- Who Digs Trenches & What for?

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Who Digs Trenches & What for?

Friday, 05 September 2008

THE PROPAGANDA mill of the terrorists, now on the verge of meeting its Waterloo with the imminent defeat of Tiger terrorism, appears to be twisting humanitarian ground realities in the MULLAITTIVU and KILINOCHCHI Districts to LTTE’s advantage. The latest ruse came to light with the publication of stage-managed photos where some civilians in un-cleared areas were taking cover inside LTTE dug trenches and pits which totally distorted the truth, according to escapees arriving in cleared areas.

Reports from LTTE-held areas speak how civilians, intending to move into areas controlled by the government, were being prevented continuously from deserting those areas at gunpoint, since the LTTE wanted them to use as a buffer in the event of troops reaching those locations. On the diktats of the armed Tigers, as the United Nations spokesman, Gordon Weiss has on Tuesday (2) reportedly told one local English daily ‘thousands of civilians who remain trapped in the Wanni are being prevented from moving into areas they prefer which was a cause for much concern.’ (Ref: Daily Mirror on 03rd September 2008).

Tigers ordering those entrapped civilians to dig trenches on their own are continuing to push them into those, so that Tigers could score mileage in their propaganda while showing the world how pathetic is the plight of the Tamils in those areas, since they are living in trenches and pits in fear of aerial shelling and advancing troops of the government. In effect, Tigers want to use those trenches as their bunkers and defence positions as and when the troops were rolling in. Due to dearth of LTTE manpower, terrorists are desperately making use of innocent civilians as their ‘shields’ to serve their purposes in case of emergencies. A civilian spoke against LTTE detention has been barred from coming out of a trench of that nature as a punishment.

This modus operandi of the terrorists is not at all sustainable in the near future as was the case in Vakare in the eastern province some time ago where besieged civilians en masse rose against weakened Tigers and finally crossed into cleared areas organized for displaced people, in spite of terror diktats. Who can guarantee a non-repetition of that nature in this instance too? It’s a matter of weeks, if not days.

(Courtesy : Sri Lanka Army )

Last Updated ( Monday, 09 March 2009 )