A month since victory

Noose tightening round KP:

Overseas Tigers in disarray:

A month has already has passed since the glorious victory achieved by the valiant Security Forces that completely eliminated LTTE terrorism from Sri Lankan soil following the final battle they fought on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in Vellamullivaikkal in Mullaitivu on May 18 and 19.

This great victory is now slowly entering history books as one of the major milestones in the country’s march forward under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lanka Army will mark the completion of one month to that great victory today in Mullaitivu with the participation of Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka and other senior officials of the Sri Lanka Army who had greatly contributed to this victory at a function to be held at a Karayanmullivaikkal closer to the wreckage of the Farah III ship.

For many it was an unbelievable episode which had flashed in their minds, as they never believed in eliminating LTTE terrorism from Sri Lankan soil during their life time.

Brigade Commanders and Commanding Officers at the final day of battle in Vellamullivaikkal

Death of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was shocking news for them as they never imagined seeing his body lying on the ground like any other Tiger terrorist who got killed after a failed mission to accomplish his terror plan. But circumstances made him to die in the same death trap he set to kill innocent men, women and children in a democratic society. Like his existence, Prabhakaran’s death also became a puzzle for many ordinary citizens since it was not the way they wanted to see his death and many ran after imaginations, sticked onto their own assumptions and believed in wild rumors spread across the globe, over his death.

It was due to these myths, imaginations, assumptions and rumors that the way Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his top rung leaders were killed during their last attempt to breach the Security Forces defences and escape became a controversy for the past one month.

Even today, some sections of people are not ready to accept the fact that the Tiger leader was killed inside the mangroves in Vellamullivaikkal in Mullaitivu despite the military and the Government strongly rejecting the allegations that he was tortured before his death.

Not only did they believe in those myths and assumptions but also tried to charge the Security Forces and the Government of war crimes for killing the last batch of top level leaders.

But one month is more than enough to brush off all those myths about the death of Prabhakaran and all his top rung leaders as numerous post mortems have been conducted into it by many.

Field commanders

It has to be mentioned that it took two weeks to brush off all those myths about the Tiger leaders death even the soldiers, commanding officers and field commanders who were engaged in the last ditch battle in Vellamullivaikkal and Karayanmullivaikkal had to piece together each and every incident they had come across on May 18 and 19 to get an overall picture of the incident.

Until then there were many versions to the incident that took place in Vellamullivaikkal as only a handful number of people were aware of what exactly took place in Vellamullivaikkal.

But a considerable number of journalists, including this correspondent who was there at Vellamullivaikkal were witnesses to what had happened there. There was nothing for the military to hide. All those journalists who were there at Vellamullivaikkal on May 18 and 19 rejected all those rumours that were widespread in Colombo when many journalists including some foreign correspondents were highly skeptical about what had happened there.

Search operation

Although, what had happened within the LTTE still remains a mystery, the rest of the story about the battle in Vellamullivaikkal is now very clear except for the exact time the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed on May 19 although the body was recovered around 10 am on May 19, by the troops attached to the 4 Vijayaba Infantry Regiment troops led by Lt. Colonel Rohan Aluvihare after an intense search operation carried out by the Commando troops along with the 4 VIR troops.

However, the military is yet to know about the destiny of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s wife and daughter Duaraka as there is strong evidence to prove that they were killed in the last battle.

The investigations carried out by the military based on the data from the satellite phones collected from Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and from other top level leaders have so far given indications that the Tiger leaders were in contact with their supporters in UK and USA till the last moment.

The satellite phone which was found in the possession of Tiger leader was of no use as the chip had been removed from it. But investigators have been able to restore four satellite phones out of the eight they have found among the Tiger cadres and are conducting investigations based on the data available in those phones.

Intense fighting

According to military officials other satellite phones have been discarded as they were beyond restoration due to leakage of water inside. However, through the data collected from the available phones there are strong indications they have made a last minute attempt to negotiate with many of their high level contacts while intense fighting was going on to counter their attack on the Security Forces defences.

They had strong faith in Western nations until the last moment but miserably failed in their attempt as it was ill timed.

By this time all those human right activists and international journalists who tried to charge the Security Forces and the Government for committing war crimes and violating human rights have silenced their guns as they have already realized the fact that they all have gone after a mirage driven by the LTTE proxies operating internationally.

Although, the roots of terrorism have already been uprooted from the Sri Lankan soil, various elements of the LTTE are still trying to reorganize themselves at international level. According to reports two blocs of LTTE, one operating in the West under the leadership of Kumaran Pathmanathan and the other under the LTTE intelligence wing are making separate attempts to reorganize themselves internationally.

According to intelligence reports those who are operating in Europe are still collecting funds for the organization, and depositing them in the Tiger bank accounts.

However, the Government has intensified its effort to arrest the Tiger leaders operating internationally including KP with the support of the foreign nations whilst intensifying operations to nab suicide cadres and other Tiger supporters based in Colombo and other parts of the country.

According to intelligence reports there are dozens of suicide cadres still wandering in Colombo and the suburbs after their leadership perished in the last battle in Mullaitivu. But they are still receiving instructions from their handlers based in Western and European countries as witnessed by the investigators after the arresting some of those suicide cadres sent to Colombo.

Suicide cadres

They are still giving a moral boost for these suicide cadres and depositing money in their bank accounts unaware of the fact that these cadres are under arrest. Through such networks the Police and the military are trying their best to identify those who had supported the LTTE locally and internationally.

As a result of these investigations, many businessmen, Security Forces personnel based in Colombo have been detained by the Police, who are conducting further investigations as to how they had operated from Colombo to extend their support to the terror activities.

Therefore, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Terrorist Investigation Division are conducting investigations in to these cases. The objective is to weed out the Tiger cadres fully so that the Government can assure the people a peaceful environment for them to move freely in any part of the country.

Until then the Security Forces and the Police will have to maintain barriers and security check points to detain those Tiger cadres still operating freely mingling with the civilians.

Whilst search operations were going on in Colombo the military is still running after Tiger leader Nagulan and Kuilan operating in Batticaloa and Trincomalee along with a handful of Tiger cadres. Military officials believe that they have already moved into the civilian settlement in the East as intense search operations conducted by the Security Forces have made it difficult for them to operate in the jungles.

The Security Forces and the Police however, would not leave any room for any terror element to raise its ugly head once again in this country.

As the Security Forces and the Police are taking these security measures and the Government has taken initiatives to rebuild the conflict affected areas in the North. As a step towards bringing normality to the North the Security Forces on Wednesday took the initiative to open the key Jaffna - Kandy A-9 road for lorries taking essential items to the Jaffna peninsula. It was after August 11, 2006, that lorries taking essential items to Jaffna peninsula plied on the A-9 road. It has become a big relief for the people in Jaffna and also for the traders in Jaffna as they get free access to Jaffna through the A-9 road to transport essentials to the peninsula.

The closure of the A-9 road following the escalation of hostilities between the Security Forces and the LTTE on August 11, 2006 was the biggest blow to the LTTE and for its downfall as they never though that the people in Jaffna would be separated from the people in Vanni at any moment.

It was true that the people in Jaffna and other parts of the country had to undergo difficulties due to the closure of the A-9 road from Muhamalai but the overall benefit of that far sighted decision by the defence authorities has finally brought fruitful results for the country as it led to the elimination of terrorism from the country.

Peace talks

If one can remember the effort the LTTE made at each and every international fora to exert pressure on the Government to open this road for the civilians and the way the LTTE withdrew from the peace talks in protest against the decision to close the A-9 road in the year 2006, he or she can imagine the huge impact on the LTTE due to the closure of this road.

But it was due to that firm decision taken by the Government to curb the terror activities of the LTTE, the Security Forces could achieve this victory against the LTTE. If the Government succumbed to that international and local pressure and opened the A-9 road fearing that the Government would lose support from the minority political parties the country would have plunged into utter chaos leaving room for the LTTE to unleash their terror plans without any hindrance.

It was due to that far sighted decision by the defence authorities, the people of this country especially the Tamil people for the first time in the recent history are getting free access to Jaffna peninsula through the A-9 road without paying any extortions to the LTTE.

It gives the strong feeling to the people that they are living in a unified country without any influence of terrorism for the first time in many decades.

The Tamil community for the first time will understand the difference between living under the jackboot of terrorism and in a free country where there is no influence of terrorism once they are resettled in their own villages when Security Forces complete the process of demining and search operations, whilst the Government completing its reconstruction programs in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

It is commendable that a MP from the Tamil National Alliance, Sivanathan Kisshore has pledged his support to the Government initiated development program in the North after taking an independent decision considering the current situation of the country.

Tamil politicians who were not outspoken in their expression due to the fear of the LTTE have now for the first time got the chance to engage in the democratic process as the Government has already taken initiatives to hold elections for the Jaffna and Vavuniya Municipal Councils.

The forthcoming elections would be the first elections in which the Tamil community would cast their vote without any influence of the LTTE after a lapse of three decades and would signal a green light for their desire to live in democratic society.