eruvil area that lies close to the border with Ampara about 22 km south of Batticaloa.

It was a relatively quiet week in the northern fronts. The government military had suffered a Tiger assault on Cheerathivu island west of mainland Jaffna on May 29 and has taken more precautions to strengthen the defences in the costal areas.

In the early morning  of May 29 the Tigers launched a sea borne attack on the small detachment located on the island using at least six boats. Two soldiers and  a sailor on duty at the detachment were listed as missing during the attack which the Tigers said was a 'success.'

The military said that it was able to beat back the Tigers and a possible second wave attack from the Kalmunai Point beach, in Ponnaryn  where the boats had originated from.

However six civilians in the Kolumbuthurai and Gurunagar area on south western Jaffna coast were killed when artillery fire hit their homes on May 29 early morning.

Military drill

Last week the army carried out a military drill in the same area in the night.

"Security forces serving Kolombuthurai, Gurunagar and Pasiur areas in the Jaffna Peninsula with the intention of further beefing up security arrangements in the area conducted a security rehearsal beginning late evening on Monday (2) .

The military rehearsal took place keeping the movement of the public restricted in the area after informing the public in advance about the pending exercise. The requirement was necessitated as part of the precautionary measures being adopted particularly in the aftermath of a rain of LTTE artillery fire that struck Jaffna  on May  29 killing six civilians including all four in the same family.

The civilians were requested well in advance to keep off the roads during the rehearsal  to avoid any inconvenience to them.

Tiger terrorists in response to their abortive attempt to storm Cheerathivu island in the Peninsula went on directing a string of artillery shells on populated areas in  Jaffna.

The military exercise was completed during the small hours on Tuesday,"  the army said of the exercise.

Speculation has been rife within defence circles that the May 29 early morning attack was a dry run carried out by the Tigers.

The Tiger said that they had launched an attack on a naval post on the eastern coast of the Peninsula, at Nagarkovil, in the early hours of the morning on June 5.