UPFA obtains 15 seats in the provincial council elections; Rajapakse terms the elections as an important milestone; Reports of forced recruitment of children by the LTTE; Congress in Tamil Nadu demands ban on all pro-LTTE organisations
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    • In the first provincial council elections held in the Eastern province, the United People's Freedom Alliance received an ‘emphatic’ victory obtaining 42.38 per cent of the total valid votes and thereby getting 15 seats. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the Tamil Democratic National Alliance secured one seat each1. President Rajapakse termed the first Eastern Provincial Council elections as an “important milestone” in the government’s policy of restoring democratic rights to the people. He has been categorical in stating that the elections represented the ‘will of the people2.’

    Reports also noted instances of forcible recruitment of school children who failed in their G.C.E.O/L examination. Sources indicated that such recruitment patterns have also been observed in the past, when families were forced to surrender one member of their families to the LTTE, so that their children could go for higher studies abroad3.

    Meanwhile in Tamil Nadu, the Congress party has demanded a ban on all pro-LTTE organizations in the state. D Sudarshanam, a senior leader of the party stated that terrorism of “any kind, whether it be from Sri Lanka or within the state (Maoists) or communal, should be dealt with an iron hand4.” The Union government had in the previous week announced an extension of the ban on the LTTE until May 2010. Reports noted that the security agencies in India have also strengthened monitoring of the twenty-one small and uninhabited islands located between the Tamil Nadu coast and Sri Lanka. The area is seen as an important base for smugglers, militants as well as boat operators ferrying Tamil refugees5.

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