The recent spate of violent clashes in Sri Lanka's east has been serious enough to warrant several days of curfew in major towns of the region such as Batticaloa. The east is a potential cauldron of inter-ethnic tension, populated by an almost-equal mix of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala peoples. The Tamil claim, buttressed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) military might, that the east is an integral part of the Tamil homeland leaves much scope for apprehension among the non-Tamil majority living there.
The clashes in the east have included an attack on an LTTE office in Muttur, a town in Trincomalee District that is neither fully under the control of the Sri Lankan military or the LTTE. Mortars have also been fired, allegedly from within a Tamil area in Batticaloa District, with some blaming the LTTE for the attack. If this is the case, it represents a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement, although it remains unclear at this time who was actually responsible.
As an ethnically diverse area, the east has been home to a variety of armed groups. Unlike as in the nearly completely Tamil north, the LTTE has not been able to monopolise militancy in the east. There are several non-LTTE Tamil militant organisations active in the area, along with several Muslim militant groups. These non-LTTE factions have often worked in alliance with the Sri Lankan military, serving as sources of intelligence and sometimes even engaging in operations against the LTTE.
The violent events taking place in the east highlight this region's differences with the north. As a nearly homogeneous Tamil area, the north is more likely to accept unilateral LITE regional rule under a future interim administration. But the east, with its non-Tamil majority population, is less likely to accept LTTE-controlled governance. While the Tamil National Alliance, which accepts the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil people, won overwhelmingly in the north in the December 2001 general elections, the Sri Lanka Muslim Conference (SLMC) and the national parties carried the day in the east.