Mud flies in Jaffna campaigns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The propaganda for the Jaffna local polls took an acrimonious turn with the main contenders attacking each other of human rights abuses and corruption. The PLOTE put out a pamphlet today accusing the EPDP of massacring 72 Tamil youths who were taken away by the group when it moved into Allaipiddy, in the island of Kayts with the Sri Lankan army in late 1990.

The PLOTE leaflet reminds Jaffna voters that, according to human rights organisations, the remains of these youths were later found in abandoned wells in the area.

The EPDP distributed a leaflet earlier accusing the PLOTE of abducting and killing people in Vavuniya where the group controls the town's urban council.

The EPDP put out another leaflet addressed specially to the people in the islands outlining the manner in which the two Rameswaran brothers made money in the islands in the past through corrupt practices.

The Rameswaran brothers who are members of Parliament broke away from the EPDP last year and have fielded an independent group to contest the local polls in the islands.

They are, meanwhile, distributing a leaflet in the islands exposing the way in which the EPDP was taking away dry rations meant for civilians affected by the war and making huge profits by selling the commodities to private traders.

The TULF which entered the fray on Thursday attempted to cash in on this mudslinging between the ex-Tamil militant groups contesting the polls by issuing a leaflet accusing all of them of being guilty of undemocratic practices.

The TULF leaflet is under the heading " Oray Kuttaiyil Ooriya Naanku Mattaikal" (four coconut husks which have soaked in the same ditch), taunting the four ex-Tamil militants.