COLOMBO, May 2 (OneWorld) - Following a spate of killings of military intelligence (MI) operatives by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan government has appointed a three-member committee to suggest security measures to guard persons attached to the sensitive unit.
The committee comprises Army Commander Lionel Balagalle, Defence Secretary Austin Fernando and Defence Adviser, Meril Gunaratne.
The decision follows the recent murder of Lingasami Devarasa, 32, the twentieth intelligence operative to be gunned down by the LTTE since the ruling United National Front (UNF) government assumed power in December 2001.
Murdered in the capital, Colombo, Devarasa is the eleventh intelligence personnel to be killed there.
Altogether 20 intelligence personnel have been killed in Sri Lanka since December 2001.
The adviser with the government's Peace Secretariat, coordinating the peace process between the government and the LTTE, Nanda Godage says there was a long felt need for such a committee.
As he emphasizes, "While it is important to have a rapport with the LTTE to sustain the peace process, that does not mean we should keep quiet about matters that threaten national security."
The government's appointment of the committee early this week followed growing disillusionment within the military and the people over its steadfast silence on the relentless killings.
As Chief Opposition Whip in the Sri Lanka Parliament and People's Alliance (PA) spokesperson, Mangala Samaraweera accuses, "The government was silent about the killings because, being in the LTTE's good books was more important to it than national security."
The identities of most of the intelligence operatives were revealed due to a glaring blunder made by a senior police officer a few days after the UNF government came to power.
While tracking the culprits of an election related mass murder, he stumbled upon a safety house in the Colombo suburbs, used by the deep penetration unit or the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) of the Sri Lanka Army.
The presence of the LRRP was such a well-kept military secret that even the defense minister of the new government, was unaware of its existence.
In its eagerness to implicate politicians of the previous regime, the government announced the deputy defense minister of the previous regime was using it for criminal activities.
Ironically, it went on to imprison soldiers of the LRRP.
By the time the government realized its mistake, it was too late. By then, the identities of the commandoes and the intelligence personnel had been publicly revealed.
This was followed by a series of murders of persons attached to the LRRP.
A former Army Commander says the Army had laboriously worked to create an expert military intelligence network for the LRRP. In the light of this, the government's failure to crack down on the LTTE's Colombo based pistol gang, accused of frequent killings of intelligence personnel was a major letdown.
Significantly, he stresses that the government cannot afford to ignore the killings, as the personnel are highly vulnerable after information about the LRRP's ammunition dump in Athurugiriya leaked out.
The timing was crucial too, with the LRRP poised to nab many of the LTTE's top leaders at that time.
In September 26, 2001, three months before the blunder, Shankar, the head of the LTTE military intelligence wing and founder commander of the LTTE Sea Tiger division, was killed by the elite commandoes of the LRRP.
Months before that, the LRRP had managed to kill three senior leaders of the LTTE - deputy chief of the Sea Tigers, political head of the eastern province and the communication chief of the eastern province.
The man who led the LRRP team, Captain Nilam, who would have otherwise been honored as a war hero, is currently in hiding. He happens to top the LTTE's hit list.
In a recent interview with a Sri Lankan newspaper, LTTE police chief P. Nadesen said one of the prime duties assigned to him by LTTE leader Prabhakaran, was to identify personnel attached to the LRRP.
Due to the LTTE's continuing elimination of informants and intelligence personnel, retired servicemen too have begun to fear being targeted by the rebels.
A retired military official confesses that several senior Army officers have expressed fears about their safety.
Interestingly, the controversial ceasefire agreement signed between the government and the rebels in February, 2002, allows the LTTE to enter government controlled areas unarmed.
But government troops are prohibited from entering LTTE controlled areas.
Sri Lanka's leading opposition party, the PA, alleges that this advantage is being misused by the Tigers to collate more information on intelligence operatives and movements of politicians in Sri Lanka.
(OneWorld South Asia , Fri May 2, 7:39 AM ET)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment