Saturday, May 26, 2007

Cops and killers: Who reigns?

Can the Police Department cope with the ever increasing crime rate in the country? This is the question that is foremost on everyone’s mind as the country witnessed some of the most gruesome multiple killings in recent history and incidents of extortion and abductions have become almost routine.

Last year recorded the highest number of grave crimes committed within a period of 30 years and the trend appears to be continuing, though official statistics are not available.

In the first nine months of last year, more than 45,000 grave crimes were recorded including abductions and kidnappings, rape, incest, homicide and drug related offences. Of these 15,840 were disposed of, investigations of 24,160 cases are pending while another 6,453 are before courts.

The highest crime trend had been reported from Nugegoda, Kelaniya, Gampaha, Colombo, Ratnapura, Mt. Lavinia and Anuradhapura.

A senior Deputy Inspector General of Police who spoke on grounds of anonymity said one of the main reasons for the increase in crime was that the police force lacked expertise and facilities to fight crime.

“We need to provide better training to the police force in local police stations. The criminals can get away because they have learnt the techniques and methods used by the local police stations to fight crime. The only way the police can reduce crime is by upgrading themselves,” he said.

Last Saturday’s brutal killings in Delgoda where five members of the same family were hacked to death and another was injured was followed by an incident on Thursday where a homeguard went berserk killing four and injuring another. These incidents came less than three weeks after two incidents where a father and two sons were killed over a land dispute in Akuressa and the other where a father killed his wife and three children and dumped their bodies in a paddy field in Ganemulla.

Last Saturday’s Delgoda massacre was seen as one of the goriest crimes in recent years where two little children and three other members of one family were hacked to death while they were asleep in their home in a small village off Meegahawatta.

The motive behind this multiple murder is believed to be a land dispute between two relatives. The dispute had been taken up in the Gampaha District court and its judgment was expected soon.

Police investigations have revealed that the land in question was a five acre plot of land in Kanduboda. The victims were identified as K.W.M Tilakaratne, his wife S.A Ramyalatha, their sons K.W.M Dilshan (4), K.W.M Lakshan (3) and the children’s grandmother S.A.D Pamavathi.

The only survivor was Tilakaratne’s twelve year old daughter K.W.M Dinusha who was cut by a sharp sword and is being treated at the National Hospital. Her condition is still critical.

By Sunday morning the police had apprehended the two prime suspects who were said to have been involved in the massacre. The two were identified as E. A. Amaradasa and his brother E.A Upasena.

Both of them were said to have been prominent JVP activists. Amaradasa had also contested the Biyagama Pradeshyasabha in the last local government elections but had lost. Tilakaratne’s older brother K.W.M Wimalaratne said that Amaradasa and Upasena had come to see the bodies on Saturday morning and had gone into hiding for a few hours when the police began their hunt for them.

“We don’t know how they could come and look at the bodies after committing the murder. These two brothers lead a solitary life and they don’t usually go for funerals. This is the first time I have seen them in a funeral in our village,” he said.

Amaradasa had come that morning and had looked at the bodies and had said, ‘Meka karapu unta henagahanna ona (may lightning strike those who did this)’.

According to neighbours in the area, after the killing, an angry mob of about 300 had come in trucks and torched the house in which Amaradasa had been staying. They had blocked the police and the fire brigade from coming to the vicinity. Police say vital evidence that might have helped in the investigations had been destroyed in the fire.

The two brothers who were taken into custody were later gunned down by a police team from Meegahawatta. The shooting took place when the police were taking the suspects to a house in Delgoda, where police claimed the suspects had hidden some of the weapons used to commit the murder.

The police told the Gampaha Magistrates court on Friday that they shot them as an act of self defence as the suspects had tried to lob a grenade at the officers.

The Magistrate had then given the judgment as “justifiable homicide in the act of self defence”. However questions surround the shooting of the suspects as well as the inability of the police to stop villagers from torching Amaradasa’s house.

“How did the police come to the conclusion that the suspects were definitely involved in the massacre without producing them in a court of law and proving the case beyond reasonable doubt,” is a question raised by some of the villagers who condemned the brutal massacre as well as the shooting of the suspects.

However, Delgoda Senior Superintendent of Police, Nihal Samarakoon told The Sunday Times that the police have no choice but to gun down suspecta if their lives are in danger.

Commenting on the torching of the house he said, “When we are involved in a high profile murder case we cannot give protection to their land too. We could have looked for more clues in the house but it is now burnt down. When the suspects try to do something desperate this puts police officers in danger and they have to act accordingly,” he said.

Another suspect, Jayasinghe, who is also a prominent JVP activist, has been taken into custody for questioning. Police detectives believe that he could be a key witness to the massacre as he was a close confidant of Amaradasa.

Hard on the heels of this gruesome murder, a home-guard who suspected his wife of cheating on him had gunned down his wife and three others last Thursday in Kebitigollawa. The home guard is now said to be in hiding.

What the IGP said last month
In April this year Police Chief Victor Perera declared that the Police may even have to go beyond the law to combat crime.

Addressing the news conference he said, they would maintain law and order by “hook or by crook”.

“I’m not deterred by influences. I’m ready for anything. By hook or by crook we will maintain law and order. We will try our best to work according to the law.

“Therefore, what I have to tell you is that we won’t allow things like extorting ransom from people, intimidating, threatening people with weapons to continue.

“We will not be deterred by those who are involved in these acts, whether they are from the underworld or persons with big names. We are also armed with weapons.

“We will not back down in fear of their weapons. Though you don’t have weapons we have sufficient number of weapons and also a cadre of about 77,000 to 80,000. For us the place doesn’t matter.

“If one police station cannot handle a matter I will bring police from some other area. There are people in this police force who can work.”


Tale of two wars: Ground battle and media battle

  • News management of Delft attack worsens crisis of credibility
  • Undeclared war takes fearful turn as purchases worth billions are made in exclusive secrecy
  • Was Reclamation Road bomb meant for military bus or some other target?

The island of Delft (Nedun Theevu or Long Island), off the northern Jaffna peninsula, was known centuries ago under Portuguese rule as Cow Island. There were plenty of cattle there. Yet the mortality rate was high because they sometimes fed on the venomous herbs that grew wild.

The Portuguese had a fort there. The ruins are still evident. During that period, they brought some horses into the island. A historian later recorded "multiplying in time produced a certain kind of horses that are very small, but hardy and very fit to travel on stony and rocky grounds."

The descendants of the Portuguese horses, ponies as they call them now, are perhaps the only living remnants of that era that remain in Delft Island. It is 35 square miles (seven miles long and five miles wide). The island is the largest among the seven located off the peninsula. The main occupation for some 6,000 civilians is fishing. Located some 18 nautical miles from the Jaffna peninsula, access is only by boat from the Kurikattuvan jetty in the Kayts island. Another is the Kayts jetty. The area was under the control of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP). After the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002, a Navy detachment was positioned there to supplement a Police Station that existed.

Six months ago, a sub unit of this detachment was located in the southernmost corner of Delft Island to guard a Radar facility. That was to monitor movements of Sea Tigers, the ocean going arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It became necessary following reports of increased sea traffic between the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and guerrilla-held Wanni area. The radar is placed near the disused Queen's Tower beacon that existed many years ago.

Last Thursday, Delft Island was world news. Just before crack of dawn, Tiger guerrillas mounted a surprise attack on the sub unit. It came after they had smuggled in weapons and infiltrated the island. Whilst the attack got under way, Sea Tiger boats awaited and later engaged Navy re-inforcements that rushed in. These boats had come from guerrilla bases in Viduthaltivu and Pooneryn. The guerrillas overran the area and held it for three hours. It was only after the crack of dawn that sailors managed to re-capture and restore normalcy. By then, the guerrillas had withdrawn with two .50 calibre guns (point five zero calibre heavy weapon used in many roles including anti-aircraft), two machine guns, one Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher and two T-56 assault rifles among other items. Air Force Mi-24 helicopter gunships joined in the battle and destroyed at least two guerrilla boats.

During that period, another drama was being enacted in Colombo. Officials at the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) had the unenviable task of disseminating information on the incident to the local and foreign media. Faster than the speed of bullets fired by re-inforcements to re-take the Radar facility, the casualty counts were changing. At one point, officials at the MCNS said sailors who took over the island had seen six bodies of sailors lying in the area. It later rose to seven.

Then suddenly apologetic MCNS officials explained they were under orders from top brass at Navy Headquarters to give a lower casualty count. Strange but true that meant some of those found dead had been resurrected by the top brass. They declared only four sailors had died and four more were wounded. Five others had reported to the main Navy detachment in the Delft Island. All others reported missing had also turned up. Besides officials at the MCNS, separate accounts were also being given by a Navy spokesman. It was not so long ago that one such spokesman talked of a Sea Tiger attack on a Navy patrol. It later turned out that the number of Sea Tiger boats he announced as being destroyed far exceeded those engaged in the sea battle.

The Sunday Times learnt from authoritative Navy sources that contrary to claims by the top brass, eight sailors were killed in the incident and three others wounded. The dead sailors are: T. Jayatilleke, K.N. Weerakulasuriya, I.D.U. Silva, R.A. Prasanna, K.S. Weeraratne, W.I.D. Ratnayake, W. Wickremasinghe and W. Pushpakumara. Their last rites are to be accompanied by full Navy honours.

It became clear that Navy top brass were not only directing operations by re-inforcements at Delft Island tasked to re-capture the area overrun by the guerrillas. They were also at the same time engaged in news management to give the Sri Lankan public and the world at large an entirely different picture. This is what prompted me to once observe that there are two separatist wars in Sri Lanka. One is in the theatre of conflict in the North and East. The other is the media release war in Colombo.

Even the Security Forces Headquarters in Jaffna, which is the overall authority for Security Forces deployed in the peninsula, was unable to report to Army Headquarters in Colombo on the casualty count in the Delft incident. Both the Navy and the Air Force in the peninsula come under the operational command of the SFHQ (Jaffna).

It is no secret that co-ordination and co-operation at the highest levels between the Army and the Navy have not been very smooth. This week, Security Forces Commander (Jaffna), Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, the senior most officer in the peninsula, sought a report from the Northern Naval Area Commander, Rear Admiral S.R. Samaratunga. Until yesterday, he had not received the account.

Ironic enough, managing the news has become a distinct characteristic feature of the ongoing undeclared Eelam War IV. The Delft incident is the latest to clearly illustrate this phenomenon. In an era where communications have advanced and the flow of information cannot be forever curtailed, news management by those spearheading the "war on terror" is only bringing the Government's credibility into further question. Apologists may argue it is necessary in order not to demoralize troops. This is nothing more than a myth, for it is troops in the operational areas who learn from the grapevine the exact casualty counts in military encounters. Moreover, to claim that four sailors have died when eight sacrificed their lives is a grave act of injustice by the men who die. Not even in their death is their sacrifice for the nation recognized.

Another equally disturbing factor is the reaction of the public who support the Security Forces and the Police engaged in battles with the Tiger guerrillas. Will not their morale be affected when they learn that some top brass engineer and doctor the news to economise on the truth? Therefore, will not such actions reflect badly on the leadership of the Government? In fact, some of the official claims after military encounters, particularly in a string of battles in the East, come into serious question. Reportage of such claims raises high public expectations but crumble no sooner the truth is discovered. Unlike during the previous phases of the war, there is little or no control by the Ministry of Defence over these matters. The result is news management going on unabated at various levels.

Strange enough they reach levels where the intelligence of the public is insulted by some of the claims. One example is the ease with which some spokesman describe flotilla of guerrilla boats coming into attack Navy patrols. The numbers of the "suicide boats" and the others are frequently spelt out though it is not clear how it is possible to exactly identify the "suicide boats''. They do not carry name boards. It is known that on some occasions the guerrillas have dived into the water after directing a suicide boat to a target. Other times, a single cadre had been deployed. But the boats used in attacks look much the same and any difference is often unnoticeable.

Within hours of the attack on Delft Island, a directional claymore mine fixed to a motorcycle exploded on Thursday morning at Reclamation Road that runs outside the boundary wall of the Colombo Port. It hit an Army bus killing a soldier and wounding three more soldiers.It also injured three civilians. It is not still clear whether the Army bus was the target.

Intelligence operatives believe the mine may have been detonated by a guerrilla cadre using a remote-controlled device. This is after they found it difficult to move it to the Fort area for fear of being checked. Various aspects are now being probed. This includes possible plans to attack trucks carrying ammunition expected to exit from a nearby gate (near the Khan Clock Tower). A vessel had been unloading military hardware in the Colombo port. Another aspect is whether it was intended for a VIP.

The two incidents on Thursday, after a brief lull, make clear Tiger guerrillas are girding themselves for fresh attacks. This is whilst the Security Forces have started limited operations both in the North and the East against guerrilla positions.

Against this backdrop, the Government's move to acquire four MiG-29SM multi-role combat aircraft (together with a trainer) from Russia on long-term credit, revealed exclusively on this page last week, generated a controversy. The opposition United National Party sought and obtained a debate on the matter on Thursday afternoon. However, on Wednesday President Mahinda Rajapaksa told his Ministers the Government wants to go ahead with the purchase. Besides the purchase of five MiG-29SM, including the trainer, the Air Force sources confirmed yesterday plans were afoot to buy three new Mi-35M helicopters and to upgrade four more Mi-24 helicopters in the SLAF possession as Mi-35 variants. These sources also said an overhaul facility for helicopters will also be set up at the Sri Lanka Air Force. These, no doubt, will entail heavy expenditure.

The MiG-29 and other accompanying deals are to be concluded by the newly formed company Lanka Logistics and Technologies Limited. It is a company incorporated under the Companies Act (no 17 of 1982). Its primary objective is declared as "to procure equipment and services for the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Police and any other State institution from time to time in terms of the policy guidelines, regulations and other direction as stipulated by the Government with regard to procurement such as guidelines on tender procedure." The Cabinet approved the proposal for setting up the company on a proposal made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Minister of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order.

Despite this approval, the Cabinet has not granted any authority to deviate from policy guidelines on procurement laid down by the Government. One is the document titled "Policy Guidelines - 2006" approved by the Cabinet. President Rajapaksa in a preface to the Guideline in January 2006 noted, "….it is imperative to ensure speed, transparency and integrity in all the development spheres and in regard to which the procurement function of goods, works and services plays a critical role."

President Rajapaksa added: "….the National Procurement Agency has been established under Presidential directive. The institution which functions directly under my purview is mandated to study, revise and adopt the procedures and processes in order to govern this vital aspect. The effort taken by the National Procurement Agency, within a period of one year from its inception, to study the several procedural documents which prevail in the sphere of public procurement and to formulate a single harmonized procurement guideline applicable to over the different funding agency procedure is a significant and commendable achievement."

The National Procurement Agency formulated guidelines to "enhance the transparency of Government procurement process to minimize delays and to obtain financially the most advantageous and qualitatively the best services and supplies to the nation."

The NPA did formulate a set of procedures. They are lengthy but some of the highlights include giving maximum publicity to a procurement notice to ensure maximum competition. This is not only in print and electronic media but also in relevant websites. Direct contracting, the NPA has said, should only be under exceptional circumstances.

Lanka Logistics and Technologies Limited have received proposals for very high value military equipment and services directly from manufacturing arms and trading organizations. They have been dealt with on the basis that the entities in question are state owned and have been recommended by heads of diplomatic missions abroad. That move also enhances official claims that the deals would thus be Government to Government. What of private foreign suppliers, whose products may, in some instances, turn out to be better than ones manufactured by State owned enterprises? Does that mean they are out of the race and thus shut out? For example a military item from the United States where the defence industry is in private hands? Thus single offers are being accepted for consideration as against several. Will that obviate competition that leads to competitive prices and better products?

The single proposals, however, have been subjected to either Cabinet appointed or Ministry approved Tender Boards. This is a significant departure from the past where there was fierce competition from various bidders. Of course local agents also benefited from fat commissions for lobbying with connected "promoters" including some in uniform.

Despite claims that the newly set up company has stemmed corruption, many questions still arise. The first is the question of transparency. Another important one is whether a good product and a better price could be obtained. The others, some of the recent procurements have shown, has not eliminated the role of local agents. Suppliers have due to Government insistence "dropped" their agents but "take good care" of them when the deals are through. The agents are most helpful to obtain the required business intelligence and whom to lobby. Hence, what are the total benefits arising from a State owned company where the shareholders are the armed forces commanders, the Police Chief and the Secretary to the Treasury. Have they ever been explained to the public?

Though still undeclared, the Eelam War is not only heightening further but taking a frightening dimension. As billions worth of military equipment is being procured, this time through an exclusive state company chaired by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the cost of war is soaring.

It is the public who will be called upon to further sustain the burdens placed on the economy by this undeclared Eelam War IV. The least that could be done by the Government is to tell the truth over incidents and win their support and co-operation. Military top brass may, to cover their shortcomings, conceal or exaggerate events. It could be argued that in the national interest both these measures may become necessary sometimes. But that should be left to the Government and not in the hands of the top brass. It is not them but President Rajapaksa and his Government which has to bear the brunt of it at the end. That is when the expectations they raise do not match the ground realities. That is not fair by the troops and policemen who have placed their lives on the firing line. There is a lesson in this from the Delft incident which the Government should not ignore.

(http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070527/Columns/sitreport.html)

Two LTTE cadres and Three Homeguards killed - Vavuniya and Batticaloa

The Homeguards manning the security post at Thiruvegama village on Madhu Kanda road in Vavuniya successfully defended nearby villages against a terrorists attack on Thursday (24th). According to the defence sources the terrorists had attempted to infiltrate in to the villages around 1:45a.m. but were forced withdrew amid heavy resistance from the Homeguards. Three Homeguards died in the confrontation.

Separately, in Batticaloa the security forces in the Thoppigala area killed two LTTE terrorists on Thursday (24) morning. The matter was confirmed by the intercepted radio communication among the LTTE cadres. The incident took place around 5:10 a.m. on Thursday when the security forces on a foot patrol came under an LTTE attack.

(http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070525_02)

LTTE hit Delft for anti-aircraft guns, Delft navy officers frantically asked for SLAF air strikes but Colombo did not give it

"The LTTE attacked the Delft Island Naval base islet to capture anti-aircraft guns and to dismantle its anti-aircraft defences. During the two hour raid, officers at the base frantically kept asking for an air strike against the raiding Sea Tigers and their boats, but the Sri Lanka Air Force did not come to their help. Later, SLAF claimed it went into action and attacked the Sea Tiger boats as they were withdrawing but there has been no corroboration of this so far" wrote the well known Indian Defence Analyst B. Raman on May 26.

Writing his Paper No 2255 to South Asia Analysis Group, B. Raman added: "Capture of anti-aircraft guns and dismantling Delft anti-aircraft defences came as part of the LTTE objective of identifying military posts where anti-aircraft defences are set up, raiding them and capturing the anti-aircraft weapons supplied to them."

LTTE rebels raided Delft, an islet off the northern Jaffna peninsula, shortly after midnight on May 24,2007, dismantled its anti-aircraft defences and took away two anti-aircraft guns with ammunition, two Israeli machine guns, one rocket-propelled grenade launcher and eight assault rifles.

Mr. B. Raman's Paper 2255 is given below in full:

1. Till March 26,2007, the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) enjoyed the command of the skies. There was no opposition to its punitive strikes against the positions held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTW) in the Eastern and Northern Provinces and to its intimidatory strikes against the Sri Lankan Tamil population, inflicting a large number of civilian casualties. The LTTE faced difficulty in countering the punitive and intimidatory air strikes of the SLAF. This was due to a serious depletion of its anti-aircraft capability and the difficulties faced by it in procuring anti-aircraft guns and ammunition and surface-to-air missiles.

2. As a result of this, the Sri Lankan authorities did not consider it necessary to provide strengthened anti-aircraft defences to their army, naval and air force stations in the Tamil areas. They feared only land-based threats to them. They did not anticipate any threat from the air.

3. The position has since changed as a result of the LTTE's Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF) going into action since March 26,2007, and demonstrating its capability for conventional air operations on ground-based targets and to evade the anti-aircraft defences. The TAF has already carried out three successful air strikes on ground targets of a strategic significance----two in the Colombo area and one in the Jaffna area.

4. The psychological and economic impact of these strikes has unnerved the Sri Lankan authorities. The psychological impact has been in denting the self-confidence of the Sri Lankan security forces and affecting their credibility in the eyes of the public. The economic impact has been on tourism. Flights of nervous international airlines were affected and there was a decline in tourist arrivals.

5. The expected operations of the armed forces to recover territory under the control of the LTTE in the Northern Province have not yet materialised. The SLAF has not been as active as it used to be before the TAF went into action. Fearing more strikes by the TAF, the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has given priority to strengthening the anti-aircraft defences in Colombo and Jaffna. Apart from taking conventional measures such as providing anti-aircraft guns and ammunition to all major military posts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, it has also entered into negotiations with Pakistan and China for the purchase of surface-to-air missiles.

6. Taking advantage of this, the LTTE has embarked on a policy of identifying military posts where anti-aircraft defences have been set up, raiding them and capturing the anti-aircraft weapons supplied to them. It was in pursuance of this tactics that the LTTE raided a strategic naval base at Delft, an islet off the northern Jaffna peninsula, shortly after midnight on May 24,2007, dismantled its anti-aircraft defences and took away two anti-aircraft guns with ammunition, two Israeli machine guns, one rocket-propelled grenade launcher and eight assault rifles. They badly damaged the base infrastructure and withdrew after killing over 20 sailors of the Sri Lankan Navy. The raid lasted about two hours. The officers at the base frantically kept asking for an air strike against the raiding Sea Tigers and their boats, but the SLAF did not come to their help. Later, it claimed that the SLAF went into action and attacked the Sea Tiger boats as they were withdrawing and inflicted casualties and damage. There has been no corroboration of this so far.

7. The Government has not yet been able to remove the nervousness caused in Sri Lankan and foreign business circles----particularly among those in the civil aviation and tourism sectors---in the wake of the TAF's air raids in the Colombo area. Fear of an LTTE retaliation from the air continues to have a negative impact on the Government and the Security Forces.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5883)

Karuna group adopts Prabhakaran’s terror tactics to suppress Tamils of the east

Sivarasa Uthayakumar (19 years) from Araiyampathi, a former member of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal led by Colonel Karuna was shot dead yesterday in broad daylight in the Kaluwanchikudi market, Batticoloa, located in the east of Sri Lanka.

Sivarasa Uthayakumar was a former militant cadre in the TMVP military wing. When TMVP split into two and factional fighting erupted in the first week of May, he left the outfit for good and was living with his parents at Ariyampathi.

Yesterday he went to Kaluwanchikudi market to buy vegetables and other provisions for the family. In the market he was arrested by Veera, TMVP organizer for Kaluwanchikudi.

Veera confronted Sivarasa Uthayakumar and shot and killed him in the broad daylight in the Government controlled area. After shooting the ex-militant cadre he dragged the dead body and handed over it to the Kaluwanchikudi hospital.

Reports reveal that hundreds of people were there in the market witnessing this act of TMVP terror. Furthermore, Asian Tribune learnt that letters are sent by the political offices of the TMVP to all those who left the outfit after the split with former commander Pillaiyan urging them to return and join their respective arm units on or before 29 May.

The letter also insists that in case the former TMVP cadre fails to turn up, parents should turn up and present themselves to the political offices for inquiry. If the cadres who had left fail to rejoin, then the family should provide another member of the family to the TMVP as a substitute, states the letter.

“The irony is that the Tamil people, whether in the east or in the north, have no way of escaping the terrorist,” said a government official. “Also when one set of terrorist are chased out another set steps in to take over. Karuna group is now adopting Prabhakaran’s terror tactics. The Tamils abroad who pay for this terror must answer for these crimes,” he added.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5882)

WHY LTTE ATTACKED DELFT NAVAL BASE?

Till March 26,2007, the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) enjoyed the command of the skies. There was no opposition to its punitive strikes against the positions held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTW) in the Eastern and Northern Provinces and to its intimidatory strikes against the Sri Lankan Tamil population, inflicting a large number of civilian casualties. The LTTE faced difficulty in countering the punitive and intimidatory air strikes of the SLAF. This was due to a serious depletion of its anti-aircraft capability and the difficulties faced by it in procuring anti-aircraft guns and ammunition and surface-to-air missiles.

2. As a result of this, the Sri Lankan authorities did not consider it necessary to provide strengthened anti-aircraft defences to their army, naval and air force stations in the Tamil areas. They feared only land-based threats to them. They did not anticipate any threat from the air.

3. The position has since changed as a result of the LTTE's Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF) going into action since March 26,2007, and demonstrating its capability for conventional air operations on ground-based targets and to evade the anti-aircraft defences. The TAF has already carried out three successful air strikes on ground targets of a strategic significance----two in the Colombo area and one in the Jaffna area.

4. The psychological and economic impact of these strikes has unnerved the Sri Lankan authorities. The psychological impact has been in denting the self-confidence of the Sri Lankan security forces and affecting their credibility in the eyes of the public. The economic impact has been on tourism. Flights of nervous international airlines were affected and there was a decline in tourist arrivals.

5. The expected operations of the armed forces to recover territory under the control of the LTTE in the Northern Province have not yet materialised. The SLAF has not been as active as it used to be before the TAF went into action. Fearing more strikes by the TAF, the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has given priority to strengthening the anti-aircraft defences in Colombo and Jaffna. Apart from taking conventional measures such as providing anti-aircraft guns and ammunition to all major military posts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, it has also entered into negotiations with Pakistan and China for the purchase of surface-to-air missiles.

6. Taking advantage of this, the LTTE has embarked on a policy of identifying military posts where anti-aircraft defences have been set up, raiding them and capturing the anti-aircraft weapons supplied to them. It was in pursuance of this tactics that the LTTE raided a strategic naval base at Delft, an islet off the northern Jaffna peninsula, shortly after midnight on May 24,2007, dismantled its anti-aircraft defences and took away two anti-aircraft guns with ammunition, two Israeli machine guns, one rocket-propelled grenade launcher and eight assault rifles. They badly damaged the base infrastructure and withdrew after killing over 20 sailors of the Sri Lankan Navy. The raid lasted about two hours. The officers at the base frantically kept asking for an air strike against the raiding Sea Tigers and their boats, but the SLAF did not come to their help. Later, it claimed that the SLAF went into action and attacked the Sea Tiger boats as they were withdrawing and inflicted casualties and damage. There has been no corroboration of this so far.

7.The Government has not yet been able to remove the nervousness caused in Sri Lankan and foreign business circles----particularly among those in the civil aviation and tourism sectors---in the wake of the TAF's air raids in the Colombo area. Fear of an LTTE retaliation from the air continues to have a negative impact on the Government and the Security Forces.

(http://saag.org/%5Cpapers23%5Cpaper2255.html)

Ambassador Goonetilleke and Prof. Bandarage rips Saravanamuttu’s ‘kuttus ‘ apart in Washington

Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, the director of Colombo-based think tank, Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), who spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC, on May 24, 2006, was supposed to discuss “Sri Lanka's Elusive Peace Process – a Role for the United States Government?” but talked about “Sri Lanka’s Human Rights and Humanitarian situation” as the board at the CSIS indicated.

In fact, there were two main points that Dr. Saravanamuttu referred to US involvement in Sri Lanka. One was that there should be a curtailment of US military aid and assistance. He did not outright say such assistance should be stopped but implied it in the statement that such assistance should be tied to benchmarks.

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke, who was present at the meeting responded that the military assistance the US gives Sri Lanka is mostly limited to training and limited military sales. He added that when such is the case, curtailment of military assistance is not going to be a very effective tool. He said that if the government’s back was pushed against the wall, Sri Lanka would seek military purchases from other countries which do not impose conditions.

Dr. Saravanamuttu commented that when Sri Lanka veered toward the west in the late 1970s, New Delhi was concerned. He added that in the contemporary global political arena, given the current relationship between the US and India, both these countries look upon Sri Lanka’s relationship with China, with much wariness. However, Ambassador pointed out that Sri Lanka has had a stable relationship with China for over 50 years. Furthermore, China has no intention of getting involved in Sri Lanka’s conflict or in filling an existing vacuum. He illustrated his point with a very potent Chinese adage which says that if one’s house is on fire, one should seek water, not in the neighbor’s well, but in one’s own well. In other words, a country needs to look within to resolve a national conflict.

Dr. Saravanamuttu also complained that there was a duality in the US policy on the ground in Sri Lanka and added that his present visit to the US was an attempt to raise awareness and to seek support for an international human rights monitor. He labeled Sri Lanka as “the worst place in the world for civilians, in the past 15 months.”

Ambassador Goonetilleke replied that he had personally been involved with the human rights situation in Sri Lanka since 1986, and what is true of all armed conflicts in the world is that it is the civilians who suffer the most, not the combatants. He commented on Dr. Saravanamuttu’s reference to LTTE leader Prabhakaran’s statement in Novemebr 2005 that he would give the newly-elected president time to solve the conflict. Despite that, within two weeks of President Mahinda Rajapaksa assuming office, Prabhakaran had started attacking security forces and civilians. He said that the first time the government responded to LTTE violence was after the assassination attempt on the Army Commander inside Army headquarters on April 25, 2006. Thereafter, as the number of terrorist attacks increased, government’s strategy changed and with the current heightened violence, it would be difficult for the government to control the situation in the short term. He added that when there is a peace-like situation in the country, the human rights violations reduce substantially. However, with the conflict in its present proportions, the situation naturally gets out of control. He also commented that the figures of internally displaced persons (IDP) he possesses are much less than the 300,000 Dr. Saravanamuttu stated.

Dr. Saravanmuttu spoke of the unviability of a military solution to the conflict and the need to negotiate with the LTTE. Ambassador Goonetilleke very pertinently asked what kind of negotiations he is speaking of – whether they would be the kind of negotiations we have had with the LTTE thus far, where peace talks are limited to day-to-day logistical issues of the Tamil people and which they abandon the moment they are ready to restart the war, or whether they would be meaningful discussions of a substantive nature to arrive at a durable solution, that have never taken place before. Having been involved in the peace process during 2002-2003, as head of the Peace Secretariat, Ambassador explained that at that time the government delegation was not allowed to raise any substantive issues. Are peace talks to go the same way the next time too? he asked.

Dr. Saravanamuttu said that the merger of the northeast being overturned in the current context had potentially ominous long term consequences. Professor Asoka Bandarage of George Town University who was in the audience, asked if such a merger was fair to the Muslims and the Sinhalese in the east. She asked if the Muslims should then ask for a separate state for the Muslims. She also very pertinently commented that large numbers of Tamils in the north and the east have fled to the south to live peacefully among the Sinhalese and the Muslims. In such a situation, she pointed out, there was no justification for the LTTE to wage war seeking secession.

Dr. Saravanamuttu was very clear on the point that there was no way the LTTE could claim to be the sole representative of the Tamil people. He added that that there will never be a majority opinion among the Tamil community in Sri Lanka for secession. He believes that the best option for conflict resolution is the exploration of a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka and he emphasized that negotiations should not end up with a compact between the LTTE and the Government.

(http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5880)