Civilians fail to fall for terrorist “safety” charade
[30 Mar 2000]

Civilians living close to army positions in Pallai and Vadamarachchi have remained unmoved by LTTE calls for them to leave their homes for “safer” areas, official sources said today.

  The terrorists’ “Voice of Tigers” (VoT) radio this morning called residents of the Jaffna Peninsula living near army positions to vacate to safer places.

  Sources said that this is typical of the charade that the terrorists conduct to “terrorise civilians with fear” when they are being held back by security forces and are unlikely to make further advances, and that the civilians were unlikely to be fooled into panicking and leaving.  

The terrorists’ “Voice of Tigers” (VoT) radio had made a similar call for civilians to leave the town of Vavuniya in November last year after making gains in the northern Wanni district.  

However, security forces prevented the terrorists from advancing anywhere near Vavuniya, and the terrorists later issued a VoT statement telling civilians that it was safe to return.  

“Civilians know that the Tigers are probably going no further [into the Jaffna Peninsula] at this time,” the official said.  

The official also said that by making these announcements, the terrorists like to foster the illusion that they care about civilians.  

“But they killed five civilians and wounded over thirty immediately they began this latest advance,” the official said. “No-one in the Jaffna Peninsula believes the Tigers care about civilian lives, and not one civilian wants them back there.”  

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