Madhu truce, but pilgrims wary

By Chris Kamalendran

A dispute over a shorter route for pilgrims to reach the Madhu shrine is forcing them to make a circuitous journey though a shaky truce between the security forces and Tiger guerrillas remains. Both, the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), have agreed that a week-long ‘truce’ would be observed until next Friday around the hallowed shrine area enabling pilgrims to visit the shrine without much difficulty, the Bishop of Mannar, the Rt. Rev Rayappu Joseph told The Sunday Times.

Madhu pilgrims on their way to the shrine taking the circuitous route via the Mannar-Uyilankulam road.

He said the assurance was given by the Wanni Security forces commander Upali Edirisinghe and LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan that they would not engage in military activity around area.

This is the first time the two sides have agreed on a ‘truce’ after fighting broke out last year in August when the A9 road from the south to Jaffna was closed.But, the shorter route to the shrine via Madhu road junction in which pilgrims could reach the shrine by traveling 11 kilometres has not been opened and instead civilians have been forced to travel more than 40 kilometres extra to reach the shrine, he pointed out.

The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said yesterday it was evaluating the situation and consulting the army and the LTTE about the security of their members. Bishop Joseph said that discussions to get the route open for the festival had begun about a month ago and he had appealed to both sides to clear the mines enabling the route to be fully open in time for the festival.

However, an army spokesman claimed that the LTTE had not co-operated to open the shorter route and had now decided that the civilians use the Uylankulam route. He said that on Wednesday the LTTE had fired mortars to the cleared area in Madhu but the security forces did not retaliate.

LTTE sources in Kilinochchi claimed that in keeping with an assurance given to the Bishop they had cleared the areas of mines and the road was ready for the pilgrims. He said the LTTE could not be held responsible for the failure to open the route.

Meanwhile at least 20 vans carrying pilgrims from the south yesterday entered the uncleared Madhu area to attend the celebrations of the feast and more were expected in the next few days.

The Bishop said that he expected about 100,000 people though usually about 400,000 attend the feast during this period.