Vahaneri incident brings an end to paramilitary politics

English version of the editorial comment in LTTE’s official monthly “Viduthalaippulikal", June – July 2006

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has adamantly maintained that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) is not involved in the shadow war conducted against the Tamil people and the LTTE since December 2005. It has held fast to its position that this shadow war is a clash between the LTTE and other Tamil paramilitary groups.

The attempted attack by a large SLA battalion that had penetrated into the LTTE area of Vahaneri in Batticaloa must be tested against the above stance of the GoSL. Twelve bodies of SLA soldiers were captured after this attack and SLMM has confirmed that the location of the attack was in fact an LTTE area.

Does this mean that the GoSL has rejected the CFA signed by the two parties and endorsed by the international community?

The GoSL has been attempting in several ways to break the CFA and force another war on the Tamils. The GoSL also wants the LTTE to be blamed for restarting the war. It has therefore continued to provoke the LTTE with its attacks on the LTTE and extrajudicial killings of Tamil civilians.

Although the LTTE has not continued to take part in direct talks, it has exercised patience and flexibility to protect the CFA environment thus avoiding a full scale war. It is to break this patience of the LTTE that the GoSL has ordered the large scale attack at Vahaneri. Had the GoSL forces succeeded in the attack and had all its members escaped back to GoSL controlled area, then the GoSL would have claimed that it had no involvement in that attack. At Vahaneri, the SLA, that had so far penetrated into the LTTE areas in small groups of four and five, had moved in with dozens of members for the attack.

The GoSL has flatly rejected the call to remove the paramilitary groups from the Northeast as agreed upon in the CFA and called for by the international community. Even the Secretary General of the GoSL Peace Secretariat has ascertained this position of the GoSL.

The GoSL believes that removing the paramilitary groups is detrimental to its interests. If the paramilitary groups are removed then the GoSL will lose its convenient scapegoat to blame its military attacks.

Exploiting the paramilitary phenomenon and staging elaborate dramas to posture as seeking a resolution to the conflict are not new for the Sinhala governments. These tactics have been used by previous Sinhala leadership as well. Tamil people have understood these tactics of the Sinhala side through long experience. It is this realization that is creating a huge upsurge among Tamils.

The GoSL still continues with these dramas in an attempt to dupe the international community. It is the hope of the LTTE that the international community will see through these deceptions of the GoSL.

The removal of the paramilitary group is not the only CFA clause that the GoSL has rejected. Other political and economical issues have also been rejected by the GoSL. The ban on fishing along the Northeast coast is continued by the Sri Lankan Navy. The SLA is restricting the transport of fuel and building materials into LTTE areas. Many humanitarian projects undertaken by the INGOs have been interrupted by the restriction on building materials.

The truth is that the Tamil people have not enjoyed the fruits of the four and a half years of peace. Tamil people have continued to face destruction of life and property, displacement, and refugee life.

The present ground reality is that it is only the military strength of the Tamils that will deliver them a peaceful life and dependable livelihood and respectability. The need of the time is for the Tamils to come together to defeat the Sinhala military schemes to gain their freedom. It is only the Tamil unity and the Tamil military strength that will determine the fate of the Tamils.

(http://www.sibernews.com/)