COLOMBO, SEPT. 20. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has brought in top level changes in the two troubled eastern districts — Batticaloa and Amparai — by replacing its Special Commander, Ramesh, with the rebel group's head of heavy mortar division, Bhanu.
According to sources in eastern Sri Lanka, `Col.' Ramesh, who was named as the Special Commander after the rebellion by the former Special Commander, V. Muralitharan (`Col.' Karuna) earlier this year, handed over charge of the two eastern districts to `Col.' Bhanu, who is from northern Sri Lanka. `Col.' Ramesh is scheduled to leave for rebel-held Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka.
The LTTE has not made any official statement on the situation and could not be reached for comment. According to security sources in eastern Sri Lanka, there has been no official intimation but ``ground reports'' confirmed the change in the eastern leadership.
`Shrinking space'
While sources close to the LTTE say that a person from Jaffna was brought in ``at the request of some senior eastern functionaries,'' critics of the LTTE say that the latest appointment points to the ``shrinking space for accommodation'' by the Tigers to `Col.' Karuna's rebellion.
After `Col.' Karuna's revolt in March, he was expelled from the organisation. Ramesh, his unranked deputy who hails from the eastern districts, was named as the Special Commander and was subsequently promoted to the rank of a `Colonel,' in the rebel fighting force.
After holding out for just over a month, `Col.' Karuna left Batticaloa for Colombo when the LTTE launched its Good Friday operation to ``get rid'' of its former military commander.
Since then, ``unidentified gunmen'' killed several LTTE senior functionaries, including the Batticaloa town political leader, Senadhi. The Tigers blamed Karuna's supporters and armed groups backed by sections of the military intelligence for the killings. The latest in the string of killings of senior LTTE functionaries was the gunning down of the Amparai district political leader, Bawa, last month.
The Government, which initially denied any involvement, subsequently conceded that ``sections of the armed forces'' could have played a role, but maintained that there was nothing official about it.
`Internal affair'
In the absence of any official statement by the LTTE, which is considering the leadership change as ``an internal affair,'' there has been intense media speculation in Colombo. Some reports suggest that `Col.' Bhanu was appointed to neutralise the supporters of `Col.' Karuna, while others indicate that `Col.' Ramesh was ``ineffective'' and hence the change.
Security sources in eastern Sri Lanka said there was no independent confirmation of these media reports.
Effigies burnt
Meanwhile the anti-LTTE Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) today protested against the ``continued killing'' of its political activists and burnt effigies of the LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran, and its political wing leader, S.P. Tamilchelvan, and blamed the Tigers and the Norwegian facilitators for the killings. The immediate reason for the protests is Saturday's killing of one of its senior functionaries — Sivakumaran — by unidentified gunmen in the northwestern Puttalam district. Sivakumaran had moved a fundamental rights case against the recently concluded Parliamentary elections in the northeast.
``The LTTE is treating the ceasefire agreement as a license to kill everybody, so we burnt their effigies,'' an EPDP spokesperson said.
The demonstrators, who carried a coffin to the Norwegian Embassy, raised slogans condemning the facilitators and the Tigers.
``Norway stop the killings or leave the peace process,'' said a slogan, while another said ``peace talks and internecine killings — two sides of the same coin.''
The EPDP, which has been a vocal critic of the LTTE, has been a major victim of internecine killings, and its leader, Douglas Devananda, escaped from an aborted suicide bomb attack this July.
(http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/21/stories/2004092101891401.htm)
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