The Bishop says that the Army and police are responsible for over 60 incidents of torture each month. Unidentified groups have been allowed to operate and are behind several murders in the district. A man was shot dead on 24 December, while sleeping at his home in Keeri. His wife was shot and injured.
On the same day, after the LTTE shot dead a policeman in Pallimunai, security forces ran amok in the area assaulting civilians. Tamil group EPRLF say that women and children came under indiscriminate attack. The security forces also fired into houses and shops. Forty six people were detained and released later. Further west in Vavuniya, six people, including two women, have disappeared after arrest by security forces, according to the Human Rights Commission. On 12 December, P Chandran, 19, and G Theivendran, 21, went missing.
After movement of LTTE cadres were spotted, the Army shelled Omanthai, north of Vavuniya town, on 11 December. Two days later, LTTE’s Pistol Group shot dead a policeman at Katkuli. Landmines continue to cause concern in the Vanni, despite the removal of thousands of mines by LTTE’s clearance units. Paranthan resident S Mahesan was killed by a landmine while working in his garden on 12 December.
Shortage of medicines continue to affect hospitals in the Vanni. Reports from Kilinochchi District say that some medicines sent from Colombo for the fourth quarter of 2001, were found spoiled and unfit for use. At Mulliyavalai in Mullaitivu District, an eight month-old child died of diarrhoea in late December. Two children from the same area were admitted to hospital with the disease.
Torrential rains in the Vanni brought misery, particularly to the thousands of displaced people in the region with inadequate shelter. In Kilinochchi, three tanks, including Iranaimadukulam, overflowed and flooded the area. According to the Government Agent I Iyadurai some 5,000 families have taken refugee in schools and temples. Paddy fields are inundated and there is concern that rice production will be affected.
In late December, Rehabilitation minister Jayalath Jayawardena ordered the dispatch of ten lorry-loads of food for the flood victims. He expressed concern that Tamil groups PLOTE, TELO and the two factions of EPRLF were continuing to impose illegal taxes on lorries into the Vanni, thereby increasing the total cost of each lorry-load to Rs 31,000 ($330). In early January, the Army ordered the Tamil groups to refrain from imposing taxes and carrying weapons in public.