US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO870

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000870 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/10/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PGOV, CE, Political Parties, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: BURNING TIRES IN BATTICALOA:  MORE PROBLEMS IN 
VOLATILE EAST 
 
REF: COLOMBO 0487 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) called a one-day strike that closed businesses and 
halted transportation in many areas of the north and east May 
10.  The strike was called ostensibly to protest the fatal 
shooting of a civilian protester at a Batticaloa checkpoint 
the previous day.  In separate incidents elsewhere in the 
district May 9, suspected Tigers fired at a Sri Lanka Army 
post, injuring one soldier, and were accused of murdering a 
Sinhalese fisherman.  Sri Lanka Army Spokesman Brigadier Daya 
Ratnayake sees the flurry of events as part of an LTTE 
campaign to provoke the security forces to overreact.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  (U)  One person was killed on May 9 after police and Sri 
Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired on rock-throwing 
demonstrators in Sandivel in the eastern district of 
Batticaloa.   Three policemen and five soldiers were also 
injured in the melee, according to SLA Spokesman Brigadier 
Daya Ratnayake. The demonstration, which had been 
orchestrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 
drew between 400-500 participants, inlcuding four Tamil 
National Alliance (TNA) MPs, to protest against a newly 
established security checkpoint. 
 
3.  (U) To protest the civilian's killing, the Tigers called 
a one-day strike, or "hartal," in predominantly Tamil areas 
under their control or influence in the north and east on May 
10.  Embassy staff (who happened to be in Batticaloa at the 
time) reported nearly complete observance of the strike in 
Batticaloa town, with shops and businesses closed and 
burning-tire barricades set up on roads to prevent vehicular 
traffic.  (The checkpoint in question had been removed by the 
morning of May 11, according to Embassy staff in the area.) 
Similar shutdowns were reported in Tamil areas throughout the 
north and east, with the exception of Mannar, on May 10.  (In 
Mannar a hartal was observed on May 11.)  According to 
Brigadier Ratnayake, the hartal in Jaffna was accompanied by 
scattered violence, as suspected LTTE militants burned an SLA 
bunker in one location, threw a petrol bomb at another, and 
rallied demonstrators to throw stones at a third.  The crowd 
dispersed after police fired tear gas.  Muslim areas in the 
east generally did not observe the hartal, according to 
police and local politicians.  Mohamed Faizl, a Sri Lanka 
Muslim Congress (SLMC) MP from the eastern district of 
Ampara, reported that while shops were open in 100 percent 
Muslim areas in the district, Muslim constituents living in 
mixed Tamil/Muslim areas generally observed the strike out of 
fear of retaliation by militants. 
 
4.  (SBU)  In addition to the demonstration in Sandivel, 
violent incidents were reported in other locations in 
Batticaloa on May 9.  According to Brigadier Ratnayake, 
suspected LTTE cadres threw a hand grenade and fired gunshots 
at an SLA bunker at Mavadivembu, injuring one soldier.  After 
the SLA returned fire, the area was cordoned off with police 
assistance, Ratnayake said, and three suspects arrested.  In 
Kalkuda--one of the few areas in Batticaloa with some 
Sinhalese residents--a Sinhalese fisherman was abducted from 
his home and killed by suspected LTTE militants.  A website 
run by the Sinhalese nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 
(JVP) claimed the victim as a party supporter and alleged an 
LTTE campaign against "JVP activists and sympathizers in the 
East."  JVP headquarters in Colombo described the victim as a 
"supporter"; Army and police sources, however, told us on May 
11 that they were unable to verify a motive in the 
fisherman's killing. 
 
5. (SBU)  When asked to explain the recent unrest in 
Batticaloa, the SLA's Ratnayake said that the "LTTE wants to 
create problems with law enforcement" to erode the newly 
improved relations the security forces have been able to 
build with the local population in the wake of the tsunami. 
LTTE strategy is to provoke an incident that will discredit 
the security forces and diminish growing public confidence in 
their abilities, he opined.  (Note:  This is a common refrain 
with the SLA, used often with Army briefers and spokesmen.) 
6.  (C)  Comment:  This is the second time in two months that 
a Tamil civilian--in both cases, an elderly man--has been 
killed after security forces fired on unruly demonstrators 
(Reftel).  Although the LTTE undoubtedly instigates the 
confrontations, the security forces' overreaction, 
unfortunately, only gives the Tigers more ammunition.  The 
Army has exhibited far greater restraint in the face of far 
greater provocation in the past; firing on unarmed civilians 
will do little to help the improved civil/military relations 
Ratnayake claims are emerging.  Murder and mayhem have become 
part of the local landscape in Batticaloa, but the violence 
generally occurs between the LTTE and the rival Karuna 
faction, which is based in Batticaloa, or other anti-LTTE 
Tamil groups.  Direct attacks on the security forces are far 
less common.  The recent incident could indicate growing 
Tiger resentment of the Government's role in tsunami aid 
distribution and/or its alleged support to the Karuna 
faction.  It is too early to determine the veracity of the 
JVP's claim that the LTTE is targeting its supporters. 
Pressing that claim, however, regardless of its validity, 
suits the JVP's political agenda just fine for now, and we 
expect the JVP will use the killing as yet another reason to 
oppose the joint mechanism on tsunami aid. 
LUNSTEAD