Holding talks with the Tamil Tigers' shadowy leader would be a blunder and there will be no peace unless he is killed, Sri Lankan militant-turned-minister Douglas Devananda has warned.
Social Services and Welfare Minister Devananda, a minority Tamil vehemently opposed to the Tigers, says he has escaped more than a dozen assassination attempts.
The last was on Nov. 28, when a female bomber officials say was sent by Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran made her way into his ministry in central Colombo.
Devananda was watching closed-circuit TV footage of visitors in the ministry's offices and hallways when the woman blew herself up, killing one of his aides.
"Prabhakaran ... is anti-human," Devananda told Sri Lanka's Foreign Correspondent's Association late on Thursday, after showing journalists a recording of the attack. "You have to compare (him) with Pol Pot or Hitler ... He has to die."
"As long as Prabhakaran is alive, he won't allow anyone to solve the problem (conflict) amicably," he added. "If the president goes again for talks, it's a blunder."
Prabhakaran is infamous for his use of suicide attackers as part of his campaign to create a separate state for Tamils in the island's north and east.
Devananda himself took up arms against the state with other militant groups in the late 1970s and 1980s. He remains at the top of the Tigers' hit list.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the door is open to peace talks with the rebels, but his government has also vowed to wipe out the Tigers military.
Thousands have died in renewed fighting since early last year after a 2002 ceasefire pact broke down. The last round of a series of abortive peace talk initiatives fell apart last year.
Since 1983, about 70,000 people have died in the two-decade civil war and many hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
FUTURE CHIEF MINISTER IN NORTHEAST?
Devananda heads the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and analysts say he has close ties with a renegade former Tiger commander who analysts say helped the government drive the mainstream rebels from their eastern strongholds.
He wants to be the future chief minister for north and east Sri Lanka.
"I have the right to be the chief minister of the north and east," Devananda said.
He also wants the government and other political parties to decentralise power to provincial councils, rather than wait for divided parties to try to reach an elusive consensus on devolution.
"The Tamil people have grievances. They should be dealt with with a political package," he said.
Devananda, who adopted the alias Douglas because it was his karate teacher's name, laughs as he recalls a series of attempts on his life.
He was once forced to dive into the Palk Strait separating Sri Lanka from India in 1996 to escape a rebel attack and spent the whole night in the sea.
The minister, who founded the militant Eelam People's Revolutionary Front (EPRLF), which later morphed into his political party, has no regrets about his own violent past.
He says killings he was responsible for were in self-defence. He also jokes about his former militancy and rivalry with the Tigers in the 1980s, when they were both fighting the state -- and often each other.
"If the LTTE killed anyone from my organisation, I balanced that when I was in EPRLF," he laughed.
Ironically, it is precisely through agreeing to peace talks that Prabhakaran could torpedo his foe Devananda.
"If tomorrow Prabhakaran comes genuinely for negotiations, I will give up politics and go, because I don't want to be an obstacle," he said.
"But the reality is Prabhakaran won't come, and I won't go."
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sri Lanka says 13 rebels killed in ongoing heavy fighting
A Sri Lankan soldier stands guard at a checkpoint in Jaffna, on November 28. At least 13 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed on Christmas Eve in heavy clashes with Sri Lankan security forces in northern Sri Lanka.
At least 13 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed on Christmas Eve in heavy clashes with Sri Lankan security forces in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said.
Six members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in a confrontation in the district of Mannar on Monday while another five were killed in three separate clashes, the ministry said.
Two more Tigers were shot dead on the same day in the Jaffna peninsula along a de facto border separating rebel-held territory, the ministry said.
The ministry also raised the estimate for the number of guerrillas killed in a clash three days ago to 22 from an earlier estimate of eight.
The claim of more rebel casualties brings the number of Tamil fighters killed since December 1 to at least 412, according to the defence ministry.
This compares with a handful of government troops reported dead.
Both sides make sharply differing claims about casualties and independent verification is rarely possible, because the press is barred from front-line and rebel-held areas.
Tens of thousands of people have died on both sides since the LTTE launched its armed struggle for a Tamil homeland in the majority Sinhalese nation in 1972. A Norwegian-brokered 2002 truce began to unravel in December 2005.
Time to chisel our own destiny
A journey from elsewhere into Wanni gives one an extremely different experience. Especially for someone who travels from Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka can easily realize the contrasting atmosphere, lifestyle and the difficulties. I do not know if I should say that I was happy to be there or I had to leave the place with a heavy heart wondering ‘Oh there is a lot of ways in which these people have to be helped out. Here, I share with you my personal experiences I endured during my recent visit to the land of our own – Tamil Eelam. My few days there were just enough for me to imagine decades of sufferings the nation is undergoing. Indeed I appreciated their perseverance amidst all their difficulties.
Entry into the land of sufferings
At Omanthai, the main Checkpoint before entering Wanni, there were so many lorries with goods. People in Wanni still have to live with certain restrictions imposed on many goods and commodities. What is enjoyed in one part of the country is restricted for another part. No matter what the reason may be but certainly it places one section of the people as privileged against the other. They have to wait there for two – three days when they could be checked and allowed to proceed. Only certain items are allowed in and every single item from the lorry has to be unloaded and opened and then packed and again loaded. That was so strenuous. The weather will be extremely hot or will be raining and muddy. There are no basic facilities for anyone to stay overnight. Still they got to manage everything. As for the people passing thorough the checkpoint, no vehicles are allowed beyond the point till the next checkpoint of the LTTE at Puliyangkulam. Hence they have to carry all their goods and walk the distance.
This certainly is a difficult task for those who have most probably traveled a long way and waited in queues at the checkpoints and are already tired of the proceedings at every checkpoint. As mine was along journey that took almost three days at a stretch I was dead tired and to take out the bags at every checkpoint and open it and letting it to be checked and proceeding was awful. Even the batteries that were in the camera were not allowed to be taken into Wanni as they are one of the prohibited items. Again there is a checkpoint at Puliyangkulam as well. At last when I learnt that I have no more checking I let go off a sigh of relief.
Waking up-to daily shelling
But the relief at that point doesn’t mean that the life is going to be of peace and luxury. I realized it during my stay over there. The people in Wanni live and have learnt to live in a place where their days are opened up either with the sound of the artillery shelling or Kfir’s bombing. I wondered how these people who woke up at the sound of the temple bells and singing of birds could live amidst these disastrous noise. The thunderous blows of the shells come in all directions, from the north of Wanni, from Mannar, Killali. Poonagari, Muhamaalai and Naagarkovil and bang the boarders. It sounds as if to push the land. The blows would be like pounding ones chest. At the beginning I would be shaken out of a sudden thud. But when I felt that it is almost a daily routine for people to live with it. I realized that everyone has to learn to live with it. I wondered if one who is far away from the places of shelling is affected so much by the sound itself how far those who are facing it and the people closer to it will be feeling! People become displaced as a result and the suffering as a result is immense. If not for those who are guarding day and night at these boarders the people in Wanni will have no peace of mind. They will not be going on with their daily activities. They are there day and night amidst rain and heat amidst animals and snakes that swarm throughout the forests. Thanks in first place to those souls, who are really, really, great.
A land of joy becomes a land of cries
The land however,by nature’s bliss is a lovely place to live and the people are hardworking to make it prosperous. The days I was in Wanni had a mild weather and I didn’t have to face the heat. The weather was fine. You wouldn’t like to huddle in the bed a few more minutes- a few more minutes - to escape the cold and chill in the morning as you do in Canada: You would love to run into the lawn to enjoy the nature’s bliss that is showered early in the morning. It would send you into the happiest feelings to start a fresh day. The birds singing, the flowers blooming in different hues, the breeze that embraces you and the joy of seeing people actively starting the day with much hope and enthusiasm. You would just like to absorb all the happiness into every nerve of your body.
What was agony - Then and now
In the blink of an eye you are robbed off of all the happiness and turned out to be a panicky poor soul who would have not even a second to think if you are going to be alive or dead. In my childhood, while I was in our land of pride many more years ago, I have enjoyed the scene when a hen would take its recently hatched chicken out in the lawn at the dawn of the day. Scratching the soil with its claws, to reveal some kind of food buried in the soil for the chicks to eat. The lovely little chicken would make their way towards the spot to feast on their mother’s venture. So happy they are – that one would love to think, how nice it will be to be like them. But this won’t last long.
All of a sudden the hen becomes panicky and gives a signal fluttering its wings. The tiny chicken, whom we thought are just brainless little souls run towards their mother to find shelter under its wings. All happens in a jiffy. The hen and the chicken under the hen’s wings lie motionless under the shade of some foliage. There in the sky you see the hungry devilish eagle circling the spot ready to plunge on the innocent chicken. It is not always that the chickens escape the demonic eyes of the eagle and the hen could protect its babies. The eagle is at times quicker and lucky to carry away a chick. The mother hen cries loud, sounds its inability, runs after the eagle and al the other chicks would run about helplessly. I would just run after the eagle shouting out ‘choo choo’- all just efforts to save the chick if the eagle by accident let the chick go off its claws. But even if it happens the poor chick wouldn’t live long in my hands. The ultimate feelings however are to realize that one is desperate and can do nothing about it.
Those were the days we felt for the chicken. But now in Wanni- in the area of Tamils of Tamil Eelam it is far, far, far more a tragedy to see human suffering the same.
Kfir – Daily Messengers of Death
What a difference! In place of the eagle that took the lives of the chicks there is the Man operated Kfir. I couldn’t conclude if the man or the Kfir is the messenger of death. But certainly the man has his role as well. Kfir is a man-made huge iron air vessel that carries the dangerous poisonous thing called bombs that are shifted into its belly using cranes. They are so huge and heavy. The iron structure called as the Israeli-made Kfir flies from Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka in just ten minutes. It comes with the sole purpose of taking the lives of Tamils that have become so cheap in the eyes of the Sri Lankan government- a democratic government said to be adhering to the noble truths of Lord Buddha who preached against the killings of lives in whatever form. The eagle as said above stick to no moral rules neither it has the capacity to think. But the government that sends the killer in the form of a Kfir and the man behind the wheels are capable of thinking. They do think- in terms of killing Tamils. Let it be anybody - children, elderly, or sick, they are Tamils and they should be killed.
I happened to feel a piece of the outer covering of the bomb which at the blast was thrown to a distance of about 500 meters. It was about ten inches in length, sharp at all sides, uneven and weighed more than two kilos. That was enough to take the life of someone if it fell on some ill-fated person. It is made up of some poisonous metal. The bomb itself is more that a ton heavy and if that happened to be targeted on the people how worse the effect can be? Have men become so heartless to think about it or are they rather obsessed with killing people? Can anyone ever find pleasure in such merciless killings? I got no answer.
Even a small child in Tamil Eelam knows about a Kfir. It is the deadly dragon that comes to prey on them. It has become a daily exercise for the people to be prepared to protect themselves at the sound of a Kfir. In whatever activities they may be engaged they should be ready to abandon it at once and seek protection. There is always the tension and fear. Still they have to go on with their daily activities. They have learned to live a life with all the fear and tension- worries and sorrow. It is just because of this they are able to save themselves and not because of any kind of mercy shown towards them. Everybody including the elderly, sick, mothers with new-born babies, school children and the invalid have to run for shelter. Although no shelter guarantees safety that is their maximum effort to save themselves.
In the eye of the storm
It was the 25th of November 2007. I was sitting at the door-steps of the house, relaxing and enjoying the outside view -the garden and the flowers and the unpolluted atmosphere that refreshes anyone both mentally and physically. There were some children playing in the opposite compound playing and giggling and shouting in their natural carefree childhood innocence. I enjoyed it very much. But this didn’t last long.
All of a sudden there was the sound of the Kfir approaching. Before I could gather my senses the children took to their heels and fled somewhere and I too was called out to run away. There wasn’t time to run. I could just go to the backdoor of the house and there was the deadly noise of the bomb being dropped and the blast of it from all sides, the banging of the doors and windows and the people running and shouting out in panic. I heard as if a heap of daggers are being dashed simultaneously. I felt it close–so close that they rang in my ears. I shut my ears, closed my eyes and pressed myself against a wall and stood motionless. All what I could think was that I cannot do anything other than accepting whatever fate decides for me. My throat was parched; I lost the capacity to think anymore and everything was beyond my control. When all is over and there was absolute silence I couldn’t even think that I am saved. There was smoke everywhere. The unpolluted atmosphere I just enjoyed got surrounded with poisonous gaseous elements from the bomb. A silence that predicted the death of some innocent lives prevailed in the neighbourhood. People were running helter-skelter. They were running to see what had happened and who is left dead and injured. At once they started acting and rushed to the spot for help. All in a moment depicting how unpredictable is life in Tamil Eelam. What can we do to help these people? The question always absorbed my thoughts.
Again the following day I had a worse experience. In the nick of the time I heard the sound, the Kfir was there preparing itself to drop the bomb. I was neither in the house nor in a place to protect myself. I couldn’t run any further for the Kfir was almost ready to drop the bomb. The only alternative left was to lie on the floor and see if I survive or not. Your life is not yours – it is all I could feel. But I survived again.
Then came the worst of all days. It was November 27th. The whole of Wanni was decorated with red and yellow flags and posters of the Martyrs were everywhere, roads were cleaned and it was a commemorative day for Eelam Tamils to visit the martyrs who laid their lives in the freedom fight. People were going towards the memorial with garlands of flowers in their hands to pay respect to their loved ones. The roads were full of people of all ages. The land was so beautiful that the people never would have had the intention to think about the danger to their lives. Although they knew that the enemy is heartless they were fully absorbed in the thoughts of the loved ones to whom they were going to pay homage. But the cruel enemy did come on their way in the demonic Kfir to take the lives of some more.
Silenced Voice of Tamils
Voice of Tigers is the radio that currently brings the news in Tamil Eelam to the people around the world. The whole world was anxiously waiting to listen to the speech made by the national leader Mr. Velupppillai Pirabahararn. The time was 6pm. Just before the time the messenger of death assisted with a MIG aircraft entered the land of Wanni. It had the specific place of target. The Voice of Tigers radio station is right on the A9 highway and they had no strain in locating the place. It plunged on the building smashing the place with repeated bombing. The whole of Kilinochchi came to a standstill. Although most of the workers from the radio station expected such a disaster and escaped to safer place three of them including an engineer and a worker who is a mother of three got killed at the spot. The pedestrians on their way to the memorial fields were no exemption. Eleven civilians were killed and 15 were wounded. 17 of the nearby houses were also attacked. A person inside the house who was trying to switch on the TV to listen to the leader's speech got his head severed and died on the spot. An International non-governmental organization ‘Forut’ was also severely affected.
On the same day 11were killed in a claymore attack carried out by the Deep Penetration Unit of the SriLankan army. This included seven schoolgirls and three male volunteers and the driver. It was just 50 meters from the place of attack that the children have alighted into a minibus to volunteer at the memorial celebrations. With all this, the speech was let on the air at the scheduled time using a clandestine transmitter. After a while I had the opportunity to see the radio station and the affected area. They were in shambles and remained a proof for a war torn area. That was not the only disaster on that day. There were still more bombings in other areas of Wanni as well.
All these were news in the international media. But did anyone help us out? No one could do anything. Is this the fate of Tamils? I became tired of thinking. ‘No choice’ is what makes the people go about with their daily routine with all the pain they experience throughout. But still you can never- never reject the impact of these, which are to affect the lives of the people permanently. Is ‘trauma’ the only word to express the suffering of these people? Will the elite group of people who enjoy the message of such disaster ever realize their pain?
Life on the run
I met a boy of 17years whom I asked which area of Tamil Eelam he is from. He answered, “Amma I had been running since I was three. I have lived under the trees. Slept in open places. Eating whatever is available and my mother has told me that she even had to quench my thirst with the water running in a canal that carried dirty water. I haven’t attended schools regularly. I was in several schools. I couldn’t concentrate in my studies for I didn’t know where I will go next.†He is not the only youth with such a story. There are many such people. Their agony doesn’t end there. They have seen people being killed due to the bombing and shelling. They have seen the distorted bodies; helped to clean them up. There live so many people who lost their limbs and eye-sight. The worry, the memories and the impact is too much to bear with.
Everyday news from the north of Wanni- the Jaffna peninsula stands out as a proof for our mere helplessness. It is a silent process. There are arrests, disappearances and extra judicial killings in the area, which is claimed to have been freed. Every single day there is no dawn without a killing of a youth. Yet we could do nothing. Nothing to help our people. Are we that incapable even in lands where at least our cries are heard?
Eelam – a clarion call
We know for sure there is no mercy we can expect from the Sri Lankan governments. However loud the expatriate Tamil community try to bring this into the attention of the foreign governments, they too keep silent as they believe only what the Sri Lankan government announces- because that is said to be the ethics of the governments. Where are we to turn for help? Even those who try to voice for the Tamils are branded as Tiger supporters and neglected and even pushed aside. All the atrocities against the Tamils have to be stopped. We have to work relentlessly until it is stopped. The international community definitely has the power to take control of the deadly activities of the Sri Lankan Government. They just don’t have to interfere in the domestic affairs but can definitely stop supporting and encouraging.
The situation as of now is such, it is only the expatriate Tamils who got to think of the plight of those in Tamil Eelam. We do know that and it is because of this that we always keep an eye on the news from Tamil Eelam.
Hence we do not fail to see the daily news. We sit in a cozy place and read the news either in a computer or sit in a comfort of a sofa and watch TV or read the newspapers. We do feel sorry for the Eelam Tamils and express our feelings in several ways and try to help the suffering of the people in Eelam. With that we forget everything and turn our attention towards various activities – working for our survival in the countries of refuge, caring to our families here and at home, and partying, and amusing us in whatever possible ways. But what we got to keep in mind is that we still have a lot to do. The dying nation has its fullest faith in us – the expatriate Tamils. Are we doing enough? The answer is ‘NO’, not enough. We got to act vigorously. This is what I personally felt during my recent visit to the land of our own. We are a nation full of capabilities. We have the strength. We have the resources. We are successful people with lots of talents. We should feel that nothing is impossible. It is possible!
(http://www.tamilcanadian.com)
Entry into the land of sufferings
At Omanthai, the main Checkpoint before entering Wanni, there were so many lorries with goods. People in Wanni still have to live with certain restrictions imposed on many goods and commodities. What is enjoyed in one part of the country is restricted for another part. No matter what the reason may be but certainly it places one section of the people as privileged against the other. They have to wait there for two – three days when they could be checked and allowed to proceed. Only certain items are allowed in and every single item from the lorry has to be unloaded and opened and then packed and again loaded. That was so strenuous. The weather will be extremely hot or will be raining and muddy. There are no basic facilities for anyone to stay overnight. Still they got to manage everything. As for the people passing thorough the checkpoint, no vehicles are allowed beyond the point till the next checkpoint of the LTTE at Puliyangkulam. Hence they have to carry all their goods and walk the distance.
This certainly is a difficult task for those who have most probably traveled a long way and waited in queues at the checkpoints and are already tired of the proceedings at every checkpoint. As mine was along journey that took almost three days at a stretch I was dead tired and to take out the bags at every checkpoint and open it and letting it to be checked and proceeding was awful. Even the batteries that were in the camera were not allowed to be taken into Wanni as they are one of the prohibited items. Again there is a checkpoint at Puliyangkulam as well. At last when I learnt that I have no more checking I let go off a sigh of relief.
Waking up-to daily shelling
But the relief at that point doesn’t mean that the life is going to be of peace and luxury. I realized it during my stay over there. The people in Wanni live and have learnt to live in a place where their days are opened up either with the sound of the artillery shelling or Kfir’s bombing. I wondered how these people who woke up at the sound of the temple bells and singing of birds could live amidst these disastrous noise. The thunderous blows of the shells come in all directions, from the north of Wanni, from Mannar, Killali. Poonagari, Muhamaalai and Naagarkovil and bang the boarders. It sounds as if to push the land. The blows would be like pounding ones chest. At the beginning I would be shaken out of a sudden thud. But when I felt that it is almost a daily routine for people to live with it. I realized that everyone has to learn to live with it. I wondered if one who is far away from the places of shelling is affected so much by the sound itself how far those who are facing it and the people closer to it will be feeling! People become displaced as a result and the suffering as a result is immense. If not for those who are guarding day and night at these boarders the people in Wanni will have no peace of mind. They will not be going on with their daily activities. They are there day and night amidst rain and heat amidst animals and snakes that swarm throughout the forests. Thanks in first place to those souls, who are really, really, great.
A land of joy becomes a land of cries
The land however,by nature’s bliss is a lovely place to live and the people are hardworking to make it prosperous. The days I was in Wanni had a mild weather and I didn’t have to face the heat. The weather was fine. You wouldn’t like to huddle in the bed a few more minutes- a few more minutes - to escape the cold and chill in the morning as you do in Canada: You would love to run into the lawn to enjoy the nature’s bliss that is showered early in the morning. It would send you into the happiest feelings to start a fresh day. The birds singing, the flowers blooming in different hues, the breeze that embraces you and the joy of seeing people actively starting the day with much hope and enthusiasm. You would just like to absorb all the happiness into every nerve of your body.
What was agony - Then and now
In the blink of an eye you are robbed off of all the happiness and turned out to be a panicky poor soul who would have not even a second to think if you are going to be alive or dead. In my childhood, while I was in our land of pride many more years ago, I have enjoyed the scene when a hen would take its recently hatched chicken out in the lawn at the dawn of the day. Scratching the soil with its claws, to reveal some kind of food buried in the soil for the chicks to eat. The lovely little chicken would make their way towards the spot to feast on their mother’s venture. So happy they are – that one would love to think, how nice it will be to be like them. But this won’t last long.
All of a sudden the hen becomes panicky and gives a signal fluttering its wings. The tiny chicken, whom we thought are just brainless little souls run towards their mother to find shelter under its wings. All happens in a jiffy. The hen and the chicken under the hen’s wings lie motionless under the shade of some foliage. There in the sky you see the hungry devilish eagle circling the spot ready to plunge on the innocent chicken. It is not always that the chickens escape the demonic eyes of the eagle and the hen could protect its babies. The eagle is at times quicker and lucky to carry away a chick. The mother hen cries loud, sounds its inability, runs after the eagle and al the other chicks would run about helplessly. I would just run after the eagle shouting out ‘choo choo’- all just efforts to save the chick if the eagle by accident let the chick go off its claws. But even if it happens the poor chick wouldn’t live long in my hands. The ultimate feelings however are to realize that one is desperate and can do nothing about it.
Those were the days we felt for the chicken. But now in Wanni- in the area of Tamils of Tamil Eelam it is far, far, far more a tragedy to see human suffering the same.
Kfir – Daily Messengers of Death
What a difference! In place of the eagle that took the lives of the chicks there is the Man operated Kfir. I couldn’t conclude if the man or the Kfir is the messenger of death. But certainly the man has his role as well. Kfir is a man-made huge iron air vessel that carries the dangerous poisonous thing called bombs that are shifted into its belly using cranes. They are so huge and heavy. The iron structure called as the Israeli-made Kfir flies from Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka in just ten minutes. It comes with the sole purpose of taking the lives of Tamils that have become so cheap in the eyes of the Sri Lankan government- a democratic government said to be adhering to the noble truths of Lord Buddha who preached against the killings of lives in whatever form. The eagle as said above stick to no moral rules neither it has the capacity to think. But the government that sends the killer in the form of a Kfir and the man behind the wheels are capable of thinking. They do think- in terms of killing Tamils. Let it be anybody - children, elderly, or sick, they are Tamils and they should be killed.
I happened to feel a piece of the outer covering of the bomb which at the blast was thrown to a distance of about 500 meters. It was about ten inches in length, sharp at all sides, uneven and weighed more than two kilos. That was enough to take the life of someone if it fell on some ill-fated person. It is made up of some poisonous metal. The bomb itself is more that a ton heavy and if that happened to be targeted on the people how worse the effect can be? Have men become so heartless to think about it or are they rather obsessed with killing people? Can anyone ever find pleasure in such merciless killings? I got no answer.
Even a small child in Tamil Eelam knows about a Kfir. It is the deadly dragon that comes to prey on them. It has become a daily exercise for the people to be prepared to protect themselves at the sound of a Kfir. In whatever activities they may be engaged they should be ready to abandon it at once and seek protection. There is always the tension and fear. Still they have to go on with their daily activities. They have learned to live a life with all the fear and tension- worries and sorrow. It is just because of this they are able to save themselves and not because of any kind of mercy shown towards them. Everybody including the elderly, sick, mothers with new-born babies, school children and the invalid have to run for shelter. Although no shelter guarantees safety that is their maximum effort to save themselves.
In the eye of the storm
It was the 25th of November 2007. I was sitting at the door-steps of the house, relaxing and enjoying the outside view -the garden and the flowers and the unpolluted atmosphere that refreshes anyone both mentally and physically. There were some children playing in the opposite compound playing and giggling and shouting in their natural carefree childhood innocence. I enjoyed it very much. But this didn’t last long.
All of a sudden there was the sound of the Kfir approaching. Before I could gather my senses the children took to their heels and fled somewhere and I too was called out to run away. There wasn’t time to run. I could just go to the backdoor of the house and there was the deadly noise of the bomb being dropped and the blast of it from all sides, the banging of the doors and windows and the people running and shouting out in panic. I heard as if a heap of daggers are being dashed simultaneously. I felt it close–so close that they rang in my ears. I shut my ears, closed my eyes and pressed myself against a wall and stood motionless. All what I could think was that I cannot do anything other than accepting whatever fate decides for me. My throat was parched; I lost the capacity to think anymore and everything was beyond my control. When all is over and there was absolute silence I couldn’t even think that I am saved. There was smoke everywhere. The unpolluted atmosphere I just enjoyed got surrounded with poisonous gaseous elements from the bomb. A silence that predicted the death of some innocent lives prevailed in the neighbourhood. People were running helter-skelter. They were running to see what had happened and who is left dead and injured. At once they started acting and rushed to the spot for help. All in a moment depicting how unpredictable is life in Tamil Eelam. What can we do to help these people? The question always absorbed my thoughts.
Again the following day I had a worse experience. In the nick of the time I heard the sound, the Kfir was there preparing itself to drop the bomb. I was neither in the house nor in a place to protect myself. I couldn’t run any further for the Kfir was almost ready to drop the bomb. The only alternative left was to lie on the floor and see if I survive or not. Your life is not yours – it is all I could feel. But I survived again.
Then came the worst of all days. It was November 27th. The whole of Wanni was decorated with red and yellow flags and posters of the Martyrs were everywhere, roads were cleaned and it was a commemorative day for Eelam Tamils to visit the martyrs who laid their lives in the freedom fight. People were going towards the memorial with garlands of flowers in their hands to pay respect to their loved ones. The roads were full of people of all ages. The land was so beautiful that the people never would have had the intention to think about the danger to their lives. Although they knew that the enemy is heartless they were fully absorbed in the thoughts of the loved ones to whom they were going to pay homage. But the cruel enemy did come on their way in the demonic Kfir to take the lives of some more.
Silenced Voice of Tamils
Voice of Tigers is the radio that currently brings the news in Tamil Eelam to the people around the world. The whole world was anxiously waiting to listen to the speech made by the national leader Mr. Velupppillai Pirabahararn. The time was 6pm. Just before the time the messenger of death assisted with a MIG aircraft entered the land of Wanni. It had the specific place of target. The Voice of Tigers radio station is right on the A9 highway and they had no strain in locating the place. It plunged on the building smashing the place with repeated bombing. The whole of Kilinochchi came to a standstill. Although most of the workers from the radio station expected such a disaster and escaped to safer place three of them including an engineer and a worker who is a mother of three got killed at the spot. The pedestrians on their way to the memorial fields were no exemption. Eleven civilians were killed and 15 were wounded. 17 of the nearby houses were also attacked. A person inside the house who was trying to switch on the TV to listen to the leader's speech got his head severed and died on the spot. An International non-governmental organization ‘Forut’ was also severely affected.
On the same day 11were killed in a claymore attack carried out by the Deep Penetration Unit of the SriLankan army. This included seven schoolgirls and three male volunteers and the driver. It was just 50 meters from the place of attack that the children have alighted into a minibus to volunteer at the memorial celebrations. With all this, the speech was let on the air at the scheduled time using a clandestine transmitter. After a while I had the opportunity to see the radio station and the affected area. They were in shambles and remained a proof for a war torn area. That was not the only disaster on that day. There were still more bombings in other areas of Wanni as well.
All these were news in the international media. But did anyone help us out? No one could do anything. Is this the fate of Tamils? I became tired of thinking. ‘No choice’ is what makes the people go about with their daily routine with all the pain they experience throughout. But still you can never- never reject the impact of these, which are to affect the lives of the people permanently. Is ‘trauma’ the only word to express the suffering of these people? Will the elite group of people who enjoy the message of such disaster ever realize their pain?
Life on the run
I met a boy of 17years whom I asked which area of Tamil Eelam he is from. He answered, “Amma I had been running since I was three. I have lived under the trees. Slept in open places. Eating whatever is available and my mother has told me that she even had to quench my thirst with the water running in a canal that carried dirty water. I haven’t attended schools regularly. I was in several schools. I couldn’t concentrate in my studies for I didn’t know where I will go next.†He is not the only youth with such a story. There are many such people. Their agony doesn’t end there. They have seen people being killed due to the bombing and shelling. They have seen the distorted bodies; helped to clean them up. There live so many people who lost their limbs and eye-sight. The worry, the memories and the impact is too much to bear with.
Everyday news from the north of Wanni- the Jaffna peninsula stands out as a proof for our mere helplessness. It is a silent process. There are arrests, disappearances and extra judicial killings in the area, which is claimed to have been freed. Every single day there is no dawn without a killing of a youth. Yet we could do nothing. Nothing to help our people. Are we that incapable even in lands where at least our cries are heard?
Eelam – a clarion call
We know for sure there is no mercy we can expect from the Sri Lankan governments. However loud the expatriate Tamil community try to bring this into the attention of the foreign governments, they too keep silent as they believe only what the Sri Lankan government announces- because that is said to be the ethics of the governments. Where are we to turn for help? Even those who try to voice for the Tamils are branded as Tiger supporters and neglected and even pushed aside. All the atrocities against the Tamils have to be stopped. We have to work relentlessly until it is stopped. The international community definitely has the power to take control of the deadly activities of the Sri Lankan Government. They just don’t have to interfere in the domestic affairs but can definitely stop supporting and encouraging.
The situation as of now is such, it is only the expatriate Tamils who got to think of the plight of those in Tamil Eelam. We do know that and it is because of this that we always keep an eye on the news from Tamil Eelam.
Hence we do not fail to see the daily news. We sit in a cozy place and read the news either in a computer or sit in a comfort of a sofa and watch TV or read the newspapers. We do feel sorry for the Eelam Tamils and express our feelings in several ways and try to help the suffering of the people in Eelam. With that we forget everything and turn our attention towards various activities – working for our survival in the countries of refuge, caring to our families here and at home, and partying, and amusing us in whatever possible ways. But what we got to keep in mind is that we still have a lot to do. The dying nation has its fullest faith in us – the expatriate Tamils. Are we doing enough? The answer is ‘NO’, not enough. We got to act vigorously. This is what I personally felt during my recent visit to the land of our own. We are a nation full of capabilities. We have the strength. We have the resources. We are successful people with lots of talents. We should feel that nothing is impossible. It is possible!
(http://www.tamilcanadian.com)
Skirmishes Continue in Vanni
An average of 10 LTTE cadres a day or more are being killed by the Security Forces in limited offensives ahead of the Vanni FDLs each day. An average of 2 Security Forces personnel a day are also sacrificing their lives. These offensive operations from Mannar to Kokkuthuduwai and Kilali to Muhamalai is forcing a separation of LTTE ground forces. More experienced cadres from Charles Anthony Regiment are forcing less experienced cadres into the front to face SLA advances.
Meanwhile a team of instructors from The United States Marine Corp is to arrive in the island shortly to train the Sri Lanka Army's 2nd Regiment Special Forces and the Special Boat Squadron of the Sri Lanka Navy at Trincomalee, Tangalle and Maduru Oya.
(http://defencewire.blogspot.com)
Meanwhile a team of instructors from The United States Marine Corp is to arrive in the island shortly to train the Sri Lanka Army's 2nd Regiment Special Forces and the Special Boat Squadron of the Sri Lanka Navy at Trincomalee, Tangalle and Maduru Oya.
(http://defencewire.blogspot.com)
Troops overrun LTTE's 'VIETNAM base'
During the recent military advance into non-liberated territory ahead of Wanni defences, security forces overran what was identified to be LTTE's 'VIETNAM Base' located at general area Periyapunichankulama, security sources said.
Security forces met with minimum resistance during the advance as demoralized terrorists were on the flight with acute shortage of will and man power, defence sources said.
The LTTE strategic base stretching approximately 400m and 300m in breath consists with 18 to 20 overhead bunkers, ground sources said. Eight to ten cadjan roofed huts and a kitchen were inside the terrorist camp. Troops also located a 150m long tunnel (2 m width and 2 m height) forming a clandestine exit route from the camp.
"Few chairs were also found inside a building and the word "VIETNAM" was written on them", military reported citing field sources.
Security forces met with minimum resistance during the advance as demoralized terrorists were on the flight with acute shortage of will and man power, defence sources said.
The LTTE strategic base stretching approximately 400m and 300m in breath consists with 18 to 20 overhead bunkers, ground sources said. Eight to ten cadjan roofed huts and a kitchen were inside the terrorist camp. Troops also located a 150m long tunnel (2 m width and 2 m height) forming a clandestine exit route from the camp.
"Few chairs were also found inside a building and the word "VIETNAM" was written on them", military reported citing field sources.
LTTE prevents opening up of A-9 road – Rajiv Wijesingha
In a rejoinder, Rajiv Wijesingha, Secretary General of Sri Lanka’s Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process has revealed, because in the North, and in particular at Muhumalai, the LTTE has continued with planned attacks on Government forces, regularly causing death and injury and It was precisely for that reason that the government is unable to open the A-9 road there.
While contradicting statement by Ms Selvy, LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna, Rajiv Wijesingha, in a statement wrote, “Anyway, by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack which was the gravest threat in years to the security of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods.”
Rajiv Wijesingha pointed out in his note contradicting Ms. Selvy’s statement said that when the Government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security will not be compromised by opening up this route, the LTTE remained intransigent.
While further blaming the intransigence of the LTTE he added, purpose of the LTTE after all was not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence its determination to prevent civilian shipping, he said.
He further pointed out that LTTE threats forced the ICRC to stop its initial positive response to the government request ‘to facilitate the movement of goods and people from and to Jaffna by sea.’
“And still the failure to provide the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship, which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services rapidly reduced the shortages and prices” Rajiv Wijesingha underlined in his statement.
Given below a statement made by Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process on a statement made by Ms Selvy, LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna,
LTTE abuse of Tamils and the Truth
Further disinformation by educated LTTE leaders
The attention of the Peace Secretariat was recently drawn to a statement by theLTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna.
The writer, Ms N Selvy, and the Development Spokesperson to whom she had initially sent the statement, Mr V Bavan, are – especially the latter - amongst the brighter sparks in the LTTE. They were comparatively good students in the heady days of optimism, when Bradford University and the Social Scientists Association ran a Conflict Resolution Course up in Kilinochchi. If and when the present intransigent blight in the LTTE is lifted, such educated individuals will we hope be part of a cohesive Sri Lanka.
The present statement however shows a startling ignorance or perhaps ignoring of the need for consistency and evidence for pronouncements. It claims that the ‘Geneva II talks in October 2006, between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka, broke down because the Government of Sri Lanka refused to open the A9 route to allow Jaffna civilians land access to the rest of the island and the world. Prior to the permanent closure of this A9 route, it served as a life line to the people of Jaffna as well as Vanni. Seriously ill medical cases from Vanni were taken in ambulances to the Jaffna hospital. Every day ambulances plied seven to eight times a day, carrying around six patients in each trip. This is necessitated by the poor medical resources in Vanni. Even the Jaffna hospital resources are very poor in comparison to what is available in the south of island. Many very seriously ill patients were taken to Colombo for treatment through the A9 route.’
There are several problems with these assertions. Firstly, talks between the government and the LTTE have broken down on several occasions simply because the LTTE decided they would break down. Shakespeare’s rather unfair characterization of women – I have none other but a woman’s reason. I think him so because I think him so – would have been far more appropriate for the LTTE, even if Ms Selvy is the specific exponent of this school of non-thought in this instance. In short, the particular pretext advanced by the LTTE at any stage is not the reason for anything because, as we have often seen, the reason changes each time.
In 2003 the LTTE withdrew for the reasons given in Mr Balasingham’s long letter. In June 2006 they did not even start talking, for reasons which are not clear, except perhaps in the revelation of the Norwegian Ambassador that Mr Thamilselvam ‘had insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the parameters of the CFA’. The Norwegian Ambassador had very properly disagreed with this and pointed out that the CFA did mention abductions, and also that ‘continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level’. The LTTE may have finally understood this, when Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy spoke up boldly against their violation of national and international laws. Having run circles round the last UNICEF Head in Sri Lanka, they have finally said that ‘by the end of this year LTTE will announce that there are no more under-18 persons in the organization’.
Prevarications regarding child soldiers
Entertainingly, according to the LTTE, ‘The UNICEF Head said that his visit was an introductory meeting with the Political Head. Among the topics discussed were the work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland and the program of releasing under-18 persons in the LTTE….Pointing to the delay by UNICEF in completing its part in this program, Nadeson called on the UNICEF Head to ensure that UNICEF carry out its part in verifying the under-18 persons released by the LTTE and also in doing its part to reunite the released children with their families….UNICEF must be ready to do its part to complete its role in this program so that it too can remain in sync in its statement. The children being killed and injured by the aerial bombing and claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka were also discussed at the meeting.’
Such a release by the LTTE is understandable, though it is sad that the UN has not as yet seen fit to dissociate itself with the claim that there is ‘work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland’ or ‘claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka’. But perhaps the UN has even now realized how serious is the issue of child soldiers and, in welcoming the declaration that the excuses offered to the previous UNICEF head will now cease, perhaps it has forgotten all its other obligations.
LTTE resumption of large scale hostilities and destruction of the A 9 route
Anyway, by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack which was the gravest threat in years to the security of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
It is now forgotten that that attack, following hard on the massive attack on Muttur at the beginning of the month, represented the culmination of LTTE violations of the 2002 Ceasefire. And, while the 3000 odd violations before that could have been characterized as individual incursions, not part of a tactical plan (though undoubtedly part of a sustained strategy of attrition), the two attacks of August 2006 were designed to wrench control of the North and East from the government. Sadly, given the oafish antics of Gen Henricsson, diverted from intelligent analysis by his emotional response to restrictions on his movements in Muttur, the SLMM failed signally to monitor and report on the conceptual change represented by these LTTE attacks.
Perhaps because the attacks were repulsed so successfully, and the strategy fell into abeyance, the SLMM, the Norwegians and the rest of the international community have failed to register that that was the culmination of the subtle and not so subtle campaign of murder, abduction and intimidation (to say nothing of purchase and importation of heavy and lethal weaponry) that the LTTE had carried on sustainedly from the day the Ceasefire was signed.
In short, the actions of the Defence forces in August 2006 should have met with Churchillian gratitude, instead of the relentless attacks on them and the government that have ensured, by liars such as General Henricsson and Nicholas Howen of the International Commission of Jurists (who had the temerity to accuse the government of tampering with evidence). In the East, disregarding the continuing sniping, by the LTTE and by other votaries of falsehood, the forces have ensured that such sudden attacks can no longer occur. However, in the North, and in particular at Muhumalai, the LTTE has continued with planned attacks on Government forces, regularly causing death and injury. It is precisely for that reason that the government is unable to open the road there.
LTTE refusal in Geneva to discuss modalities of opening the A 9 or providing supplies and transport by sea
However, when the government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security will not be compromised by opening up this route, the LTTE remained intransigent. Its purpose after all was not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence its determination to prevent civilian shipping. As reported even in the ‘Leader’, LTTE threats forced the ICRC to stop its initial positive response to the government request ‘to facilitate the movement of goods and people from and to Jaffna by sea.’ And still the failure to provide the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship, which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services rapidly reduced the shortages and prices.
Meanwhile, assuming the LTTE wants to continue to keep the navy occupied in guarding the movement of civilians and supplies on the longer routes, Civil Society, led by the Bishops as well as genuinely concerned Tamil politicians such as Douglas Devananda, has requested the commencement of short haul services, from Mannar to the Jaffna islands. This would provide a much cheaper service for people wishing to travel from Jaffna, and for goods for sale. However, though the ICRC has now been twice requested to facilitate such a service, the required security guarantees have not been forthcoming.
The reasons for LTTE hostility to sea routes are suggested by Ms Selvy’s statement, in that generally when a particularly outrageous claim is made, it is because that sort of behaviour is characteristic of the complainant. She claims that ‘It is a well known truth that each time this "civilian passenger" ship plies to and from Jaffna and Trincomalee, invariably the Sri Lankan military personal traveling in the ship is many times more than the number of civilians in the ship. It is also well known to the Jaffna population the difficulties one must go through to first obtain a pass from the military to travel and then obtain a seat in the ship. Reports of the Sri Lanka military demanding every civilian wishing to get a seat in the ship to give the military a name of an LTTE supporter in Jaffna have surfaced many times.’
Unsurprisingly, these reports have surfaced nowhere except in Ms Selvy’s fertile mind, not even in those of the NGOs that joined together with LTTE NGOs to denigrate the Sri Lankan forces. And even if Ms Selvy believes her own fictions, the remedy is very easy, namely to allow the ICRC to resume supervision of such shipping.
But no, the point is that the sea route cannot be allowed to be successful, however much Tamils may want it, because what the LTTE seeks is fuel with which to set the Sri Lankan state on fire.
Firstly, it hopes to rouse hostility against the government.
Secondly, it wants the A 9 reopened so it could resume its practice of taxing those who use it, taking ruthless advantage of those who need to travel.
Numerous studies, the most detailed perhaps being by the essentially Tamil think tank, the 'Point Pedro Research Institute,' have made clear the enormity of Tiger taxation, which has been levied even on aid projects. Needless to say, the money raised by such taxes was used in the past to buy up and transport weaponry.
Humanitarian support provided by government to the people of Jaffna and the Vanni
Ms Selvy’s desperation to criticize is apparent too in the inconsistencies of her attack. She claims that people in the Vanni have no access to good medical treatment because the road from there to Jaffna is closed. This begs the question of the good medical facilities now available in the Vanni itself, services which the government continues to fund, while it recently ensured the development of the Kilinochchi hospital into one of the better equipped in the country. But it also ignores the fact that the government had throughout kept the route southward from the Vanni open.
Indeed the government wanted this open all week, and it was only because of the LTTE that for some time it was open only for three days. With regard to this too the government made several requests to the ICRC before the required security guarantees were obtained. A mark of LTTE duplicity is that it had insisted – and several British parliamentarians were foolish or cunning enough to believe this – that it was the government that wanted the road closed, and it even convinced the SLMM initially that it was because of an LTTE request that the road was opened for a longer period from a couple of months back.
The SLMM was however soon disabused, though SCOPP said it had no objection to the LTTE also being given credit for this. This failed however to win a similar concession regarding sea routes. Meanwhile the SLMM confirms regularly, since SCOPP as opposed to the LTTE is genuinely concerned about food supplies to the Vanni, that these are not a major problem.
So, despite Ms Selvy’s crocodile tears, those in the Vanni are able to get to the south for treatment if the recently modernized hospital in Kilinochchi cannot help them. Why they would therefore want to get to Jaffna should then be a conundrum to Ms Selvy, given how contemptuous she is of the situation and the services there. But the people of Jaffna disagree, as is clear from the use they make of the health services government provides, and obviously the people of the Vanni must agree, if the closure of the Muhumalai checkpoint is as great a blow as Ms Selvy suggests. But, just in case there are shortfalls, there is provision to move people by air or sea, to Colombo or Trincomalee, and the navy even provides transport on special requests if the regular ferry is not available. It should be noted that the ICRC also assists as necessary with regard to air transport, though as mentioned it cannot help as far as sea travel is concerned since it has not received the required guarantees.
But the hypocrisy continues. The LTTE and its agents still go on about starvation in Jaffna, despite the steady supplies government sends, despite the latest UN report claiming that even those in the Welfare Centres find basic needs both readily available and affordable. That report makes clear that government not only continues to provide education to almost all children in these centres, it has even supplied uniforms to the vast majority of them. Health and education are also freely supplied to the citizens in the Vanni, bitterly circumscribed as they are otherwise by the LTTE impositions, which even the United Nations has begun to talk about, in finally drawing the attention of international media to the habit of forced conscription.
Support of the military for civilians
Finally, Ms Selvy exceeds herself in her conclusion, which is that ‘Transporting military personnel using civilians, especially the ill, is also a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.’ She has evidently forgotten that it is the Sri Lankan government that now protects all transport (much of it, incidentally, owned by Tamil businessmen), since the ICRC has been in effect debarred, despite its initial helpful intervention in August soon after the LTTE assaults led to the closure of Muhumalai. Far from the government using civilians – unlike the LTTE, which launched its attack when a busload of apparent civilians turned their guns on the soldiers at the checkpoint – it provides services for civilians at the cost of several man hours of protection duty by our much malighed servicemen.
Indeed, it was pointed out that SCOPP could not expect the LTTE to allow the ICRC to look after civilian and food transport between Jaffna and Trincomalee / Colombo, because the poor ICRC might then be accused of freeing up navy personnel to perform their primary duty, that of fighting terrorism. However, at least on humanitarian grounds the LTTE could allow ICRC to run short haul transport, since that would be no advantage to the navy which is not doing that now.
But humanitarian grounds do not matter to the LTTE, not even to its spokesperson on humanitarian issues and human rights. By withdrawing poor Mr Thamilselvam from peace talks, and forcing him into military fatigues – including at the attack on Muhumalai – the LTTE exploded the myth of a political wing. By making the LTTE Peace Secretariat glorify suicide cadres on the eve of their (self)-destructive mission, the LTTE exploded the myth of an institution concerned with peace. And now, by making poor Ms Selvi issue self-contradictory statements regarding the closure of the road that resulted from its brutal assault last year and its categorical refusal at Geneva to discuss modalities of reopening it, the LTTE has exploded the myth of at least one person more concerned with humanitarian issues rather than militaristic propaganda.
But all this, we must hope, is simply due to the continuing intransigence of the leadership. Ms Selvy showed intelligence once, and awareness of at least some of the realities of the world outside. For her sake, and that of the suffering thousands still in the Vanni, we must hope that at least some elements in the leadership will ensure a sea change (in every sense) in the near future.
Rajiva Wijesinha,
Secretary General,
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process.
While contradicting statement by Ms Selvy, LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna, Rajiv Wijesingha, in a statement wrote, “Anyway, by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack which was the gravest threat in years to the security of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods.”
Rajiv Wijesingha pointed out in his note contradicting Ms. Selvy’s statement said that when the Government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security will not be compromised by opening up this route, the LTTE remained intransigent.
While further blaming the intransigence of the LTTE he added, purpose of the LTTE after all was not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence its determination to prevent civilian shipping, he said.
He further pointed out that LTTE threats forced the ICRC to stop its initial positive response to the government request ‘to facilitate the movement of goods and people from and to Jaffna by sea.’
“And still the failure to provide the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship, which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services rapidly reduced the shortages and prices” Rajiv Wijesingha underlined in his statement.
Given below a statement made by Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process on a statement made by Ms Selvy, LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna,
LTTE abuse of Tamils and the Truth
Further disinformation by educated LTTE leaders
The attention of the Peace Secretariat was recently drawn to a statement by theLTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna.
The writer, Ms N Selvy, and the Development Spokesperson to whom she had initially sent the statement, Mr V Bavan, are – especially the latter - amongst the brighter sparks in the LTTE. They were comparatively good students in the heady days of optimism, when Bradford University and the Social Scientists Association ran a Conflict Resolution Course up in Kilinochchi. If and when the present intransigent blight in the LTTE is lifted, such educated individuals will we hope be part of a cohesive Sri Lanka.
The present statement however shows a startling ignorance or perhaps ignoring of the need for consistency and evidence for pronouncements. It claims that the ‘Geneva II talks in October 2006, between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka, broke down because the Government of Sri Lanka refused to open the A9 route to allow Jaffna civilians land access to the rest of the island and the world. Prior to the permanent closure of this A9 route, it served as a life line to the people of Jaffna as well as Vanni. Seriously ill medical cases from Vanni were taken in ambulances to the Jaffna hospital. Every day ambulances plied seven to eight times a day, carrying around six patients in each trip. This is necessitated by the poor medical resources in Vanni. Even the Jaffna hospital resources are very poor in comparison to what is available in the south of island. Many very seriously ill patients were taken to Colombo for treatment through the A9 route.’
There are several problems with these assertions. Firstly, talks between the government and the LTTE have broken down on several occasions simply because the LTTE decided they would break down. Shakespeare’s rather unfair characterization of women – I have none other but a woman’s reason. I think him so because I think him so – would have been far more appropriate for the LTTE, even if Ms Selvy is the specific exponent of this school of non-thought in this instance. In short, the particular pretext advanced by the LTTE at any stage is not the reason for anything because, as we have often seen, the reason changes each time.
In 2003 the LTTE withdrew for the reasons given in Mr Balasingham’s long letter. In June 2006 they did not even start talking, for reasons which are not clear, except perhaps in the revelation of the Norwegian Ambassador that Mr Thamilselvam ‘had insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the parameters of the CFA’. The Norwegian Ambassador had very properly disagreed with this and pointed out that the CFA did mention abductions, and also that ‘continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level’. The LTTE may have finally understood this, when Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy spoke up boldly against their violation of national and international laws. Having run circles round the last UNICEF Head in Sri Lanka, they have finally said that ‘by the end of this year LTTE will announce that there are no more under-18 persons in the organization’.
Prevarications regarding child soldiers
Entertainingly, according to the LTTE, ‘The UNICEF Head said that his visit was an introductory meeting with the Political Head. Among the topics discussed were the work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland and the program of releasing under-18 persons in the LTTE….Pointing to the delay by UNICEF in completing its part in this program, Nadeson called on the UNICEF Head to ensure that UNICEF carry out its part in verifying the under-18 persons released by the LTTE and also in doing its part to reunite the released children with their families….UNICEF must be ready to do its part to complete its role in this program so that it too can remain in sync in its statement. The children being killed and injured by the aerial bombing and claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka were also discussed at the meeting.’
Such a release by the LTTE is understandable, though it is sad that the UN has not as yet seen fit to dissociate itself with the claim that there is ‘work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland’ or ‘claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka’. But perhaps the UN has even now realized how serious is the issue of child soldiers and, in welcoming the declaration that the excuses offered to the previous UNICEF head will now cease, perhaps it has forgotten all its other obligations.
LTTE resumption of large scale hostilities and destruction of the A 9 route
Anyway, by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack which was the gravest threat in years to the security of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
It is now forgotten that that attack, following hard on the massive attack on Muttur at the beginning of the month, represented the culmination of LTTE violations of the 2002 Ceasefire. And, while the 3000 odd violations before that could have been characterized as individual incursions, not part of a tactical plan (though undoubtedly part of a sustained strategy of attrition), the two attacks of August 2006 were designed to wrench control of the North and East from the government. Sadly, given the oafish antics of Gen Henricsson, diverted from intelligent analysis by his emotional response to restrictions on his movements in Muttur, the SLMM failed signally to monitor and report on the conceptual change represented by these LTTE attacks.
Perhaps because the attacks were repulsed so successfully, and the strategy fell into abeyance, the SLMM, the Norwegians and the rest of the international community have failed to register that that was the culmination of the subtle and not so subtle campaign of murder, abduction and intimidation (to say nothing of purchase and importation of heavy and lethal weaponry) that the LTTE had carried on sustainedly from the day the Ceasefire was signed.
In short, the actions of the Defence forces in August 2006 should have met with Churchillian gratitude, instead of the relentless attacks on them and the government that have ensured, by liars such as General Henricsson and Nicholas Howen of the International Commission of Jurists (who had the temerity to accuse the government of tampering with evidence). In the East, disregarding the continuing sniping, by the LTTE and by other votaries of falsehood, the forces have ensured that such sudden attacks can no longer occur. However, in the North, and in particular at Muhumalai, the LTTE has continued with planned attacks on Government forces, regularly causing death and injury. It is precisely for that reason that the government is unable to open the road there.
LTTE refusal in Geneva to discuss modalities of opening the A 9 or providing supplies and transport by sea
However, when the government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security will not be compromised by opening up this route, the LTTE remained intransigent. Its purpose after all was not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence its determination to prevent civilian shipping. As reported even in the ‘Leader’, LTTE threats forced the ICRC to stop its initial positive response to the government request ‘to facilitate the movement of goods and people from and to Jaffna by sea.’ And still the failure to provide the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship, which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services rapidly reduced the shortages and prices.
Meanwhile, assuming the LTTE wants to continue to keep the navy occupied in guarding the movement of civilians and supplies on the longer routes, Civil Society, led by the Bishops as well as genuinely concerned Tamil politicians such as Douglas Devananda, has requested the commencement of short haul services, from Mannar to the Jaffna islands. This would provide a much cheaper service for people wishing to travel from Jaffna, and for goods for sale. However, though the ICRC has now been twice requested to facilitate such a service, the required security guarantees have not been forthcoming.
The reasons for LTTE hostility to sea routes are suggested by Ms Selvy’s statement, in that generally when a particularly outrageous claim is made, it is because that sort of behaviour is characteristic of the complainant. She claims that ‘It is a well known truth that each time this "civilian passenger" ship plies to and from Jaffna and Trincomalee, invariably the Sri Lankan military personal traveling in the ship is many times more than the number of civilians in the ship. It is also well known to the Jaffna population the difficulties one must go through to first obtain a pass from the military to travel and then obtain a seat in the ship. Reports of the Sri Lanka military demanding every civilian wishing to get a seat in the ship to give the military a name of an LTTE supporter in Jaffna have surfaced many times.’
Unsurprisingly, these reports have surfaced nowhere except in Ms Selvy’s fertile mind, not even in those of the NGOs that joined together with LTTE NGOs to denigrate the Sri Lankan forces. And even if Ms Selvy believes her own fictions, the remedy is very easy, namely to allow the ICRC to resume supervision of such shipping.
But no, the point is that the sea route cannot be allowed to be successful, however much Tamils may want it, because what the LTTE seeks is fuel with which to set the Sri Lankan state on fire.
Firstly, it hopes to rouse hostility against the government.
Secondly, it wants the A 9 reopened so it could resume its practice of taxing those who use it, taking ruthless advantage of those who need to travel.
Numerous studies, the most detailed perhaps being by the essentially Tamil think tank, the 'Point Pedro Research Institute,' have made clear the enormity of Tiger taxation, which has been levied even on aid projects. Needless to say, the money raised by such taxes was used in the past to buy up and transport weaponry.
Humanitarian support provided by government to the people of Jaffna and the Vanni
Ms Selvy’s desperation to criticize is apparent too in the inconsistencies of her attack. She claims that people in the Vanni have no access to good medical treatment because the road from there to Jaffna is closed. This begs the question of the good medical facilities now available in the Vanni itself, services which the government continues to fund, while it recently ensured the development of the Kilinochchi hospital into one of the better equipped in the country. But it also ignores the fact that the government had throughout kept the route southward from the Vanni open.
Indeed the government wanted this open all week, and it was only because of the LTTE that for some time it was open only for three days. With regard to this too the government made several requests to the ICRC before the required security guarantees were obtained. A mark of LTTE duplicity is that it had insisted – and several British parliamentarians were foolish or cunning enough to believe this – that it was the government that wanted the road closed, and it even convinced the SLMM initially that it was because of an LTTE request that the road was opened for a longer period from a couple of months back.
The SLMM was however soon disabused, though SCOPP said it had no objection to the LTTE also being given credit for this. This failed however to win a similar concession regarding sea routes. Meanwhile the SLMM confirms regularly, since SCOPP as opposed to the LTTE is genuinely concerned about food supplies to the Vanni, that these are not a major problem.
So, despite Ms Selvy’s crocodile tears, those in the Vanni are able to get to the south for treatment if the recently modernized hospital in Kilinochchi cannot help them. Why they would therefore want to get to Jaffna should then be a conundrum to Ms Selvy, given how contemptuous she is of the situation and the services there. But the people of Jaffna disagree, as is clear from the use they make of the health services government provides, and obviously the people of the Vanni must agree, if the closure of the Muhumalai checkpoint is as great a blow as Ms Selvy suggests. But, just in case there are shortfalls, there is provision to move people by air or sea, to Colombo or Trincomalee, and the navy even provides transport on special requests if the regular ferry is not available. It should be noted that the ICRC also assists as necessary with regard to air transport, though as mentioned it cannot help as far as sea travel is concerned since it has not received the required guarantees.
But the hypocrisy continues. The LTTE and its agents still go on about starvation in Jaffna, despite the steady supplies government sends, despite the latest UN report claiming that even those in the Welfare Centres find basic needs both readily available and affordable. That report makes clear that government not only continues to provide education to almost all children in these centres, it has even supplied uniforms to the vast majority of them. Health and education are also freely supplied to the citizens in the Vanni, bitterly circumscribed as they are otherwise by the LTTE impositions, which even the United Nations has begun to talk about, in finally drawing the attention of international media to the habit of forced conscription.
Support of the military for civilians
Finally, Ms Selvy exceeds herself in her conclusion, which is that ‘Transporting military personnel using civilians, especially the ill, is also a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.’ She has evidently forgotten that it is the Sri Lankan government that now protects all transport (much of it, incidentally, owned by Tamil businessmen), since the ICRC has been in effect debarred, despite its initial helpful intervention in August soon after the LTTE assaults led to the closure of Muhumalai. Far from the government using civilians – unlike the LTTE, which launched its attack when a busload of apparent civilians turned their guns on the soldiers at the checkpoint – it provides services for civilians at the cost of several man hours of protection duty by our much malighed servicemen.
Indeed, it was pointed out that SCOPP could not expect the LTTE to allow the ICRC to look after civilian and food transport between Jaffna and Trincomalee / Colombo, because the poor ICRC might then be accused of freeing up navy personnel to perform their primary duty, that of fighting terrorism. However, at least on humanitarian grounds the LTTE could allow ICRC to run short haul transport, since that would be no advantage to the navy which is not doing that now.
But humanitarian grounds do not matter to the LTTE, not even to its spokesperson on humanitarian issues and human rights. By withdrawing poor Mr Thamilselvam from peace talks, and forcing him into military fatigues – including at the attack on Muhumalai – the LTTE exploded the myth of a political wing. By making the LTTE Peace Secretariat glorify suicide cadres on the eve of their (self)-destructive mission, the LTTE exploded the myth of an institution concerned with peace. And now, by making poor Ms Selvi issue self-contradictory statements regarding the closure of the road that resulted from its brutal assault last year and its categorical refusal at Geneva to discuss modalities of reopening it, the LTTE has exploded the myth of at least one person more concerned with humanitarian issues rather than militaristic propaganda.
But all this, we must hope, is simply due to the continuing intransigence of the leadership. Ms Selvy showed intelligence once, and awareness of at least some of the realities of the world outside. For her sake, and that of the suffering thousands still in the Vanni, we must hope that at least some elements in the leadership will ensure a sea change (in every sense) in the near future.
Rajiva Wijesinha,
Secretary General,
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process.
Tamils left out in Lanka's tsunami rehab plans
Sri Lanka's recovery from the devastating tsunami of December 2004 has been uneven. Rehabilitation work has notched up significant successes in the Sinhalese-dominated and more peaceful south, but it has suffered greatly in the war-torn northeast, which has a preponderance of the minority Tamils and Muslims.
And it was the northeast, which took the brunt of the killer waves on Boxing Day, which destroyed about 1,21,000 houses and killed over 30,000 in the island.
Cabinet spokesperson Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that 99,497 permanent houses had been built and that work on 19,791 units was in progress. Rebuilding has been 100 per cent in the south, especially Humbantota district, which is the home of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In fact, in Humbantota, nearly 3,200 excess houses were built, and these are now occupied by those not affected by the tsunami.
"The northern province still requires completion of more than 9,000 houses and the eastern province more than 12,000 houses," Jeevan Thiagarajah of the Confederation of Humanitarian Agencies told IANS.
"Not even 12 per cent of fully damaged houses in the north have been rebuilt, and only 26 percent in the east," says NGO Action Aid in its report titled 'Voice from the Field'. This is so even though 60 per cent of the damage wrought by the tsunami was in the east, especially Amparai district in the southeast.
Rehabilitation work in the north and east was hampered by the outbreak of hostilities between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces in December 2005.
The war has so far claimed 4,500 lives and displaced about 3,00,000 people. It had added another category of displaced, who also had to be housed, looked after and rehabilitated. Scarce government resources had to be diverted from tsunami-related rehabilitation to the rehabilitation of the war-affected.
Military operations had meant restrictions on physical movement of men and material.
"Access to some construction sites is restricted and transportation of material difficult or impossible," said a two-year assessment report of the International Federation of the Red Cross. World Vision had to abandon a plan to build 200 houses in Ichchilampattu in Trincomalee district because of military operations.
Government had also put restrictions on the movement of strategic goods like fuel and building material to the areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers, thinking that these would be misappropriated by the rebels. This affected rebuilding greatly.
The ILO reported that in the south 90 per cent of the affected people had returned to work, but in Jaffna district, isolated from the rest of the island, only 55 per cent had. The rest were relying on income from other sources.
As regards the restoration of livelihood, the all-island figures are impressive. About 2,00,000 persons had lost their jobs due to the tsunami. But according to Thiagarajah, 95 per cent of the men, and 84 per cent of the women, have started earning again. The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry had given 1,96,913 grants, and assisted 8,447 micro, small and medium enterprises between 2005 and 2006.
Again, while this is impressive, the schemes have been operative only or mainly in the south, and to some extent in the southeast. The north has been more of less ignored, thanks to the war, which threatens to continue through 2008.
Money has never been a problem. Sri Lanka has received $1.7 billion of the $3.1 billion pledged by the international community for post-tsunami work. More money can be got if the Sri Lankan government is serious about the development of the tsunami-affected areas. But, as in other cases of foreign assistance, the government has tended to drag its feet on submitting suitable proposals. In fact, indications are that post-tsunami work is winding up.
And it was the northeast, which took the brunt of the killer waves on Boxing Day, which destroyed about 1,21,000 houses and killed over 30,000 in the island.
Cabinet spokesperson Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that 99,497 permanent houses had been built and that work on 19,791 units was in progress. Rebuilding has been 100 per cent in the south, especially Humbantota district, which is the home of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In fact, in Humbantota, nearly 3,200 excess houses were built, and these are now occupied by those not affected by the tsunami.
"The northern province still requires completion of more than 9,000 houses and the eastern province more than 12,000 houses," Jeevan Thiagarajah of the Confederation of Humanitarian Agencies told IANS.
"Not even 12 per cent of fully damaged houses in the north have been rebuilt, and only 26 percent in the east," says NGO Action Aid in its report titled 'Voice from the Field'. This is so even though 60 per cent of the damage wrought by the tsunami was in the east, especially Amparai district in the southeast.
Rehabilitation work in the north and east was hampered by the outbreak of hostilities between the Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces in December 2005.
The war has so far claimed 4,500 lives and displaced about 3,00,000 people. It had added another category of displaced, who also had to be housed, looked after and rehabilitated. Scarce government resources had to be diverted from tsunami-related rehabilitation to the rehabilitation of the war-affected.
Military operations had meant restrictions on physical movement of men and material.
"Access to some construction sites is restricted and transportation of material difficult or impossible," said a two-year assessment report of the International Federation of the Red Cross. World Vision had to abandon a plan to build 200 houses in Ichchilampattu in Trincomalee district because of military operations.
Government had also put restrictions on the movement of strategic goods like fuel and building material to the areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers, thinking that these would be misappropriated by the rebels. This affected rebuilding greatly.
The ILO reported that in the south 90 per cent of the affected people had returned to work, but in Jaffna district, isolated from the rest of the island, only 55 per cent had. The rest were relying on income from other sources.
As regards the restoration of livelihood, the all-island figures are impressive. About 2,00,000 persons had lost their jobs due to the tsunami. But according to Thiagarajah, 95 per cent of the men, and 84 per cent of the women, have started earning again. The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry had given 1,96,913 grants, and assisted 8,447 micro, small and medium enterprises between 2005 and 2006.
Again, while this is impressive, the schemes have been operative only or mainly in the south, and to some extent in the southeast. The north has been more of less ignored, thanks to the war, which threatens to continue through 2008.
Money has never been a problem. Sri Lanka has received $1.7 billion of the $3.1 billion pledged by the international community for post-tsunami work. More money can be got if the Sri Lankan government is serious about the development of the tsunami-affected areas. But, as in other cases of foreign assistance, the government has tended to drag its feet on submitting suitable proposals. In fact, indications are that post-tsunami work is winding up.
Coast Guard plans to set up air-station
In the wake of LTTE carrying out air raids in Sri Lanka recently, the Indian Coast Guard is planning to set up an Air-Station in Tamil Nadu or Puducherry to deal with any threat from the militant outfit, a top coastguard officer said here on Tuesday.
After reviewing the coastal security in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk straits from the Coast Guard Liner base here following reports of LTTE activities, he said negotiations were going on with air force station officials at Thanjavur and other officials at Puducherry and Tuticorin.
Once permission was granted to establish the station, the Coast Guard would deploy its aircraft, Dornier or the like, Inspector General and Commander Coast Guard, Eastern Region, Rajendra Singh told reporters.
"We are still in the stage of identifying an ideal location," he said.
Coast Guard had submitted prospective plan for 2007-08, and for 15 years from 2007-22,in which it had requested the Centre to establish two coast guard stations, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Orissa, he said.
"We will choose either Nagapattinam or Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Gopalpur has been chosen for Orissa," he said. They had requested the state government to provide land for the facility,he said.
The full-fledged station would help coast guard operate bigger ships,interceptor vessels and others.A Communication centre would also form part of the Station.
The Commander said five acres of land would be required for the establishment of the Station.
After reviewing the coastal security in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk straits from the Coast Guard Liner base here following reports of LTTE activities, he said negotiations were going on with air force station officials at Thanjavur and other officials at Puducherry and Tuticorin.
Once permission was granted to establish the station, the Coast Guard would deploy its aircraft, Dornier or the like, Inspector General and Commander Coast Guard, Eastern Region, Rajendra Singh told reporters.
"We are still in the stage of identifying an ideal location," he said.
Coast Guard had submitted prospective plan for 2007-08, and for 15 years from 2007-22,in which it had requested the Centre to establish two coast guard stations, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Orissa, he said.
"We will choose either Nagapattinam or Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Gopalpur has been chosen for Orissa," he said. They had requested the state government to provide land for the facility,he said.
The full-fledged station would help coast guard operate bigger ships,interceptor vessels and others.A Communication centre would also form part of the Station.
The Commander said five acres of land would be required for the establishment of the Station.
LTTE terrorism must be wiped out, says Nepal’s Prachanda
Maoist leader Prachanda has said that all South Asian and Asian countries must help to Sri Lanka to wipe out the LTTE terrorism.
Prachanda conveyed this view during a meeting with Sri Lanka’s visiting Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.
The meeting, which took place on Sunday at the Maoist office in Katmandu, also focussed on the LTTE’s lack of success in realising its dream of a separate Tamil nation in Sri Lanka.
Prachanda urged LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to stop his suicide bomb attacks on politicians and members of civil society.
De Silva said that Prabhakaran’s end was near if he did not join the democratic flow.
Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Nepal Sumith Nakandala and the Country Director of the WHO in Nepal, Dr. Kan Tung, also took part in the meeting.
Prachanda conveyed this view during a meeting with Sri Lanka’s visiting Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.
The meeting, which took place on Sunday at the Maoist office in Katmandu, also focussed on the LTTE’s lack of success in realising its dream of a separate Tamil nation in Sri Lanka.
Prachanda urged LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to stop his suicide bomb attacks on politicians and members of civil society.
De Silva said that Prabhakaran’s end was near if he did not join the democratic flow.
Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Nepal Sumith Nakandala and the Country Director of the WHO in Nepal, Dr. Kan Tung, also took part in the meeting.
Chiefs to testify against Tamils
SRI Lanka's most senior military figures will give evidence against three Melbourne Tamils accused of raising money in Australia to fund a terrorism campaign in their homeland.
The trio - Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan - have been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court next year. They have pleaded not guilty.
The men, who were accused of being members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group, entered their pleas last week after about six weeks of sporadic hearings, which began in September in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
They faced charges of being members of a terrorist organisation between July 1, 2004, and their arrest this year, providing resources to a terrorist organisation between July 6, 2002, and 2007, and making available an asset to a proscribed entity.
Mr Vinayagamoorthy and Mr Yathavan have also pleaded not guilty to intentionally providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation. Mr Vinayagamoorthy pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of making available an asset, namely boat design software and radio transmitters, to a proscribed entity.
Maximum penalties for the charges range between five and 25 years' imprisonment.
Central to the Australian Federal Police case against the men is the accusation that they collectively raised $1.9 million in charitable donations from the Australian Tamil diaspora, most of it collected after the 2004 tsunami.
The AFP alleged the men channelled the funds to Sri Lanka, via Malaysia, and using international money transfers in denominations too small to raise a red flag through the AUSTRAC reporting system.
The committal hearing was told that Mr Vinayagamoorthy was overheard discussing "the movement" and saying: "As for me, I have carried arms. I don't have any worry about anything. I will do anything, whatever the movement asks me. I will do them all."
The court heard that police seized photographs of Mr Rajeevan meeting with the head of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and raising the LTTE flag.
The committal hearing heard evidence from the head of the Sri Lankan army, Gardhihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka, and the Asian nation's naval chief, Wasantha Karannagoda.
Both men were subject to extensive cross-examination by defence lawyers who alleged Sri Lankan authorities committed extrajudicial killings, torture and gross human rights abuses against the Tamil population.
The case has proceeded despite the LTTE not having been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Australian authorities. Whether the LTTE is a terrorist organisation, or a separatist group engaged in a civil war, will be central to whether a jury finds the men guilty of the charges. Mr Rajeevan, Mr Vinayagamoorthy and Mr Yathavan are on bail.
The trio - Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan - have been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court next year. They have pleaded not guilty.
The men, who were accused of being members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group, entered their pleas last week after about six weeks of sporadic hearings, which began in September in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
They faced charges of being members of a terrorist organisation between July 1, 2004, and their arrest this year, providing resources to a terrorist organisation between July 6, 2002, and 2007, and making available an asset to a proscribed entity.
Mr Vinayagamoorthy and Mr Yathavan have also pleaded not guilty to intentionally providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation. Mr Vinayagamoorthy pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of making available an asset, namely boat design software and radio transmitters, to a proscribed entity.
Maximum penalties for the charges range between five and 25 years' imprisonment.
Central to the Australian Federal Police case against the men is the accusation that they collectively raised $1.9 million in charitable donations from the Australian Tamil diaspora, most of it collected after the 2004 tsunami.
The AFP alleged the men channelled the funds to Sri Lanka, via Malaysia, and using international money transfers in denominations too small to raise a red flag through the AUSTRAC reporting system.
The committal hearing was told that Mr Vinayagamoorthy was overheard discussing "the movement" and saying: "As for me, I have carried arms. I don't have any worry about anything. I will do anything, whatever the movement asks me. I will do them all."
The court heard that police seized photographs of Mr Rajeevan meeting with the head of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and raising the LTTE flag.
The committal hearing heard evidence from the head of the Sri Lankan army, Gardhihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka, and the Asian nation's naval chief, Wasantha Karannagoda.
Both men were subject to extensive cross-examination by defence lawyers who alleged Sri Lankan authorities committed extrajudicial killings, torture and gross human rights abuses against the Tamil population.
The case has proceeded despite the LTTE not having been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Australian authorities. Whether the LTTE is a terrorist organisation, or a separatist group engaged in a civil war, will be central to whether a jury finds the men guilty of the charges. Mr Rajeevan, Mr Vinayagamoorthy and Mr Yathavan are on bail.
Sri Lankan Govt troops take Thampanai from LTTE rebels
Sri Lankan security forces continued to advance in the Vavuniya-Mannar sector Monday, taking full control of Thampanai town on the Madhu as Tiger cadres in the area withdrew amid heavy fire, according to defence sources.
The fall of Thampanai town is considered a major breakthrough in the efforts to flush out the LTTE from these areas and clear the path to Wanni, senior military officers state.
Troops are currently engaged in search and clear operations in Thampanai which is almost a ghost town after the LTTE withdrew from the area, a senior military official added.
Thampanai is three to four kilometres on the Madhu road from the Mannar-Vavuniya main supply route and stretches to nearly four kilometres.
According to senior Army officials troops had faced stiff resistance from the LTTE in all their earlier efforts to capture this town, which has previously been used by the LTTE to launch major assaults on troops.
Troops earlier captured the Uyilanakulam LTTE entry exit point and a major LTTE base south of Periyathampanai on Saturday.
The fall of Thampanai town is considered a major breakthrough in the efforts to flush out the LTTE from these areas and clear the path to Wanni, senior military officers state.
Troops are currently engaged in search and clear operations in Thampanai which is almost a ghost town after the LTTE withdrew from the area, a senior military official added.
Thampanai is three to four kilometres on the Madhu road from the Mannar-Vavuniya main supply route and stretches to nearly four kilometres.
According to senior Army officials troops had faced stiff resistance from the LTTE in all their earlier efforts to capture this town, which has previously been used by the LTTE to launch major assaults on troops.
Troops earlier captured the Uyilanakulam LTTE entry exit point and a major LTTE base south of Periyathampanai on Saturday.
4 killed in Lanka; army captures part of Thampane
At least 52 LTTE militants have been killed in gunbattles between security forces and the rebels in Sri Lanka's embattled north, where the Army captured a portion of the rebel-held Thampane area.
Elsewhere two civilians also lost their lives in attacks by suspected tiger rebels, the army said on Tuesday.
"We on Monday night moved in about one km inside Thampane and one of the camps which was taken control of could accommodate 300 LTTE militants," a ministry spokesman said.
In two other areas of Thampane, the troops moved in about 300 metres and 500 metres respectively, the spokesman said, adding this was the fourth major success for Army during the last few days.
Last week, the Army said it had captured a key LTTE post named 'Vitenam Base', hours after taking control of two defence lines in the region.
Delayed reports on Tuesday said during the capture of Uyilanakulam LTTE entry-exit point on Saturday at least 22 militants were killed, the army said
"This information has been confirmed through intercepted LTTE communication", it said.
Five rebels were killed on Tuesday when troops confronted a group of tiger militants in Vilatikulam in Northern Vavuniya.
In Kallikulam, troops confronted a group of tigersand killed three rebels, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said.
Two soldiers sustained injuries in an Anti Personal Mine explosion in Periyathampanai in Vavuniya this evening, it said.
Two civilians were shot dead by unidentified gunmen near the sluice gate at Ragendrakulamtam tank in Vavuniya on Monday.
A LTTE local leader was killed in Vinayagapuram in Eastern Ampara on Monday, the MCNS said.
Two rebels were killed in a confrontation with Army troops at Kandaperiiyakulam in Mannar on Monday.
Five militants were killed in three separate incidents ---Pokkaravani, Paripittanmodai and Narikkulam-- in Vavuniya-Mannar border on Monday, the Defence Ministry said.
Ten LTTE rebels, including two regional leaders of the outfit, were killed on Monday in confrontations with troops at Kandaperumakulama, Pokkaravani and Navatkulama areas in Vavunia, it said.
In Mannar region, security forces attacked a bunker manned by the LTTE in the south of Adampan area, killing two LTTE cadres on Monday, the ministry said.
In another incident, troops destroyed two bunkers in Kilaly and Nagarkovil in Jaffna, killing two tiger cadres, it added.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet website, meanwhile, claimed that a Sri Lankan soldier was killed and 28 troops injured in three separate clashes in Mannar on Sunday.
"According to reports received from Mannar operations commanders of LTTE, no casualties among LTTE cadres were reported," it said.
Elsewhere two civilians also lost their lives in attacks by suspected tiger rebels, the army said on Tuesday.
"We on Monday night moved in about one km inside Thampane and one of the camps which was taken control of could accommodate 300 LTTE militants," a ministry spokesman said.
In two other areas of Thampane, the troops moved in about 300 metres and 500 metres respectively, the spokesman said, adding this was the fourth major success for Army during the last few days.
Last week, the Army said it had captured a key LTTE post named 'Vitenam Base', hours after taking control of two defence lines in the region.
Delayed reports on Tuesday said during the capture of Uyilanakulam LTTE entry-exit point on Saturday at least 22 militants were killed, the army said
"This information has been confirmed through intercepted LTTE communication", it said.
Five rebels were killed on Tuesday when troops confronted a group of tiger militants in Vilatikulam in Northern Vavuniya.
In Kallikulam, troops confronted a group of tigersand killed three rebels, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said.
Two soldiers sustained injuries in an Anti Personal Mine explosion in Periyathampanai in Vavuniya this evening, it said.
Two civilians were shot dead by unidentified gunmen near the sluice gate at Ragendrakulamtam tank in Vavuniya on Monday.
A LTTE local leader was killed in Vinayagapuram in Eastern Ampara on Monday, the MCNS said.
Two rebels were killed in a confrontation with Army troops at Kandaperiiyakulam in Mannar on Monday.
Five militants were killed in three separate incidents ---Pokkaravani, Paripittanmodai and Narikkulam-- in Vavuniya-Mannar border on Monday, the Defence Ministry said.
Ten LTTE rebels, including two regional leaders of the outfit, were killed on Monday in confrontations with troops at Kandaperumakulama, Pokkaravani and Navatkulama areas in Vavunia, it said.
In Mannar region, security forces attacked a bunker manned by the LTTE in the south of Adampan area, killing two LTTE cadres on Monday, the ministry said.
In another incident, troops destroyed two bunkers in Kilaly and Nagarkovil in Jaffna, killing two tiger cadres, it added.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet website, meanwhile, claimed that a Sri Lankan soldier was killed and 28 troops injured in three separate clashes in Mannar on Sunday.
"According to reports received from Mannar operations commanders of LTTE, no casualties among LTTE cadres were reported," it said.
Spare a Christmas thought for our valiant soldiers
Millions of Christians the world over will be celebrating Christmas 2007 on Tuesday. The followers of Jesus Christ celebrate the birth of their saviour, which had taken place in Bethlehem. It's the day on which 'the Prince of Peace' was born in a humble manger, over 2000 years ago.
Christmas provides an ideal platform for all nations in the world to join hands with everyone to unite in peace. As millions of people across the globe celebrate Christmas in two days' time, we in this beautiful Indian-ocean island hope that Christmas would usher peace to our country.
Christmas is typically the largest annual economic stimulus for many nations. Sales increase dramatically in almost all retail areas, and the shops introduce new products as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies. There is no exception in Sri Lanka since Christianity was introduced to this island by Europeans five centuries ago.
Moreover, Christmas has turned out to be more than a religious event. Over the years, Christmas has become a global event, celebrated by people all over the world. Christmas is an event looked forward to by many belonging to different races and faiths. They observe it with joy and merry making.
Hope and peace are special gifts of Christmas and all the people of goodwill would need lots of hope to wait patiently and work towards a lasting peace in Sri Lanka.
Liberating innocent civilians from the clutches of the LTTE terror acts and achieving an honourable peace acceptable to all communities has been the Government's goal.
Under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Government has been successful in marching towards that direction to a great extent. With faith and hope, the Christian community in Sri Lanka could reflect during this Christmas time on the role they need to play to help bring about unity through acceptance and respect for diversity in terms of race, religion and culture.
That should be an honourable peace that would respect feelings and aspirations of all communities here.
The Christian minority here would share their joy with their neighbours belonging to other religious beliefs. There are Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers amongst the Christians in Sri Lanka. Over the years, they have lived in harmony, sharing the good times and the bad. For centuries Sri Lanka has been blessed with a general commitment to the ways and the values of a multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-cultural society.
However, some Christians here, especially, need to reflect deeply on whether their customs, rights and traditions are more Western than Sri Lankan. Enculturation or practice of the religion through signs and symbols more representative of Sri Lankan culture would be an important step towards the Spirit of unity in diversity.
Jesus practically telescopes the love of God into the love of neighbour. The implication is that in Jesus God has become our neighbour. We cannot have a sound knowledge of God except through our love for neighbour. The burden Jesus lays on Christians is that they serve the poor in order to worship God worthily.
Unless the Christians show compassion to the poor, they cannot claim to be God's covenant partners. The secret of Christianity's success all over the world, amongst different nations is due to its supreme Law of Love, the core proclamation of Jesus Christ, that man must not only love God selflessly and do his bidding but also love his neighbour in equal measure.
We must ponder on the very meaning of the word - Christmas, which has been flooded by a torrent of commercialism to the point where most people have forgotten the true meaning of this Holy day.
Various commercial activities all over the world have wrongly portrayed Christmas as a season of splashing on worldly goods and generally having a gala time. Though we don't find anything wrong in engaging in a festive splurge we should also think about thousands of people suffering, due to various reasons, all over the world.
In Sri Lanka too, thousands of people are suffering as a result of Prabhakaran's terror acts. Many who have either become unfortunate victims or lost their loved ones due to terrorist acts here should have a prime place in our prayers.
While enjoying the glamour part of the Christmas, we should also pause a moment to reflect on the words of Jesus, who called for compassion to all. True Christians must remember the poor and the downtrodden during the season. As Jesus Christ has taught, Christmas is all about giving, sharing and caring.
In order to live up to the message of true Christmas, we must focus our attention on the less affluent and under privileged segments of our society. We must not forget the true sons of our soil who sacrifice their today to make a better tomorrow for all us.
Our gallant Security Forces spend many sleepless nights in bunkers under tiring conditions to make our Christmas a happy and a peaceful one.
Our prayers and wishes should be with those who have made the supreme sacrifice on behalf of us to protect our country. Christmas should be a day for reflecting on the need for peace in our island, torn apart by the LTTE terrorism for the last 24 years.
Let us also spare a thought for the thousands of our people who lost their lives as a result of the tsunami disaster on the Boxing Day three years ago.
Christmas provides an ideal platform for all nations in the world to join hands with everyone to unite in peace. As millions of people across the globe celebrate Christmas in two days' time, we in this beautiful Indian-ocean island hope that Christmas would usher peace to our country.
Christmas is typically the largest annual economic stimulus for many nations. Sales increase dramatically in almost all retail areas, and the shops introduce new products as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies. There is no exception in Sri Lanka since Christianity was introduced to this island by Europeans five centuries ago.
Moreover, Christmas has turned out to be more than a religious event. Over the years, Christmas has become a global event, celebrated by people all over the world. Christmas is an event looked forward to by many belonging to different races and faiths. They observe it with joy and merry making.
Hope and peace are special gifts of Christmas and all the people of goodwill would need lots of hope to wait patiently and work towards a lasting peace in Sri Lanka.
Liberating innocent civilians from the clutches of the LTTE terror acts and achieving an honourable peace acceptable to all communities has been the Government's goal.
Under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Government has been successful in marching towards that direction to a great extent. With faith and hope, the Christian community in Sri Lanka could reflect during this Christmas time on the role they need to play to help bring about unity through acceptance and respect for diversity in terms of race, religion and culture.
That should be an honourable peace that would respect feelings and aspirations of all communities here.
The Christian minority here would share their joy with their neighbours belonging to other religious beliefs. There are Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers amongst the Christians in Sri Lanka. Over the years, they have lived in harmony, sharing the good times and the bad. For centuries Sri Lanka has been blessed with a general commitment to the ways and the values of a multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-cultural society.
However, some Christians here, especially, need to reflect deeply on whether their customs, rights and traditions are more Western than Sri Lankan. Enculturation or practice of the religion through signs and symbols more representative of Sri Lankan culture would be an important step towards the Spirit of unity in diversity.
Jesus practically telescopes the love of God into the love of neighbour. The implication is that in Jesus God has become our neighbour. We cannot have a sound knowledge of God except through our love for neighbour. The burden Jesus lays on Christians is that they serve the poor in order to worship God worthily.
Unless the Christians show compassion to the poor, they cannot claim to be God's covenant partners. The secret of Christianity's success all over the world, amongst different nations is due to its supreme Law of Love, the core proclamation of Jesus Christ, that man must not only love God selflessly and do his bidding but also love his neighbour in equal measure.
We must ponder on the very meaning of the word - Christmas, which has been flooded by a torrent of commercialism to the point where most people have forgotten the true meaning of this Holy day.
Various commercial activities all over the world have wrongly portrayed Christmas as a season of splashing on worldly goods and generally having a gala time. Though we don't find anything wrong in engaging in a festive splurge we should also think about thousands of people suffering, due to various reasons, all over the world.
In Sri Lanka too, thousands of people are suffering as a result of Prabhakaran's terror acts. Many who have either become unfortunate victims or lost their loved ones due to terrorist acts here should have a prime place in our prayers.
While enjoying the glamour part of the Christmas, we should also pause a moment to reflect on the words of Jesus, who called for compassion to all. True Christians must remember the poor and the downtrodden during the season. As Jesus Christ has taught, Christmas is all about giving, sharing and caring.
In order to live up to the message of true Christmas, we must focus our attention on the less affluent and under privileged segments of our society. We must not forget the true sons of our soil who sacrifice their today to make a better tomorrow for all us.
Our gallant Security Forces spend many sleepless nights in bunkers under tiring conditions to make our Christmas a happy and a peaceful one.
Our prayers and wishes should be with those who have made the supreme sacrifice on behalf of us to protect our country. Christmas should be a day for reflecting on the need for peace in our island, torn apart by the LTTE terrorism for the last 24 years.
Let us also spare a thought for the thousands of our people who lost their lives as a result of the tsunami disaster on the Boxing Day three years ago.
Labour MP lands in LTTE soup
Asian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz has gotten himself into an embarrassing investigation by anti-terrorism police, after the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Kshenuka Senewiratne, wrote to prime minister Gordon Brown to express her "serious concerns" at Vaz's presence at a rally here in support of the Tamil Tigers.
Vaz, who heads an all-party Home Affairs Select committee that scrutinises all anti-terrorism legislation, is said to be under pressure, to explain his decision to speak at the rally last month.
No stranger to controversies and in riding them out, in this case the fact that Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the rally will put political pressure on Vaz. A source close to the inquiry was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying, "We have recovered some evidence, including video footage, which we are studying."
At the rally attended by more than 10,000 Tamil Tigers' supporters on November 27 a video address by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a terrorist group officially banned in Britain, was screened. Prabhakaran, posing in uniform in front of a flag, hailed "the immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes (suicide bombers)".
Vaz has said he was unaware the Prabhakaran recording was to be shown and defended his decision to speak at the event. "Parliament has to decide who chairs select committees — not foreign governments or Gordon Brown," he said.
Under the Terrorism Act, the Tigers cannot operate in Britain, own property or raise funds. It is also an offence to glorify their activities or to incite support for them.
Vaz, who has 7,000 Tamils in his Leicester East constituency, added he attended at the request of constituents and that he had been "happy to do so". He had also received a "lovely letter" from the Sri Lankan authorities asking him to attend a cultural event days later, he added.
"My position on Sri Lanka is very simple: you have to return to the negotiating table. I condemn all forms of terrorism."
Vaz, who heads an all-party Home Affairs Select committee that scrutinises all anti-terrorism legislation, is said to be under pressure, to explain his decision to speak at the rally last month.
No stranger to controversies and in riding them out, in this case the fact that Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command is investigating the rally will put political pressure on Vaz. A source close to the inquiry was quoted in the Daily Telegraph as saying, "We have recovered some evidence, including video footage, which we are studying."
At the rally attended by more than 10,000 Tamil Tigers' supporters on November 27 a video address by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a terrorist group officially banned in Britain, was screened. Prabhakaran, posing in uniform in front of a flag, hailed "the immeasurable dedication and sacrifice of our heroes (suicide bombers)".
Vaz has said he was unaware the Prabhakaran recording was to be shown and defended his decision to speak at the event. "Parliament has to decide who chairs select committees — not foreign governments or Gordon Brown," he said.
Under the Terrorism Act, the Tigers cannot operate in Britain, own property or raise funds. It is also an offence to glorify their activities or to incite support for them.
Vaz, who has 7,000 Tamils in his Leicester East constituency, added he attended at the request of constituents and that he had been "happy to do so". He had also received a "lovely letter" from the Sri Lankan authorities asking him to attend a cultural event days later, he added.
"My position on Sri Lanka is very simple: you have to return to the negotiating table. I condemn all forms of terrorism."
The LTTE Retreats
We are convinced that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is now weakened.
We should not pass this ethnic problem to the next generation. – Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, September 27, 2007
With more than 4,000 deaths in 2007, Sri Lanka continues to be one of the most violent theatres of conflict in the world. Worse, the conflict can be expected to become the more intractable over the coming year.
In 2007, the security forces (SFs) continued to gain immense military victories and appear to have cornered the LTTE, so much so that the outfit, once controlling a large swathe of land in the Eastern Province and ruling the Northern Province, is looking for international intervention to save it from being totally wiped out of the map of the Island country. That the LTTE has been on the run and at its weakest ever in the history of its fight against the Sri Lankan State was also reflected in the annual Mahaveerar Thinam (Heroes’ Day) speech delivered by its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran on November 27, 2007. Instead of his customary war rhetoric, he complained that the "partisan and unjust conduct" of the international community "severely undermined confidence of Tamil people". Claiming, absurdly, that the LTTE has been ‘fighting non-violently’ and through ‘armed struggle’ for a very long time against national oppression, Prabhakaran asserted that the Tigers were not "terrorists committing blind acts of violence impelled by racist or religious fanaticism".
Meanwhile, the SFs continued their march into LTTE-held areas and are close to Wanni now. On December 7, 2007, Defence Spokesperson and Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, informed Parliament that Kilinochchi was ‘within sight’, and therefore the Government would pursue the target of eradicating terrorism to create a democratic environment. The Minister said that the Government had won unprecedented military victories after 30 years of war and should not relinquish this advantageous position, adding, "If we let this chance go, the country will slip back to the position that existed 30 years ago."
Although there is not much of a difference between total casualties for the years 2006 and 2007, the breakup of fatalities clearly indicates a steady strengthening of state Forces. 2007 saw a dramatic decline in both civilian and SF fatalities, and a sharp escalation in terrorists killed, as compared to 2006. Fatalities in Sri Lanka, 2006-2007 Year
Civilians Security Force Terrorists Total 2006 949 752 2219 3920 2007* 515 483 3041 4039 * Till December 18. (Source: Institute for Conflict Management database)
Government troops, which commenced their operations in July 2006 in Mavil Aru, captured Vakarai Town in Batticaloa District on January 19, 2007. Further, on July 11, President Mahinda Rajapakse declared that the military had captured Thoppigala, the last remaining pocket of influence of the LTTE in the East, which had remained under effective rebel control since 1994. Earlier, the military had announced that its soldiers had reached the LTTE’s Baron’s Camp in Thoppigala and had declared, "With this victory, troops have captured the ‘nerve centre’ of the LTTE terrorists in their last stronghold in the Eastern province."
Validating the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s January 2, 2007, assertion that the Army would liberate the Eastern Province from the LTTE's hold and then proceed to liberate the Northern Province, the SFs then turned their attention to the North. The Army Commander had claimed "After eradicating the Tigers from the East, full strength would be used to rescue the North." Fighting there continues, with an average of 10 LTTE militants killed daily. The firefights along the currently held Forward Defence Line, both in the Jaffna Peninsula, north of the Elephant Pass, and along the mainland, north of Vavuniya, are now a continuous process, and SLA sources indicate that ‘long range operations’ deep into LTTE territory have also been initiated in a campaign of attrition intended to weaken the rebels in their final bastion. The Government, however, will have to strengthen its hold in the Eastern Province where, according to media reports, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the LTTE breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna, is attempting to consolidate power in Batticaloa and surrounding areas. On March 11, Karuna had accepted that he had areas under his control and claimed that his group was "involved in civil administration" in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. However, according to an October 19 report, after a survey of the civil administration of the East, Karu Jayasuriya, the Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs, disclosed that the civil administration of East will be almost completely established by January 1, 2008.
In a decisive incident, on November 2, S. P. Thamilselvan, the political wing leader of the LTTE and its de facto number two, was killed in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) air strike at Thiruvaiaru, a location three kilometers South of Kilinochchi. The attack was based on ‘very reliable information’ identifying the location as a meeting place of LTTE leaders, giving the marauding forces their biggest success in the ongoing battle. Simultaneously, fighter jets also pounded a Black Tiger camp in the East of Iranamadu. Five other leaders ‘Lt. Col.’ Anpumani alias Alex, ‘Major’ Mihuthan, ‘Major’ Nethagy, ‘Lieutenant’ Adchgivel and ‘Lieutenant’ Vahakai Kumaran were also killed in the air strike. Their meeting place was subsequently confirmed as an international communications centre run by ‘Lt. Col.’ Alex, as well as a centre for logistics, arms procurement, fund raising and operational coordination. Following the attack, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa declared that the military would target the rest of the LTTE leaders and, "When the time comes only, we take them one by one."
In addition to its battlefield reverses, the LTTE has also been trying to cope with the international pressure exerted by countries across the globe, with reports claiming that the LTTE’s activities were no longer confined to Sri Lanka. There was some evidence of emerging commercial links between the LTTE and al Qaeda. On May 17, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the USA, Bernard Goonetileke, stated that the LTTE has stolen 130,000 Norwegian passports and sold them to the "highest bidders" including al Qaeda operatives. He said, "One of them [LTTE cadre] surfaced with 700 of the stolen passports in Thailand and got caught to the police." During the year, there have been some arrests of LTTE top leaders in various countries, including:
April 6: The leader of the LTTE’s branch in France since 2003, Nadarajah Mathinthiran alias ‘Parathi’ and Thuraisamy Jeyamorthy alias ‘Jeya’, who were in charge of the money collections in France, were among 17 LTTE suspects arrested by the French authorities.
April 25: The ‘director’ of the LTTE in New York, Karunakaran Kandasamy, was arrested by the FBI in Queens. He was arrested on Federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
May 1: Two LTTE leaders in Australia – Sivaraj Yathevan, in charge of Eela Murasu, a Tamil community paper, and his aide Arooran Vignanamoorthy – who had access to AUD 526,000 in two bank accounts between August 2001 and December 2005, were arrested during raids conducted on 10 premises in Melbourne’s east — at Vermont, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Dandenong and East Burwood — and in the Sydney suburbs of Toongabbie and Parramatta.
The depleted LTTE has, nevertheless, carried out several lethal attacks in Sri Lanka (including the first ever aerial attack, followed by four others, mainly targeting the capital Colombo. There was an ill-considered Government backlash in response, and on June 1, Tamils from the north and east staying in various lodges without jobs in Colombo were asked to go back to their homes in view of the security situation. This briefly escalated ethnic polarization, which could well have been exploited by the LTTE, but the Government quickly realized its mistake, after the intervention of the Courts, and performed a U-turn, asking the Tamils to stay on.
Some of the major LTTE attacks in 2007 included:
January 5: At least six passengers were killed and 63 were wounded in a bomb blast inside a bus bound for Giriulla from Nittambuwa in the Gampaha District.
January 6: At least 16 persons were killed and 40 injured, as a second explosion occurred in a bus in a span of less than 24 hours in the Galle District, over 80 kilometres from the national capital Colombo.
February 27: Italy’s Ambassador, Pio Miriani, and US Ambassador Robert Blake were injured in mortar firing by the LTTE, targeting an air movement carrying Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, along with a few foreign diplomats in Batticaloa.
March 26: Carrying out their first ever air attack on the main Sri Lankan Air Force base in Katunayake at Colombo, the LTTE killed three Air Force personnel and injured 17 others.
April 29: An LTTE aircraft bombed oil and gas storage facilities in and around Colombo. One of the two bombs dropped on Shell’s Muthurajawela Gas Storage Facility caused minor damage to the fire guard equipment while the other damaged the water supply. The two bombs dropped on the Kolonnawa Oil Storage Depot failed to explode.
May 28: Seven civilians were killed and 42 persons, including 36 civilians, sustained injuries, in an LTTE-triggered claymore mine explosion at Belekkade Junction in the Rathmalana area of the capital Colombo. October 22: Elite Army troops of the Special Forces confronted LTTE cadres who infiltrated and carried out a suicide attack on the SLAF base at Anuradhapura and evicted them from the premises killing 20 militants. Nine SF personnel, including two officers, were killed and 20 others wounded in the encounter. Subsequently the LTTE carried out an aerial attack, dropping two shells damaging two MI 24 helicopters parked in a hangar. Another BELL-212 helicopter, which was to reinforce SLAF fighter craft resisting LTTE air movement, had to crash-land at Doramadalawa area, closer to Mihintale, due to a technical fault, killing both pilots and two gunners. This was the first time the outfit had carried out a combined air and ground attack.
November 28: The EPDP leader and Minister for Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda, escaped unhurt when a polio-affected woman suicide cadre of the LTTE blew herself up at his office at Isipathana Road in the Narahenpita area of Colombo.
At least 19 civilians were killed and 35 others injured as a suspected parcel bomb exploded near a popular fashion store at Nugegoda junction near Colombo around 5.55 pm.
There were six suicide attacks carried out by the LTTE in 2007 as against 12 in the previous year.
The LTTE has collected rich resources for its campaigns. Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona stated, on May 1, 2007, that the LTTE internationally raised approximately USD 10 million to USD 30 million a month, of which almost 20 to 30 per cent came from Australia. Corroborating these claims, the London-based Jane’s Intelligence Review stated that the LTTE had not only created one of the most sophisticated insurgencies in the world but also has an annual ‘profit margin’ of USD 200 to USD 300 million. Despite the Government proscribing the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation on November 22, having earlier frozen its accounts, the LTTE retains various sources to replenish its coffers.
The ongoing war has had an adverse impact on social, political and economic conditions in Sri Lanka. According to the Minority Rights Group International 2007 report, human rights in Sri Lanka reached a ‘crisis point’ in 2007, with numerous reports of extra-judicial killings, disappearances and abductions. The Sri Lankan human rights groups reported that some 662 people had been killed and 540 people have disappeared between January–August 2007. A vast majority of them were Tamils, while some were Muslims. The UNHCR office in Sri Lanka stated, on October 26, that 190,669 individuals of 51,908 families had been displaced in 2007 due to the ethnic conflict. The highest number of displacements was reported from Kilinochchi District – 48,512 persons. Another 38,230 individuals were displaced in the Batticaloa District while 32,323 individuals were displaced in Mullaitivu District. On August 17, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which was due to donate medical equipment worth millions of rupees to hospitals in the North, called off their mission due to protection money demanded by the LTTE, a clear indication of the worsening situation. A South Asian Watch group on the use of small arms disclosed, on October 28, that there were over 1.3 million illegal weapons in use in Sri Lanka, adding that the availability of illegal small arms had led to the escalation of the rate of crime on the island.
Inflation in Sri Lanka is currently pegged at 17 percent, the unemployment rate is 6.2 percent, there is a budget deficit of 8.4 per cent and Defence spending is at USD 1.3 billion. The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) has fallen by around three percent this year against the US dollar, while other currencies in the region have risen. The tourism industry has taken a hammering, and there is widespread apprehension among the people of difficult times ahead.
On the political front, the Southern consensus which had emerged in October 2006, finally came to a disappointing end on January 29 with the main opposition group, the United National Party's (UNP) announcement that the political pact it signed with the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in October 2006 was invalid in the aftermath of President Rajapakse’s induction of 19 defectors from the UNP into the Government. More recently, on December 12, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem said that he and three other parliamentarians had decided to leave the Government as it had failed to guarantee the rights of the Muslim community. These are a major setback to the Rajapakse regime which had, in the fag end of 2006, garnered the support of Southern political parties to deal with the LTTE.
On a positive note, despite the upswing in violence, the country expected to record its fastest growth in nearly three decades, according to the Central Bank. With USD 530 million already received in foreign direct investment (FDI) by August, total FDI is projected to substantially exceed the total of USD 600 million in 2006. Foreign reserves were up at USD 2.8 billion in April 2007, from USD 2.5 billion in April 2006. With vast stretches of land cleared of the LTTE in the North and East, agricultural activities are bound to increase. Government control over these areas can enhance trade because, being an island nation, most of the trade activities are carried on over the seas, on which the LTTE had greater control till its recent reverses. Meanwhile, some political parties which had been intimidated into passivity over the past years have resumed their activities in the country. On April 20, the Defense Ministry said that the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation, a mainstream Tamil political party, which had been silenced since 1990 after continuous death threats from the LTTE, decided to actively restore functions as a democratic Tamil Front.
There are no prospects of peace emanating from anywhere. On April 12, Defense Secretary Rajapakse declared that Sri Lanka's cease-fire had "no meaning" and that it was only being left in place to satisfy the international community. Further, on May 31 Defense spokesperson and Minister Rambukwella stated that the Ceasefire Agreement, which now holds only on paper after breaking down on the ground last year, no longer reflected reality. Earlier, on February 12 President Mahinda Rajapakse, in an interview with the BBC, had said that the Government's peace pact with the LTTE was a mistake. "Today we realise we have made a mistake. Through the peace pact, we've demarcated areas called LTTE controlled areas, and they have taken over the rights of the people through this pact. In the LTTE controlled areas, no political parties can function, people cannot walk anywhere in freedom, and the children are being forced to join the armed forces of the LTTE. These rights should be given back to the people."
With the public opinion progressively hardening in favour of continued military operations, more bloodshed can be expected in Sri Lanka, already among the most violent places in South Asia.
We should not pass this ethnic problem to the next generation. – Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, September 27, 2007
With more than 4,000 deaths in 2007, Sri Lanka continues to be one of the most violent theatres of conflict in the world. Worse, the conflict can be expected to become the more intractable over the coming year.
In 2007, the security forces (SFs) continued to gain immense military victories and appear to have cornered the LTTE, so much so that the outfit, once controlling a large swathe of land in the Eastern Province and ruling the Northern Province, is looking for international intervention to save it from being totally wiped out of the map of the Island country. That the LTTE has been on the run and at its weakest ever in the history of its fight against the Sri Lankan State was also reflected in the annual Mahaveerar Thinam (Heroes’ Day) speech delivered by its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran on November 27, 2007. Instead of his customary war rhetoric, he complained that the "partisan and unjust conduct" of the international community "severely undermined confidence of Tamil people". Claiming, absurdly, that the LTTE has been ‘fighting non-violently’ and through ‘armed struggle’ for a very long time against national oppression, Prabhakaran asserted that the Tigers were not "terrorists committing blind acts of violence impelled by racist or religious fanaticism".
Meanwhile, the SFs continued their march into LTTE-held areas and are close to Wanni now. On December 7, 2007, Defence Spokesperson and Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, informed Parliament that Kilinochchi was ‘within sight’, and therefore the Government would pursue the target of eradicating terrorism to create a democratic environment. The Minister said that the Government had won unprecedented military victories after 30 years of war and should not relinquish this advantageous position, adding, "If we let this chance go, the country will slip back to the position that existed 30 years ago."
Although there is not much of a difference between total casualties for the years 2006 and 2007, the breakup of fatalities clearly indicates a steady strengthening of state Forces. 2007 saw a dramatic decline in both civilian and SF fatalities, and a sharp escalation in terrorists killed, as compared to 2006. Fatalities in Sri Lanka, 2006-2007 Year
Civilians Security Force Terrorists Total 2006 949 752 2219 3920 2007* 515 483 3041 4039 * Till December 18. (Source: Institute for Conflict Management database)
Government troops, which commenced their operations in July 2006 in Mavil Aru, captured Vakarai Town in Batticaloa District on January 19, 2007. Further, on July 11, President Mahinda Rajapakse declared that the military had captured Thoppigala, the last remaining pocket of influence of the LTTE in the East, which had remained under effective rebel control since 1994. Earlier, the military had announced that its soldiers had reached the LTTE’s Baron’s Camp in Thoppigala and had declared, "With this victory, troops have captured the ‘nerve centre’ of the LTTE terrorists in their last stronghold in the Eastern province."
Validating the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s January 2, 2007, assertion that the Army would liberate the Eastern Province from the LTTE's hold and then proceed to liberate the Northern Province, the SFs then turned their attention to the North. The Army Commander had claimed "After eradicating the Tigers from the East, full strength would be used to rescue the North." Fighting there continues, with an average of 10 LTTE militants killed daily. The firefights along the currently held Forward Defence Line, both in the Jaffna Peninsula, north of the Elephant Pass, and along the mainland, north of Vavuniya, are now a continuous process, and SLA sources indicate that ‘long range operations’ deep into LTTE territory have also been initiated in a campaign of attrition intended to weaken the rebels in their final bastion. The Government, however, will have to strengthen its hold in the Eastern Province where, according to media reports, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the LTTE breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna, is attempting to consolidate power in Batticaloa and surrounding areas. On March 11, Karuna had accepted that he had areas under his control and claimed that his group was "involved in civil administration" in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. However, according to an October 19 report, after a survey of the civil administration of the East, Karu Jayasuriya, the Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs, disclosed that the civil administration of East will be almost completely established by January 1, 2008.
In a decisive incident, on November 2, S. P. Thamilselvan, the political wing leader of the LTTE and its de facto number two, was killed in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) air strike at Thiruvaiaru, a location three kilometers South of Kilinochchi. The attack was based on ‘very reliable information’ identifying the location as a meeting place of LTTE leaders, giving the marauding forces their biggest success in the ongoing battle. Simultaneously, fighter jets also pounded a Black Tiger camp in the East of Iranamadu. Five other leaders ‘Lt. Col.’ Anpumani alias Alex, ‘Major’ Mihuthan, ‘Major’ Nethagy, ‘Lieutenant’ Adchgivel and ‘Lieutenant’ Vahakai Kumaran were also killed in the air strike. Their meeting place was subsequently confirmed as an international communications centre run by ‘Lt. Col.’ Alex, as well as a centre for logistics, arms procurement, fund raising and operational coordination. Following the attack, Defence Secretary Rajapaksa declared that the military would target the rest of the LTTE leaders and, "When the time comes only, we take them one by one."
In addition to its battlefield reverses, the LTTE has also been trying to cope with the international pressure exerted by countries across the globe, with reports claiming that the LTTE’s activities were no longer confined to Sri Lanka. There was some evidence of emerging commercial links between the LTTE and al Qaeda. On May 17, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the USA, Bernard Goonetileke, stated that the LTTE has stolen 130,000 Norwegian passports and sold them to the "highest bidders" including al Qaeda operatives. He said, "One of them [LTTE cadre] surfaced with 700 of the stolen passports in Thailand and got caught to the police." During the year, there have been some arrests of LTTE top leaders in various countries, including:
April 6: The leader of the LTTE’s branch in France since 2003, Nadarajah Mathinthiran alias ‘Parathi’ and Thuraisamy Jeyamorthy alias ‘Jeya’, who were in charge of the money collections in France, were among 17 LTTE suspects arrested by the French authorities.
April 25: The ‘director’ of the LTTE in New York, Karunakaran Kandasamy, was arrested by the FBI in Queens. He was arrested on Federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
May 1: Two LTTE leaders in Australia – Sivaraj Yathevan, in charge of Eela Murasu, a Tamil community paper, and his aide Arooran Vignanamoorthy – who had access to AUD 526,000 in two bank accounts between August 2001 and December 2005, were arrested during raids conducted on 10 premises in Melbourne’s east — at Vermont, Glen Waverley, Mount Waverley, Dandenong and East Burwood — and in the Sydney suburbs of Toongabbie and Parramatta.
The depleted LTTE has, nevertheless, carried out several lethal attacks in Sri Lanka (including the first ever aerial attack, followed by four others, mainly targeting the capital Colombo. There was an ill-considered Government backlash in response, and on June 1, Tamils from the north and east staying in various lodges without jobs in Colombo were asked to go back to their homes in view of the security situation. This briefly escalated ethnic polarization, which could well have been exploited by the LTTE, but the Government quickly realized its mistake, after the intervention of the Courts, and performed a U-turn, asking the Tamils to stay on.
Some of the major LTTE attacks in 2007 included:
January 5: At least six passengers were killed and 63 were wounded in a bomb blast inside a bus bound for Giriulla from Nittambuwa in the Gampaha District.
January 6: At least 16 persons were killed and 40 injured, as a second explosion occurred in a bus in a span of less than 24 hours in the Galle District, over 80 kilometres from the national capital Colombo.
February 27: Italy’s Ambassador, Pio Miriani, and US Ambassador Robert Blake were injured in mortar firing by the LTTE, targeting an air movement carrying Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, along with a few foreign diplomats in Batticaloa.
March 26: Carrying out their first ever air attack on the main Sri Lankan Air Force base in Katunayake at Colombo, the LTTE killed three Air Force personnel and injured 17 others.
April 29: An LTTE aircraft bombed oil and gas storage facilities in and around Colombo. One of the two bombs dropped on Shell’s Muthurajawela Gas Storage Facility caused minor damage to the fire guard equipment while the other damaged the water supply. The two bombs dropped on the Kolonnawa Oil Storage Depot failed to explode.
May 28: Seven civilians were killed and 42 persons, including 36 civilians, sustained injuries, in an LTTE-triggered claymore mine explosion at Belekkade Junction in the Rathmalana area of the capital Colombo. October 22: Elite Army troops of the Special Forces confronted LTTE cadres who infiltrated and carried out a suicide attack on the SLAF base at Anuradhapura and evicted them from the premises killing 20 militants. Nine SF personnel, including two officers, were killed and 20 others wounded in the encounter. Subsequently the LTTE carried out an aerial attack, dropping two shells damaging two MI 24 helicopters parked in a hangar. Another BELL-212 helicopter, which was to reinforce SLAF fighter craft resisting LTTE air movement, had to crash-land at Doramadalawa area, closer to Mihintale, due to a technical fault, killing both pilots and two gunners. This was the first time the outfit had carried out a combined air and ground attack.
November 28: The EPDP leader and Minister for Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda, escaped unhurt when a polio-affected woman suicide cadre of the LTTE blew herself up at his office at Isipathana Road in the Narahenpita area of Colombo.
At least 19 civilians were killed and 35 others injured as a suspected parcel bomb exploded near a popular fashion store at Nugegoda junction near Colombo around 5.55 pm.
There were six suicide attacks carried out by the LTTE in 2007 as against 12 in the previous year.
The LTTE has collected rich resources for its campaigns. Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona stated, on May 1, 2007, that the LTTE internationally raised approximately USD 10 million to USD 30 million a month, of which almost 20 to 30 per cent came from Australia. Corroborating these claims, the London-based Jane’s Intelligence Review stated that the LTTE had not only created one of the most sophisticated insurgencies in the world but also has an annual ‘profit margin’ of USD 200 to USD 300 million. Despite the Government proscribing the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation on November 22, having earlier frozen its accounts, the LTTE retains various sources to replenish its coffers.
The ongoing war has had an adverse impact on social, political and economic conditions in Sri Lanka. According to the Minority Rights Group International 2007 report, human rights in Sri Lanka reached a ‘crisis point’ in 2007, with numerous reports of extra-judicial killings, disappearances and abductions. The Sri Lankan human rights groups reported that some 662 people had been killed and 540 people have disappeared between January–August 2007. A vast majority of them were Tamils, while some were Muslims. The UNHCR office in Sri Lanka stated, on October 26, that 190,669 individuals of 51,908 families had been displaced in 2007 due to the ethnic conflict. The highest number of displacements was reported from Kilinochchi District – 48,512 persons. Another 38,230 individuals were displaced in the Batticaloa District while 32,323 individuals were displaced in Mullaitivu District. On August 17, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which was due to donate medical equipment worth millions of rupees to hospitals in the North, called off their mission due to protection money demanded by the LTTE, a clear indication of the worsening situation. A South Asian Watch group on the use of small arms disclosed, on October 28, that there were over 1.3 million illegal weapons in use in Sri Lanka, adding that the availability of illegal small arms had led to the escalation of the rate of crime on the island.
Inflation in Sri Lanka is currently pegged at 17 percent, the unemployment rate is 6.2 percent, there is a budget deficit of 8.4 per cent and Defence spending is at USD 1.3 billion. The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) has fallen by around three percent this year against the US dollar, while other currencies in the region have risen. The tourism industry has taken a hammering, and there is widespread apprehension among the people of difficult times ahead.
On the political front, the Southern consensus which had emerged in October 2006, finally came to a disappointing end on January 29 with the main opposition group, the United National Party's (UNP) announcement that the political pact it signed with the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in October 2006 was invalid in the aftermath of President Rajapakse’s induction of 19 defectors from the UNP into the Government. More recently, on December 12, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem said that he and three other parliamentarians had decided to leave the Government as it had failed to guarantee the rights of the Muslim community. These are a major setback to the Rajapakse regime which had, in the fag end of 2006, garnered the support of Southern political parties to deal with the LTTE.
On a positive note, despite the upswing in violence, the country expected to record its fastest growth in nearly three decades, according to the Central Bank. With USD 530 million already received in foreign direct investment (FDI) by August, total FDI is projected to substantially exceed the total of USD 600 million in 2006. Foreign reserves were up at USD 2.8 billion in April 2007, from USD 2.5 billion in April 2006. With vast stretches of land cleared of the LTTE in the North and East, agricultural activities are bound to increase. Government control over these areas can enhance trade because, being an island nation, most of the trade activities are carried on over the seas, on which the LTTE had greater control till its recent reverses. Meanwhile, some political parties which had been intimidated into passivity over the past years have resumed their activities in the country. On April 20, the Defense Ministry said that the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation, a mainstream Tamil political party, which had been silenced since 1990 after continuous death threats from the LTTE, decided to actively restore functions as a democratic Tamil Front.
There are no prospects of peace emanating from anywhere. On April 12, Defense Secretary Rajapakse declared that Sri Lanka's cease-fire had "no meaning" and that it was only being left in place to satisfy the international community. Further, on May 31 Defense spokesperson and Minister Rambukwella stated that the Ceasefire Agreement, which now holds only on paper after breaking down on the ground last year, no longer reflected reality. Earlier, on February 12 President Mahinda Rajapakse, in an interview with the BBC, had said that the Government's peace pact with the LTTE was a mistake. "Today we realise we have made a mistake. Through the peace pact, we've demarcated areas called LTTE controlled areas, and they have taken over the rights of the people through this pact. In the LTTE controlled areas, no political parties can function, people cannot walk anywhere in freedom, and the children are being forced to join the armed forces of the LTTE. These rights should be given back to the people."
With the public opinion progressively hardening in favour of continued military operations, more bloodshed can be expected in Sri Lanka, already among the most violent places in South Asia.
Tigers get weapons from eight sources - expert
A terrorism expert recently listed eight sources of arms procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Peter Leitner, president of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center and professor at the National Center for Biodefense at George Mason University, said clandestine arms dealers in Tamil Nadu, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and Croatia supply explosives, weapons and other supplies to the group.
While most armaments are obtained by forged or adapted end-user certificates, the LTTE arms transport is the "largest quantity of armaments ever transported by a non-state armed group," Leitner pointed out.
The LTTE has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
Certain inconsistencies in U.S. counter-terrorism policy create sanctuaries where civilians are victimised, Leitner noted. "Terrorism should be called terrorism everywhere. If it is unacceptable when it is wielded against the United States it should be unacceptable wherever it is wielded."
He urged the West to put pressure on the LTTE to negotiate a settlement for their reintegration into a unitary Sri Lanka.
Peter Leitner, president of the Higgins Counterterrorism Research Center and professor at the National Center for Biodefense at George Mason University, said clandestine arms dealers in Tamil Nadu, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Cyprus, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and Croatia supply explosives, weapons and other supplies to the group.
While most armaments are obtained by forged or adapted end-user certificates, the LTTE arms transport is the "largest quantity of armaments ever transported by a non-state armed group," Leitner pointed out.
The LTTE has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
Certain inconsistencies in U.S. counter-terrorism policy create sanctuaries where civilians are victimised, Leitner noted. "Terrorism should be called terrorism everywhere. If it is unacceptable when it is wielded against the United States it should be unacceptable wherever it is wielded."
He urged the West to put pressure on the LTTE to negotiate a settlement for their reintegration into a unitary Sri Lanka.
LTTE abuse of Tamils and the Truth
Further disinformation by educated LTTE leaders
The attention of the Peace Secretariat was recently drawn to a statement by the LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna.
The writer, Ms N Selvy, and the Development Spokesperson to whom she had initially sent the statement, Mr V Bavan, are – especially the latter - amongst the brighter sparks in the LTTE. They were comparatively good students in the heady days of optimism, when Bradford University and the Social Scientists Association ran a Conflict Resolution Course up in Kilinochchi. If and when the present intransigent blight in the LTTE is lifted, such educated individuals will we hope be part of a cohesive Sri Lanka.
The present statement however shows a startling ignorance or perhaps ignoring of the need for consistency and evidence for pronouncements. It claims that the ‘Geneva II talks in October 2006, between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka, broke down because the Government of Sri Lanka refused to open the A9 route to allow Jaffna civilians land access to the rest of the island and the world. Prior to the permanent closure of this A9 route, it served as a life line to the people of Jaffna as well as Vanni. Seriously ill medical cases from Vanni were taken in ambulances to the Jaffna hospital. Every day ambulances plied seven to eight times a day, carrying around six patients in each trip. This is necessitated by the poor medical resources in Vanni. Even the Jaffna hospital resources are very poor in comparison to what is available in the south of island. Many very seriously ill patients were taken to Colombo for treatment through the A9 route.’
There are several problems with these assertions. Firstly, talks between the government and the LTTE have broken down on several occasions simply because the LTTE decided they would break down. Shakespeare’s rather unfair characterization of women – I have none other but a woman’s reason. I think him so because I think him so – would have been far more appropriate for the LTTE, even if Ms Selvy is the specific exponent of this school of non-thought in this instance. In short, the particular pretext advanced by the LTTE at any stage is not the reason for anything because, as we have often seen, the reason changes each time.
In 2003 the LTTE withdrew for the reasons given in Mr Balasingham’s long letter. In June 2006 they did not even start talking, for reasons which are not clear, except perhaps in the revelation of the Norwegian Ambassador that Mr Thamilselvam ‘had insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the parameters of the CFA’. The Norwegian Ambassador had very properly disagreed with this and pointed out that the CFA did mention abductions, and also that ‘continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level’. The LTTE may have finally understood this, when Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy spoke up boldly against their violation of national and international laws. Having run circles round the last UNICEF Head in Sri Lanka, they have finally said that ‘by the end of this year LTTE will announce that there are no more under-18 persons in the organization’.
Prevarications regarding child soldiers
Entertainingly, according to the LTTE, ‘The UNICEF Head said that his visit was an introductory meeting with the Political Head. Among the topics discussed were the work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland and the program of releasing under-18 persons in the LTTE….Pointing to the delay by UNICEF in completing its part in this program, Nadeson called on the UNICEF Head to ensure that UNICEF carry out its part in verifying the under-18 persons released by the LTTE and also in doing its part to reunite the released children with their families….UNICEF must be ready to do its part to complete its role in this program so that it too can remain in sync in its statement. The children being killed and injured by the aerial bombing and claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka were also discussed at the meeting.’
Such a release by the LTTE is understandable, though it is sad that the UN has not as yet seen fit to dissociate itself with the claim that there is ‘work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland’ or ‘claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka’. But perhaps the UN has even now realized how serious is the issue of child soldiers and, in welcoming the declaration that the excuses offered to the previous UNICEF head will now cease, perhaps it has forgotten all its other obligations.
LTTE resumption of large scale hostilities and destruction of the A 9 route
Anyway, by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack which was the gravest threat in years to the security of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
It is now forgotten that that attack, following hard on the massive attack on Muttur at the beginning of the month, represented the culmination of LTTE violations of the 2002 Ceasefire. And, while the 3000 odd violations before that could have been characterized as individual incursions, not part of a tactical plan (though undoubtedly part of a sustained strategy of attrition), the two attacks of August 2006 were designed to wrench control of the North and East from the government. Sadly, given the oafish antics of Gen Henricsson, diverted from intelligent analysis by his emotional response to restrictions on his movements in Muttur, the SLMM failed signally to monitor and report on the conceptual change represented by these LTTE attacks.
Perhaps because the attacks were repulsed so successfully, and the strategy fell into abeyance, the SLMM, the Norwegians and the rest of the international community have failed to register that that was the culmination of the subtle and not so subtle campaign of murder, abduction and intimidation (to say nothing of purchase and importation of heavy and lethal weaponry) that the LTTE had carried on sustainedly from the day the Ceasefire was signed.
In short, the actions of the Defence forces in August 2006 should have met with Churchillian gratitude, instead of the relentless attacks on them and the government that have ensured, by liars such as General Henricsson and Nicholas Howen of the International Commission of Jurists (who had the temerity to accuse the government of tampering with evidence). In the East, disregarding the continuing sniping, by the LTTE and by other votaries of falsehood, the forces have ensured that such sudden attacks can no longer occur. However, in the North, and in particular at Muhumalai, the LTTE has continued with planned attacks on Government forces, regularly causing death and injury. It is precisely for that reason that the government is unable to open the road there.
LTTE refusal in Geneva to discuss modalities of opening the A 9 or providing supplies and transport by sea
However, when the government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security will not be compromised by opening up this route, the LTTE remained intransigent. Its purpose after all was not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence its determination to prevent civilian shipping. As reported even in the ‘Leader’, LTTE threats forced the ICRC to stop its initial positive response to the government request ‘to facilitate the movement of goods and people from and to Jaffna by sea.’ And still the failure to provide the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship, which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services rapidly reduced the shortages and prices.
Meanwhile, assuming the LTTE wants to continue to keep the navy occupied in guarding the movement of civilians and supplies on the longer routes, Civil Society, led by the Bishops as well as genuinely concerned Tamil politicians such as Douglas Devananda, has requested the commencement of short haul services, from Mannar to the Jaffna islands. This would provide a much cheaper service for people wishing to travel from Jaffna, and for goods for sale. However, though the ICRC has now been twice requested to facilitate such a service, the required security guarantees have not been forthcoming.
The reasons for LTTE hostility to sea routes are suggested by Ms Selvy’s statement, in that generally when a particularly outrageous claim is made, it is because that sort of behaviour is characteristic of the complainant. She claims that ‘It is a well known truth that each time this "civilian passenger" ship plies to and from Jaffna and Trincomalee, invariably the Sri Lankan military personal traveling in the ship is many times more than the number of civilians in the ship. It is also well known to the Jaffna population the difficulties one must go through to first obtain a pass from the military to travel and then obtain a seat in the ship. Reports of the Sri Lanka military demanding every civilian wishing to get a seat in the ship to give the military a name of an LTTE supporter in Jaffna have surfaced many times.’
Unsurprisingly, these reports have surfaced nowhere except in Ms Selvy’s fertile mind, not even in those of the NGOs that joined together with LTTE NGOs to denigrate the Sri Lankan forces. And even if Ms Selvy believes her own fictions, the remedy is very easy, namely to allow the ICRC to resume supervision of such shipping.
But no, the point is that the sea route cannot be allowed to be successful, however much Tamils may want it, because what the LTTE seeks is fuel with which to set the Sri Lankan state on fire. Firstly, it hopes to rouse hostility against the government. Secondly, it wants the A 9 reopened so it could resume its practice of taxing those who use it, taking ruthless advantage of those who need to travel. Numerous studies, the most detailed perhaps being by the essentially Tamil think tank, the Point Pedro Research Institute, have made clear the enormity of Tiger taxation, which has been levied even on aid projects. Needless to say, the money raised by such taxes was used in the past to buy up and transport weaponry.
Humanitarian support provided by government to the people of Jaffna and the Vanni
Ms Selvy’s desperation to criticize is apparent too in the inconsistencies of her attack. She claims that people in the Vanni have no access to good medical treatment because the road from there to Jaffna is closed. This begs the question of the good medical facilities now available in the Vanni itself, services which the government continues to fund, while it recently ensured the development of the Kilinochchi hospital into one of the better equipped in the country. But it also ignores the fact that the government had throughout kept the route southward from the Vanni open.
Indeed the government wanted this open all week, and it was only because of the LTTE that for some time it was open only for three days. With regard to this too the government made several requests to the ICRC before the required security guarantees were obtained. A mark of LTTE duplicity is that it had insisted – and several British parliamentarians were foolish or cunning enough to believe this – that it was the government that wanted the road closed, and it even convinced the SLMM initially that it was because of an LTTE request that the road was opened for a longer period from a couple of months back.
The SLMM was however soon disabused, though SCOPP said it had no objection to the LTTE also being given credit for this. This failed however to win a similar concession regarding sea routes. Meanwhile the SLMM confirms regularly, since SCOPP as opposed to the LTTE is genuinely concerned about food supplies to the Vanni, that these are not a major problem.
So, despite Ms Selvy’s crocodile tears, those in the Vanni are able to get to the south for treatment if the recently modernized hospital in Kilinochchi cannot help them. Why they would therefore want to get to Jaffna should then be a conundrum to Ms Selvy, given how contemptuous she is of the situation and the services there. But the people of Jaffna disagree, as is clear from the use they make of the health services government provides, and obviously the people of the Vanni must agree, if the closure of the Muhumalai checkpoint is as great a blow as Ms Selvy suggests. But, just in case there are shortfalls, there is provision to move people by air or sea, to Colombo or Trincomalee, and the navy even provides transport on special requests if the regular ferry is not available. It should be noted that the ICRC also assists as necessary with regard to air transport, though as mentioned it cannot help as far as sea travel is concerned since it has not received the required guarantees.
But the hypocrisy continues. The LTTE and its agents still go on about starvation in Jaffna, despite the steady supplies government sends, despite the latest UN report claiming that even those in the Welfare Centres find basic needs both readily available and affordable. That report makes clear that government not only continues to provide education to almost all children in these centres, it has even supplied uniforms to the vast majority of them. Health and education are also freely supplied to the citizens in the Vanni, bitterly circumscribed as they are otherwise by the LTTE impositions, which even the United Nations has begun to talk about, in finally drawing the attention of international media to the habit of forced conscription.
Support of the military for civilians
Finally, Ms Selvy exceeds herself in her conclusion, which is that ‘Transporting military personnel using civilians, especially the ill, is also a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.’ She has evidently forgotten that it is the Sri Lankan government that now protects all transport (much of it, incidentally, owned by Tamil businessmen), since the ICRC has been in effect debarred, despite its initial helpful intervention in August soon after the LTTE assaults led to the closure of Muhumalai. Far from the government using civilians – unlike the LTTE, which launched its attack when a busload of apparent civilians turned their guns on the soldiers at the checkpoint – it provides services for civilians at the cost of several man hours of protection duty by our much malighed servicemen.
Indeed, it was pointed out that SCOPP could not expect the LTTE to allow the ICRC to look after civilian and food transport between Jaffna and Trincomalee / Colombo, because the poor ICRC might then be accused of freeing up navy personnel to perform their primary duty, that of fighting terrorism. However, at least on humanitarian grounds the LTTE could allow ICRC to run short haul transport, since that would be no advantage to the navy which is not doing that now.
But humanitarian grounds do not matter to the LTTE, not even to its spokesperson on humanitarian issues and human rights. By withdrawing poor Mr Thamilselvam from peace talks, and forcing him into military fatigues – including at the attack on Muhumalai – the LTTE exploded the myth of a political wing. By making the LTTE Peace Secretariat glorify suicide cadres on the eve of their (self)-destructive mission, the LTTE exploded the myth of an institution concerned with peace. And now, by making poor Ms Selvi issue self-contradictory statements regarding the closure of the road that resulted from its brutal assault last year and its categorical refusal at Geneva to discuss modalities of reopening it, the LTTE has exploded the myth of at least one person more concerned with humanitarian issues rather than militaristic propaganda.
But all this, we must hope, is simply due to the continuing intransigence of the leadership. Ms Selvy showed intelligence once, and awareness of at least some of the realities of the world outside. For her sake, and that of the suffering thousands still in the Vanni, we must hope that at least some elements in the leadership will ensure a sea change (in every sense) in the near future.
The attention of the Peace Secretariat was recently drawn to a statement by the LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna.
The writer, Ms N Selvy, and the Development Spokesperson to whom she had initially sent the statement, Mr V Bavan, are – especially the latter - amongst the brighter sparks in the LTTE. They were comparatively good students in the heady days of optimism, when Bradford University and the Social Scientists Association ran a Conflict Resolution Course up in Kilinochchi. If and when the present intransigent blight in the LTTE is lifted, such educated individuals will we hope be part of a cohesive Sri Lanka.
The present statement however shows a startling ignorance or perhaps ignoring of the need for consistency and evidence for pronouncements. It claims that the ‘Geneva II talks in October 2006, between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka, broke down because the Government of Sri Lanka refused to open the A9 route to allow Jaffna civilians land access to the rest of the island and the world. Prior to the permanent closure of this A9 route, it served as a life line to the people of Jaffna as well as Vanni. Seriously ill medical cases from Vanni were taken in ambulances to the Jaffna hospital. Every day ambulances plied seven to eight times a day, carrying around six patients in each trip. This is necessitated by the poor medical resources in Vanni. Even the Jaffna hospital resources are very poor in comparison to what is available in the south of island. Many very seriously ill patients were taken to Colombo for treatment through the A9 route.’
There are several problems with these assertions. Firstly, talks between the government and the LTTE have broken down on several occasions simply because the LTTE decided they would break down. Shakespeare’s rather unfair characterization of women – I have none other but a woman’s reason. I think him so because I think him so – would have been far more appropriate for the LTTE, even if Ms Selvy is the specific exponent of this school of non-thought in this instance. In short, the particular pretext advanced by the LTTE at any stage is not the reason for anything because, as we have often seen, the reason changes each time.
In 2003 the LTTE withdrew for the reasons given in Mr Balasingham’s long letter. In June 2006 they did not even start talking, for reasons which are not clear, except perhaps in the revelation of the Norwegian Ambassador that Mr Thamilselvam ‘had insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the parameters of the CFA’. The Norwegian Ambassador had very properly disagreed with this and pointed out that the CFA did mention abductions, and also that ‘continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level’. The LTTE may have finally understood this, when Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy spoke up boldly against their violation of national and international laws. Having run circles round the last UNICEF Head in Sri Lanka, they have finally said that ‘by the end of this year LTTE will announce that there are no more under-18 persons in the organization’.
Prevarications regarding child soldiers
Entertainingly, according to the LTTE, ‘The UNICEF Head said that his visit was an introductory meeting with the Political Head. Among the topics discussed were the work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland and the program of releasing under-18 persons in the LTTE….Pointing to the delay by UNICEF in completing its part in this program, Nadeson called on the UNICEF Head to ensure that UNICEF carry out its part in verifying the under-18 persons released by the LTTE and also in doing its part to reunite the released children with their families….UNICEF must be ready to do its part to complete its role in this program so that it too can remain in sync in its statement. The children being killed and injured by the aerial bombing and claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka were also discussed at the meeting.’
Such a release by the LTTE is understandable, though it is sad that the UN has not as yet seen fit to dissociate itself with the claim that there is ‘work of United Nations in general in the Tamil homeland’ or ‘claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka’. But perhaps the UN has even now realized how serious is the issue of child soldiers and, in welcoming the declaration that the excuses offered to the previous UNICEF head will now cease, perhaps it has forgotten all its other obligations.
LTTE resumption of large scale hostilities and destruction of the A 9 route
Anyway, by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack which was the gravest threat in years to the security of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
It is now forgotten that that attack, following hard on the massive attack on Muttur at the beginning of the month, represented the culmination of LTTE violations of the 2002 Ceasefire. And, while the 3000 odd violations before that could have been characterized as individual incursions, not part of a tactical plan (though undoubtedly part of a sustained strategy of attrition), the two attacks of August 2006 were designed to wrench control of the North and East from the government. Sadly, given the oafish antics of Gen Henricsson, diverted from intelligent analysis by his emotional response to restrictions on his movements in Muttur, the SLMM failed signally to monitor and report on the conceptual change represented by these LTTE attacks.
Perhaps because the attacks were repulsed so successfully, and the strategy fell into abeyance, the SLMM, the Norwegians and the rest of the international community have failed to register that that was the culmination of the subtle and not so subtle campaign of murder, abduction and intimidation (to say nothing of purchase and importation of heavy and lethal weaponry) that the LTTE had carried on sustainedly from the day the Ceasefire was signed.
In short, the actions of the Defence forces in August 2006 should have met with Churchillian gratitude, instead of the relentless attacks on them and the government that have ensured, by liars such as General Henricsson and Nicholas Howen of the International Commission of Jurists (who had the temerity to accuse the government of tampering with evidence). In the East, disregarding the continuing sniping, by the LTTE and by other votaries of falsehood, the forces have ensured that such sudden attacks can no longer occur. However, in the North, and in particular at Muhumalai, the LTTE has continued with planned attacks on Government forces, regularly causing death and injury. It is precisely for that reason that the government is unable to open the road there.
LTTE refusal in Geneva to discuss modalities of opening the A 9 or providing supplies and transport by sea
However, when the government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security will not be compromised by opening up this route, the LTTE remained intransigent. Its purpose after all was not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence its determination to prevent civilian shipping. As reported even in the ‘Leader’, LTTE threats forced the ICRC to stop its initial positive response to the government request ‘to facilitate the movement of goods and people from and to Jaffna by sea.’ And still the failure to provide the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship, which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services rapidly reduced the shortages and prices.
Meanwhile, assuming the LTTE wants to continue to keep the navy occupied in guarding the movement of civilians and supplies on the longer routes, Civil Society, led by the Bishops as well as genuinely concerned Tamil politicians such as Douglas Devananda, has requested the commencement of short haul services, from Mannar to the Jaffna islands. This would provide a much cheaper service for people wishing to travel from Jaffna, and for goods for sale. However, though the ICRC has now been twice requested to facilitate such a service, the required security guarantees have not been forthcoming.
The reasons for LTTE hostility to sea routes are suggested by Ms Selvy’s statement, in that generally when a particularly outrageous claim is made, it is because that sort of behaviour is characteristic of the complainant. She claims that ‘It is a well known truth that each time this "civilian passenger" ship plies to and from Jaffna and Trincomalee, invariably the Sri Lankan military personal traveling in the ship is many times more than the number of civilians in the ship. It is also well known to the Jaffna population the difficulties one must go through to first obtain a pass from the military to travel and then obtain a seat in the ship. Reports of the Sri Lanka military demanding every civilian wishing to get a seat in the ship to give the military a name of an LTTE supporter in Jaffna have surfaced many times.’
Unsurprisingly, these reports have surfaced nowhere except in Ms Selvy’s fertile mind, not even in those of the NGOs that joined together with LTTE NGOs to denigrate the Sri Lankan forces. And even if Ms Selvy believes her own fictions, the remedy is very easy, namely to allow the ICRC to resume supervision of such shipping.
But no, the point is that the sea route cannot be allowed to be successful, however much Tamils may want it, because what the LTTE seeks is fuel with which to set the Sri Lankan state on fire. Firstly, it hopes to rouse hostility against the government. Secondly, it wants the A 9 reopened so it could resume its practice of taxing those who use it, taking ruthless advantage of those who need to travel. Numerous studies, the most detailed perhaps being by the essentially Tamil think tank, the Point Pedro Research Institute, have made clear the enormity of Tiger taxation, which has been levied even on aid projects. Needless to say, the money raised by such taxes was used in the past to buy up and transport weaponry.
Humanitarian support provided by government to the people of Jaffna and the Vanni
Ms Selvy’s desperation to criticize is apparent too in the inconsistencies of her attack. She claims that people in the Vanni have no access to good medical treatment because the road from there to Jaffna is closed. This begs the question of the good medical facilities now available in the Vanni itself, services which the government continues to fund, while it recently ensured the development of the Kilinochchi hospital into one of the better equipped in the country. But it also ignores the fact that the government had throughout kept the route southward from the Vanni open.
Indeed the government wanted this open all week, and it was only because of the LTTE that for some time it was open only for three days. With regard to this too the government made several requests to the ICRC before the required security guarantees were obtained. A mark of LTTE duplicity is that it had insisted – and several British parliamentarians were foolish or cunning enough to believe this – that it was the government that wanted the road closed, and it even convinced the SLMM initially that it was because of an LTTE request that the road was opened for a longer period from a couple of months back.
The SLMM was however soon disabused, though SCOPP said it had no objection to the LTTE also being given credit for this. This failed however to win a similar concession regarding sea routes. Meanwhile the SLMM confirms regularly, since SCOPP as opposed to the LTTE is genuinely concerned about food supplies to the Vanni, that these are not a major problem.
So, despite Ms Selvy’s crocodile tears, those in the Vanni are able to get to the south for treatment if the recently modernized hospital in Kilinochchi cannot help them. Why they would therefore want to get to Jaffna should then be a conundrum to Ms Selvy, given how contemptuous she is of the situation and the services there. But the people of Jaffna disagree, as is clear from the use they make of the health services government provides, and obviously the people of the Vanni must agree, if the closure of the Muhumalai checkpoint is as great a blow as Ms Selvy suggests. But, just in case there are shortfalls, there is provision to move people by air or sea, to Colombo or Trincomalee, and the navy even provides transport on special requests if the regular ferry is not available. It should be noted that the ICRC also assists as necessary with regard to air transport, though as mentioned it cannot help as far as sea travel is concerned since it has not received the required guarantees.
But the hypocrisy continues. The LTTE and its agents still go on about starvation in Jaffna, despite the steady supplies government sends, despite the latest UN report claiming that even those in the Welfare Centres find basic needs both readily available and affordable. That report makes clear that government not only continues to provide education to almost all children in these centres, it has even supplied uniforms to the vast majority of them. Health and education are also freely supplied to the citizens in the Vanni, bitterly circumscribed as they are otherwise by the LTTE impositions, which even the United Nations has begun to talk about, in finally drawing the attention of international media to the habit of forced conscription.
Support of the military for civilians
Finally, Ms Selvy exceeds herself in her conclusion, which is that ‘Transporting military personnel using civilians, especially the ill, is also a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.’ She has evidently forgotten that it is the Sri Lankan government that now protects all transport (much of it, incidentally, owned by Tamil businessmen), since the ICRC has been in effect debarred, despite its initial helpful intervention in August soon after the LTTE assaults led to the closure of Muhumalai. Far from the government using civilians – unlike the LTTE, which launched its attack when a busload of apparent civilians turned their guns on the soldiers at the checkpoint – it provides services for civilians at the cost of several man hours of protection duty by our much malighed servicemen.
Indeed, it was pointed out that SCOPP could not expect the LTTE to allow the ICRC to look after civilian and food transport between Jaffna and Trincomalee / Colombo, because the poor ICRC might then be accused of freeing up navy personnel to perform their primary duty, that of fighting terrorism. However, at least on humanitarian grounds the LTTE could allow ICRC to run short haul transport, since that would be no advantage to the navy which is not doing that now.
But humanitarian grounds do not matter to the LTTE, not even to its spokesperson on humanitarian issues and human rights. By withdrawing poor Mr Thamilselvam from peace talks, and forcing him into military fatigues – including at the attack on Muhumalai – the LTTE exploded the myth of a political wing. By making the LTTE Peace Secretariat glorify suicide cadres on the eve of their (self)-destructive mission, the LTTE exploded the myth of an institution concerned with peace. And now, by making poor Ms Selvi issue self-contradictory statements regarding the closure of the road that resulted from its brutal assault last year and its categorical refusal at Geneva to discuss modalities of reopening it, the LTTE has exploded the myth of at least one person more concerned with humanitarian issues rather than militaristic propaganda.
But all this, we must hope, is simply due to the continuing intransigence of the leadership. Ms Selvy showed intelligence once, and awareness of at least some of the realities of the world outside. For her sake, and that of the suffering thousands still in the Vanni, we must hope that at least some elements in the leadership will ensure a sea change (in every sense) in the near future.
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