LTTE opens Mavil Aru Dam ahead of SL Govt ??

Peter · **Posted:** Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:28 am

LTTE opens Mavil Aru Dam ahead of SL Govt

“Your people tried to open it by force by launching attacks on our people but we opened it easily after the villagers in our areas decided it should be done on humanitarian grounds,” Daya Master said.

@ HT / PK Balachandran
Colombo, August 8, 2006

In the strange competition between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE to open the Mavil Aru dam, the LTTE beat the government on Tuesday when it opened the gates of the dam at 5 pm before the troops could reach the site and do the same.

The LTTE was in the process of opening it on Sunday, in the presence of the Nordic truce monitor Ulf Henricsson, but the Sri Lankan forces shelled that area, dispersing the monitors and the LTTE present there.

The government's argument was that the LTTE should not operate the dam at all. The dam should be free of terrorists so that engineers of the state irrigation department could enter it unimpeded and perform their services to the community, it said.

Moreover, the truce monitors and a terrorist group could not decide on opening the dam, bypassing the sovereign and legitimate government of Sri Lanka.

On Tuesday, the government had not shelled the area. And the LTTE seized the opportunity to open the dam and pat itself on the back for winning the "humanitarian war of Mavil Aru."

Both the government and the LTTE had said that they were on a "humanitarian operation" to secure water for people under their control, and not on a "military operation".

Mawilaru anicut reopened or not?

By Sunil Jayasiri and Easwaran Rutnam
@ DM / 09Aug2006

The LTTE yesterday claimed it re-opened the sluice gates of the Mawilaru Anicut on humanitarian grounds, but the military denied the claim.

LTTE media spokesman Daya Master told the Daily Mirror that villagers in LTTE controlled Mawilaru and the LTTE political head of Trincomalee S. Elilan reopened the sluice gates around 5 pm yesterday despite fighting between the LTTE and the government forces continuing nearby.

“Your people tried to open it by force by launching attacks on our people but we opened it easily after the villagers in our areas decided it should be done on humanitarian grounds,” Daya Master said.

Military spokesman Upali Rajapakse said even by 9 pm yesterday there was no water flowing through military detachments and civilian areas.

“If water flows, the security forces should be credited for the mission”, he said.

The chief priest of the Serunuwera Raja Maha Vihara Ven. Serunuwara Saranakeerthi Thera said water had not reached the canals in Serunuwara and Seruwila even an hour after the sluice gates were opened.

The government launched a military offensive code named “operation watershed” to force open the sluice gates which were closed by the LTTE which put forward several demands to reopen it. The clashes resulted in the deaths of several LTTE cadres and left a few soldiers injured.

In a move termed by the LTTE as a strategy to contain the military action hundreds of rebel cadres infiltrated government controlled areas in Mutur resulting in heavy clashes between both sides displacing thousands of Muslims.

LANKALIBRARY FORUM