Lankan Army's game plan: Seize East and weaken LTTE in North

P. K. Balachandran, Hindustan Times

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Army's game plan is to drive the LTTE out of the Eastern districts completely, and weaken it in the Northern districts, to pave the way for talks to find a permanent political solution to the Tamil question, says its Commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka.

"In five to six months we will completely mop up the LTTE in the East," the General told select foreign journalists here on Monday.

But to one's surprise, he added: "We have no plan to take the North." "Our plan in the North is to weaken the LTTE militarily so that we are able to maintain our positions there," he explained.

He believed that there should be a political solution, a permanent settlement of the ethnic conflict which had been dogging the island country for more than two decades.

But that couldn't happen so long as the LTTE was militarily strong, he argued.

The LTTE Supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was not interested in peace and would have to be forced to come for a settlement, the General said.

Prabhakaran dreaded peace. "He would not be able to move around freely if there was peace. He would have to be in hiding and ruling like a military dictator," the Sri Lankan Army Chief said.

Therefore, the Sri Lankan Army and its sister forces were on the job of militarily weakening the LTTE, he added.

Asked why there was a need for a political solution after neutralising the LTTE, which he believed did not enjoy support among the Tamil people, Gen. Fonseka said that the people in the North-East had political grievances and these needed to be addressed, if there was to be permanent peace.

"We are convinced that there should be a political solution," he stressed.

Even in the East, which had been cleared of the LTTE almost fully, one could not say that there had been a "victory", Gen. Fonseka argued.

"There can be real victory, only when there is a political solution under which people can lead normal lives," he said.

If the political issues were not addressed, war could go on for another two decades, the General warned.

The Tamil people had a choice, either to follow Prabhakaran and keep on fighting or follow moderate leaders like V. Anandasangaree and Douglas Devananda and return to peace, he said.

The Government was thinking of a political settlement and President Mahinda Rajapaksa had already made an offer, the General said, referring to the devolution proposal made by Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Current position in East

Gen. Fonseka said that the LTTE now held only a small part of the Toppigala jungle in the East, barely 10 square kilometres out of a total area of 50 sq. km.

"It can be flushed out of this area in a couple of weeks and then the mopping up operations would have to be carried out to completely clear the area and that may take five to six months," he said.

But the LTTE is dogged. "It has not given up hopes of holding Toppigala," the General noted.

And the cadres are desperadoes. "Every Tiger cadre is a suicide cadre, in as much as he is forced to fight to the last bullet."

In Gen. Fonseka's estimation, there are only about 300 LTTE fighting cadres left in the East and they are holed up in the Toppigala jungle.