Tigers outdo SL Govt in dam race

LTTE opened the Mavil Aru Dam gates even before Lankan troops could reach the site, reports PK Balachandran.

In the strange competition between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE to open the Mavil Aru dam, the LTTE beat the government on Tuesday when it opened the gates of the dam at 5 pm before the troops could reach the site and do the same.

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The LTTE was in the process of opening it on Sunday, in the presence of the Nordic truce monitor Ulf Henricsson, but the Sri Lankan forces shelled that area, dispersing the monitors and the LTTE present there.

The government's argument was that the LTTE should not operate the dam at all. The dam should be free of terrorists so that engineers of the state irrigation department could enter it unimpeded and perform their services to the community, it said.

Moreover, the truce monitors and a terrorist group could not decide on opening the dam, bypassing the sovereign and legitimate government of Sri Lanka.

On Tuesday, the government had not shelled the area. And the LTTE seized the opportunity to open the dam and pat itself on the back for winning the "humanitarian war of Mavil Aru."

Both the government and the LTTE had said that they were on a "humanitarian operation" to secure water for people under their control, and not on a "military operation".