A cowardly act

The country yesterday was robbed of a brave son of the soil through yet another cowardly attack of the LTTE now gasping in its death throes. While the nation was shocked into stunned disbelief by the enormity of the loss it should also come to terms with the fact that this type of attack will be the LTTE’s staple in the coming days as it surrenders its strongholds one by one to the military juggernaut.

The tragic death of Major General Janaka Perera the recently elected opposition leader of the North Central Province in an LTTE suicide blast is a major blow. The Tigers who failed in their mission to get at the Army Commander and the Defence Secretary may well have been looking for another high profile target.

Major General Janaka Perera’s new role as a politician which exposed him to risks may have provided an ideal opportunity for the LTTE. That the decorated officer who had proved the nemesis of the LTTE on countless missions was a major target of the outfit was only too obvious.

This killing is reminiscent of the suicide attack on Major General Lucky Algama - another stalwart in the anti-LTTE campaign, although in that case the biggest target was former minister Gamini Dissanayake.

Major General Janaka Perera not only proved the bete noire of the LTTE on the battlefront. He also worked tirelessly as a diplomat to dismantle international structures of the outfit. He was also a guiding force, along with the present Commander, that helped the Forces to wrest control of Jaffna and save the beleaguered troops trapped in the peninsula.

He was therefore a marked man of the outfit. That it picked on Major General Perera of course is no coincidence given his highly successful campaign against the LTTE. The decorated officer humbled the outfit in many a battle and he obviously was in the sights of the LTTE for a long time.

The killing follows a pattern of the LTTE’s plans to eliminate military men who had led successful battles against the outfit. It similarly made unsuccessful attempts on the lives of Army chief Lt.General Sarath Fonseka and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and succeeded in assassinating Maj. Gen. Parami Kulatunga.

Through eliminating military top brass retired or otherwise the goal of the LTTE is to demoralise the troops on the one hand while getting even with the losses it suffered on the other. Eliminating potential leadership in the South is another of its aims.

The masses will grieve with members of the Armed Forces who served under Major General Perera, at this tragic loss and hope this latest affront to the troops would be fittingly avenged in the coming days when the Forces march triumphantly into the Tiger citadel in Kilinochchi.

Hemmed in on all fronts and cornered in its lair the LTTE is today left with only one option and that is go berserk on a killing spree. Yesterday’s incident was just a sample of the desperation of the outfit which is nearing its end.

That it took the lives of other innocents is only incidental. We ask those human rights activists who make a hue and cry about collateral damage as to what they have to say about the large number of deaths of innocents in yesterday’s blast including the wife of Major General Perera.

That the LTTE is in its last gasp is all too evident and it is bound to carry out similar desperate strikes, if nothing else to but to demonstrate it still has some fight left in it. This is the only way it could shore up the morale of its depleted cadres and warm the cockles of elements of the diaspora sympathetic to its ignoble cause.

We can expect more such attacks in the coming days as the Security Forces tighten their grip on the outfit. With power and control slipping away from his grasp each day a demented Velupillai Prabhakaran is bound to use every trick up his sleeve as the last throw of the dice in a bid to stall the advance of the Security Forces.

And it will spare no one in its path be they women, children or pregnant mothers. That it would not be selective in its targets in the vile campaign to sow chaos and confusion will have to be factored by those in charge of mapping out security plans and appropriate action taken.

Fresh plans are called for to counter the looming threat that is very real as the Forces prepare for the final kill. Yesterday’s attack also underscores the need to implement a viable security plan for the outstations as the Tigers are bound to shift strategy.

It is hoped that this killing of a battlefield warrior who led his men from the front would redouble the efforts of the Forces to attain their final goal. This would be a fitting tribute to a true officer and a gentleman.