The murder of 16 villagers in Karametiya — a remote village which comes under the jurisdiction of the Monaragala administrative district though it comes under the Ampara district police area — has raised security concerns among the villagers.
They complain that the fact that their village belongs to one administrative district and another police division maybe the reason for the lack of security over the past few months.
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| Grieving relatives at Nelliyadda |
The Karametiya village is located along the jungle trek to Aranthalawa, which is 20 kms away. Villagers complain although there were reports that the LTTE had been confined to an 80 km area, in this eastern region, security was sorely lacking.
The villagers too were complacent as they felt that the defence authorities had the war situation well under control.
However, last Saturday afternoon as villagers went about their daily tasks, terror struck.
Their attempts to run for their dear lives failed, on seeing armed men as the marauding gunners shot the villagers indiscriminately killing children and elders.On hearing gunfire, villagers in the adjacent areas informed authorities following which police, army and STF forces arrived in Karametiya and helped to take the dead and injured to Ampara Hospital. Terror-struck villagers rushed into Nelliyadda school seeking security, afraid there would be more shooting. Security authorities later transported some of the villagers to Rathmalgahaella school for safety.
Though the funerals of the slain 16 villagers have been held, there is a lot of fear among the villagers. On Monday, Nelliyadda general cemetery was the scene of the funerals of 11 of the dead.
W M Ranasinghe, a villager lamented, “If there was security what happened could have been avoided. There were about 90 bunkers here which were subsequently closed. After the tragedy, people are coming here, but that is of little use.”
Another villager who lost his parents and sister in the brutal attack expressed the same sentiments.
Others told visiting politicos to inform the President of their plight and that he would do the needful. The principal of the Nelliyadda school said that the villagers including children are suffering mental anguish and want to leave the village. Villagers also allege that some of the home guards were not from the village while others charged that about 61 home guards had been released from duty recently with some of them being used on election work.
One of the villagers, 39 year-old W.M. Gunapala, who managed to escape the marauding Tigers relating his ordeal said, he heard gunfire around 2.30 p.m. and he saw some uniformed men running towards the village. He said he ran for cover.
He later realized that his father in law and mother in law were among the dead. A seven year girl said how she and her mother hid under the bed on hearing the shots. Tragically the mother died. |
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