Tigers flout pledge on child soldiers
Forced conscription of child soldiers by the LTTE continues despite a categorical assertion to the contrary by its delegation to this month's Berlin Peace talks.
According to a report reaching Navy Headquarters from their Contingent Commander at Nilaveli (Trincomalee district), two young females were forcibly enlisted by the LTTE from Sambaltivu.

The matter came to light after Navy personnel at Sambaltivu checkpoint conducted checks on passers-by. This is what their report to Navy Headquarters said: "During checking, troops found that the LTTE female cadres were forcibly taking two schoolgirls named Sivarasa Pathmapriya (14 years) and Dharmarajah Madinaradi (14 years) to join the organisation.

The abducted schoolgirls and two LTTE female cadres were handed over to Police. Later the Police informed that both girls were released and handed over to their parents and LTTE suspects were produced in Magistrate's Court, Trincomalee'. They were released on bail later.

The incident occurred on February 14 -- six days after the LTTE agreed during Berlin talks to end the practice of recruiting child soldiers. Another report received from Valaichenai (Batticaloa district) by Army Headquarters spoke about 100 children in the age group of 10-17 undergoing training. This is what the report on February 6 said:

"Two teenagers named V. Jayanthi (16 years) of Kayankerni, Mankerni and S.T. Kenkeswary ( 15 years) of Kenimady Muslim Village, Valaichenai had escaped from the LTTE custody and surrendered to the Army camp Valaichenai. They had been abducted by two LTTE cadres whilst they were returning home from Tirikkowil on 08 December 2002.

Thereafter, they had been handed over to the LTTE office at Tirikkowil and later transferred to the LTTE Women Core Training camp at the same area. They had been under custody of two LTTE women cadres named Kamlawathi and Ilanai. They had noticed an approximately 100 children between the age of 10 and 17 had been undergoing training."

Back to Top

Back to Front Page

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster