Taking the fight to the Tiger By Janaka de Silva

While the army commander spurred his troops forward to victory, to win the war, quite a different picture was being painted by the Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte, who announced last week, in his lame-duck fashion, that, the security forces are doing their best to weaken the LTTE military. The only way to bring the LTTE to the negotiating table to search for a fair solution to the ethnic problem is to weaken them militarily, was his rendition of the glib government line - 'war for peace.'

While he is searching for a fair solution, the LTTE, unilateral ceasefire aside, are lobbying everything from grenades to 152mm artillery shells at us.

The objectives of the military and their ministry - or at least the deputy defence minister - seem to be different and at odds with each other.

While the military is keen in seeing an end to what they called 'the curse of terrorism' by eliminating, eradicating and uprooting the scourge of terrorism to end the war, Ratwatte appears to be still keen on fighting a 'limited war,' to 'weaken the LTTE' etc. Which make us wonder and question, 'is Ratwatte for fighting the war to an end or fighting an endless war?'

Though some foreign 'deputy something' may think and scoff that this is an 'unwinnable war' - which school of thought, perhaps the deputy minister may subscribe to - the Commander of the Navy (CofN), Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri, spoke for all three services, in his observations, when he took over as the 14th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy on January 2. "Sri Lanka can see an end to the war through the combined efforts of the three armed forces.," he said. And by the proper execution of military offensives, would ensure victory in the ongoing war. The CofN was upbeat about the future, what with the new additions to the fleet and Gabriel Mk IIs etc. In the context of having properly trained personnel in the battle against the LTTE, he said, "We are confident of victory in any war if the correct person is behind the machines." And behind the war effort, I might add.

In a further development far from the battlefields in the north, the Sri Lanka army launched its own Internet web site in the world wide web (http://www.slarmy.org).

The army commander in his message, on this occasion, said that it was a "momentous occasion, for the Sri Lanka army it is a great leap forward."

Why this brought to my mind the era of operation Leapforward (which ended leaping backwards) I just can't fathom. Balagalle went on to speak of waging an information war - cyber war in cyber space. Perhaps we can soon expect a Directorate of Cyber Operations or a Cyber Corps to be established.

As for the web site itself, truth indeed must prevail, not just given lip service. After describing the successful Ranagosa series of operations in the Wanni, between March and June 1999, the army's web page account leap forward to the successes of July 2000, skipping completely the military debacles and defeats inflicted by LTTE's Unceasing Waves III and the more recent IV, sweeping under the rug the fall of Oddusuddan, Nedunkerni, Kanakarayankulam, Puliyankulam and Omanthai in the Wanni and Vetrilaikerni, Pulaveli, EPS, Chavakacheri, Colombuthurai, Ariyalai. In the Jaffna peninsula. The fact that the Tigers were at the very gates of Jaffna Town have been conveniently left out.

A helpful hint from one media-man to another. Would the authors or web masters or whatever you are called, please amend a photograph of the RPG team which appears with the caption 'One shot no mistakes' in the home page. The correct adage is 'One shot no exceptions' and is generally stated in the context of sniping - and is the unofficial motto of most sniper units. A photograph of a sniper team would have been more relevant.

A gilly suited sniper with an Accuracy International or a PGM certainly would make a better picture than the ugly snout of a RPG-7.

Balagalle hit a bulls eye when he said that the army has acquired a powerful weapon - the pen is indeed mightier than the sword - not just to give the army's side of the story, but to fight the global misinformation campaign by our enemy and for Psych Ops. The LTTE's official web site and a score of other pro-LTTE web sites have been waging a cyber war for more than a decade and had stolen the march on us in cyber space. Let's give them back and some.

(The Sunday Leader - 7th Janaury 2001)