Profile of a shadow war veteran -(TamilNet Version)

The veteran intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nizam Muthaliff, was a central figure in the atrocity-punctuated paramilitary aspects of the counter-insurgency campaign against the LTTE in the early nineties then had a critical role in the deep penetration attacks on LTTE commanders and officials, the Tamil Guardian reported Wednesday.

Extracts of the feature article published in the English language broadsheet’s latest edition follow:

Posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Nizam Muthaliff, who was shot dead in Colombo on Tuesday, is described as a key member of the Sri Lankan military intelligence’s (MI) covert operations against the Liberation Tigers.

Rising through the MI ranks, Lt. Col. Muthaliff was first a central figure in the atrocity-punctuated paramilitary aspects of the counter-insurgency campaign against the LTTE in the early nineties and then had a critical role in the deep penetration attacks on LTTE commanders and officials, press reports said Wednesday.

The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday acknowledged Lt. Col. Muthaliff as commander of 1st Battalion, Sri Lanka Army Military Intelligence Corps and hailed his service. Three hundred SLA soldiers escorted his casket to Dehiwela Muslim burial grounds where his funeral was held with full military honours.

“His selfless dedication for defence of his motherland until last moment of his life would no doubt go in the history [sic] as a true Son of the Soil who safeguarded territorial integrity of the country,” an SLA statement said.

Born in Trincomalee, Muthaliff began his military career as an officer in the infantry in 1986. He served four years in the Gemunu Watch regiment before being later assigned to the intelligence unit “due to special skills shown by him in that field,” the Daily Mirror reported.

According to Sri Lankan press reports, Muthaliff was promoted to Lieutenant in 1989, to Captain in June 1992 and to Major in June 1995. He was posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

During his career, Muthaliff received special training in intelligence gathering and special operations at military academies and training centres in several countries including the United States, Pakistan, and Malaysia, the Daily Mirror said.

Much of Muthaliff’s early intelligence career was in organising and supervising Tamil paramilitary group’s activities in Sri Lanka’s counterinsurgency campaign against the LTTE.

Condemning the human rights abuses that punctuated the Army’s paramilitary-led campaign, Amnesty International protested that “such operations have often lead to human rights violations, including illegal arrest, prolonged detention and torture, "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions.”

Muthaliff was a central figure in the campaign. He was posted in Vavuniya in the early nineties, during a phase of the conflict which came to be dubbed ‘Eelam War 2.’ The SLA garrison town became a hub for the activities of the paramilitary groups PLOTE, EPRLF and TELO.

Hundreds of people disappeared after being taken into custody by the paramilitaries, who, according to Amnesty International, operated dozens of camps in the town and its environs.

In particular, Muthaliff’s Subversive Unit (CSU) was implicated in the disappearances of large numbers of detainees in Cheddikulam.

The SLA told Amnesty that the paramilitary groups were helping the military in "identifying LTTE infiltrators" and "keeping the security forces informed" and that they did not come under its control.

But many people were handed over to the paramilitaries after being arrested by Sri Lankan security forces personnel.

In a related development, the practice of midnight abduction and murder or disappearance by the ‘white van’ death squads spread rapidly, despite repeated protests by local and international human rights groups calling for official supervision and control of paramilitaries’ activities.

Muthaliff gained notoriety in the “information extraction” process administered by the paramilitaries. He worked closely with the PLOTE’s military commander, Manickathasan, under whom that group became infamous for its brutality (Manickathasan was killed, along with several others, in 1999 in a explosion which destroyed the PLOTE headquarters in Vavuniya – the incongruously named ‘Lucky House’).

Muthaliff was also closely associated with another feared paramilitary leader, ‘PLOTE Mohan,’ who was shot dead at a safe house in Colombo last year.

Subsequently Muthaliff became an important member part of a new MI strategy: the targeted killings of LTTE leaders and supporters.

As such, he played a key role in deep penetration attacks for which a dedicated unit – the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) – was raised. Specially trained commandos of the regular Army were joined with Tamil paramilitary pathfinders and informants to stage ambushes and attacks in LTTE controlled areas.

LRRP units are credited with important successes in the SLA Operations Jayasikurui, Vanni Wickrema, Ranagosa and Watershed.

Under Muthaliff’s leadership, the LRRP killed one of the LTTE’s top officers, Colonel Shankar (on September 6, 2001) and a senior Sea Tiger commander Lt. Col. Kangai Amaran (on June 29, 2001).

On May 16, 2001, the LTTE’s Political Wing leader, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan narrowly escaped a claymore mine attack on his convoy whilst on his way to a meeting with Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim.

Amongst other senior officials to narrowly escape being killed were Mr. S. Karikalan, the LTTE’s then political wing leader for Batticaloa and later, Colonel Karuna, the LTTE’s top commander for Batticaloa-Amparai, whose defection to the SLA in 2004 following his failed rebellion against the LTTE ironically resulted in Muthaliff ending up working with him against his former comrades.

The SLA’s deep penetration conducted numerous operations into LTTE-controlled territory. A number of civilians who stumbled upon LRRP units were also murdered.

Some analysts link Muthaliff’s hostility to the UNF government, doubtless reflecting sentiments within the wider deep penetration operations community, to the exposure of the LRRP’s headquarters in Millennium City, Athurugiriya in January 2002.

That raid was subsequent to police investigations into allegations in late 2001 that hardline elements of the Sri Lanka military were planning to assassinate the pro-peace UNF’s leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, during his election campaign.

The exposure of the Athurugiriya safe house, from which weapons, claymore mines and LTTE uniforms were recovered by Police officers, triggered a political furore which endured, particularly after a number of the Tamil informants and pathfinders linked to the LRRP were subsequently killed by suspected LTTE attackers.

Muthaliff was deputy commander of the LRRP, which is led by Captain Shahul Hameed Nilam.

Political analysts see Muthaliff’s killing as the latest incident in the ongoing shadow war between Army-backed paramilitaries and the LTTE, a cycle of violence which escalated after April 2004, when loyalists of the renegade LTTE commander Karuna bolstered the ranks of the paramilitary units.

However, the successful counterattacks blamed in the same period on the LTTE suggests the influx of new members has also enabled the LTTE’s infiltration of the Sri Lankan military’s paramilitary network, they say.

(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=15063)

Another spy killed in Lanka By P KARUNAKHARAN

In the ongoing killings spree in Sri Lanka, yet another Tamil military informant has been shot dead allegedly by the hit squad of the Tamil Tiger rebels in a predawn attack on his house in the outskirts of Colombo city on Saturday.

According to top-ranking military sources, four suspected pistol squad members of the LTTE have stormed the house of the victim, Thissaiweerasingham Danushkumar (31) alias Suresh at Pipiliyana, in Borrelasgamuwa located in the outskirts of Colombo about 4.30 in the morning and shot him dead at a point blank range.

"The perpetrators have forcibly entered the victim's house and shot him dead. They have also exploded a hand grenade before fleeing the scene. His wife, who was there at the time of the incident, has escaped unhurt," Military Spokesman, Col. Sumedha Perera said, adding that Suresh has been a useful army informant for "quite some period".

Although the other sources said that the victim was one time a member of the military's Deep Penetration Unit (DPU), it could not be confirmed.

(DH NEWS SERVICE)

Tit-for-tat killings take their toll by Jaympathy Jayasinghe

by Jaympathy Jayasinghe

The secret war being waged across the country between the LTTE and the Karuna faction seems to be hotting up in Colombo and in the North -East provinces with tit -for tat killings during the past few weeks.

The recent incident happened at Chenkalady on Thursday around 10.15 a.m when several E.P.D.P cadres accompanied by the army and police officers were fired upon when they visited a fair at Chenkalady.

Several persons including the EPDP member, one Ravi, an army Corporal, a policeman were injured while a civilian had died in the attack. Police said the injured were rushed to Batticaloa hospital.

The Corporal is said to be in a serious condition. The DIG Eastern Province, Nevil Wijesinghe has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

What is alarming about the current situation is that despite the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) individual killings have continued up to this date. But of course, a major war has been averted after the CFA was signed in 2002. But several intelligence officers of the army and the police, suspected of prying into activities of the LTTE have been brutally assassinated during the past.

Meanwhile several individual killings have been reported within the Colombo city during the past few weeks. Many individuals belonging to rival factions have been murdered. The killings have continued up to this date with several splinter para-military organisations operating freely targeting members of rival factions.

Last week the killing of a LTTE cadre named Vellithan ShashiKumar was reported from Valachchenai. He was shot dead at Weerapandi in Modu village. The victim was suspected to to the head of the LTTE monetary section. According to police, the assailants travelling on a motor cycle had shot him on his head with a T-56 automatic rifle.

The victim was shot after he returned from Vakkarai. Police have arrested two suspects from the Karuna faction believed to be involved in the killing.

Meanwhile another killing was reported from Valachchenai where one K. Pakkaya Rasa, believed to be a member of the Karuna faction was abducted from his home at Alakulam presumably by LTTE cadres and shot on his head with a T-56 rifle last week.

His body was found at the Valachchenai junction with his hands tied behind his body. OIC Valachchenai is investigating the killing.

Several terrorist killings have been reported from Colombo during the past few weeks despite tight security measures.

Last week Sub Inspector Samaranayake while on a police mobile patrol found a body of a man lying on the road at Nelson place Wellawatte. The man had been shot dead by an unidentified gunman. Police found a national identity card bearing the name Indra Kumar, a native from Punagar village.

A copy of the Thinnamurusu newspaper was also found lying about 100 feet away from the spot where the body was lying.

So far no one has been arrested in connection with the killing. OIC Crimes Wellawatte is investigating the killing.

Another killing was reported last week where two suspected LTTE cadres were shot dead by unidentified persons around 5.45 a.m. near the Badra Kovil at Kotahena. Initial investigations revealed that the two LTTE cadres are natives of Gurunagar Jaffna.

The victims have had in their possession two National Identity Cards, two cellular mobile phones and cash Rs 5000. Five empty pistol bullets were found at the murder scene. OIC Kotahena Police, Inspector Appuhamy said that no one has been arrested so far.

(http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/06/12/sec04.html)

Soldier, EPDP member killed

One soldier and an EPDP activist were killed yesterday in a claymore mine explosion allegedly carried out by the LTTE in front of an EPDP Office in Vavuniya.

"An improved version of a claymore mine has been detonated by a remote control device from a distance killing a soldier and a EPDP activist," an Army officer told the Sunday Observer.

One soldier and five EPDP activists were wounded in the incident and were admitted to the Vavuniya Hospital. They were later transferred to the Anuradhapura Hospital.

The officer said the LTTE could be behind the attack, however adding that no arrests had been made.

The attacked EPDP office is located at Kurumankadu, 1 1/2 km from the Vavuniya town on the Mannar road, is one of several political offices run by the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in Vavuniya.

(RJ)

(http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/06/12/sec05.html)

India provides air defence by Ananth Palakidnar

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said that Sri Lanka was looking forward to accept the Air Defence System provided by India to safeguard the aerial territory of Sri Lanka. He also noted with his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh that exchange of visits by senior defence and security officials had contributed to enhance cooperation between the two countries.

Kadirgamar was speaking at the press briefing held at the Foreign Ministry soon after the conclusion of the 6th session of the Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Commission.

Responding to the comments made by Kadirgamar, Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh expressed satisfaction over the defence and security cooperation between India and Sri Lanka and announced that as part of the cooperation the first batch of around 450 Sri Lankan Police personnel will be trained in India.

According to the joint statement issued by the Indian and the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministers the next meeting of experts on the Sethusamudram Canal project in the Palk Strait area will be held at an early date preferably in July. The meeting will focus on environmental concerns with a view to reaching a common understanding for addressing them.

The two sides also agreed to explore avenues for closer economic cooperation between the two countries on either side of the Palk Strait. The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar expressed his appreciation to the Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and his delegation for the Cooperation extended in reaching a successful conclusion of the Joint Commission and for undertaking a visit to Sri Lanka.

It was also agreed that the 7th session of the Sri Lanka-India Joint Commission should be held in India, on a date convenient to both sides.

(http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/06/12/sec03.html)

Military Intelligence operatives falling prey to LTTE by Ranga Jayasuriya

The brazen killing of Major Tuwan Nizam Muthaliff, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Military Intelligence Corps, gunned down by the LTTE gunmen on a busy highway at Polhengoda is a pointer to the precarious situation the military intelligence officers have been exposed to since the Ceasefire Agreement.The military intelligence was well aware of the danger posed at the life of the Major Muthaliff, posthumously promoted to Lt. Colonel, that it beefed up his security and provided a contingent of escorts.

However, his entire contingent was on leave when he was killed by the two LTTE gunmen. This is however not an appreciation on Muthaliff, but an assessment on the sorry situation.

Highest ranking military officer

Major Muthaliff is the highest ranking military officer to be killed since the Ceasefire, but, before his murder, 36 military intelligence operatives had fell prey to the LTTE gunmen. (With the murder of Muthaliff, 37 military intelligence operatives, including 10 army intelligence operatives had been killed by the LTTE).

Apart from that 32 civilian military informants had been killed, plus 38 activists of non-LTTE Tamil parties which includes the EPDP, EPRLF (Varathan Group), PLOTE and TELO.

According to the Army statistics, 398 civilians have been killed since the signing of the Ceasefire till last Wednesday (June 1).

The statistics alone show the LTTE's rampant violations of the ceasefire.

The Ceasefire Agreement is itself flawed, which is understandable given political underpinnings and expectations of time it was signed.

The Norwegians who formulated the CFA wanted a win-win settlement and the Wickremesinghe Administration which had already taken up by the achievements of the two months of the unilateral ceasefire declared was not interested in possible repercussions on the national security if the Tigers' sincerity to the peace process proved bogus.

Of course, since its implementation, the Ceasefire Agreement produced tangible results, but the loopholes in the CFA, which left uncovered due to the rush to sign the agreement are to bring serious repercussions on the nation.

What the public witnessed on the sunny Tuesday morning at the Polhengoda colour lights was another phase of this ever unfolding drama.

Lance Cpl Clary, gunned down in Chenkalady, Batticaloa on 9, Feb. 2002 was the first military intelligence operative, who fell victims to the LTTE gunmen during the ceasefire. (That was before the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement on Feb. 22, 2002. But by the time, a unilateral ceasefire announced by the both sides since the election win of the Wickremesinghe Administration was on hold)

Since then, many more fell prey to the LTTE pistol gang, while a Government, over optimistic of the prospects of peace was ignoring the unfolding catastrophe.

The millennium city scandal where the then government deliberately tried to cover up its mishandling of an operation which exposed the vital information of a hitherto unknown Long Range Reconnaissance Mission and the identity of its operatives further aggravated the situation.

Inadequate counter measures

This and the lethargy of the successive governments to authorise the Security Forces to take effective counter measures against LTTE pistol gang members infiltrating the town saw the star military intelligence operatives leaving the country seeking refugee abroad.

Captain Nilam and his team, arrested by SP Kulasiri Udugampola, Inspector Nilabdeen, who head a number of successful operations which aborted a number of suicide operations and most para military operatives who worked with the Security Forces- were forced to leave the country, having seen the failure of the successive governments to provide them with protection.

To add insult to injury, some Ministers of the Wickremesinghe administration, notably Rajitha Senaratne went on to dispute the achievements of the deep penetration unit.

Mr. Senaratne may not have been aware, but even the LTTE admitted the leader of the LTTE's newly formed air wing, Shankar was killed by the operatives of deep penetration unit in a claymore mine explosion in Pallai.

Worst affected

The activists of non-LTTE Tamil political parties were the worst affected by the loopholes of the Ceasefire Agreement, which disarmed them under article 1.8 of the agreement, a move which had fatal consequences, paid by over hundred lives of political activists of the EPDP, EPRLF (Varathan group) and PLOTE.

The idea of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's presence in the country was that their presence would be an impetus for the two parties' adherence to the Ceasefire Agreement.

But, LTTE's rampant violations of the CFA and the subsequent clashes after the split of renegade Eastern Commander has now made the truce monitors mere onlookers, unable to control the increasing number of violations.

The argument of the truce monitors, which had always been raised by its successive heads of the mission, including present SLMM chief Hagruph Haukland is that the SLMM was not a "police force" and that the success of the Ceasefire Agreement is depended on the sincerity of the two parties.

"Not the rifle, dialogue is our weapon," one time SLMM chief Trygve Telefssen told this writer. But, the recent history since the signing of the Ceasefire has ample evidence that the Tigers have repeatedly violated their promises given in such deliberations, pointing to lame excuses.

The SLMM has so far failed to hold the LTTE responsible for any of the killings of the military intelligence operatives, while the nature of the assassinations have the hallmarks of the Tigers.

Understandably, Norway's dual responsibility - which conflicts with each other - as the peace facilitator and the dominant party in the SLMM is one reason for the failure of the SLMM to talk tough against the LTTE violations of the truce agreement.

Norway being the facilitator needs to build a rapport with the Tiger leadership.

At the same time, the Head of the Monitoring Mission, the holder of the post should be a Norwegian, according to the CFA, is supposed to make important rulings on the ceasefire violations, which conflicts with the Norway's interests as a peace facilitator.

The plight of the SLMM is understandable. But the SLMM's failure itself ridicules its presence in the country. Major Muthaliff, apart from being a good soldier, was an emblem of the multi-racial country Sri Lanka. Born to Muslim parents, he was educated at D. S. Senanayake College, joined the Army in 1986 as an officer cadet, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, married a Sinhala, Major Kumuduni Amarasinghe and later led a group of undercover operatives comprising all ethnic communities.

Sri Lanka has the tradition of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Unless the authorities fail to sanction effective measures to counter the freely roaming LTTE gunmen in the town, many more security forces personnel will have to face the tragic end of Muthaliff.

(http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2005/06/12/securitylead.html)

Tigers crack Mike mystery after Safe House blunder By Iqbal Athas

From June to December 2001, the six month period ahead of the last Parliamentary General Elections, was most hectic for men from the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs).

The men from the Army's Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), operating in Batticaloa and Amparai, had attacked several targets within Tiger guerrilla dominated areas in the two districts. As one leader after another fell victim, fear had gripped the guerrilla leadership.

It rose to fever pitch levels after Karikalan, the Political Wing leader for Batticaloa, escaped an LRRP attack on October 18, 2001. So much so, the "Military Commander" for the East, "Colonel" Karuna and his senior colleagues did not attend that year's "Maveerar" (Great Heroes) Week ceremonies in the Batticaloa district in November. This most observed event in guerrilla dominated areas marks religious observances in memory of guerrilla cadres who died in the separatist war with Security Forces. It culminates with the annual address (on November 27) by Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

There was one man who was responsible for all the panic. His name was a closely guarded secret. Only the head of the LRRP team, Captain S.H. Mohamed Nilam dealt with him. He knew the man only as Mike. It was Mike who in turn liaised with a network of operatives as well as informants, including one time guerrilla cadres, in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts. He liaised with the LRRP team. Together they had set off the worst fear psychosis and panic.

Soon after the General Elections, on January 2, 2002, a Police team led by then SP (Special Operations) in the Kandy district, Kulasiri Udugampola, conducted a raid on the DMI's Safe House in the Millennium City in Athurugiriya. It was made out be a hide out from which the country's military leaders planned to assassinate leaders of the United National Party (UNP) that won the elections and formed a United National Front (UNF) Government.

There was a massive media blitz over the matter. There was a public outcry that some top men in men in uniform, under the guise of fighting the Tiger guerrillas, were in fact plotting to eliminate UNP leaders. This was after the military hardware discovered at the Safe House was displayed to the media from the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station. Captain Nilam and his men, the LRRP team, were transported under Police guard and placed in remand cells of the Kandy Police together with common criminal suspects.

They had been arrested as terrorist suspects. Detention Orders against them had been obtained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the tough laws promulgated to deal with Tiger guerrillas. The men were incarcerated as their investigators readied to put them on trial for plotting to murder political leaders.

But revelations in The Sunday Times (Situation Report - January 6, 2002) put paid to all their efforts. Headlined "How a 'top State secret' became public," the report said "….a more shocking blow came when Police conducted a raid last Wednesday night on a Safe House at Athurugiriya, operated by the Directorate of Military Intelligence, to conduct counter terrorist operations. Assisting in the raid were men from the Army's Military Police…"

The report added: "That the Army leadership pre-occupied with their own problems, was unable to prevent a serious breach of national security when this happened, could not avoid a dangerous situation developing and allowed the LTTE to get to know state secrets, to say the least, is most damning.

"The greatest irony of all this is the fact that an officer and five men are now detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and are being interrogated by a Police team led by SP Kulasiri Udugampola. Until last night, they are all being held at a secret location in Kandy. All of them are in one room and have to tolerate the ignominy of a stinking toilet whilst they answer questions from their interrogators.

"These very men were at the forefront of the fight against terrorism. The Sunday Times has learnt since the Police raid, their arrest and the resultant publicity, the LTTE has come to know details of some matters that have remained a top secret for security reasons….."

One man who was closely watching these developments in the guerrilla dominated Wanni was LTTE's intelligence boss, Pottu Amman. The man who plotted the assassination of late Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, ordered his intelligence cadres to crack down on operatives and informants helping the DMI. That included not only those who were suspected to be in contact with the Army, but all those civilians in the "border" areas who had continued to help carry out attacks. Later on, Pottu Amman travelled to Batticaloa to personally over see the "elimination" of all those who were "collaborating" with the Army.

On January 16, 2002 guerrilla intelligence cadres launched a secret operation in the Batticaloa town. They abducted V. Vidyarathan. He was taken to a hideout in the guerrilla dominated Kokkadicholai area. He was subjected to torture and intense interrogation for four days. The man cracked under heavy pressure and pain. He confessed he was Mike and had been helping Captain Nilam and his LRRP team. He was shot dead on January 20.

It saw the beginning of a campaign of arrest, interrogate and kill. On February 10, Lance Corporal "Clarry" was abducted in a secret operation in Chenkalady in Batticaloa. Soon, details of how agent Mike worked with Captain Nilam began to unfold. LTTE Intelligence cadres and pistol gangs fanned out from Batticaloa to mount surveillance on the names of the operatives and informants that had emerged. Similar exercises were also carried out in Batticaloa and Amparai districts.

A stepped up campaign to unfurl the network of DMI operatives helping in LRRP operations had been launched. The Sunday Times today reveals (see box story) the names of civilian informants and operatives directly connected to the Safe House activity who were killed after its existence came to be known. Besides them, guerrillas also came down hard on other suspected informants of Police and other services during the crackdown.

By July, 2002, Tiger guerrillas had obtained a fuller picture of the LRRP operations and how they were conducted with the help of Mike. On July 3, 2002 guerrilla cadres abducted Lance Corporal Saundrarajan, a key operative who had taken part in an abortive attack on "Jim Kelly," an LTTE cadre. He had also taken part in the attack on guerrilla area leader Babu on September 17, 2001 and the abortive attempt on Karikalan. He had also later taken part in the ambush and attack on two other guerrillas, Swarnaseelan and Devadas on November 26, 2001.

By December, 2002, guerrilla intelligence cadres had tracked down some of those assisting the LRRP and were moved from the East to Colombo. On December 11, 2002, the first informant, Ganesha Moorthy alias Thilakaraj was shot dead by a pistol group. This was followed by the murder on January 3, 2003, of Lance Corporal Pulendrarasa. He was an operative who had worked closely with Mike. Another close associate of Mike, Kadirgamathamby Ragupathi alias Ragu was shot dead on March 18, 2003.

Neither the Security Forces nor the Police were able to launch any cordon and search operations to track down the Tiger guerrilla intelligence operatives or the pistol gangs. They had not only infiltrated the City but were operating with impunity. The UNF Government did not to want to order any crackdown on their activity for fear that the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE would be affected.

The guerrillas continued their witch hunt. On April 2, 2003, Sinnathambi Ranjan alias Varadan, who worked closely with Mike was shot dead. On April 26 of the same year, Lance Corporal Devarasa, an operative who took part in LRRP operations and worked closely with Mike was shot dead. He had left a military camp where he was living for reasons of security to visit his family in Dehiwala when the incident occurred.

In the wake of these killings, requests made by state intelligence agencies to senior officials in the then Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior to launch a comprehensive "search and clear" operation in the City were not heeded. This was after intelligence reports that guerrillas had increased their Safe Houses and smuggled in more military hardware into them.

A guerrilla pistol gang, who had conducted surveillance and kept following Lance Corporal Paramanthan Ravindrakumar trapped him at a City intersection. They poured six bullets into his body on July 15, 2003, wounding him seriously. He survived after surgery and was moved to a safe location thereafter.

It is in the backdrop of all these developments that the controversy of the Army Safe House in the Millennium City at Athurugiriya had continued for more than two years. At first UNF politicians denied the existence of such a Safe House. They insisted that the revelations of activities at the Safe House did not lead to any killing of operatives or informants - a claim which is proved wrong as details on this page today show.

Soon after The Sunday Times revelations that the Safe House was in fact part of the DMI's counter terrorist operations, then Defence Minister, Tilak Marapana, directed Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle to appoint a Court of Inquiry. This Court of Inquiry concluded that the activities of the Safe House were legitimate and all military hardware found therein was obtained after proper procedures were followed.

This led to Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, ordering (through then Defence Secretary, Austin Fernando), that another Court of Inquiry be appointed to probe how information about the existence and activity at the Safe House were leaked. This was with the intention of meting out punishment to those found responsible for such leaks or related activity. Though the Court brought out its findings, no such punishment was meted out by the Army leadership. The UNF now wants to probe this aspect too through a Parliamentary Select Committee.

Amidst public controversy and rising number of incidents in the killing of operatives as well as informants, President Chandrika Bandarnaike Kumaratunga appointed a Commission of Inquiry to probe the Safe House fiasco. It was headed by retired Appeal Court Judge D. Jayawickrema.

The Commission held that the raid was a "total betrayal and absolute treachery to the nation." In other words, this ruling meant that besides compromising national security interests, by conducting the raid, those directly responsible had engaged in an act that amounted to treachery. Needless to say such acts are serious in nature compared to other misdemeanours for which those in the Security Forces or Police are punished. The Commission report listed the names of those responsible for the omissions and commissions in the Army and the Police.

In seeking to punish those in the Army, President Kumaratunga sought advice from the leadership. That was from the very leadership that had not acted on the earlier Courts of Inquiry. Now, the punishment meted out has raised a serious controversy and raised questions whether they were commensurate, fair and just with the lapses reported to have been committed.

The senior most officer in the Army to be dealt with by the Commander, Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle, is the Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Ivan Dassanayake.

He has been called upon to retire from service on March 31, this year - three months ahead of the date (June 30) when he would reach his mandatory maximum period of three years as a Major General. If an extension of service until his 55th birthday on December 16, was not allowed Maj. Gen. Dassanayake would have to retire. In such an event, in any cause, he could opt to go on leave preparatory to retirement on March 31.

Maj. Gen. Dassanayake has strongly denied any improper involvement in the Safe House fiasco. He has told so to Lt. Gen. Balagalle and is said to be seeking legal recourse against this action. He feels that punishment has been meted out to him without his being called upon to show cause.

Compounding the situation further is another development. In a move that appeared to be an afterthought, early this week Lt. Gen. Balagalle wrote to Maj. Gen. Dassanayake informing him that he had been relieved of his responsibilities as both Colonel Commandant of the Sri Lanka Corps Military Police (SLCMP) and as Adjutant General. He had just been attached to Army Headquarters.

Here is a hilarious situation - a Major General has been told to retire on March 31 after Lt. Gen. Balagalle's own recommendation to President Kumaratunga. Yet the Army Commander does not want him to serve in the posts allotted to him until the date of that retirement. He is merely attached to Army Headquarters. What is he expected to do? Is it not to while away his time. Is this a punishment? Such action seems unprecedented in the Army.

Questions have also arisen about why only some officers and men on whom strictures have been made by the Presidential Commission were punished whilst others were allowed to go completely free. Here again, the question is whether it was prudent to have asked the Army leadership to recommend punishment on those against whom strictures have been made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry.

If there was a failure to include recommendations on punishment as a term of reference of the Commission, highly placed military sources told The Sunday Times it would have been better for President Kumaratunga to have used her prerogative as Commander in Chief and ordered on the course of action. This is particularly in view of the failure of the Army high command to act on the recommendations of the Courts of Inquiry and also in view of allegations of serious partiality. The fact that there have been various pressure moves to avoid punishment being meted out on some is no secret.

The punishments, which no doubt arose from the Commission's findings that those concerned have committed acts amounting to treachery, were fixed to take effect not immediately. They were decided upon weeks earlier, but January 30 was fixed as the effective date. The move is in marked contrast to prompt punishment meted out to officers or men accused of murder, rape or other acts of misconduct. But in a case where a Presidential Commission has held that the lapses amounted to treachery, advance notice has been issued on those concerned. Must one say anything more about how things have become comical in the defence establishment where there seems to be little or no control now?

The hilarious chapter on Army action is now over. President Kumaratunga also wrote to Police Chief, Indra de Silva, about action on former SP (and now ASP) Kulasiri Udugampola, who conducted the raid and others in the Police who assisted him. He has already set up a special team. (See box story).

In the meanwhile, the Supreme Court, the nation's highest judicial body, has ruled that the fundamental rights of Captain Nilam and his LRRP team, were violated by Mr Udugampola. He has been ordered to pay within three months a sum of Rs 50,000 each to five of the LRRP operatives. The State has been ordered to pay Rs 750,000 each for them.

Only the outcome of the Police probe now remains. The curtain thus falls on the Athurugirya Safe House episode, at least until such time the Parliamentary Select Committee begins its own probe. From the developments so far, the action taken by those responsible seem to raise more questions than they answer. Whether they would find a chapter in the Guinness Book of Records or a humorous corner in Sri Lanka's military history remains the question.

The LRRP men who paid the ultimate price
The Sunday Times today reveals details of intelligence operatives and civilian informants who were closely associated with LRRP operatives by the Directorate of Military Intelligence.
They were all tracked down and assassinated by Tiger guerrillas after the existence of the Safe House became public.

January 20, 2002
V. Vidyarnthan alias Vidya alias Nidhi -
Informant - Abducted on January 16, 2002 and killed on January 20, 2002.

February 09, 2002
Clary alias Gadaffi
Ex- guerrilla cadre - abducted from Chenkallady town and killed.

July 22, 2002
Saundarajah A alias Arinjan
Ex-guerrilla cadre - abducted from Batticaloa town on July 3 and killed at Vakarai.

December 11, 2002
Ganeshmoorthy alias Thilakarajah Samithambi
Informant - killed by LTTE gun-men in Colombo.

January 03, 2003
Pulendrarasa alias Cashier
Ex-guerrilla cadre - abducted in Kallady and killed.

March 18, 2003
Kadiragamthambi Ragupathi alias Ragu
Informant - killed by the LTTE gun-men in Colombo.

April 13, 2003
Sinnathambi Rajan alias Varadan
Informant - to be enlisted to the Army shot dead by the LTTE pistol group in Colombo.

April 26, 2003
Devarajha L. alias Ashok
Ex- LTTE cadre - killed in Colombo.

May 21, 2003
Kumar Perumal Perimban alias Master
Ex-PLOTE cadre - killed in Batticaloa town.
Besides the above, among intelligence operatives, soldiers, para military troops who were not connected to LRRP operations but were killed after the Safe House activities came to be known were:

August 14, 2002
Kanapathipillai Devadas
Tamil soldier - abducted and killed.

December 02, 2002
Aseesh SM
Soldier - abducted and killed.

April 23, 2003
Sidambarapilai Yashodaran
Tamil soldier - abducted and killed.

May 19, 2003
Sooriyan K
Tamil soldier - killed in Batticaloa.

August 03, 2003
LT Rilvan
Police Sergeant - abducted and killed in Trincomalee.

August 08, 2003
Vivekanada Sammugarasa SP
Tamil soldier - abducted and killed.

September 14, 2003
Saundanayagam Sabarathnam
Tamil soldier - killed in Palameenmadu.
Among civilian informants (not connected with LRRP operations) but killed after activities of the Safe House came to be known were:

March 11, 2002
Pulendrarajha - abducted and killed in Muttur.

July 06, 2002
Thangarajha Premadasa alias Varuman - killed with his mistress in Welikanda.

March 20, 2003
Nagoorkanee Ashish - abducted and killed.

April 13, 2003
Subramaniyam Jayadewan - killed in Batticaloa.

April 23, 2003
Sellaiya Puvendrarasa - killed in Thunnalai.

May 16, 2003
Ariyanandan Hemachandran - Killed in Jaffna.

July 17, 2003
Abdul Bahir Fauzi - Killed in Uppuveli.

August 30, 2003
Sebamalai Vimalkumaran - killed in Vavuniya.
Erambamurthi Sabanayagam - Abducted in Matale and killed in Batticaloa.

Police Chief taking action
Police Chief, Indra de Silva, has set up a team headed by a Senior Superintendent of Police to conduct investigations against Policemen on whom strictures have been made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry over the Athurugiriya Safe House fiasco.

The team is to question former SP (and now ASP) Kulasiri Udugampola who conducted the raid. Also to be questioned are a one time senior Police official, a DIG, two SSPs and a number of Police officers.

This Police probe is a sequel to the findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that probed the Safe House raid. It was headed by retired Appeal Court judge, D. Jayawickrema. President Kumaratunga had asked the IGP to take follow up action.

According to highly placed sources, the outcome of this inquiry will determine both Departmental and legal action against those in the Police Department (both serving and retired) who have been named in the Commission report. These sources said such action will be determined after the team's report is handed over to Police Chief, de Silva. This is to be done in consultation with both the police Commission and the Attorney General's Department.

These sources admitted that earlier Police Chief de Silva had forwarded the Presidential Commission report to the Police Commission and asked them to take action. This was on the basis that it was the Police Commission that was empowered to take disciplinary action against Policemen. However, the Commission had pointed out that it was not empowered to act on the Commission's recommendation and called upon the Police to first conduct their own probe.

Meanwhile The Sunday Times learns that Police Chief de Silva recommended to the Police Commission that ASP Udugampola be sent on compulsory leave. This follows last Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that he violated the fundamental rights of the LRRP team that operated from the Safe House at Athurugiriya. The team was led by Captain S.H. Mohamed Nilam.

Ranjit Abeysuriya, Chairman of the Police Commission told The Sunday Times "I have received the recommendations. The matter is under consideration." He said, "There was a problem earlier, but that does not arise now since there is a Supreme Court ruling on the matter."

A three judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. de Silva and comprising Shirani A. Bandaranayake and P. Edussuriya, unanimously held that the fundamental rights of Captain Nilam and four of his colleagues were violated.

In an additional observation to the judgement, Justice Edussuriya, who referred to the conduct of ASP Udugampola noted that "if he did not act with any ulterior motive then, he has acted like an over - enthusiastic blundering schoolboy and has thereby displayed his incompetence."

(Courtesy Sunday Times)

How a 'top State secret' became public

Situation Report by Iqbal Athas-Sunday Times-January 6, 2002

After seven long years of "Eelam War Three," year 2002 dawned in Sri Lanka on a historic note.

Guns went silent in the battlefields as the security forces and Tiger guerrillas continued to observe a truce which came into effect from midnight December 24, or Christmas eve.

In terms of nomenclature, even if it was referred to as "cessation of hostilities," the commencement of talks between the United National Front (UNF) Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in the coming weeks and months will see this transform into a formal cease-fire.

The UNF Government does not want to take any chances or send any wrong signal to the LTTE in the interim period. That has been made very clear to those concerned.

One area where it was clearly reflected was in a directive Chief of Defence Staff, General Rohan de S. Daluwatte, sent out on December 23 last year, to Commanders of the Army (Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle), Navy (Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri), Air Force (Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody) and Inspector General of Police (Lucky Kodituwakku). Also copied to commanders in battle areas, the instructions were clear about the "cessation of hostilities." This is what it says:

• "Status quo with regard to ground deployment will remain.

• Security forces and Police will not launch offensive operations. This includes firing of direct and indirect weapons.

• However, security forces and the Police have the right to defend the Forward Defensive Zones up to a distance of 500 metres from the Forward Defensive Line/bunker line by employing observation posts, listening posts, patrols, ambushes, obstacle belts etc. The status quo should be maintained by both parties in the area between the bunker lines. Should any activity be conducted by the LTTE disturbing the status quo, such action should immediately be reported to the respective Service Commanders/IGP and this HQ (the JOH) also be informed accordingly.

• Security forces and Police will continue to carry out operations in the cleared areas as done previously.

• The Air Force will refrain from aerial bombar-dment of ground targets.

• Naval operations conducted at sea with a view to prevent the import of arms, ammunition or other military equipment by the LTTE will continue and the Air Force will support the Navy in the event of a confrontation without any restrictions.

• Should any situation arise, which the parties may consider to be a violation of the declaration of the cessation of hostilities, otherwise than by the use of force, the parties will endeavour to resolve such a situation.

• Any violation of cessation of hostilities in any form or nature must be immediately brought to the notice of the Service Commanders/IGP and this HQ (JOH) also informed accordingly."

Confrontations between the security forces and the Tiger guerrillas have come to a halt with the cessation of hostilities. But, that is not to say the war is over. Raging internecine wars have intensified in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police causing not only factionalism but low morale and instability. Fuelling this situation almost every day is the lack of any visible action by the United National Front leadership, in the past four weeks, not only to arrest the disturbing trends but also the dangers it poses to national security.

Whilst the three services have been the mainstay in the battle against Tiger guerrillas and for the enforcement of the Government's writ in "controlled" areas, the Police form the bulwark of the law and order machinery.

Nowhere is the phenomenon felt more acutely than in the Sri Lanka Army, the largest security establishment in the country. Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Balagalle, who offered jobs for his soldiers with United Nations troops during PA's election campaign, received a strong rebuff from President Kumaratunga, for trying to get rid of his number two, Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Neil Dias. This was by using the very Regulations which the President promulgated to keep Lt. Gen. Balagalle in office when he was to retire at 55 years (on June 14, 2001).

But a more shocking blow came when Police conducted a raid last Wednesday night on a safe house at Athurugiriya, operated by the Directorate of Military Intelligence, to conduct counter terrorist operations. Assisting in the raid were men from the Army's Military Police (or CCMP –Corps Ceylon Military Police, as they are commonly referred to). That the Army leadership, pre-occupied with their own problems, was unable to prevent a serious breach of national security when this happened, could not avoid a dangerous situation developing and allowed the LTTE to get to know state secrets, to say the least, is most damning.

The greatest irony of all this is the fact that an officer and five men are now detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and are being interrogated by a Police team led by SP Kulasiri Udugampola. Until last night, they are all being held at a secret location in Kandy. All of them are in one room and have to tolerate the ignominy of a stinking toilet whilst they answer questions from their interrogators.

These very men were at the forefront of the fight against terrorism. The Sunday Times has learnt since the Police raid, their arrest and the resultant publicity, the LTTE has come to know details of some matters that have remained a top state secret for security reasons. This is not to fault the Police or Mr. Udugampola for carrying out the raid.

An SP in the Kandy Division, Mr. Udugampola, had obtained a Court Order to conduct a raid on a house at the Millennium City at Athurugiriya. Before the raid, he had got in touch with the Army's Provost Marshal, Major General Ivan Das-sanayake, and obtained the help of Military Police officials to accompany him. Yet, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Balagalle was unaware that one of the Army's top secret operations which had brought great success and increased public confidence was going to be laid bare. Did Maj. Gen. Dassanayake inform Lt. Gen. Balagalle ? The fact that Military Police help was sought clearly indicated that the raid was on an Army establishment or one connected with it.

Who are the five men now in custody of the Police under the Prevention of Terrorism Act ? They are a Captain and four regular soldiers assigned to the Directorate of Military Intelligence. The sixth is a former Tiger guerrilla cadre, who surrendered to the security forces and later enlisted as a soldier.

The LTTE is now aware that these men are part of a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) Group – highly trained men who infiltrated Tiger guerrilla controlled areas and carried out devastating attacks. Their area of activity was the Batticaloa district and helping them to cross barriers was the Special Task Force (STF), the commando arm of the Police.

The team's most prized accomplishments have been many. In the recent past it was the attack on Thambirasa Kuhasanthan alias "Nizam," the LTTE Military Intelligence Wing leader for Batticaloa. It was Nizam who was in charge of all "suicide killer" and other attacks in the City. The Captain and his men infiltrated Tiger guerrilla dominated territory on June 9 last year, and carried out the attack on Nizam. He was killed. And now, the LTTE has become privy not only to the identities of the Captain but also the five others. This has been confirmed by intelligence channels. For obvious reasons one cannot elaborate.

Why did Police raid the Athurugiriya residence ? Contrary to claims that the investigations were a follow up of the killings at Udathala-winna during election vio-lence, the probe is related to an entirely different matter. It is an extension of the allegations United National Party Chairman Charitha Ratwatte and Vice Chairman Daya Pelpola made to the Army Commander on November 10, 2001.

They alleged that thermo-baric explosives had been brought from the operational areas in the North to the Panaluwa Army Testing Range and that certain persons alleged to be attached to a Northern Tamil Political Party were being trained in its use. The training, they alleged, was being co-ordinated by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) together with Army instructors specially flown from the north. The UNP leaders said there may be an attempt to use these weapons on the meetings held by the UNP leadership and the Leader's campaign bus.

Lt. Gen. Balagalle in a letter to Mr. Ratwatte (and copy to Mr. Pelpola) declared "there is no substance in the information" and referred their letters to the Police Chief Lucky Kodituwakku, for whatever action he deemed necessary. Mr. Kodituwakku directed a CID team to investigate the matter but they could not record any statements since those concerned were busy.

The Sunday Times learns that men who were trained at Panaluwa were those engaged in the LRRP operations. They were taught the use of thermobaric weapons for use in assault on Tiger guerrilla positions. However, the Police in Kandy are learnt to have information from an informant that the Athurugiriya Safe House was linked to attempts at possible harm to Prime Minister Ranil Wickreme-singhe and to earlier claims of men being trained at Panaluwa.

Police investigations are focused in this regard but The Sunday Times has learnt no tangible evidence has been uncovered so far to establish there was in fact a threat to Premier Wickremesinghe arising from the training at Panaluwa or through the Athurugiriya Safe House. Hence, Police may be compelled to release the Captain and the five men if they cannot establish there was a plot of any kind. But some Police officials talk of attempts to indict the men for the possession of a cache of weapons though Military Intelligence officials insist there is official documentation for every item – the acquisition of the Safe House as well as every weapon found.

When Mr. Udugampola raided the Athurugiriya Safe House, in the company of the Military Police and men from the Athurugiriya Police, among the items found were: ten anti-personnel mines, 20 land mines, four Light Anti-Tank Weapons (LAW), one pair of goggles, two T-56 rifles, 12 magazines, 418 rounds of ammunition, one AK 47 rifle, 66 Tiger guerrilla uniforms, seven (ten kilogramme) claymore mines, one (eight kilogramme) claymore mine, 17 exploders, nine (50 metre) wire rolls, eight (100 metre wire rolls), one cyanide capsule, three antennas, three remote control devices, three detonators and thermobaric weapons.

The discovery was to create more confusion. Learning of the raid, Lt. Gen. Balagalle telephoned Police Chief Lucky Kodituwakku to plead with him to sort out the matter. Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) Brigadier Kapila Hendavithana was rushed by him to Athurugiriya. When the DGMI spoke on the phone to Mr. Kodituwakku from the scene to say he could account for all the finds, the latter had wanted to speak to Mr. Udugampola.

That conversation was to take a bad turn. Mr. Udugampola was to later telephone Interior Minister John Amaratunga, to complain of pressures on him. Interior Ministry officials were to soon assume that Police were trying to suppress matters relating to the raid. The media was tipped off and there was wide publicity. Minister Amaratu-nga despatched his relative and now a senior official, Lal Ratnayake, a former DIG, to Athurugiriya to make sure nothing was done to suppress matters. The Captain and the five men were bundled up and driven first to Military Police Headquarters in Narahenpita and then to Kandy where Detention Orders were served on them under the PTA. Their statements are now being recorded. They were taken to some places in Katugastota yesterday and no visitors were allowed to see them.

Internal Army investigations have raised some intriguing questions. It was only on December 15 last year, the Athurugiriya Safe House had been obtained on rent by the Directorate of Military Intelligence for a period of six months. It has been standard practice for DMI to operate Safe Houses for secret operations. Some months ago, one in fact functioned in close proximity to the Kotte-Sri Jayawardhanapura Parliamentary complex. The address of the house was such a closely guarded secret that only one or two DMI officials knew it.

Yet, the Court Order Mr. Udugampola obtained contai-ned the exact address of the house. Did a rival group within DMI surreptitiously obtain the address from an official in question and leak it ?

Did a close relative of a senior police official involved in the investigations, now attached to the Military Police, play a role in obtaining the address and facilitate the raid? Inquiries have not only raised this aspect but many other sensitive matters which show that a group within the DMI has been working against the leadership. They have now been identified and disciplinary action is to follow.

The last LRRP operation from the Safe House at Athurugirya had been prematurely concluded on December 21. This was after it became difficult to execute a "highly classified" and sensitive operation when it became clear there would be a cessation of hostilities. The men who came back to the Safe House had later returned some equipment including a Global Positioning System and encrypted communication sets to a camp in Kohuwala. The balance equipment was to be returned to a camp in Kosgama when the raid took place. DMI officials are now ready with documentation relating to weapons and other equipment.

Whatever the outcome of the Police investigation, the identities of some brave men who have risked their lives to attack the guerrillas is now public. So are their operations. All because of the callous inaction on the part of some of those responsible.

All is not well in the Sri Lanka Navy too. The leadership has been the subject of strong criticism for their inability to stall Tiger guerrillas from inducting weapons supplies through the north eastern seas. The Government last week ordered a full inquiry after The Sunday Island revealed that a large haul of weapons had been smuggled by the LTTE and the Navy had failed to intercept it.

Chairing a meeting of principal Staff Officers and Area Commanders at Navy Headquarters last Thursday, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri devoted considerable time to the media. He said he was not worried about media criticism or care about it. He said the media did not determine the destinies of people. They were born with it. He said the Government was aware of those leaking information to the media.

Vice Admiral Sandagiri has been at the end of criticism after ordering a Mercedes Benz worth Rs. 8.5 million as his official car during the general election period. This is despite the Navy possessing a number of Benz vehicles. In addition, he had also ordered the conversion of a Navy Pajero jeep by installing an intercooler engine at a cost of over Rs. 600,000. This was despite the Pajero jeep being in good condition with its original engine.

An action of Vice Admiral Sandagiri which is likely to pose an irritant in the upcoming peace process is his decision to construct a temple at Madagal – one of two vows he has kept, of all things at state expense, upon becoming Commander of the Navy. A small temple has been built and he is making arrangements to fly senior officers and their spouses to Jaffna for a ceremony on January 21. Two engineers sent from Colombo for the construction of the temple died in an accident in Jaffna. The second vow, a ban on the consumption of beef in the Navy, has come into effect from January 1, this year. The ban is despite objections from four of five Area Commanders of the Navy.

In the Sri Lanka Air Force, both infighting and campaigns have reached a high pitch. Some of those affected by the Court of Inquiry into last July's Tiger guerrilla attack on the SLAF base and the Bandaranaike International Airport have launched a vicious campaign against its Commander, Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody. One of the major allegations was that he transported illegal weapons to Kandy during the election campaign. Another is that he evacuated former Deputy Defence Minister, Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte and his family, by an Air Force helicopter after he ceased to be a minister. Both allegations are being flatly denied by senior Air Force officials. A strong campaign, these officials say, is not only creating dissension but also disciplinary problems.

The infighting in the Police has become so acute that the Inspector General of Police, Lucky Kodituwakku, who had been at the centre of controversy during the election campaign and his own son, Ranmal Kodituwakku, are now at the centre of widespread allegations and a strong campaign.

Mr Kodituwakku, now 61, received a year long extension of service from the PA Government and some sections of the United National Front want to see him removed. He has, however, been asked to continue to function as Police Chief by the UNF leadership. Other likely aspirants are making their own pitch for the post.

An anonymous petition to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption about the quali-fications of Mr. Koditu-wakku's son, Ranmal Koditu-wakku, is now under inves-tigation. It centres over his qualifications to be an Assistant Superintendent of Police.

However, senior Police officials backing Mr. Kodituwakku say Ranmal, spent 11 years in California. He has been a product of Redlands University with qualifications in Maths and Economics. They say he was recruited after his credentials were verified from the United States Embassy in Colombo.

Divisions have become so sharp at Police Headquarters with at least one senior DIG staking strong claims to the post of IGP. These developments have pre-occupied the Police hierarchy so much that the pace of normal work is not only slowing down but the malaise is spreading to the provinces too. One of the reasons often attributed for the UNF Government's inaction is a reported assurance it had given President Kumaratunga that no top level changes in the security forces or the Police would be made for three months. That is said to be the basis on which she parted with the Ministry of Defence portfolio.

But, if the existing situation in the security forces and the Police are allowed to deteriorate, particularly due to no action of any sort being taken by the new Government, its priority will become peace talks on two fronts – one with the Tiger guerrillas and the other with those in the country's security establish-ment. The writing is clearly on the wall.

Ex Army informant who lost his child and home

Alagaiya Kirukeshwaran, a youth from Kokadichole, who had been an army informant a long time ago was shot dead by the Tigers Organisation at dawn yesterday. The assassinated Kirukeshwaran left the country in fear of his life after the government entered into a cease-fire agreement with the Tigers Organisation. The tsunami disaster that struck Sri Lanka on 26 December deprived him of his only child and his wife’s parents. The house they lived in was completely destroyed. Shocked by this tragedy Kirukeshwaran came back to Sri Lanka a few weeks ago and he had planned to go back to a foreign country when he had made some arrangement for her wife to live in. The assassins took his life at the Batticaloa bus stand in his wait for a bus to Colombo to go back abroad. At nine p.m. day before yesterday (07th) Tiger cadres abducted him at the bus stand and his body was left behind in front of the Batticaloa Police station at dawn yesterday (08). Alagaiya Kirukeshwaran’s wife whose only child and both parents were taken by the tsunami is shocked by the loss of her husband who came to her rescue.

(Lankatruth) (3/9/2005 8:21:36 AM)

Tamils and Christians short-changed again? by Amrit Muttukumaru

Let us face it, both Presidential candidates Messrs. Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe are on a now familiar trail of ‘manipulating’ the ethnic crisis as a vehicle for their electoral success, each in his own way. On one hand, we have the Prime Minister on a bizarre course of aligning himself through written commitments with extreme Sinhala-Buddhist forces such as the JHU and the JVP which espouse what tantamounts to a militarist solution with minimum ‘concessions’ to the Tamils, while at the same time speaking of a ‘negotiated’ solution within a ‘unitary’ constitution.
Even the P-TOMS agreement which is a mere temporary aid-sharing administrative mechanism for the North-East which was most affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami is anathema to the JHU/JVP combine. One wonders as to what he intends discussing at his proposed meeting with the LTTE leader! Clearly, Mr. Rajapakse is banking on the bulk of the Sinhala-Buddhist constituency with inroads even into the traditional UNP vote bank which does not exclude the Muslims, particularly in the East.
On the other hand, his rival, the Leader of the Opposition, projects a seemingly ‘moderate’ stance vis-à-vis the ethnic conflict with his verbal commitment to the P-TOMS and a ‘federal’ form of government. Of course, the extent to which he is willing to go towards federalism has never been spelt out. It should also be noted that it was the UNP, under his leadership, that literally tore up in parliament the devolution proposals of 2000 which was a diluted version of the 1995 PA proposals. Even the breakdown of the post-2002 negotiation process took place under his government in April 2003 in the immediate aftermath of the LTTE being insensitively kept out of the Washington D.C. preparatory meeting for the Tokyo Donor Conference. Mr. Wickremesinghe’s seemingly ‘moderate’ stance on the ethnic conflict evidently expects to harvest the vast majority of the minority vote, particularly that of the Tamils of all description while keeping in tact the bulk of the traditional UNP vote bank. The Opposition Leader’s stance seems to be, at least on paper, a shrewder tactic, given the presumably general all-round reluctance to venture into another high-intensity military conflict and external realities. If, as is possible, the Tamil voter turn-out in the North-East is low, it could spell serious trouble to Mr. Wickremesinghe.
It seems clear to this writer that both Presidential candidates are playing the now traditional political football at election time with the ethnic conflict. They are both reluctant to face up to the reality that unless and until the stranglehold of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism is tamed, there is little hope to resolve not only the long festering ethnic crisis but also the more recent phenomenon of Christian-bashing.
What is happening in this country today in the name of Buddhism is an insult to the Buddha Dhamma. In this connection it will be prudent to consider the US State Department’s ‘International Religious Freedom Report 2004’ submitted to Congress which has a scathing reference to religious intolerance in Sri Lanka. Amongst others, it refers to “An overall deterioration of religious freedom due to the actions of extremists in Sri Lanka…. Buddhist extremists destroyed Christian churches and harassed and abused pastors and congregants”.
It is no accident that both Presidential candidates are silent on the proposed Anti-conversion Bill, which is now in parliament. The entire edifice of the Sri Lankan State is weighted heavily against minorities, particularly the Tamils, even today. The manner of the recent passing of the Emergency regulations in parliament, which largely result in the harassment of Tamils, is a reflection of this. The only minority support it obtained was inexplicably from the CWC, in spite of plantation workers of recent Indian origin being frequently at the receiving end of much harassment from the almost 100% Sinhala dominated security forces and police.
It is most unlikely that any of the two Presidential candidates elected on November 17 will have the political will and sagacity to meaningfully redress these issues.
The rise of Tamil militancy was in response to the implications of the stranglehold of this majoritarian syndrome, regular violence unleashed on Tamils and their property, a litany of broken promises and the offer of too little too late. Although those responsible for the more virulent attacks could be said to be in the lunatic fringe particularly in regard to Christian bashing, the plain fact is that there seems to be at least some tacit acquiescence to this as reflected by the silence of the vast majority of the southern polity. Even the few instances of disapproval for the most part have been muted. The contribution of successive governments to this state of affairs is manifested in different ways. This includes State-sponsored colonisation with overwhelmingly Sinhala settlers in the overwhelmingly Tamil speaking Eastern Province which became more aggressive soon after independence, the infamous 24-hour ‘Sinhala Only’ policy of 1956 making Tamils instantly ‘illiterate’, the tearing up of the ‘Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam’ pact of 1957, the aborting of the ‘Dudley-Chelvanayakam’ pact of 1966, ‘standardization’ of university admissions in 1972 which mainly worked to the detriment of Tamils, thuggery unleashed at the 1981 DDC elections in Jaffna which included the burning of the world renowned Jaffna Public Library, the farcical Provincial Council system of 1987, the regular dilution of the 1995 Devolution proposals, the tearing up of the year 2000 constitutional proposals for devolution and more recently the strong opposition to the P-TOMS, which is a mere aid sharing administrative mechanism for the North-East which was most affected by the 26 December 2004 tsunami.
Even today, exaggerations, subterfuge, concealment and sometimes even utter falsehood are employed to deprive the Tamils of what is their due to live with dignity and security as equal partners in a truly secular and tolerant Sri Lanka. Alleged child conscription and the ‘Karuna’ bogey are examples of this.
In the UK, children as young as 16 years of age are routinely recruited into its armed forces. Recruiting campaigns often target the more deprived sections of the community through various incentives. While not for a moment condoning the deployment of child soldiers from any quarter, can the strong possibility be excluded that the best promoter of young people being attracted to the LTTE would be factors such as- the acts of omission and commission of successive governments in the form of serious discrimination, harsh treatment meted out by an almost exclusively non-Tamil speaking armed forces, stress caused by insecurity and terrible violence such as indiscriminate carpet bombing unleashed over the years on the hapless Tamil population? The ‘Karuna’ factor being projected as a force to be reckoned with in the east and thus posing a serious threat to the LTTE is an illusory creation of a section of the southern polity to dilute the north-east link. The present policy to marginalize the LTTE internationally, which appears to be gleefully welcomed by the southern polity, will prove to be as myopic and disastrous as the infamous ‘war for peace’ campaign. Conveniently overlooked in this endeavour, are domestic and international state terrorism in its different forms.
Not withstanding all this, there is no question that the LTTE should fast track its transition from militant freedom fighters to a responsible political organization based on tolerance, plurality and democracy. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan State gives a very poor example in all round good governance which includes an atrocious human rights record.
As indicated earlier, unless and until the stranglehold of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism is tamed, there is little hope of resolving these issues. An interesting phenomenon being witnessed is where large sections of Sinhala-Christians who find it discriminatory when their churches are attacked and desecrated, at least tacitly acquiescing by turning a blind eye to the far more serious and widespread discrimination and harassment perpetrated on Tamils. One wonders as to what chance there is for the Tamils of this country when even Sinhala-Christians are targeted for discrimination and the two Presidential candidates are not willing to even take a stand on the obnoxious anti-conversion bill which has been presented to parliament! Even the NGOs on the ‘peace’ gravy train are not pushing the two Presidential candidates to be more forthcoming on their plan of action towards resolving the ethnic crisis and to state their clear stand on the anti-conversion bill. For example, they should pointedly ask Mr. Rajapakse how realistic it is to seek a solution within a ‘unitary’ constitution, given the ground realities of the conflict which include the LTTE controlling vast extent of territory in the north-east and to unequivocally state whether there will be conscription in his strategy for war and more particularly whether his three sons will be sent to the war front. How the war will be financed is another issue of interest to the electorate.
Mr. Wickremesinghe should be asked to state in more specific terms, the extent of ‘federalism’ he will consider rather than merely repeating ad nauseam that it will be within a ‘united’ Sri Lanka. Also to be determined is his stance on the unit of devolution at least in broad terms. A glaring omission in the just released UNP manifesto is any reference to the P-TOMS. There is also an obvious reluctance to use the term ‘Federal’ which is merely implied in the manifesto. This immediately raises suspicion on his serious commitment for a negotiated solution. The Tamils and Christians are surely between the ‘devil and the deep blue sea’!

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/10/01/opinion/3.asp)

Police commandos check a vehicle in Colombo

Police commandos check a vehicle in Colombo, as part of stepped up security ahead of the presidential elections due to be held in November. The new police unit has been deployed following the 12 August 2005 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar . AFP.

(The Special Task Force (STF) was formed in 1983 to operate as a counterinsurgency force in Sri Lanka, not as a military force but rather a highly specialized police unit. It later assumed the Counter Terrorist mission and – as the most highly trained police organization – would be the lead unit whenever law enforcement forces reacted against terrorists. The STF has been stationed in the Eastern Province in Sri Lanka where the LTTE is active. Other units are based in Colombo and they are used as V.I.P. security. They have received training from the British SAS as well as the security forces of India.)

Court shocked as policemen fail to identify SSP’s killer by Susitha R. Fernando

The Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday expressed shock after ten police officers who were with SSP Charles Wijewardena when he was brutally killed failed to identify the suspect at an identification parade.
Magistrate Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena asked the CID whether the ten policemen had received any death threats.
The Magistrate made this observation when the CID filed a report in connection with the identification parade held to identify the suspect Kathiramalai Vaithian alias Veerapandian alias ‘Gopi’.
“If the policemen cannot arrest and identify a murder suspect of a senior police officer, a serious question arises as to how they would act with regard to a killing of an ordinary person,” the magistrate said.
The identification parade was held at the prison premises and seven persons who had similar physical features as the suspect were produced. To maintain the credibility of the parade, the police had produced seven persons who had lost their hands.
The Magistrate ordered that the suspect be remanded till October 12.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/10/01/front/3.asp)

LTTE adjusts under int’l pressure by S. Wickramasinghe

Why hasn’t Prabhakaran endorsed either presidential candidates?

Soon after the assassination, President Kumaratunga demanded an urgent meeting with the LTTE through facilitation by the Norwegian government to review the CFA. The scenario prevalent at that time forced the LTTE to change its hitherto adamant stand. It agreed to review the CFA immediately. It agreed to a meeting with the government to review the CFA. This can be considered as the second occasion when the LTTE was compelled to change its rigid stand.

The co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference especially the US, Japan and now the European Union have made statements or expressed strong views regarding terrorism and terrorism financing.
“The US has extensive laws about terrorism financing. We are closely monitoring the charity organizations operating on US soil…We are constantly looking into organizations to see if they abide by the law…If the organizations do not abide by the law then we will take action…” US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead was quoted as saying.
It has been reported that the co-chairs of the Tokyo donor conference (Norway, Japan, European Union, US) have decided to demand that the LTTE desist from terrorism.
It is common knowledge that it was Norway that was strategically postponing the EU from taking a firm decision on banning the LTTE in EU countries.
“Southern politicians and diplomats are used to give a deceitful picture to the international community regarding the problems affecting the Tamils in Sri Lanka,” observed LTTE’s political wing leader S.P.Thamilselvan.
But now the LTTE is utilizing the presidential call for course correction to get involved in talks with the government to paint a better picture to the international community especially the EU to prevent the organization from being banned in the EU. There should be some sort of a plausible reason for Norway to fight for time. The most plausible way out for the LTTE would be to get involved in some sort of discussion with the government. That is why Thamilselvan is ready to talk even in the next minute.
It is clear that the international community has targeted the LTTE over its political killings and child recruitment.
Before the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar the LTTE vehemently opposed any discussion on reviewing the Ceasefire Agreement despite a call by the government. This was the time that the LTTE was ruling the roost.
The international community was in a way listening to the LTTE version as the ‘oppressed’ party. It was the late Mr. Kadirgamar who changed such attitudes. His assassination at the hands of LTTE created a stir in the international community.
Soon after the assassination, President Kumaratunga demanded an urgent meeting with the LTTE through facilitation by the Norwegian government to review the CFA. The scenario prevalent at that time forced the LTTE to change its hitherto adamant stand. It agreed to review the CFA immediately. It agreed to a meeting with the government to review the CFA.
This can be considered as the second occasion when the LTTE was compelled to change its rigid stand. The first occasion was the willingness shown to review the ISGA proposals in the face of a massive protest campaign.
So it can be safely assumed that the irreparable damage caused to the LTTE internationally has forced them to show a human face to the community. The LTTE is an organization that is quite adept at changing the face to get out of a difficult situation with the idea of getting back to terror business when the situation is ripe for that.
Hence, the LTTE would have expected, with the passage of time, to regain lost ground in the killing fields and to continue its terror acts unabashedly. But, with the banning of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in UK and the threat for TRO in US and EU countries together with harsh EU statement on the LTTE on Tuesday the organization has been shaken to the roots. It is the flow of unlimited funds from the Tamil expatriates the world over that keeps the movement going.
In particular, the UK, US, Canada and the EU countries replenish the Tiger coffers. Hence any damage to their “reputation” would affect the flow of funds. These countries in Europe are now hell bent to curtail any type of terror acts on their soil after 9/11 and the recent 7/7 London bombings and other attacks in Europe. The LTTE automatically falls into this category of terrorism financing under various pretexts.
It was in this context that the US Ambassador was discussing TRO. The TRO of course is functioning as a non-governmental organization helping to rehabilitate Tamils. But that is just a front organization for the LTTE. What happens under cover is what matters most to the LTTE as well as the US, UK and Europe.
That is what prompted Thamilselvan to explain their stand in the Tamilnet website. “Southern politicians and diplomats are used to giving a deceitful picture to the international community.” This shows how much the LTTE is concerned about maintaining a good name and rapport with the international community to run their clandestine financial operations in other countries for their own survival.
In the local scene, the LTTE seems to be a bit worried. That is why the LTTE keeps on repeating that they are not interested in polls and instead call for immediate talks. The funniest part is that about a couple of weeks ago the very same Thamilselvan was reported to have said there will be no talks of any kind till the presidential election is over. 0They are so desperate to have talks to review the CFA to maintain the ceasefire agreement. What an unbelievable change of course. In fact it is not a course correction they are seeking now. It was the President who first wanted to review the CFA to have a course correction.
But now the LTTE is utilizing the presidential call for course correction to get involved in talks with the government to paint a better picture to the international community especially the EU to prevent the organization from being banned in the EU.
There should be some sort of a plausible reason for Norway to fight for time. The most plausible way out for the LTTE would be to get involved in some sort of discussion with the government. That is why Thamilselvan is ready to talk even in the next minute.
It appears that some other type of local influence too has prompted the LTTE to seek urgent talks. It was the normal practice for the TNA MPs to make the “pilgrimage” to Wanni to get briefed for their next action. This time the TNA members returned from Wanni without any directives as to how they should cast their votes at the presidential election. This is a very important decision because the Tamil votes from the North and the East would be a deciding factor at a national election. It is believed that the Tamil vote in such areas is more favourable to the UNP.
At a time when both presidential contenders are neck and neck what prompted the LTTE to postpone or negate the North East Tamil factor is questionable. When the TNA returned empty handed from Kilinochchi it was reported that the LTTE has postponed their decision. However Thamilselvan says, “the LTTE, which will not participate in the voting, does not plan to rally the minority Tamil community for or against either candidate”. Hence according to him this was not a postponement but a direct rejection.
Thamilselvan further says, “Both have victory as their objective and want to use the conflict of the Tamil people for their advantage – one wants to bash Tamils and get the majority Sinhala vote while the other wants to be seen as a moderate and win the minority vote.”
One can say that at last Thamilselvan has discovered the truth in the divisive party politics to make such a comment. In a way it gives the impression that the LTTE too has learnt the art of utilizing their vote bank for bargaining purposes. As a result this time the LTTE does not want to follow the traditional path and vote for the UNP blindly but lure both the contenders by dangling their 650,000 vote bank to get what they want.
Thamilselvan’s dictator boss who has never allowed democratic rights to his fellow beings seems to be utilizing the best carrot to manipulate the two presidential contenders.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/09/30/opinion/1.asp)

US backs strong action against LTTE by Champika Liyanaarachchi reporting from Washington

Rocca says travel ban will remain till Tigers change their ways: Peace process must go on whoever wins the polls

The United States yesterday welcomed the European Union travel ban on the LTTE and said it believed the ban would remain till the purpose of imposing it was achieved.
Christina Rocca, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, in an interview with the Daily Mirror said the EU ban reflected the international community's strongest message that acts of terrorism by the LTTE would not be tolerated.
"The travel ban is a concerted message from the Co-Chairs — the US, EU, Japan and Norway — which strongly felt that a wanton act of terrorism of the nature of the assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar should not go unpunished," Ms. Rocca said.
The United States, as a country which has designated the LTTE as a terrorist organization, strongly felt that strong action should be taken against the LTTE to stop the growing number of killings, other forms of violence and child recruitment, she said.
However, Ms. Rocca underscored the need to continue the peace process and reach a negotiated settlement to the conflict and observed that the United States expected that whoever won the presidential elections in Sri Lanka would continue the peace efforts.
"For the US it does not matter who wins the elections but we want to see a violence-free poll and a commitment to continue the peace process," Ms. Rocca said in the interview at the US State Department.
The assistance that came Sri Lanka's way following the December 26 tsunami, Ms. Rocca said, was ample evidence of the kind of support the international community, especially the US, would make available for Sri Lanka and that the government of Sri Lanka could count on such assistance always.
Washington diplomatic sources told the Daily Mirror it was the United States along with Britain — the current European Union president, which played the most decisive role in getting the ban through and Ms. Rocca herself played a crucial role in the discussions in the run-up to the travel ban.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that Ms. Rocca would vacate her post as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia in a few months and would be replaced by former State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reportedly proposed Boucher's nomination to the White House," the Washington Post said.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2005/09/30/front/1.asp)

Unitary or United: A note on this false dichotomy by Malinda Seneviratne

I realized, rather late I know, that there is a sleight of hand in this whole unitary vs. united business. These two terms are posited as somehow being two disparate entities that are also mutually exclusive.
Thus we have Mahinda Rajapakse, whether pushed to do so by the JVP and JHU or not, saying he represents the will of the majority demanding that the unitary character of the state be kept intact. Then there is Ranil Wickremesinghe, pushed perhaps by the international community, the LTTE and other minority groups, vowing to work towards the dismantling of the unitary state by way of federalism and calling the entire solution a recipe for a united Sri Lanka.
Is a unitary state necessarily disunited? Is a federal set-up necessarily uniting? The answer to both questions is no. Notwithstanding this, what is pertinent to understand here is that unitary refers to the character of a well-defined political structure. United does not refer to the form of a given state. Instead, it describes or envisages a relationship between two or more entities, entities that are not necessarily political. For example, the entire nation was united in the shock and grief when the country’s coastline was devastated by the tsunami, but those who were shocked and aggrieved did not relate to each other in a federal kind of way.
Since we are on the subject, it is worthwhile putting federalism in the context of this unitary-united divide and thereby deriving their underlying meanings in the lexicon of the realpolitik.
A federal set up presupposes the existence of political entities that are distinct from one another and that they can reference well-defined geographies that are amenable to labelling as traditional/historical homelands. Self-determination or the right of self-determination must necessarily follow. Thus, such an entity is not granted federalism as such, but rather agrees to be party to a union on federal lines. And, just as a man and a woman have the right to marry one another without conceding the right that each has to separation and/or divorce, either of the two entities that come together in a federal model can choose to separate. It is as simple as that.
Federalism is therefore not a uniting mechanism but one in which is couched the right to separate and secede. Furthermore, when such a solution is proffered to a terrorist who is a chauvinist and who moreover is also an ethnic-cleanser, only the very naive or the worst coward can convince himself or herself that it will result in peace.
Unity under such a situation is utopian and is but an indulgence of the privileged those whose identities are wrought in monetary transactions and not parentage, culture, history, heritage and soil. The correct descriptive for the outcome of a federal solution is unadulterated disunity for decades to come. If you have any doubts, just look at what partition did to India and Pakistan. And in that case the Muslims had a legitimate claim. In ours, as Anandasangaree put it, even the P-TOMS would be legitimizing terrorism.
Just imagine what federalism would do.
In essence, then, federalism does not obtain unity and a federal "solution" therefore is a misnomer. We can only speak of a federal dissolution, if at all.
Who are the federalists in our midst? As Ranil Wickremesinghe told the JHU, it was Chandrika who introduced the idea. Wickremesinghe himself says the Oslo Agreement (i.e. federalism) should be the basis for a settlement. And G.L. Peiris, as though to ratify all this, says CBK and Ranil share the same view on federalism. The European Union wants the LTTE to accept federalism. Manmohan Singh is only opposed to a dictatorship in the North and East of Sri Lanka. He does not say no to a federal dissolution. In short, is he not saying, “We don’t want Helgesen or Balasingham or Prabhakaran, but our puppet?”
The difference between India and Norway is simply that India would prefer a Hindu puppet while Norway would love a Christian one. This is what the tug-of-war between Norway and India regarding their respective roles in Sri Lanka is all about, really. They sugar coat dissolution of the Sri Lankan state with terms such as a solution acceptable to all or a just solution, taking care to write the Sinhalese Buddhists out of the equation, not just of the solution but the entire process of negotiations. They really don’t care whether it is Chandrika or Ranil at the helm because they know that both individuals would happily embrace such dissolution, albeit for different reasons.
We all know that the EU, Britain, the USA, Norway and other foreigners are not in this for the love of peace or due to their extraordinary humanity.
Their histories, collective and separate, prove otherwise. Let us limit ourselves to the CBKs and Ranils here.
These two individuals, more than anyone else, represent the elite class of this country. They are the main representatives of the ‘prabhu pelenthiya’, the relics of the British Raj. This is the key to understanding why they are getting hot under their respective collars about Mahinda’s pacts with the
JVP and the JHU. In Chandrika’s case, she probably sees her legacy of betrayal being torn right down to its foundations. In Ranil’s, it is his political future that is at stake. That is at the surface, I believe. At the core, they have failed or are facing the very real threat of failing their colonial masters. They haven’t delivered or are facing the likelihood of failing to deliver. No wonder they are upset.
One can read this political in the rhetoric of the ball-boys as well.
Consider Rajitha Senaratne. He was, apart from GL, the most vocal proponent of the peace process between 2001 and 2004. At that time he urged the people not to get imprisoned in the terminology; ekeeya-sandeeya vage vachanavalata hira venna epa. Today ekeeya is like poison to Rajitha, as it is to Ranil and Chandrika.
In 1994, Chandrika rode to power in a wave of anti-UNP sentiment.
She redefined the mandate she was given as a mandate for division.
Ranil is merely attempting (once again) to run the second lap of that race.
In 1994, she called it a mandate for peace. In 2001, Ranil called his victory a mandate for peace. Today the cat, uncontainable, has popped out of the bag. It is pay-back time and both Chandrika (even in her reduced circumstance) and Ranil (in his last-gasp attempt) are giving it all they’ve got. The sheer vitriol in their utterances against the JHU and the JVP indicate this and little else.
All this was expected and this is why no one is really paying attention to Chandrika’s not-so-veiled threats against Mahinda Rajapakse. As a senior UNPer recently confessed, if Chandrika tries to subvert Mahinda’s Presidential bid, it would only help him emerge as the quintessential champion of the anti-feudal. She could cause a lot of political instability but it would also mean that Mahinda can very well make a revolution. The man can ride to power on two very simple and eminently campaignable slogans: ‘walau deshapalanayata thitha’ and ‘wedavasam yugayen obbatai.’ A full stop to manorial politics and proceed beyond the feudal era.
There maybe some in the UNP who would read Chandrika’s current anti-Mahinda theatrics as a blessing. The truth is that Mahinda did not inherit Chandrika’s party. He has given that party the signature of a polity that has been largely sidelined in post-independence politics. Chandrika is not a trump card for the UNP. She will prove to be its greatest liability.
Let us remember that the JHU secured almost 20% of the urban vote in Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha, Kalutara and Kurunegala. These were UNP votes.
Something has happened in society and the conditions have not changed since April 2004, except to further entrench the disillusionment of the voter with respect to the UNP's policy of appeasing terrorism, mollycoddling Christian zealots and pampering the robber barons (local and foreign).
Let us remember that village boys from the JVP secured more preferential votes than UNP candidates in many districts, especially Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara. The electorate, when it rejected the UNP, was also rejecting Norway and everything that Helgesen stands for. Today the battle lines are sharper, and sharper shall be the voice of the voter.
Of course, this is not to say that Mahinda Rajapakse is not a friend of Norway. However, even at worst, he is not a slave of Helgesen or Solheim or whoever it is that is Balasingham’s current master. In any event, subsequent to the pacts with the JHU and the JVP, he cannot be someone else’s mouthpiece.
The difference between Mahinda and Ranil, if we were to really pin it down, is that the latter, even if he has a strategy to unite the minorities, does not have any strategy or a desire to unite the Sinhala Buddhists.
We have gone down that path for decades now and failed miserably. No strategy that ignores the unification of the Sinhala Buddhists can hope to obtain a unified multi-ethnic or a unified multi-religious, and certainly not a
united Sri Lanka. Indeed, both Ranil and Chandrika had a policy of dividing the Sinhala Buddhists, with the able support of the International Alerts, Jehan Pereras, Sunanda Deshapriyas and their funding masters of course. Mahinda, on the other hand, has united the Sinhala Buddhists or, more accurately, has had the Sinhala Buddhists united for him. He can proceed now to unite the country within a unitary state with devolution of power and decentralization of administration, as well as other safeguards.
It is still not too late for the UNP to put forward a candidate who is not perceived to be representing the feudal order, who too has decided to put an end to the illicit affair with Norway. Such a candidate might still make what is a foregone conclusion into a race too close to call.
It is imperative that the UNP consider this option, for the question that is being asked is not unitary or united? But unitary or divided? Put another way; are you for Norway or for Sri Lanka? These are the questions that the voters will consider and the UNP would do well to take note.

At least three killed in Sri Lanka’s volatile east ahead of PM’s visit (AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Gunmen fatally shot two ethnic Tamils and a Sinhalese man in separate attacks in Sri Lanka’s volatile east, hours before a planned visit on Saturday by presidential candidate and current Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, police said.
The Tamil men, both aged 23, were shot dead by unidentified gunmen just before midnight in Valaichchenai village, 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of the capital, Colombo, said Rohan Abeywardene, the region’s top police chief.
Around six hours later, an ice-cream seller, belonging to the Sinhalese majority was shot dead in the neighboring eastern district of Ampara.
The fresh outbreak of violence came as Rajapakse prepared to travel to the coastal village of Oluvil, in Ampara, to address an election rally.
Security has been bolstered by special anti-terrorist commandos and the police ahead of his visit, Abeywardene said.
He said while the violence is unlikely to have an impact on the premier’s visit, “we are not taking any chances.” Rajapakse will contest presidential elections expected on Nov. 17.
Authorities suspect the latest violence was linked to feuding between militant groups.
The split in the Tamil Tiger rebels in March 2004, sparked internecine clashes that have killed scores, mainly in Sri Lanka’s east. In recent months, the fighting has spilled over into the capital.
The Tamil Tigers began an armed insurrection in 1983, demanding a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka’s northeast and claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese.
The conflict killed more than 65,000 people before a Norway-brokered cease-fire was signed in 2002. Subsequent peace talks have been stalled since 2003 due to disagreements over power-sharing.
European truce monitors have warned the escalating violence could plunge the island back to war.

(Khaleej Times Online 2005/10/01)

Mob attacks World Vision office by Shezna Shums

A group of Buddhist clergy suspected to be from the Sihala Urumaya Thursday stormed the World Vision (WV) office in Borella verbally and physically attacking the employees.

A Buddhist monk who accompanied the group attacked the media officer of World Vision while the officer tried to take a photograph of the group.

The monk had allegedly grabbed the digital camera the media officer was holding, had taken out the chip of the camera and thrown the camera on the floor.

Head of the mission U. Wong Lee said; "last Wednesday about 20 Buddhist clergymen came into the World Vision Lanka office for a meeting. Several of them spoke to me in an aggressive tone and hearing this, some of my staff members came to see what was going on."

Lee further stated that after his staff saw these visitors carrying cameras his staff too took their cameras and started taking photographs.

He said the Buddhist monks were calling themselves 'Weediya Bandara Balakaya.' A complaint has been lodged at the Borella Police.

(Sunday Leader - November 16, 2003)