SLMM and Tiger denials

THE MESSAGE conveyed by Saturday's explosion opposite the Batticaloa SLMM office which ripped through a parked vehicle belonging to the Mission cannot go unheeded and dismissed as yet another Ceasefire violation, now that the violence has reached closer home from the point of view of the Norwegian truce monitors.

The attack should also act as a wake up call to all concerned to the latest strategies of the LTTE which may turn out to be a new dimension to the emerging picture in the North-East marked by the continued killings of Security Forces personnel and other civilians.

There can be no other force than the LTTE who could carry out such a daring attack on the premises of the truce monitors despite the protestations of LTTE political wing leader Thamilselvan that it is an act to wreck the ceasefire, implying it is the work by another group to shift the blame of the LTTE.

That any other group could have the wherewithal to carry out such a mission could bring blushes on even the most ardent LTTE sympathiser. Is Thamilselvan implying that the recent attack on the Dvora craft off Trincomalee which killed 10 sailors too to be the work of another armed group?

All along it has been the custom of the LTTE not to accept blame for any of their atrocities as the group's past record would testify.

The LTTE political leader's condemnation of Saturday's attack describing it as another attempt to wreck the Ceasefire Agreement could be hilarious if not for the gravity of the incident. It is on record that the LTTE had committed over 3000 CFA violations up to date including killings of intelligence operatives in Colombo and no one could recall the group expressing remorse or regret over such acts.

The LTTE political wing leader may do well to hark back to the day in April 2003 when it exploded a ship through its suicide cadres in the high seas off Trincomalee after advising the two SLMM members to jump overboard. And the incident took place when the fourth round of the peace talks were in progress in Berlin. So much for respecting the Ceasefire Agreement.

There were many other instances where the LTTE defied the CFA during the so called lull in hostilities including an attack on a military garrison in the East, but treated with a Nelsonian eye by the truce monitors.

Saturday's attack also brings into focus the whole issue of the role and the mission of the Norwegian truce monitors whose prime task it has been to report CFA violations on either side. In the absence of an enforcement mechanism this assumes a futile exercise especially given the flagrant violations of the LTTE with no follow up action to curb its activities.

The SLMM also still harbours an aversion to identify the real perpetrators as evidenced by the statement issued in the aftermath of Saturday's incident except to say that it is a serious incident and that the "group behind the attack is sending a message that they are not supporting the peace process or our work".

It would greatly help all concerned if the SLMM becomes more forthcoming and identify the LTTE by name so that this will register with the International community who has become a major player in the country's peace process.

True, the SLMM is performing a thankless job and has to do a tight rope walk to ensure the continuation of the CFA and act with discretion to prevent a break out of hostilities and plunge the country back into war. It is this same restraint that President Mahinda Rajapakse too is exercising to avert a slide back to anarchy.

However, it is time that the SLMM plays a more assertive role to have the LTTE accountable for its actions now that attacks have become too close for comfort.