STORIES UNTOLD

Clockwise: Soldiers on a boat patrol a lagoon, Tamil civillians escape the LTTE and make their way to government controlled areas, a tank in Mullaitivu, a soldier hurries away from the tank as it prepares to fire, SLN on parade in Colombo

[Images from Yahoo ]

CLOSING IN ON THE 'SAFE ZONE' OF THE TIGERS

DIV 55 seems to be the boys with the hot job of clearing out the LTTE remnants out of the safe zone in which they are holding a large number of civillians as a human shield. The specialized nature of the force is particularly suited for anti-terror operations in a crowded setting, and its leadership comprises mainly of the cream of SLA's tacticians.

Division 55 has the added advantage of being able to call upon coordinated diversionary attacks by the large force of other divisions covering all sides of the final theatre, while the LTTE is now left with the prospect of surrendering or facing annihilation. Contrary to the expectations of pro-LTTE lunatic fringe, the outside world and decision makers in India clearly do not care either way.

The SLN is also playing a crucial role in curtailing sea Tiger activities. Last evening they destroyed at least 4 sea tiger craft, killing 26 LTTE cadres in a single engagement.

LOOKING BACK: WRONG TURNS ON A LONG AND TRAUMATIC JOURNEY

Paper Number 426 , 15.03.2002

Sri Lanka: Cease-fire agreement and prospects for peace
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan

Setting: To understand the Cease-fire agreement, one should go back to the Sri Lankan elections of 5th December, 2001 which threw up two challenges:

* A test on the current Constitution- a powerful executive President from one Party who is sulking with a powerful parliament led by Prime minister of another party.
* A consolidation of the Tamil view point.

These two developments will have a serious impact on the ongoing ethnic crisis and perhaps the challenges themselves could be seen as opportunities to solve the vexing problem.

The election itself was one of the most violent ones in Sri Lankan history with over 2000 incidents and 40 deaths. Both the leaders Chandrika and Ranil freely traded charges before the elections and this further exacerbated the already tenuous relationship between the two
Confrontation or Cohabitation?: This was the choice before the two leaders and both do not seem to have reconciled themselves to the situation where they will have to work together in unison to solve the ethnic problem.

Unlike in the past, the four party alliance (TNA) of non LTTE parties aligned itself fully with the LTTE and won 15 seats on an election plank which called for the deproscription of the LTTE, to let the LTTE participate in the Peace talks as the sole representative of the Tamils and the intervention of a third party.

Cease-fire interregnum before the MOU: Soon after elections the LTTE first declared cease-fire from 24th December and extended by one month and the Sri Lankan government reciprocated. The cease fire could at best be described as unstable with both sides complaining of violations. There were allegations that the LTTE continued to import arms and that in one of the last instances there was a major clash off Mullaithivu coast between Sri Lankan Navy and the Sea Tigers on the 19th night- that is after Prabakaran signed the draft cease-fire agreement.

The Cease-fire agreement brokered by Norway entered into force on 23rd Feb. The gainer was the LTTE.

The agreement has many fuzzy areas and worse still, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister does not seem to have taken the President into confidence before initialling it. Some of the disputed points which may give rise to different interpretations are -

* The text does not specifically deal with the recruitment of children by the LTTE. There have been allegations in the past of forcible kidnapping and recruitment.

* While acknowledging the legitimacy of Sri Lankan forces to safe guard the sovereignty, both parties are free to move arms, equipment and ammunition within the areas controlled by them. The question then is- Can the LTTE import arms and ammunition into the territory controlled by them for e.g. the entire Mullaithivu coast which is under the control of LTTE. ? We quote Balasingham here-he said " We wish to impress upon him ( Kadirgamar - former foreign minister) that sovereignty denotes the supreme power of the people, not an inalienable divine right of the state."

* Perhaps the most controversial provision will be the disarming of Tamil Para military groups now supporting the Sri Lankan government. The agreement envisages no space for the non LTTE groups. While the LTTE is free to move all over Tamil areas including areas controlled by the Sri Lankan army, there is no mention whether non LTTE groups like EPDP and Varada Raja Perumal’s faction of EPRLF could do political work in LTTE controlled areas. There is no presence of monitoring team either in the LTTE controlled areas of Killinochi and Mullaithivu areas- the result- slowly but surely LTTE will emerge as the unchallenged ruler of Tamils.

* The most significant achievement of LTTE will be in regaining control of Jaffna. The Sri Lankan army will go back into their barracks after vacating all public buildings and there will be no offensive patrolling either. The LTTE will take complete political control of the district. Significantly their first office in Jaffna was opened at Tiruneveli- a place which attained prominence when the ambush of LTTE killing 13 soldiers triggered the state wide riots of 1983.
Prospects for Peace: It looks that Wickremesinghe in his over anxiety for peace has thrown caution to the winds. The agreement gives the impression of the LTTE being the victor and has unwittingly given the Norwegians a role from that of a facilitator to one of mediator and arbitrator.

On the cease fire agreement itself, both sides appear to have different perceptions.

* The Sri Lankan government looks at it as a precursor for talks that should start early. That in their view would test the sincerity of LTTE whether they are genuinely interested in a solution or not. But the Prime minister himself has thrown the spanner by declaring even before the talks that agreement with LTTE will be placed before the people for a referendum which he himself knows will never succeed!

* On the other hand the LTTE looks at the cease fire as an end in itself. See the statements of some of the leaders. Balasingham- the cease fire agreement " is one (of)gradual de-escalation and bringing about the normalisation of civilian life in the north east." Tamil Chelvan" Talks could begin once living conditions had improved and the government lifted its ban" on the LTTE." The agreement called for an improvement of the living conditions of the people living in the north and east." Thus the normalisation norms themselves will become a subject of dispute before talks begin.

Another significant response of Tamil Chelvan whether the LTTE had given up its demand for Eelam was that it would depend upon "if the government can put forward proposals to fulfill the aspirations of the Tamil." This has been the standard phraseology of LTTE throughout and to say that the LTTE had changed its position on Eelam and that it was willing to work under a united Sri Lanka, appears far fetched.

The maximum the Sri Lankan government had offered to the Tamils was in 1995 when Chandrika at the height of popularity with Tamils, had made some proposals which went up to a kind of "regional configuration." Unfortunately this got whittled down progressively.

Imagine a situation now and hereafter when the LTTE is in total control of a sizeable territory of the north east with a line of control, check posts to monitor entry and exit, with freedom for the group to do whatever it likes. They will also have progressively political, economic and cultural control over rest of the Tamil territories too. What they have now is more than what was offered in 1995. Will they accept anything less? And why should they?

http://southasiaanalysis.org/papers5/paper426.html

MALAYSIA BECOMING A MAJOR LTTE HUB

All Sri Lankan ethnic communities have suffered from the war but the islands third, and smallest, ethnic community –the Sri Lankan Muslims have become the worst affected and forgotten losers in this vicious struggle.

Since the start of the separatist war Tamil Tigers planed and carried out ruthless attacks against the Muslims living in the north-eastern areas of the country including ethnic cleansing, mass killings, forcefully taking over Muslim properties, imposing various taxes, abducting Muslim youth as Tiger guerrilla cadres and others for ransom.

1990-1991 was a particularly terrible period for Muslims. In October 1990 the Tamil Tigers ordered all Muslims living in Tiger controlled northern Jaffna peninsula to leave within 48 hours or face execution. So nearly 90,000 Jaffna Muslims fled from their homes overnight. Each fleeing person was only allowed to take 300 rupees in cash (around 10 US $ then) and a few cloths and leave behind everything else they had, which subsequently the Tamil Tigers took over. These Muslims fleeing the northern peninsula were gathered in refugee camps in Putlam and Kalpity areas. These Muslim people had lived better lives in Jaffna while some had even been very successful businessmen. Even today after 15 years, around 53,000 of them still live in these refugee camps.

The same year Tamil Tigers massacred 172 Muslims praying in a Mosque in the eastern town of Kathankudy. Not stopping from these, they have since then killed many thousands of north-eastern Muslims by sporadic attacks, not to mention they have taken over Muslim peoples properties in Eastern areas under their control. So the mainly agrarian North-Eastern Muslims have been continuously suffering in the hands of the ruthless Tamil Tigers.
http://1muslimnation.wordpress.com/category/sri-lanka/

Foreign and domestic Intelligence services currently indicate a growing LTTE presence and organizational and procurement structure in Malaysia, perhaps with the aim of conducting a long range war against the Sri Lankan state. The LTTE's long time logistics operative known under the name KP is known to have shifted his operations to Malaysia following deportation from Thailand following intense lobbying by Sri Lanka and interception and destruction of the organization's supply ships by the SL Navy.

Sri Lanka has already communicated the relevant intelligence to the Malaysians and their government is said to be looking into LTTE activities with renewed interest. However given the fact that the Tigers were able to operate freely in Thailand for over two decades ostensibly by using their connections in that country, Malaysia's own very influential and LTTE sympathetic tamil community can be depended upon by the terror organization to facilitate their operations without too much government intervention.

Considering this situation, Sri Lanka should reach out to the Malaysian muslim political forces and remind them of the horrendous ethnic cleansing activities carried out by the LTTE against their bretheren in Sri Lanka. By allowing the LTTE free reign on their soil, Malaysian muslims would be guilty of supporting those who committed horrible crimes against fellow muslims. It would be strategically important for the SLG to pursue this connection further.

ATTRITIONAL WAR, STAYING THE COURSE AND STAYING CLEAN

Without a doubt, the military operations need to continue and from all appearances they will. The SLDF has by now limited the area under direct LTTE control and thus the area open for operations, to a mere 9 kilometers. As a result the LTTE is gradually moving its military assets and leadership into the 'safe zone' on the eastern sea coast. Sri Lankan media in the area provides a daily feed of LTTE operations within the safe zone, from where tamil tigers' guns placed among civillians can be seen firing on the Sri Lankan military.

The LTTE is in dire straights. Its anticipated assistance from overseas and in particular Tamilnadu failed to materialize even though rigorous efforts were made to mobilize various sleeper cells in many nations. While their efforts failed to yield the anticipated results, the host nations themselves did recieve a rude awakening in the form of realizing the extent to which their own cities have been infilterated by the feared tamil tigers. Canada primarily is a nation which could easily anticipate a dangerous upward trend in high intensity violence as a result of the eviction of tamil tigers from Sri Lanka. Most of these tamils who have been trained in terrorism lack any other markettable employment skills and will easily become violent criminals on the streets of the host nations. They will also carry a grudge against these same host nations for failing to support their secessionist cause. The nations who recently witnessed high participation in anti-Sri Lanka demonstrations would do well to review video coverage from those demos and watch the people involved in them closely well into the future.

In the meanwhile the SLDF is continuing the attritional attacks, coupled with decapitation strikes which have resulted in the death of a large number of self-styled Majors, Lt.Colonels and Colonels of the LTTE. The tigers are also losing their grip on the civillian human shield as more of them manage to slip through the LTTE cordon to reach government controlled areas. The LTTE also continues to target the escaping civillians and have been instructed by the leadership to kill those attempting to reach government controlled areas. Military teams operating close to the LTTE areas routinely dis-arm improvised explosive devices and other booby traps laid targetting civillians, while conducting strikes against tiger cadres pursuing civillians.

Soon the SLDF will make its final strike into the remaining areas under the LTTE and will be in a position to take the last of the tamil tiger heirarchy dead or alive. With a few square kilometers of ground left, it is highly doubtful whether the tigers still possess the capability to launch any airborne escape for their leaders. Thus the only escape path remaining is the sea, which is closely watched by the SLN.

When the last remaining areas are over-run, it is very important that Sri Lanka is still in a position to establish legitimacy of purpose and operations even when examined in hindsight. This is where the pressure exerted by western nations and others can be directed by those who think beyond blind loyalties to the SLG based on politics or otherwise. There should not be any summary justice, instead any surrendees must be treated within Geneva convention norms.

Our conduct at the closing stages of the game will matter hugely on how the next stage of peace making gets played out. Winning the peace is the ultimate objective of winning the war and any conduct which defeats that purpose must be avoided at all costs. Sri Lankan military planners and ground commanders appear to have communicated this fact quite well to the fighting troops.

US, CHINA AND THE WAR IN SRI LANKA

I usually don't read the stuff published on the socialist websites, particularly in view of their outdated and repeatedly disproven theories. But this article appeared to be a balanced view of some of the less than obvious geo-political moves going on in the region.

...Diplomatic skirmishing in the UN Security Council between the US and China over the war in Sri Lanka underscores their growing rivalry in every corner of the globe. Both powers are intent on staking out their claims in Colombo as the 25-year conflict on the island reaches its climax.

Last week UN Security Council members Austria, Mexico and Costa Rica, backed by the US and Britain, called for an informal briefing on the humanitarian crisis facing tens of thousands of people trapped by the war in northern Sri Lanka. China, supported by Russia, blocked the move declaring that it was "an internal matter" for Sri Lanka and was not a threat to international security...

More http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/pers-m24.shtml

ONE SRI LANKA - A STORY OF BLOOD AND GUTS

FEEL FREE TO GO FOR A RIDE...

THE LAST FEW MILES

The SLDF are keeping up the pressure and have literally boxed the tamil tigers into approx 25 square miles of jungle and beach in the Puthukudirippu area. And a systematic war of attrition is on, carried out using various means, both conventional and unconventional.

In desperation the tigers have resorted to innovative barbarism even against the unarmed tamil civillians held hostage in the area under their control. In one incident involving a failed attampt to forcibly recruit a 12 year old boy the LTTE shot dead the parents and then the reluctant child himself. Following this incident the infuriated tamil civillians attacked a self-styled 'police' post which usually describes a location occupied by a bunch of baton weilding illiterate goons and set fire to the building and a number of vehicles belonging to the LTTE. In retaliation the LTTE is said to have responded with overwhelming violence injuring and killing a number of civillians in the area as a lesson to others.

In other happenings, the LTTE leadership has ordered a shoot at sight to prevent any further civillian movement out of the 'safe area' designated by the SLDF, within which the LTTE itself has taken refuge. Anti-LTTE infilterators and escaping tamil civillians have identified LTTE fortifications, arms caches and under-ground bunkers built among civillian tents, which would make it definitely easier for the SL Defence Forces to effectively target them.

Sri Lankan battle planners also should evaluate other options available to them from a psy-war perspective. It is a well known fact that the LTTE leadership is now easily identifiable and more easily accessible to the civillians among whom they now are corralled. An offer of significant monetary value and the promise of a new life elsewhere, could make most tamil youth look at the prospect of assasinating these thugs. Even if it doesn't come to that, such as offer would definitely increase pressure on the already paranoid tiger leaders.

Similarly, it a good time to induct hit squads from other anti-LTTE tamil groups such as Karuna's TVMP etc, who have long wanted an opportunity to strike back. In any case it is more than likely that SL's own military intelligence operatives have already penetrated or been planted within the civillian enclave for the dual purposes of target identification and assisting in civillian retrieval. A decisive decapitation strike at this point could easily lead to prevention of further unnecessary bloodshed.

COUP DE GRACE IN THE WORKS

SRI Lankan Defence Forces have started the final phase of the humanitarian operations targetting the last group of Tmil tgers currently holding a few thousands of civillians as human shields in order to provide protection to their leadership, a group of criminals on the wanted lists in many nations.

While the main force comprising several divisions are holding ground, the SLDF appears to be resorting to small groups tactics and attritional warfare to infilterate the approx 6miles x 8 miles area in which the LTTE is currently holed up in. There are specific reasons for this strategy.

First of all it minimizes the need to use heavy artillery, and provides the opportunity to eleminate the LTTe leadership without having to also liquidate a large number of conscripts and those who are forced into fighting on the side of the tigers.

This compels the LTTE to deploy their remaining cadre to intercept these specialized mobile units who are a deadly threat to their cornered leadership, and thus reducing the manpower available for crowd control required to prevent the civillians held as a human shield from escaping into liberated areas. This has led to panicky orders being issued by LTTE leaders to execute any civillians who may attempt to escape. Should significant numbers of civillians manage to escape into government controlled areas, the major force would move in and quickly annihilate the remaining tamil tiger terrorists.

Also in the present case, the LTTE lacks the ability to replenish itself where fighting cadre and materials are concerned, while the SLDF has more than adequate resources to fall back on. Given the evolving situation, pro-LTTE media is in a futile attempt to convince the overseas tiger supporting diaspora that the SL forces have been beaten back, when the facts are to the contrary. Although there have been numerous repeated attacks, the main force has held ground while a few tigers who managed to infilterate have been liquidated by the SLA special force hunter-killer groups.

The game is on its last legs, and SL Forces will soon be in position to capture or kill the top LTTE leaders within the course of this coming week. If military sources prove accurate, it would be within the next 48-60 hours, rather than longer.

Time for you to go buy the expensive champaign, folks.

..and for you to bend over and kiss your ass good bye Velu...

IRA TERROR MAKES A COMEBACK

THE headline tells the story.

The IRA is back, with blazing guns. Irrespective of the Brits' claims to pacifying the Northern Ireland flash-point in which Catholics and Protestants have killed each other for decades if not for centuries, and also has been a center of dissent against British rule, tensions have simmered underneath for a while since hostilities ended in the usual handshakes in the late 1990's.

Since then the world has seen numerous British peaceniks claiming how hugs and kisses works with terrorists. Some even offered to solve Sri Lanka's problem overnight if and only if the bad Sri Lankans and its bad government would agree to have the racist tamil terrorists screw it in the ass whenever they felt like it. Obviously the Brit wankers don't get it. That kind of peace is for faggots and fairy-types, which would not work in Sri Lanka. When anyone shoots at us, we shoot back.

The IRA thugs rebuilt their fighting capabilities while the Brits preached to the world about how nice people make peace. Now the IRA appears ready for a new round of violence and opened fire in front of a military base in Antrim, West Belfast. The attack killed two British soldiers and injured four civillians. The British are well known for their stubbornness, which has served as an ideal cover for their national stupidity. So even this incident will be explained in ways that avoid admitting that they've yet again screwed up by trusting terrorists.

Here, a group of the wisest and the best of very Englishy (therefore potentially gay) forensic penguins seek for clues to establish how and why hugs and kisses didn't work with the IRA terrorists. The penguins are considered superior to humans in this aspect since they are able to chill-out even in the most hostile terrain and don't really complain. Neither do they espouse violence towards evil-doers.

Eventually, the stupidity will have to end and the Brits will also have to learn the lesson Sri Lanka learnt the hard way.

When terrorism hits, it is too late for talk. Civilization is on hold and bestiality is back. The only thing that works in such situations is military force, and in overwhelming quantities.
Terrorism can be defeated militarily, and it must be.

(Pic; from Yahoo, comments mine)

ATTACK ON SL CRICKETERS

THE attack on the SL cricketers was perhaps inevitable, given the fact that there had been warnings on its possibility for sometime. While it may have been goodwill on the part of the SL government to send the team to Pakistan, the host nation appears to have been unprepared for the attack, as is evidenced by the videos on electronic media.

There are many theories on who did it and why it happened. Obviously there will be finger pointing, none of which will amount to much. The families of the Pak officers who faught and died in the line of duty will be the biggest ultimate losers, while the SL cricketers will move past this episode within a reasonable period of time.

Pakistan's own cricket fans are also victims of this terror attack. For the foreseeable future, no foreign cricket teams are likely to tour that nation and the entertainment for the Pakistanis will have to come from their own team's overseas engagements.

Sri Lanka had been quick to blame the home grown terrorist group the LTTE of complicity in the attack, though that remains questionable. Irrespective of his blood thirsty terrorism and antipathy towards our nation, the LTTE leader himself is known to be an ardent fan of the SL cricket team. Whether the attack had any connection to the LTTE remains to be seen. Nevertheless it is entirely possible that the attack was carried out by Pakistan's own domestic terrorists who have connections to the LTTE.

The goal of an attack on a high profile target is to gain recognition, and the attacks which bear resemblence to the incidents in Mumbai may have been conducted by the same group. It's objective is clear too; to establish terror as the means of dominating terrain in Pakistan.

Yet another reason why the world as a whole, and the nations in the region in particular must unite to eliminate terrorism as an urgent priority. It is also important to make Pakistan understand that we Sri Lankans clearly understand that the terrorism of a few individuals does not in any way reflect on the hospitality of the host nation or our long standing friendly relations.

TAMIL TIGER TERROR BITES TAMIL CIVILIANS

WHAT THE LTTE DID TO TAMILS ESCAPING FROM TAMIL TIGER HUMAN SHIELD

These innocent tamils wanted nothing more than to live in peace, but were mercilessly gunned down and burnt in public by the LTTE for trying to escape to the government controlled areas.

The bodies were found by the Sri Lankan forces after the LTTE was routed from the area where this massacre took place.

Now the pro-LTTE media is in a feeble attampt to blame the slaughter on Sri Lankan forces.

This is yet another reason why Sri Lanka must pursue the destruction of the LTTE at all costs.

MANDATE THE SLG TO ERADICATE TERRORISM

DEMOCRACY is a meaningless term when the voice of the voter is not heard in government decisions. When citizens of a nation fail to impose their will upon the government by failing to adequately instruct the elected officials what their exact expectations are, such nations suffer from a lack of direction and become the victim of much social malaise. We have seen plenty of that in the past half century of democracy.

As Sri Lankans, we are not only guilty of failing to hold government officials accountable for their misdeeds, we have also for decades been silent spectators to the unending death and destruction in our country caused by the LTTE, conveniently blaming the outcome on politicians, our own karma and everyone else but our selves.

The interesting question raised here is, are we also responsible for any part of what has happened in Sri Lanka, over all these years?

The simple answer is, YES.

There are many reasons why you and I, and the individual Sri Lankan must share responsibility for the sad state of affairs in our own country.

First and foremost, we the people have conveniently forgotten that WE the voters are the true masters and owners of our nation and bear responsibility to provide direction on decisions affecting our future to those we elect to manage our nation. A detailed look at our history shows that Sri Lankans have never provided exact instructions to the leaders we vote into office every six years as to what our expectations are, or actions we will not tolerate. When our appointed leaders made foolish decisions or acted in unacceptable ways as many have, we have chosen to accept it as the nature of politics, or our national karma, and tolerate it all until the next election.

This irresponsible behavior has to end.

Our beloved nation stands at a cross roads in her long and colorful history. Today we are on the threshold of eliminating the terror which has victimized thousands of Sri Lankans, with the possibility of ushering in an era of peace and prosperity for all those who call our island, Home.
We, as Sri Lankans also stand at a decision making threshold. One in which our appointed leaders seek direction and consensus from us, so that they may make informed decisions. In the absence of concise direction from the Sri Lankan voters, outsiders are attempting to pressurize our leaders to make decisions which will only benefit those who wish to continue to kill and maim our people.

Should we by our silence embolden outsiders to involve themselves in nationally important decisions which will without a doubt be detrimental to our people? We think not. This is the moment of truth for our nation and there’s no hiding from it for any Sri Lankan.

If you, like the rest of us consider the need to eradicate terrorism from Sri Lanka to be an utmost priority, then it is your national duty to be a part of the decision making process.
We invite you to add your vote to the petition addressed to the Sri Lankan government, instructing our elected leaders to execute that very task, irrespective of outside interference.

Sri Lanka needs you. Her national security and the future of our people are at stake.

Please take a moment to sign the online petition at the following site, in order to instruct the Sri Lankan government not to stop humanitarian operations until terrorism is completely eradicated from Sri lanka.

http://www.lankapetitions.com/form.php