STF refutes baseless charges - Killing of 10 innocent Muslim civilians

COLOMBO: The Special Task Force (STF) unreservedly condemns the barbaric incident where 10 innocent Muslim civilians were killed brutally with sharp cutting instruments and their dead bodies recovered on September 18 in Rattal Kulam in Raddella in Pottuvil in the Ampara district. In this incident, an innocent elderly Muslim civilian, who sustained cut injuries, is receiving medical treatment at the Ampara District Hospital, states a press release by the Special Task Force.

The STF is greatly disheartened with the press statements by the LTTE and a mischievous segment of the LTTE inspired, politically motivated Muslim group alleging the complicity of the STF in this brutal killing of innocent civilians.

It is believed that these actions have been perpetrated by the LTTE and its vested Muslim group to discredit the Government and to tarnish the image of the STF and the Security Forces.

At this time of grief, our solidarity and support are with the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim populace in the Ampara district including Pottuvil and wish to convey our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the families of the innocent Muslim victims of the heartless LTTE.

The STF takes this opportunity to place on record the under noted facts to clear any misconceptions that could have been created to its unblemished public image:

On September 18 around 8.30 am STF troops based at Sastraveli in Pottuvil in Ampara district on information of the brutal killing of Muslim civilians in Rattal Kulam in Raddella in Pottuvil rushed to the scene, which is located over 5 km away from the STF base at Sastraveli.

Rattal Kulam is an ancient tank located over 9 km away form Pottuvil town in Ampara town with the closest STF base to this location being the STF base at Sastraveli.

Under the aegis of the Divisional Secretariat in Pottuvil, a local Muslim contractor had deployed over 15 Muslim civilians to rehabilitate this dilapidated Rattal Kulam tank/reservoir, which is located in a remote jungle terrain in Pottuvil bordering Lahugala South. The initial rehabilitation work comprised repairing the damaged sluice gates of this reservoir. The water from this tank is used to irrigate cultivations, mainly paddy fields, cultivated by Muslim and Tamil populace.

Since the deployment of the STF in the East especially in Batticaloa and Ampara districts in October 1984 after its establishment in February 1983, the STF has earned a flawless reputation in restoring noramlcy in the East facilitating all communities including the Tamil and Muslim populace to lead normal lives from the terrorising clutches of the LTTE.

In the process, the STF troops have sacrificed their lives in the East to ensure continuing normalcy in Batticaloa and Ampara districts.

The peacetime roles executed by the STF during the Ceasefire Agreement establish the commitment of the STF in safeguarding the interests of all the communities in these districts.

This was exhibited by the daring acts of the STF troops, risking their lives and property, to protect the lives of all civilians in the coastal belt in Batticaloa and Ampara districts when the tsunami disaster struck the region on December 26, 2004. The LTTE was compelled to appreciate the post-tsunami role of the STF in these regions to synchronise with the popular public comments.

The STF has a consistent perfect record of having maintained excellent relationship with the Muslim as well as the Sinhala and Tamil populace in Ampara district. Community leaders and numerous INGOs and NGOs have commended the STF for facilitating normalcy in Ampara district from the scourge of the LTTE.

The LTTE has been continuously smarting over the growing popularity of the STF among the Muslim and Tamil populace from the post-tsunami period in Batticaloa and Ampara districts.

The recent attacks by anti-LTTE Vanni factions against the LTTE pockets in the Kanchikudichchi Aru jungles in Ampara district on September 6 where the LTTE was totally annihilated in this jungle terrain added to their misery and anguish against the STF.

The recent attacks by the LTTE in Pottuvil and the neighbouring Lahugala areas in Ampara district proved the desperation of the LTTE in creating a hostile environment in the region: On May 15, LTTE cadres fired at an STF water bowser carrying water to the STF base and the public in Komari in Pottuvil injuring an STF officer.

On May 20, LTTE cadres shot dead an innocent Sinhala civilian in Kalugolla in Lahugala. On May 25, LTTE opened fire at the vehicle of the President of the Lahugala Pradeshiya Sabha in Lahugala. He had a miraculous escape.

On August 8, LTTE detonated a claymore mine on an STF water escort in Paanama in Pottuvil killing 2 STF officers.

Thus, the claim by the disgruntled Muslim elements against the STF that the LTTE is non-operational in Pottuvil is mischievous and misleading.

An identified segment of the anti-GoSL Muslim group in Pottuvil with vested political and personal interests were known to have expressed their despondency when the STF troops, based in Pottuvil in Ampara district on a directive from the Presidential Secretariat in CBO in April 2006 carried out persistent checks on illicit felling of trees in the forest reserve in Ampara jungles including Pottuvil to enforce the President's national environment policy.

These STF exclusive operations led to the arrest of several noted illicit timber merchants and their acquaintances of Muslim origin along with the illicitly felled timber.

It's noted that, since April 23 until September 17, the STF has arrested 104 civilians (8 Sinhala, 2 Tamil and 94 Muslim) along with 86 bullock carts, 2 Landmaster hand-tractors and a lorry with unprecedented quantities of illicitly felled protected timber from strict natural forest reserves in Pottuvil region.

In September 2006 until September 17, 22 Muslims with 23 bullock carts containing protected timber were detected by the STF in Pottuvil and handed over to the Wildlife Conservation office in Lahugala through the Pottuvil police.

Illicit timber trade in Ampara district especially in Pottuvil region have been a lucrative trade for certain Muslim traders, identified with anti-government political elements, who were indulging in covert acts with the complicity of the LTTE cadres.

The allegation against the STF is by a known Muslim trader identified with a vested Muslim politico, who had an axe to grind with the STF concerning the impartiality of the STF during the Presidential Election campaign in Pottuvil district in Octo/Nov 2006. In fact, Government and Muslim parliamentarians in Digamadulla district will bear testimony to these facts and the unblemished credentials of the STF in the region.

As in the case of the closure of the Mavil Aru sluice gates in Trincomalee south by the LTTE on July 20, the LTTE and the infamous illicit timber Muslim merchants in Pottuvil-Ampara district did not want the sluice gate repaired as the local community in the area, comprising mainly of Muslims and Tamils, would have been supplied with water.

This is to facilitate the illicit timber felling trade in the region, as continued cultivation will lead for more access to civilians leading to a flow of information to the STF on the nefarious activities of the LTTE and the Muslim illicit timber traders.

The STF is pleased that its suggestion to deploy a special CID team to investigate into this brazen killing of 11 innocent Muslims in Pottuvil has been promptly entertained. The STF has already complained to the CID/Police against these identified parties who are determined to disengage the STF from Ampara district with the connivance of the LTTE.

Already, the only surviving Muslim civilian of this sordid ordeal, Kareem Nilam Mohideen (60 years, a native of Pottuvil) has made a statement to the investigating team that, it was none other than the LTTE, who butchered the Muslim civilians, and has specifically mentioned that the suspects are not the STF.

It is obvious that the LTTE is continuing to 'fish in troubled waters' to tarnish the image of the GoSL by discrediting the STF to inflate their deflated international image especially in the under noted circumstances: Co-Chairs Statement in Brussels on September 12, the President's address to the 61st United Nations General Assembly in New York in US scheduled for today.

It is known that within hours of the listing of the LTTE by the European Union as a terrorist organisation on May 29, the LTTE launched a mass brutal execution of 12 Sinhalese civilians at Welikanda engaged in a similar irrigation project on May 29 and immediately blamed the Security Forces for these killings.

The STF is convinced that the hidden agenda and complicity of the LTTE, who are deemed the real perpetrators of this barbaric killing of innocent Muslim civilians, will be exposed in the ongoing investigations, and brought to face natural justice in a Court of Law.

The STF is greatly disheartened with the press statements by the LTTE and a mischievous segment of the LTTE inspired, politically motivated Muslim group alleging the complicity of the STF in this brutal killing of innocent civilians.