Occupying Colombo steps up sting operations to justify continuation of draconian PTA

The so-called Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of occupying Colombo has detained six Tamil men in the Ki'linochchi district during the last four days. Most of the arrested are believed to be ex-LTTE members. The recent arrests by the SL TID come following an incident on 22 June at former LTTE stronghold of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) in Mullaiththeevu district. The entire episode seems to be a sting operation initiated by the SL military intelligence to project a false impression that there were ex-LTTE members, still interested in reviving an armed struggle, informed sources in Ki'linochchi told TamilNet on Wednesday. The operation seems to combine counter-insurgency experiments along with an intention to justify the continuation of the draconian and abusive ‘Prevention of Terrorism Act’ (PTA), the sources further said. 

The ‘discovery’ of Tiger flag and uniforms along with the recovered bullets and explosives seem to imply a narrative of the politico-military revival of the LTTE, the sources said. But, none of the personalities detained so far has such political capacity or inclination, they said. 

While there is a common interest among the people to preserve the symbols associated with the legacy of the Tamil struggle, such interest does not include possession or preservation of explosives or bullets, they said. 

It is a common sense that even people with ‘treasure hunting’ motives would not be risking transportation of symbols of LTTE times along with arms or ammunition. 

Even if there are any ex-LTTE members still interested in the revival of Tamil militancy, the first thing they would avoid would be mixing the symbols associated with the LTTE together with arms and ammunition. 

Everything associated with the latest arrests seems to be illogical, they said. 

24-year-old V. Ketheeswaran from Thiruvaiyaa'ru in Ki'linochchi was detained on Tuesday evening. He is a neighbour of the auto-rickshaw driver involved in the alleged incident. 

The alleged main suspect, Ekamparam who initially escaped from the site, was detained later in the evening on the same day. He was hiding at Vanni-Vizhaang-ku'lam in Maanthai East, according to the SL Police.