Following rout of terrorism:

Diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka a Lilliput compared to the superpowers in the world engaged in the war against terror achieved victory post completely eliminating the LTTE terrorism from its soil leaving behind all the giant nations who had launched similar wars with much grandeur and sophistication at a time this poor nation was struggling to overcome that menace for decades.

It was the very same giant nations, the US, UK who were among the first nations to proscribe the LTTE as a banned terrorist movement and to extend their support to Sri Lanka to crush LTTE terrorism after the 9/11 attack, that tried to belittle the unparalleled victory by charging the Sri Lankan Government of committing war crimes and violating Human Rights.

Finally, just as the Sri Lankan Government faced all sorts of challenges in its way towards that magnanimous military victory, it also won the last challenge before it when the majority of the international community voted in favour of the Sri Lankan resolution to garner the support of the international community to reconstruct and rehabilitate the war ravaged North at the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

This was due to the efforts of the Sri Lankan Government, especially of the Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleke who were able to get the support of 29 friendly nations around the globe against the 12 nations who stood against Sri Lanka with some sort of colonial attitudes.

According to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe the Sri Lanka’s victory at the United Nations Human Rights Council is an endorsement of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s contribution towards eradicating terrorism and protecting Human Rights.

Unethical charges

The resilient leadership shown by President Rajapaksa and the outspoken and challenging attitude of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa towards the unacceptable and unethical charges against the Sri Lankan Security Forces by the world superpowers, stood like a tower of strength to achieve this victory facing all odds.

It was after two days sessions at the UNHRC in Geneva a resolution was adopted on Sri Lanka to extend UN support to rehabilitate and reconstruct war ravaged areas.

The Government faced this challenge even at a time when a handful of disgruntled politicians were launching a campaign to bring disrepute to their very own motherland accusing the Government of violating the Human Rights of Tamil community in the country.

It was amidst all those obstacles the Sri Lankan victory against LTTE terrorism was endorsed both locally and internationally paving the way to build a new Sri Lanka as all Sri Lankan resources are readily available for its people with the liberation of the entire land, sea and air from the clutches of terrorism.

With all these successes the Sri Lankan Government has been left with many more challenges to turn this victory into a true victory that would bring prosperity to the Sri Lankan nation as a whole.

As a part of it the Sri Lankan Security Forces have also been left with many more challenges to overcome to make its victory a lasting one. At the initial stage it has to launch extensive search and clear operations in the Eastern jungle patches as a handful of Tiger leaders and cadres are still operating inside the jungles in the East especially in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts.

According to military intelligence, Tiger leader Ram is still operating in the Eastern jungles in the Trincomalee, Batticaloa district along with a 12 to 14 members of the LTTE. Initial reports indicated that Ram has reportedly contacted Nation Building Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan to surrender to him soon after he heard about the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

However, there was no response from him for the last few days compelling the military to believe that he was hiding inside the thick jungles in Batticaloa.

It was on Wednesday, the Commando teams operating in the Kanchikudichchiaru jungles lay and ambush and killed another team of Tiger terrorists operating there in the jungle. It was strongly believed that the team had been operated under the leadership of Nagulan. But, military sources confirmed yesterday that Nagulan was not among the 11 Tiger cadres also got killed in the Kanchikudichchiaru jungle.

Apart from Ram and Nagulan two other Tiger leaders Thevan and Kulilan are reportedly operating along with another 12 to 14 cadres.

Kokkadicholai Tiger leader Daya Mohan is also missing from the Tiger leaders who had got killed among the last batch of Tiger cadres.

Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka was of the opinion that there is no major threat emerging in the Eastern province as the Security Forces have laid strong foundation to create proper intelligence network in the Eastern province with the support of the civilians and the political leadership.

However, the Army has taken initiatives to deploy two Regular Infantry battalions to conduct search and clear operations along with the Special Forces and the Commando teams.

Apart from the Eastern province extensive search operations are also expected to be conducted in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts in search of the Tiger cadres who have escaped into jungle patches. The search operations are also aimed at recovering the large stocks of arms and ammunition of the LTTE.

The Tiger cadres operating in Colombo and suburbs will also come under the focus of the Security Forces as Tiger cadres operating undercover are yet to be exposed by the intelligence operatives. But things have become so difficult for the intelligence operatives to identify those cadres as many of these cadres are operating with the assistance of big business tycoons in Colombo.

So it has become a challenging task for the military to identify those links. However due to the strong presence of Police and its operational network in Colombo will give a hard time for those cadres.

Therefore, it is believed that these Tiger operatives will have natural deaths as they are now operating without any command from their leaders as almost all the Tiger leadership has perished in the Vellamullivaikkal battle.

The Special Forces and Commando troops are engaged in extensive search operations in the East to nab these last set of Tiger cadres operating in the East.

A set of Tiger cadres got killed at the hands of the Special Forces troops in the Peraru jungles soon after the final assault on the LTTE on May 19 in Vellamullivaikkal killing all the top Tiger leaders.

Apart from this the Security Forces have also focused their attention towards conducting search and clear operations in the estate sector also as they have to take precautionary action to avoid any unfortunate incidents taking place in the country even after fully eradicating LTTE terrorism.

As LTTE makes use of the estate sector for their covert operations and to plant their suicide cadres along with the stocks of arms and ammunition for their future terror operations, conducting of search and clear operations in the estate sector has also become a priority for the Security Forces.

Amidst this situation the Sri Lanka Army is still pondering as to whether LTTE intelligence Wing leader Pottu Amman got killed or alive as it a decisive factor for the existence of the Tiger cadres operating every part of the country in hiding.

According to military intelligence it is 90 percent sure that Pottu Amman was killed during the battle in Vellamullivaikkal but there is no clear evidence to prove that he was killed. Like the death of Pottu Amman, the death of Madivadani and Duaraka has also become a puzzle for the military as there is no strong indication to say that either they were killed or alive although it was hundred percent proved that Prabhakaran’s two sons Charles Anthony and Balachandran were killed during the Vellamullivaikkal battle.

It is believed either Prabhakaran’s wife and daughter have fled the country in the same manner LTTE Sea Tiger leader Soosai’s wife and family members tried to escape from country. The military believes that the family members of Soosai had tried to escape from the country with the proper knowledge of the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Therefore, it is believed that family members of other Tiger leaders would have also fled the country before they were encircled in Karayanmullivaikkal by the 58,53 and 59 Divisions.

Due to this doubt the military are conducting further investigations to ascertain whether Prabhakaran’s wife and daughter had fled the country or are hiding in a country like Malaysia as intelligence reports have indicated about their escape on February 24, this year.

Intelligence chiefs

This has been confirmed by two top most intelligence chiefs to the Government. As the military investigating about this incident the military has got information about the presence of Tiger Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s farther and mother in the Zone 4 of the Menik Farm Welfare camp.

Prabhakaran’s farther Thiruvenkatam Velupillai aged 85 and Vallipuram Parwathie aged 78 had fled the safe zone along with the last batch of civilians on May 17, through 59 Division area after crossing the Vadduvakkal causeway and from Mullaitivu they have been dispatched into Vavuniya welfare camps. According to military official who had questioned them, Prabhakaran’s father and mother had lived in a separate area from the area where Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was living in hiding.

Prabhakaran’s farther and mother arrived in the country during the Ceasefire period from their exile in India and reached Kilinochchi through the Omanthai Entry Exit point. Since then they have been living in Visuamadu area and have shifted to Puthukudiyiruppu and later into North of Mullaitivu once the safe zone was declared by the Government.

According to senior military officials Prabhakaran’s parents will be separated from the other civilians as their presence with the civilians following their identification may cause problems to the military.

Like Prabhakaran’s parents nearly 10,000 Tiger cadres have arrived in Government controlled areas along with the civilians and surrendered to the Security Forces later.

According to Army Commander 9,800 Tiger cadres have surrendered to the Security Forces and have been separated from the civilians to be rehabilitated at Government institutions. At the time intense fighting was going on in Puthukudiyiruppu East and West, more than 4,000 Tiger cadres have surrendered to the Security Forces having arrived in Government controlled areas along with 75,000 civilians.

The majority of the Tiger cadres who surrendered to the Security Forces during that period were properly trained cadres. But during the period the civilians were rescued from the Safe Zone in Puthumattalan and Vellaimullivaikkal area, more than 4,000 well trained cadres surrendered to the Security Forces. They had fought with the Security Forces a minimum period of two to three years.

With these facts, the Security Forces have explicitly demonstrated their humanity towards the surrendered Tiger cadres and have not taken any step to imprison them or ill-treat them if they volunteered to surrender.

Therefore, the allegations levelled by the international community become are baseless as the Security Forces have tried their best to safeguard the lives of Tiger cadres that voluntarily surrendered to them. But it is unacceptable, when those so-called international community accuses the Government of committing war crimes citing desperate efforts by the Tiger leaders to surrender amidst fierce fighting whilst another section of Tiger leaders were making attempt to escape from the country.

Chaotic period

What they should understand is that any organization that wants to negotiate their surrender should do it when things are calm and quite not during a chaotic period where intense fighting is going on as it was not possible to stop soldiers firing towards massive number of Tiger cadres trying to escape from them and negotiate terms for their surrender.

Therefore, the allegations of war crimes against the Sri Lankan Security Forces were baseless and it was due to the realistic understanding of the international community that supported Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council.