History of LTTE activities at Yala

(October, 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) By the end of the 90s, LTTE activities within the Yala sanctuary were very high. Due to this increase in LTTE activity, the Defence Ministry appointed a Competent Authority to be in charge of the Yala Park– a Brigadier of the Army. After calling troops into the sanctuary, the LTTE activities as well as the poaching and illegal timber cutting by people in the area was drastically reduced.When Brigadier H. A. N. T. Perera was the Competent Authority, there were ten army camps in the sanctuary under his command. This was after the Tigers set fire to almost all the holiday bungalows in a daily basis during the early 90’s.

In 1997, at the peak of LTTE activity in the area, Tiger cadres attacked the Kataragama Bus Depot, drawing the defence authorities to pay more attention to the area.

However, during that period, authorities were able to keep the national park open despite the LTTE violence. On one occasion, a police officer and his family lodging in a Bungalow were harassed by the LTTE, and because of that the tourist arrivals dropped during that period.

Few years later, the military withdrew from the park, but a few camps were maintained y small detachments. Army Commando and Special Forces had used the sanctuary to carry out jungle training. Due to this training, the illegal activities inside the park, such as timber cutting and poaching drastically dropped as well as LTTE activities. However, following protests by environmentalists and other groups, the army stopped its training within the park which led to the increase of illegal activities inside Yala.