This is the finding of the Chavakachcheri Magistrate who held an inquest and later returned an open verdict. It was conducted after delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) handed over the body to the Army at the Army-LTTE checkpoint at Muhamalai.

The LTTE claimed in a statement that soldier Dharmadasa strayed into an area held by them with two other soldiers. They were trying to escape when they were shot dead, it said.

Senior Army officials say the claim is a total fabrication. They ask how the soldier could have sustained head injuries if he was shot whilst escaping.

Army inquiries had established that soldier Dharmadasa, who had an altercation with his immediate superior, a sergeant, allegedly assaulted him and fled his camp in Kilaly.

The shooting and the hurried LTTE statement giving reasons was in marked contrast to the arrest of private Nihal Kumara from an Army camp in the Weliya Oya complex after he strayed into an LTTE controlled area.

For well over two months now, the UNF Government has not been able to secure this single soldier.

On February 13, private Kumara was again hauled up before the so-called LTTE "Courts." The "Judge" had discussed the "case" for more than 30 minutes. The "prosecution" had told "Court" private Kumara stands "accused of espionage against the LTTE" and asked for time to present their case. It was put off for another date.

Tigers abduct soldier sleuth
A soldier attached to an Army intelligence unit in the east was riding his bicycle from the Government controlled Batticaloa town towards his house in the immediate outskirts when he was ambushed by a group of Tiger guerrillas near Uppodi canal early this week.

According to a complaint made to Police in Batticaloa, the soldier had been taken to a nearby LTTE office, assaulted and locked inside a room. Later the same day, however, he escaped.

The man has now told police that he had been robbed of his national identity card and Rs 500.

Crime and slime just outside where laws are made
The precincts of Parliament and its immediate outskirts at Kotte-Sri Jayawardenapura - where all the laws are made for the nation - is easily one of the most secure High Security Zones in Sri Lanka. Some of the nation's best-trained men in close protection and VIP security are there to guard the 225 representatives of the people when they gather. When they are gone, things seem to change.

Just a few hundred yards outside the hallowed precincts lay some potential threats to environment, law and order and even lives.

The grounds opposite would qualify to be the best exhibit for impending environmental disaster - empty plastic bottles, cans, polythene sacks, styrofoam food packs and other rubbish are strewn all over. Rusted waste bins overflow with flies swarming over food waste. Hundreds of men, women and children who throng the area for recreation walk past them daily.

In an enclosure further away, used as a car park, sections are sealed off by boulders and rocks to protect children who cycle away. As dusk envelopes, three wheelers arrive. Some spread their bottles of arrack and chasers on the ground for a drink. At the far end, an aluminium hut has become a vice den. Couples walk out from the three wheelers for a tryst inside.

Youth in powerful motorcycles (with no helmets) use the highway as a racing track. There is no Police except for those on duty in the Parliament complex. On February 4 (independence day), a group of kids had a miraculous escape when a rider who raced on a motorcycle rammed into a car. Perverts take up position behind bushes and trees. Parents are compelled to walk their children away to prevent them from seeing their antics.

Shouldn't the authorities, particularly the Police Chief, take note?

How to garner crowds to a public rally

How does the LTTE make sure crowds take part in rallies where their leaders are "chief guests?"

This is what they did when Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias "Colonel Karuna," LTTE Military Wing leader for the east and a member of their team negotiating peace with the UNF Government, addressed a rally in Karadiyanarau on February 16.

Adaviyan, a member of the LTTE finance wing in the east and 60 other cadres' organsised a meeting for drivers and conductors of the Batticaloa bus depot. They made clear they needed ten buses on that day.

Despite protests by bus owners and their drivers, the guerrillas seized the buses. They drove them through the military checkpoint at Vavunativu to guerrilla-dominated territory with ease.

Later they used the buses to transport crowds and their own cadres to the Karadiyanru meeting. The buses were thereafter returned. However, owners received no payment. Not even a thank you as one bus owner told Alia.

LTTEers threaten MP to resign
Parliamentarian R. Parameshwaran (Eelam People's Democratic Party - EPDP) has complained to Police that two Tiger guerrillas - Pountham and Thampa - together with two others had intimidated him and asked him to resign from Parliament.

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