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DateLine Monday, 12 January 2009

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Government Gazette

Of victories, defeats and conspiracies

The concerns raised by President Mahinda Rajapaksa of a conspiracy to undermine the unprecedented victories of the Security Forces cannot be dismissed off hand. Nor the attempts to divert the peoples' attention from the military gains.

The fall of Kilinochchi, the epicentre of LTTE power brought the nation as one in spontaneous celebration. All segments of the population shed their party colours and other differences to rejoice in the event. This no doubt would have been galling to some who had all along been challenging the capability of the forces to wrest control of the Tiger citadel.

Now the valiant forces have also captured Elephant Pass another Tiger bastion and reopened the A9 Road after 23 long years.

But these twin victories no doubt were marred by the attack on the Sirasa Studios and the assassination of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. Coming as they did hot on the heels of these victories they naturally gave rise to suspicion.

Addressing the nation following the liberation of Elephant Pass on Friday President Rajapaksa cited many such instances from the past where attempts were made to dilute the victories of Armed Forces by similar diversionary tactics. One was the attack on the Udayan Newspaper office on World Press Freedom Day. Another was the abduction of journalist Keith Noyar that coincided with the capture of Thoppigala.

The President cannot be faulted for seeing a similar design in the current attack on the Sirasa office and the slaying of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Only this time the gravity of the crimes were more heinous perhaps in proportion to the significance of the latest victories.

We are not pointing the finger at any one party. But even to the man on the street a question mark would linger as to the timing of these attacks. The Sirasa studios were attacked two days after the capture of Kilinochchi known as the Tiger Headquarters, and when the country was still in the grip of the euphoria of that victory.

The slaying of Wickrematunge was done when the forces were poised to capture the strategic Elephant Pass which was bound to have evoked another wave of celebrations countrywide. The President also referred to similar attacks on the media personnel and media institutions earlier too when the troops pulled off decisive victories. No doubt he has noticed a trend in this regard which has fuelled his suspicion of a conspiracy both by local and international agencies, to rob the forces of the honour and glory of their unprecedented achievements and to blot the image of the country.

That is why the Government should redouble it's efforts in getting after the culprits so as to clear the air in this regard. As the President has already noted unfounded alleagations have been made against the Army Commander by these conspirators. This is all the more reason to get at the bottom of these incidents. For, the perpetrators of these foul deeds know that no bigger damage could be done to the image of the forces in their successful march to victory than by sullying the reputation of the military leadership. This way they hope to deal a huge dent in the morale of the troops and stymie the final thrust against a cornered enemy while at the same time bringing international opprobrium on a highly disciplined armed force.

Through this means the conspirators no doubt hope to besmirch the good name of the forces in the eyes of the public. It may also hope to bring international pressure to bear on the Government to reverse the forward march. Therefore it is incumbent on the Government to deploy it's full might to uncover this conspiracy and unmask the persons behind the plot. The public would expect nothing more at a time the country is poised to witness lasting peace after decades of bloodletting. Those power-hungry elements should not be allowed to exploit the current situation to ride their fortunes.

The public for their part should be vigilant against these conspirators and not buy into their craftily engineered publicity stunts lest they be lured away into missing the wood for the trees. They should be constantly aware of the campaign being waged to belittle the victories of the Security Forces and stymie the current military thrust to annihilate the terrorists. Because sinister forces are today busy to dampen the buoyant spirits of the public following the capture of Kilinochchi and redress the balance in favour of the enemy.

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