As Army-backed paramilitaries run amok terrorizing the Tamil and Muslim communities of the east, the Sri Lankan government is arming tens of thousands of Sinhalese, reports said this week.
The Sri Lankan government is stepping up the militarization and Sinhala colonisation of the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Amparai with the arming and settling of tens of thousands of civilian militia in the region, reports said.
Sri Lankan Media Minister Lakshman Yapa speaking at a cabinet press briefing on 20 December announced that 250,000 civil defense personnel have been recruited for the security of the Eastern Province in addition to the three armed forces, police and home guards.
According to Lanka-e-News, the Government provides salaries, firearms and ammunition to these personnel who work attached to temples and village offices etc.
These militia men who are referred to as a Civil Defense Personnel is entitled to Rs. 13,000 salary ($130), a mobile phone and Rs. 300,000 loan to build a house.
At present almost all the Buddhist temples in the Eastern Province are being used for military purposes. Each Buddhist temple in the region is provided with a four wheel drive jeeps, communication equipment and 40 armed personnel of Civil Defense Force.
With a total population of 1.5 million, one in six persons in the Eastern Province is a Sinhalese militia person from the Civil Defense Force.
Lanka-e-News further reported no one is allowed to photograph these areas that are under strict control of Army.
Just as the government militarized the east with armed Sinhalese militia, the government backed paramilitary group, Tamil Eelam Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), too was accused of forcibly arming abducted civilians, further militarising the east.
According to one leading Sri Lankan newspaper, the TMVP is "running riot in the Eastern Province, especially in Batticaloa, turning the entire district into a virtual hell hole for the civilians living there."
The Nation paper quoted sources as saying that the situation in the east at present is far worse before the province was 'liberated' from the LTTE by the government.
"The situation has become extremely severe that even civilians who are harassed by the Pillaiyan gang have now stopped complaining to the police, as law enforcement officers also turn a blind eye to the growing phenomenon, the paper said.
Sources from the province charged that Pillayan cadres wear half masks and enter houses at night to take away valuables and warn the victims if they utter a word, they will have to face the consequences.
The Pillayan problem has also affected the Muslims in the province, with sources claiming that Pillayan is now encroaching into the lands that belong to Muslim civilians by force and is settling his supporters in those lands.
In its weekly report, covering the period 10 December to 16 De-cember, the international monitors of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said that on December 11 two men (ages 19 and 20) and one boy (age 17) were abducted, reportedly by the TMVP, in Thirukovil, in Amparai.
"The SLMM received information that they were given guns and forced to patrol the area on motorbikes," the mission said.
It also stated that, on the same day, another 18-year-old man was abducted in Thandiady in Amparai. "It was reported that the perpetrator was the TMVP, and the man was forced to do armed street patrolling," SLMM said.
According to the SLMM report at least 18 persons were abductions during first week of December alone by the Pillayan group.
SLMM Spokesman Pia Hansson told The Nation newspaper, "We have noticed a large number of killings and abductions in the east and we are concerned about this trend."
According to the Nation, grave atrocities, including murder, abductions, extortion and land grabbing continue unabated in the east, with civilians living in Batticaloa having to bear the major brunt. Also, the activities of Pillayan and his cadres have now even begun to spread to Amparai.
Pillayan, who has now been nicknamed 'Billa' (child snatcher), took over the TMVP leadership after overthrowing its founder, renegade LTTE leader Karuna Amman, who is now in British custody.
However, Pillayan's rhetoric to put an end to all atrocities committed before his time, now appears to be an utter farce, with reports emanating from the eastern districts disclosing that Pillayan's activities are as bad as Karuna's, if not even worse," sources from the east, who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed, reported the Nation.
