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Tiger radio goes far and wide
By Chris Kamalendran
Tamil guerrillas this week began operations of their radio station Voice of Tigers (VOT) but have exceeded the range of their broadcast as stipulated by the licence granted by Colombo.

The licence issued by the government granted permission to operate the radio station for a radius of 20 kilometres, but the reception of the VOT radio was being monitored over 70 kilometres away from the radio station at Kilinochchi.

The Government in a statement issued late last month said the licence was issued by the government subject to conditions that the radio station should be located in Kilinochchi, with a coverage area radius of 20 kilometers.

The broacast signals were being clearly picked up in Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya, residents said. Jaffna journalist Karthigesu Kumaradasan said the VOT broadcast was heard clearly throughout Jaffna from Thursday.

Another journalist T. Vivekarasa from Vavuniya said that VOT signals were being received very clearly unlike in the past where they had to tune into short wave channel to listen to the broadcast.

Minister G.L. Peiris assured this week that the radio station would be monitored and action taken if the provisions of the licence were violated. "The VOT transmissions are subject to the terms and conditions in the agreement. Earlier they were transmitting in a clandestine manner," he said.

"It is helpful for the two parties to put forward their different points of view. It is not sensible to gag one of the two parties. Let the public decide whose point of view they agree with. I see it as a very healthy aspect. Let all points of view emerge. Eventually the judges are the people and any final solution to the problem has to be approved by them at a referendum.

There is nothing wrong in allowing the negotiating parties to express their point of view," the minister said. With the launch of the VoT on Thursday, after the government issued a licence to operate the services, the LTTE also has increased its broadcasting hours by three hours. Half an hour has been reserved for Sinhala programmes.

The LTTE has lined up a series of programmes dealing with regional issues, dramas, sports events and childrens' programmes. The LTTE has been allocated the wave band of 98 MHz and is broadcasting during mornings and evenings.

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