Press Release.

VANNI  PEOPLE  IN  GREAT  DISTRESS.

It is distressing to note that Vanni is starving due to acute shortage of food and the patients are suffering due to lack of essential drugs, the only available drugs being Panadol and Vitamin-C Immediate action should be taken to air drop dry ration and essential drugs followed by immediate shipment of these items.  The life of more than three hundred thousand civilians is at stake.  The source of information is very reliable.

The time has now come for the Government to stop and look back.  Before proceeding further, taking of a full stock of the situation is absolutely necessary.  The latest developments in Vanni do not appear to be encouraging but in fact is distressing. I am reliably informed that people are not merely on the verge of starvation but some people had infact died of starvation.  A family of six, narrowly escaped death after eating some food prepared with some local herbs, presumably poisonous.  To make things worse the LTTE had setup check point around to prevent anyone from escaping from the areas under their control and entering the safety zone.  Attempts by several people to escape were foiled by death threats and cordon and search operations.  Some had even lost their lives in their attempts to escape.

The war had been won and that is the stark truth.  If the LTTE thinks that they can stage a come back they are living in a dream world.  They are now holding the people to ransom partly as human shield and partly to strengthen their bargaining power.  The factors that should be taken into serious consideration in a situation like this are many.  The Government forces suffered heavy losses and had to sacrifice thousands of soldiers in this war against terrorism.  One of the factors that contributed for their victory is certainly the co-operation of the civilians given to the forces who during the entire war period treated the civilians as friends and not as enemies and vice-versa.  The parents who were deprived of their children due to the LTTE’s conscription, worked with a vengeance.  The LTTE cadre who lost their lives at the battle front were children of poor parents, compulsorily recruited to the LTTE cadre.  Conscription is still going on.  Over 8000 students who sat for the G.C.E. Examination are being mercilessly and forcibly recruited.  Even the elders trapped in Vanni are given brief but intensive training to fight.  Deprived of all the facilities they had in the past, the LTTE can never raise their head.  Hence no one need take the LTTE seriously.

But the country has a responsibility to liberate all without one life lost.  Even the LTTE cadre recruited by force should be rehabilitated.  Hence it is the duty of the Government to save every soul now caught up in Vanni.  Food should be provided to meet the needs of all.  It is no secret that the entire LTTE cadre had been fed by the Government all these days, lasting over quarter of a century.  The LTTE has a habit and now it has become a tradition for them, to meet their requirements first, before that of the civilians.  Only if sufficient food ships are sent, the civilians will be in a position to receive their requirement in full.

This war cannot be brought to an end in a hurry as demanded by some.  One should have lost something very dear to him or to her due to the war, to realize the agony the war causes to the people.  All the good name the forces earned at great sacrifice including the loss of a large number of their comrades, should not go waste. During a recent briefing to the forces at the Vavuniya Head Quarters Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka had said “ our progress from now onwards should be made meticulously, taking maximum precautions, keeping the civilian factor in mind at all times”  it is reliably understood that there are over three hundred thousand civilians trapped there.  Therefore even if it takes one year for the war to end the Government forces should endure it and mark time.  The increase in civilian causalities including death is indeed disturbing and deplorable.   The Air Force that did a good job must now use all their air crafts for humanitarian activities.  Artillery attack and shelling also must stop forthwith and all the people trapped in Vanni should be tactfully and carefully brought to safety.  Then only the good name earned by the forces could be retained.

 V. Anandasangaree,

President – TULF.