AS AIRFORCE STARTS THEIR FINAL ONSLAUGHT ON TAMIL TIGERS THEY ARE SEVERELY HIT BY LACK OF MANPOWER DEPENDING ONLY ON CHILD SOLDIERS

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or the Tamil Tigers as they are popularly known are believed to be facing the final onslaught by the security forces of the Sri Lankan government barely clinging on to the few square miles of land at Vakarai, in the Eastern theatre of war in Sri Lanka.

As Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets have started pounding their main supply base of Mulativu intelligence reports show the main weakness facing them today is a severe shortage of man power which they unsuccessfully attempt to correct by child recruits whom they try to send through a crash inapt guerilla training in their jungle camps.

Many years ago, with the help of India, the Tamil separatist forces were controlling vast areas of the Eastern province but lost all that support altogether after they decided to assassinate scion of the Nehru dynasty in India , former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, by a suicide bomber.

Thereafter they lost their popular support in the area when their own Eastern Province leader, Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan, popular known as Karuna left them and decided to attack them instead the Sri Lankan security forces which was his target earlier.

Since Karuna was their main supplier of manpower, mostly children forcefully conscripted after being kidnapped from homes, schools, temple festivals or playgrounds, today the Tigers are facing a severe shortage of foot soldiers.

Just on the eve of last Christmas they raided a private school of a tutor preparing Tamil teenagers, mostly girls with refreshing courses for a public examination conducted by the government and kidnapped twenty three of them at Ampara to be conscripted to their army. But this time, the parents were unafraid, marched unarmed to the Tiger camp, demanded their precious daughter and sons, aided by the media and encouraged by the country’s armed forces. For the first time the LTTE had to release their child conscripts under severe pressure.

Not everyone has been as lucky as them. Still there are thousands of young children languishing in their abominable terrorist camps receiving the harshest treatment as child soldiers, slave laborers and though seldom the cruel treatments from sexual predators.

But Tamil Tigers have been left with no alternatives other than to turn to children since recent military adventures mostly in the Eastern Province of the country caused them heavy losses at Mavil Aru, Thoppur, Sampoor, Muttur jetty and finally Vakarai where they are holding as their last outpost in the province in addition to certain enclaves in the Northern Province.

Statistics obtained from their own sources indicate that from December 2005 the LTTE has lost more than 2108 cadres and a larger number have been injured. Not counting their injured the other number alone is over 25 per cent of their total fighting force. The dead and injured also include senior fighters, intelligence cadres, and area leaders who are very hard to replace since the new recruits are mostly child conscripts kidnapped unwillingly.

Sri Lanka Defense statistics show since the Ceasefire Agreement of 2002 up to January 2 2007, 549 LTTE cadres have surrendered to the security forces rejecting them. But most of the deserters, who are being hidden by the parents are child recruits who dare to take the first opportunity to escape from the camps, trekking miles of jungle paths in search of their families. Since the recruiters never fail to come back parents always hide them in distant houses of relatives or in the protective custody of government police stations.

Vadivel Shashindren, a sixteen year old youth who were led to a Sri Lanka Army road block, at Kiran, Batticaloa was one such young man who went there on January 2. He said he was abducted by Tamil Tigers, December 8 last year while he was on his way to Colombo after visiting his parents in the Eastern province. Another three who surrendered to an army detachment at Thirukonamadu in the Eastern Province, Kandasami Karan aged 17 years; Weerancholai Salappiyar aged 18 years and Thewaraja Madiwadan aged 17 years said they were abducted in the year 2005. Another 21 years old youth who turned up in a police station at Eravur in the Eastern Province said he was abducted from a passenger bus, blind folded and taken to a training camp with 17 others ,December 21 in the same area.

On December 28 last year a girl about 15 years old had escaped from a Women's Tiger terrorist base in Thoppigala (Barron’s Cap) area in the Eastern Province surrendered to the Dhammina Police post in the Eastern Province.

She had stated she was a resident in the Batticoloa area and on December 18 two females riding a motor cycle had kidnapped her. On the same day six more girls of the same age were taken to the Illukpadichena women's training base for weapon training where there were 30 - 35 females undergoing training.

Understanding from the morale of those escapees it is very unlikely that the Tamil Tigers could keep their last bastion from the onslaught of the security forces using such unwilling soldiers.