News

Reports from Marisa de Silva, Hiran Priyankara, Athula Bandara

Following last Saturday’s tragedy in Wilpattu, questions are being asked whether Wildlife Authorities had failed to take precautions against reports of LTTE activity in the park.

The park spreading over some 131,667 hectares borders LTTE-controlled areas of Mannar. But this was not the only reason to suspect any LTTE activity. There had been reports that LTTE cadres had threatened some park employees.

“Two months back my husband had seen six armed men in camouflage uniforms and he was convinced they were LTTE cadres. He had been frightened and he told me that he had informed relevant officials. But I don’t think any precautions were taken,” said Nayana Kalyani, the widow of Anura Dissanayake , the tracker killed in last Saturday’s blast.

Anura who started as a casual labourer of the park was soon to be made a guide. He had even gone to the head office in Colombo a few weeks back to see about his appointment.

According to Nayana, Anura had observed LTTE cadres close to another bungalow Mana Villa, in the Kokmote area.

Vajira Wijewardena, a mutual friend of the party from Colombo and who had the gruesome task of identifying the victims, said that some villagers had told him that LTTE cadres had apparently visited the Kokmote bungalow (where the party from Colombo was staying), a few weeks before the blast, and told the caretaker to tell Park officials not to give out the bungalow again.

The villagers had also said that trackers on the permanent staff would rarely volunteer to take tour groups to that end of the Park and that had to be done by trackers who were on contract.

Mr. Wijewardena said before his friends had left Colombo they had checked with the park authorities whether it was safe to visit the park and they had said there was nothing to worry.

“Government servants have an obligation to keep the public informed at all times. I believe it was irresponsible and negligent on their part to have allowed the public into the Park, when they couldn’t guarantee their safety. Now the lives of four families have been shattered as a result of the officials covering up of the ground situation,” Mr. Wijewardena.

However, Wilpattu National Park Warden Wasantha Pushpananda said he was not aware of any LTTE activity in the park and no one had reported any such information either.

“There may be a few hunters, but there has been no evidence of any LTTE activity,” he told The Sunday Times.

Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), Dayananda Kariyawasam said “Even though I had heard various rumours regarding the security situation within the Park or the lack of it, whenever I checked with Park officials I never got any confirmation about such rumours. One incident was reported a few months ago, where some fishermen had built a campfire near a bungalow and the occupants had complained to the Park officials . But other than that there were no other complaints.”

When asked why the Park had not been closed after the tragic incident, the Director said they wanted to carry on the work they had started three years ago, with relation to the animals .

However, he said, WildLife Department officials would meet with the armed forces, the Ministry of Wildlife and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to decide whether to keep the Park open to the public. Meanwhile, Park employees have been instructed to take maximum precautions when doing their routine rounds, he said.