Killing in Mutur raises 'homeguards scare' again [TamilNet, September 30, 2001 18:28 GMT]

Fear prevails in the interior villages southeast of Mutur following a shooting on Friday night in which a civilian in Thanganagar was killed and another was wounded. Residents of Thanganagar said that Sinhala homeguards working with the Sri Lankan security forces in the Serunuwara Police division had shot the two men while they were watching TV at home. Sinhala homeguards massacred seven villagers on 2 October last year in the Thanganagar area. Tamil villagers in Thanganagar-Poonagar area said they fear that the homeguards may strike again.

Kanagasuntheram Mohan , 26, was killed on the spot when persons suspected to be Sinhala homeguards opened fire on him and his friend, Sinnappu Jeyarajah, 26, on Friday night. The wounded youth has been admitted to the Trincomalee hospital.

"The Police and the army visited the scene of the shooting. They were obviously not too keen to implicate the homeguards in the killing," a relative of the wounded youth said.

Villagers complain that the homeguards operate with impunity in their area under the protection of the Police and the army.

Homeguards in many parts of the east are drawn by the Police and the SLA from Sinhala families that were settled strategically in this region by the Sri Lankan government with the aim of altering the demographic complex of the region.

Human rights NGOs in the eastcoast attribute to the homeguards many violations and other social evils prevalent in the region now.