ONE SRI LANKA

WHICH PART OF THIS DON'T WE GET, REALLY?

2009-10-10T04:58:00.000-07:00

WE emphasized the importance of focussing on effective outward communication earlier when the visiting UN representative Lynn Pascoe, after visiting IDP camps amidst the post-war chaos commented 'you have a better story than is getting out today.' At the time the government was patting itself on the back for a job well done, when the opposite was true; it was failing miserably to establish the facts with the international community as to what is happening with the internally displaced persons, while anti-government forces were very successful at portraying a completely different and derogatory picture of Sri Lanka. That situation has not changed since then and the warning signs are continuing.

The most recent of these signs is the communication issued by the veteran US foreign policy figure Madeline Albright who commented in relation to Sri Lanka and in the absence of verifiable facts US political analysts are forced to make deductions from unrealiable sources which continue to feed even flawed information to them on a regular basis. This is a harsh statement of reality and is an indicator of how vulnerable the SL government is, due to a combination of the not very original, yet effective propaganda activities of the pro-eelam lobby and Sri Lanka's own ineffectiveness and lack of interest in establishing constructive dialogue based on ground realities with outside forces. Sri Lanka may be an island geographically, but in international relations no nation can expect to be an island unto itself. Isolationist policies whether actively sought or forced by circumstances has never served any nation well. Even the mighty US came down to its knees economically and militarily after its previous President followed similar 'go alone' series of policies. There are plenty of other examples elsewhere in history.

Albright's comments are a second reminder to Sri Lanka that the government needs to talk more often to the international community, to get the facts out to them. Hidden behind this warning are subtle forces which seek to have dialogue to be channelled to and through them, so that they have opportunities to continue covert activites within Sri Lanka. Some of these forces can be found on the Scandinavian part of the world map. Contemporary Europe's continuing politico-military impotency is a definite threat to Sri Lanka's national soveriegnty in that context, and can be expected to remain so for a considerable period of time. What that spells out is that Sri Lanka should get the facts out to the world fast, often, and in easily digestible potions. The fact that the EU will grant GSP+ concessions yet again to Sri Lanka should not be taken as a sign of improved relations between us, even though the politicians on the two sides of the divide may make misleading statements and the usual stupid noises. Not surprisingly, some on Sri Lanka's side may even belive what they utter.

And then there's the not so little issue of a Nobel peace prize for Prez Obama. There are many and diverse views on this surprising turn of events, which 'deeply humbled' Obama the brilliant orator and led the majority in the US and elsewhere to wonder what next? While a minority usually in the lunatic fringe either support or oppose (Rush Limbaugh is livid and frothing at the mouth) the Nobel happening, majority are concerned about how the pressures of recieving such a prestigious award would influence their yet to be tested President, who is already facing apparently insurmountable challenges at home and abroad. Although it is quite possible that the main promoters of the event, Sweden and Norway are following their well established anti-George Bush rhetoric by awarding Obama, it is also more possible that they intend to use the shock and awe of the situation to make the office of the US Presidency more amenable to their views about how the world should be run. With Hillary Clinton and now potentially Obama coming under the Scandinavian peacenik influence nations such as Sri Lanka Israel which are plagued by deep rooted terrorist problems that essentially require military responses, better watch out.

This is not to say Obama is anyone's puppet. The very fact that he has not relinquished the pressure on anyone should tell the world that attempting to mislead him in the long term is very likely to be futile. In managerial and analytical skills, Obama is much superior to his predecessor and that characteristic provides for hope for a balanced perception in this worrisome situation.

But that does in no way eliminate or even diminish the fact that Sri Lanka is yet again spiraling out of control into a propaganda vaccuum, when the need of the hour is the very opposite; an effective international public relations mechanism which drives the change worldwide that uniquely benefits us. In that context we can and must learn from the pro-eelamist lobby amongst others to be able to not only counter, but to overcome them. Worse, in the propaganda game, time is not on our side. Sri Lanka needs to act now.

THE FACTS WHICH ARE UNDENIABLE

2009-10-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

THERE are many interested colonial wannabes who are pointing the finger at Sri Lanka, while attempting to whitewash, or even blatantly ignore their own horrendous attrocities in recent times.

In Iraq, the US led invasion has so far led to over half a million civillian deaths and unquantifiably large scale destruction to the once prosperous country. And yet there doesn't seem to be any accountability for the horrendous crimes against humanity commited by these military forces, even though ample evidence exists to support undeniable indictments against the previous Bush Government.

Similarly, but lesser known and even less cared about is the carnage that has been happening in Afghanistan, which has now become a testing range for US and allied weapons systems where they are deployed against live targets with absolutely no sense of accountability. Even though some reporting happens on these mass scale killings, they do not lead to any legal consequences in the Western world.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan media is hyper ventilating on reports that the present SL government has succssfully deterred yet again another attempt to bring war crimes indictments against them in the US Senate, with the assistance of the Israeli influence groups. Reality behind such claims could easily be quite different.

The fact remains the Americans and the British do not possess adequate evidence to prosecute a war crimes case against Sri Lanka and the present attempts are based on flimsy and baseless accusations of a few pro-LTTE groups affiliated with a few Democratic party leaders. In such a situation it would not take much to convince the US Senate that they shouldn't proceed further until and unless solid and irrefutable evidence is unearthed. In any case the Americans have bigger problems; two losing wars, an ailing economy, a declining politico-military stature and a deeply fractured nation divided over the policies of its first black President.

The situation for the British is no better. An increasingly unpopular government led by a group of incompetents has led the country to a gradual political and economic decline while its idiotic foreign minister is seen as many as a juvenile amateur who craves recognition at any cost. British forces abroad have also commited many documented attrocities including the indiscriminate use of white phosperous ordnance in civillian areas leading to large numbers of deaths.

Complicating the issue for those who'd like to bring a successful indictment against Sri Lanka is the fact that the island nation is not a signatory to the Geneva convention.

It is in this context that the Sri Lankans are now compelled to play the diplomatic games of recovery. Not only must we rebuild the nation, but must also help rebuild our diplomatic clout to one of decisiveness and usefulness. The Sri Lankan government needs to reach out to her loyal and patriotic diaspora population and garner support in coherant and well planned exercises to manage this outcome, which is not too difficult irrespective of hostile attempts by pro-LTTE groups operating from abroad.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION - THE BIGGEST NEED

2009-09-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

BEATEN to the draw by the SL Defence Forces on Sri Lankan soil, the eelamist lobby overseas is busy making alternate arrangements to pursue a campaign of subversion against the island nation. These anti-Sri Lankan forces stlll possess formidable clout in many influential places including the UN, US Congress, with powerful EU law makers and various others across the world.

Primarily they seek to accomplish two distinct goals. In the short term to intensify international pressure on the Sri Lankan government to force it to allow all civillians currently in refugee camps in the north and east to disperse into the country side, so that the thousands of LTTE cadres hiding among them immediately become free to re-organize, re-arm and be ready to re-commence hostilities.

Time is a crucial factor for both sides, it is currently on the side of the Sri Lankan state which badly needs to identify and neutralize all threats currently in hiding; the well trained LTTE cadres and the massive arms caches that the Sri Lankan forces are continuing to unearth as evidence is analized. The SLG has a valid card it needs to play well; it cannot afford to send civillians into areas that are dangerous due to mining, and potential desease. Assistance offered by some foreign nations to expedite this process must be viewed in this context as both benevolent as well as a part of a well formulated strategy to counter Sri Lankan government's ability to stretch the time it needs to weed out the terrorists and destroy their arms caches. Therefore it is essential that those who are to be re-settled in the soon to be cleared areas are investigated quickly for the level of their connections to the LTTE.

The pro-eelam lobby's long term goal would be to develop the potential to offer a combination of threats against Sri Lanka, while weening itself from the currently debilitating terrorist group image. Sri Lanka needs to understand the growing threats in these twin scenarios; her enemies have been successful so far in implementing both strategies to considerable extent, being able to to bring increasingly greater pressure on Sri Lanka to hastily let loose LTTE terrorists along with civillians. They have also begun to effectively excercise well developed long term relationships with leading international political figures towards earning recognition that of being representatives of almost a seperate state entity. The eelamists have a delicate balancing act in this game; they have to be able to build internal military pressure necessitating the Sri Lankan state to maintain a very difficult, high lelve of vigilance, while working hard to convince the outside world that they are no longer terrorists. Their close connections to liberal politicians in many western nations is a huge asset for this purpose and the diaspora eelamists can be relied on to be put it to use. The readiness of some of the outspoken foreign law makers and supporters of the eelamist lobby abroad, who seem to be increasingly willing to consider the pro-LTTErs connections with Tamil Tiger terrorism as a distant and unrelated happening should ring alarm bells in Colombo.

Sri Lanka as usual has lost the initiative in the diplomatic skirmishing since military operations ended. The government has succeeded in tying itself in knots by muzzling its own best attack dogs in international fora while slowly degenerating in the international mind's eye to appear increasingly like a corrupt, family regime which dependents purely on violence to rule with an iron fist. Nobody likes a thugocracy.

Disenchanted domestic politicians and some media factions are contributing towards this decline in no small measure. While the SLG had understandable reasons to muzzle the press while the fighting was on, there needs to be a visible decline of government pressure tactics to do so now that fighting is over and the nation needs greater transparency in what happens next. This is where responsible media institutions need to reach out to the upper echelons of government in order to establish an understanding of how necessary levels of media freedom can yet again be guaranteed and be free of government interference or intimidation.

The end to fighting didn't end the war of Tamil tribal racist seperatism in Sri Lanka. It simply forced a change in the way this conflict now will be faught; on unfamiliar soil and a terrain in which the enemy has always held a clear advantage. Where the supremacy of the pro-eelamist diaspora was challenged only with some success and that too very briefly when the government let loose talented and unbridled Sri Lankan intelligensia to represent it. Over the past few months the SLG has destroyed its own ability to be heard overseas effectively by a comitting a series of near sighted blunders such as replacement of important diplomatic positions abroad with political nominees whose skills and capabilities at best are debatable.

Sri Lanka's failures in the international fora since the fighting ended is well summarized by departing comments by the most recent UN representative to visit Sri Lanka, Lynn Pascoe who said, "you have a better story than is getting out today...". Sri Lanka's recent actions tantamount to shooting itself in the foot and then the belly. Whether we will proceed to shoot ourselves in the head next, seems to be a matter of time.

Sri Lanka must understand the importance and urgency of Lynn Pascoe's words and not treat them as lightly. His words are not a commendation. They in reality are a critique of an important Sri Lankan governmental failure which can and will lead to disastrous long term consequences for the country. This is not an accomplishment the Sri Lankan government should pat itself on the back about, yet recent media announcements from the Presidential Secretariat seem to indicate such a perception.

It is very imporatant that Sri Lanka no longer fail to keep the outside world informed of exactly what is happening on Sri Lankan soil. Keeping the outside world informed can still offer the island nation much needed international understanding and support in this continuing and fast evolving conflict. It can also be used effectively to counter the anti-Sri Lanka rhetoric which depends largely on the unpreparedness of the Sri Lankan government to counter its blatant lies with any degree of effectiveness.

In order to be able to communicate effectively and also earn international respect, we must with all honesty ensure that our actions against our own people are both responsible and dignified. Communicating facts surrounding issues related to resettlement with the truly affected, the long suffering Tamils in the camps for the internally dispalced must also be done with equal or greater frequency and clarity. Much greater transparency now becomes an urgently needed concession.

SHARING OUR TACTICAL ADVANTAGE - WHY?

2009-08-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

They say fools rush in where angels fear to tread. We Sri Lankans are no strangers to rushing into situations we barely understand, in fact we've made history doing so. Not just once, but repeatedly over the decades and centuries. Maybe we are a nation of fools, perhaps we have a national level learning disability which keeps us from stopping to think. Especially when we are at an emotional high as a nation, like these present days.

When Sri Lanka decided to respond to the LTTE's 'Final War' with a decisive campaign of her own, we heard the opinions of various self-appointed experts who predicted a situation in which no clear winner would emerge. We saw the funny faced Norwegians, in particular a bitchy whore who made every effort to portray the Tamil Tiger terroristas as the good guys, simply because she was openly sleeping with one of them. And then there were the other NGO wallahs whose activities can be only guessed at from the numbers of blue eyed tamil kids now found abandoned in the refugee camps. These characters and the similarly amusing Colombo based Sri Lanka's own peaceniks were making every effort to convince us that the war was a losing proposition. But that's in the past now, nevertheless an important part of history we should never forget.

To forget what these paraihs attempted to do to Sri Lanka will not only be a mistake, but also an unforgivable disgrace to the memory of the brave Sri Lankan Defence Forces personnel who sacrificed their lives to prove them wrong.

We also seem to be in a hurry to make a new mistake. Now that we've proven our new found capability in being able to deal with modern day terrorism more effectively than everyone else, significant interest is seen from other nations who are keen to learn how we did it. Among these are nations such as the UK, whose eager beaver Foreign Minister rushed to Sri Lanka wanting to stop us from accomplishing the very result that they are now interested in learning about in greater detail. In April this year, even before the war was won we forecasted "..In two years from now, no one will give a rat's ass as to how many died in the process but will only remember how we defeated terrorism.." in these columns. In two months they've come asking us how we did it and in our own unique boastful arrogance and stupidity our government seems to be only too willing to share it all even with the vermin who openly attempted to support the LTTE and provide it yet another lifeline.

That brings us to the very important question of whether we need to share our expert knowledge with everyone who merely asks for it. The simple answer is No. Had the Brits and Americans shared their specialized combat skills with us when we really needed it, this war would have been over decades ago. They didn't. We owe them nothing.

To emphasize the obvious is usally a wasted effort. Yet the obvious stupidity of the present situation demands nothing less. Openly sharing our strategic, operational and tactical secrets opens the door to effective counter-measures being developed. Those who support terrorism from abroad will then have the ability to better arm the next crop of terrorists and train them in strategies to defeat our capabilties. For that simple reason, sharing our secrets is not only stupid, but unnecessarily dangerous as well.

So Sri Lanka should just say No. If they don't get it, try Nyet, Nada, or even Illayi.

HUMAN RIGHTS TERRORISTS DEFEATED IN US COURTS

2009-08-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

COURT UPHOLDS U.S. LAW ALLOWING PRESIDENT TO DESIGNATE GROUPS AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

A law that allows the U.S. president to designate groups as terrorist organizations, freeze their assets and block aid to them was upheld by a federal appeals court in San Francisco today.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act was enacted by Congress in 1977 and was originally used by presidents to impose economic sanctions on foreign nations considered a threat to national security.

In 2001, President George W. Bush issued executive orders under the law that enabled him, through the Treasury Department, to designate groups as terrorist organizations, freeze their assets and prohibit any aid or services to the groups. The penalty for violating the law is a fine of either $250,000 or twice the amount of money given to a group.

The procedure was challenged in federal court in Los Angeles by the Humanitarian Law Project, which sought to aid the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in Sri Lanka.

Project lawyers argued that the law was unconstitutionally vague and that it violated the First Amendment right of free speech.

But a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled by a 2-1 vote that the law regulates conduct, not speech, and does not violate the Constitution. The court majority said, "There is no right to provide resources with which terrorists can buy weapons and explosives."

Source: http://cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=TERRORIST-ORGANIZATION-LAW--12-24

IN AFGHANISTAN AND SRI LANKA - SEEKING AN END TO TERROR

2009-08-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

When Sri Lanka went after the LTTE in a fight to the finish, they used tactics which are hard to repeat elsewhere. As her armed forces employed innovative military strategies to wreak havoc in the terrorist groups’ strongholds, the Sri Lankan government received strong backing from a determined and silently vengeful population who were willing to pay any price to eliminate the Tamil Tigers. Such popular backing and a series of unforeseen opportunities worked in favor of the Sri Lankan government both in the domestic and foreign theaters enabling her to pursue the conflict until the LTTE was completely liquidated as a fighting force.

It was only towards the tail-end of the fighting that political changes in the US and other distant lands brought some human rights related pressure on the Sri Lankan government, which it managed to keep at bay successfully.

And then the Sri Lankans pulled yet another classic stunt by virtually abducting the newly self-appointed LTTE leader known as KP from somewhere in South East Asia, blowing the lid off the entrenched belief that the conflict would remain within the territorial space of the island nation.

Even though most democratic nations would flinch at the prospect of adopting the withering tactics used by Sri Lanka in her spectacularly successful anti-terrorist campaign, the lessons learnt here have not been lost on most. Even before the fighting came to an end, many defense analysts were speculating how far the Sri Lankan war would influence the future of asymmetrical warfare across the world. There is an undivided consensus that Sri Lankan Defense Forces have rewritten the book on modern warfare and changed conflict strategy irreversibly. Once considered undefeatable, terrorism is now a very curable disease, one which required bitter medicine.

Coming on the heels of an Indian military victory over terrorism in Khalistan and Russian suppression of terror in Chechnya, the Sri Lankan conquest of Tamil Tiger terrorism comprehensively proves the case for decisive military action as a solution for this modern day scourge. It is perhaps due to this reason that a US Special forces contingent is currently in joint exercises with Sri Lankan Army Special forces and SL Navy Special Boat Squadron units in North Eastern Sri Lanka.

The situation in Afghanistan is diametrically opposite to that of Sri Lanka. The Americans have ventured into perhaps the world’s most inhospitable land where no invading army had ever been successful as occupiers for any considerable length of time. Just as they defeated innumerable hostile forces over the centuries the Afghans could quite possibly prove that they can still remain unconquerable even by the mighty Americans, if they decide to do so. Just as they had help from friendly neighbors to defeat the Soviets in the war which lasted thru’ 1970/80s, the Afghans could muster plenty of support from Iran, Pakistan and other predominantly Muslim nations in the region.

In their present war against some of the world’s most powerful armed forces, the Afghan guerilla forces have so far held a decisive upper hand; they field warriors who are willing to die, to fight an enemy who wants to win wars with no casualties to own side. But the game is changing, as is only to be expected in the aftermath of the Sri Lankans’ comprehensive defeat of terrorism.

US forces appear to have since of late adopted leadership decapitation strategies which are yielding positive results. A recent air strike by US unarmed drones killed the Taliban commander in Pakistan throwing the terror group into disarray. Snatch operations since then have netted at least two high profile terrorist leaders, causing further disintegration of the Afghan guerilla operations.

How far the American will go to eradicate the Taliban under the present Obama administration will remain to be seen, even though tactics similar to those adopted by Sri Lanka definitely are providing significant success in the battle field and elsewhere. The Taliban on the other hand are unlikely to go quietly, as the recent suicide bombings which caused massive casualties indicate. In response the US backed Afghan government has clamped a press censorship ostensibly to control panic during the fragile election process in the troubled land, drawing absolutely no adverse comments from the Western press who were overtly critical when similar action was put in effect by Sri Lanka during the height of her own bloody events.

Wars often define human history. How we fight decides who wins. Sri Lanka recently re-wrote the book on how wars will be fought in the future. And thereby, whether her most ardent supporters and detractors admit or not, Sri Lankans have effectively changed how how our part of history will be written in the future.

PLANNED HAMBANTOTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

2009-08-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

TOP TIGERS WERE ALL COWARDS

2009-08-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

SINCE the world stunning events of May 2009 which culminated in the elimination of the top heirarchy of the LTTE, a stark realization has begun to dawn on many Sri Lankans, including those who vehemently supported the Tamil Tigers; the entire leadership of the terrorist group turned out to be absolute cowards when faced with personal physical danger.

It was SP Thamilselvam, who it is said was in the habit of repeatedly requesting for assurances for his physical safety before arriving in the proximity of any Sri Lankan military group or even unarmed Sri Lanka government negotiators. He obviously underestimated the capacity of Sri Lankan intelligence to find him swiftly when they wanted to, and to bring the wrath of the SLAF to his doorstep. Tamilselvan's elimination was a clear declaration by SLG that it meant business and a no-holds barred war on the cards.

Towards the last stages of fighting when the writing was on the wall for the LTTE and since then, the begging and pleading in private even while bragging in public by the remaining tamil tiger leaders has been continuing. The subtle transformation of the TNA even while attempting to overtly portray a different image to the public is a clear indication of the level of frightening uncertainty the present SLG and her defence forces have made these terrorist supporters face upto.

The rumors regarding the circumstances of the LTTE supremo's death also indicate the possibility that he offered to unconditionally surrender in exchange for personal safety guarantees. Saving the brute perhaps was considered an unnecessary expense by all those with vested interests. Instead, Velu's death and not surrender was an absolute necessity for the Indians to neutralize any further pressure from Tamilnadu politicians, while many others who had secret dealings with the LTTE leadership elsewhere in the world would have wished for none less.Velu's death was a much greater necessity for his influential friends than to his enemies.

KP's capture and quick extradition has indeed taken the growing uncertainties surrounding the terrorist group to an unanticipated hieght. The shock of his capture and events since then are making this self-appointed top Tiger confess willingly to Sri Lankan Intelligence providing a wealth of information which could easily lead to further arrests worldwide.

Interestingly, survival prospects for terrorists aren't very good in Sri Lanka these days, if the last few high profile happenings are anything to go by. The last LTTE mouth-piece Nadesan who approached Sri Lankan forces hiding behind his Sinhalese wife begging for clemency as claimed by unverified various sources, was found full of bullet holes along with an entourage of other Tamil terrorist high rankers. While KP's future may be different for obvious reasons, his long term career prospects may quite well be limited within the walls of a prison cell.

They say a coward dies a thousand deaths each day. Deep in his mind KP must be wondrering how and where he will meet his end. While KP's end may be less uncertain now that he is a prisoner in Sri Lankan government's official custody, the fate of others out there may becoming more uncertain by the passing minute as he continues to divulge information.

BANNING RACIST AND RELIGIOUS POLITICAL GROUPS

2009-08-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

IT is bad enough that we have entrenched religio-racist agendas in every walk of life, without adding legitimacy to such abhorrantly discriminatory systems by providing it a political platform to access power.

There are arguments in favor of and against political entities which espouse a distinct bias towards certain ethnic, religious or linguistic groups. For many years the Sinhalese did find the existance of a radical JVP useful against minorities which they percieved as discriminating against the majority, while holding disproportionate priviledges. Even Sinhalese intellectuals often percieve the JVP's radical dogma as a knee-jerk reaction to a realistic ground situation in which the majority is gradually losing an equal footing to unfair minority demands. Similarly the minotities argue in favor of not only discriminatory political agendas, and in some cases covertly favor the use of force to further their own extreme views in an environment percived as inherently disadvantageous to their kind.

Where did this horror really begin? Depending on whose side you are on, some would hold the 'pancha bala' (five forces) concept introduced by late SWRD Bandaranike to be the starting point of racial chaos. Old timers from that era claim that Bandaranaike simply attempted to correct the monstrous wrongs committed by the British colonial rulers who had established systems which unfairly advantaged English speaking Christians. Digging further back through history a pattern of discriminatory action and counter-action begins to emerge.

History can teach us many lessons, and in this one there's a simple lesson to be learnt; this vicious cycle of politically favoring any religion, language or ethnic agenda must be firmly and permanently stopped.

DECIMATING THE LTTE REMNANTS - BY OWN HAND

2009-08-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

DID the capture and swift extradition to Sri Lanka of the newly self-appointed 'savior of the Tamil people' happen as a result of on going internecine struggle within the LTTE? Reports from those with deep rooted contacts within the tiger lobby such as veteran reporter DBS Jeyaraj say yes.

Kumaran Pathmanadan aka KP was the last remaining top Tamil Tiger who was badly wanted by Sri Lankan authorities now keen to wrap up the endgame against the terrorist LTTE. Though the LTTE was wiped off militarily in a punishing campaign which stunned the world for its swift and decisive action, Sri Lankan authorities and defence analysts worldwide continue to see the LTTE remaining a credible organization overseas where a large Tamil diaspora sympathetic towards the Tigers still harbor searing hatred towards the island nation.

The final phase of the anti-terrorist operations by the Sri Lanka Defence Forces [SLDF] saw the annihilation of the LTTE leadership under circumstances which still remain speculative, irrespective of statements by the government and military authorities. However, the average Sri Lankan and anyone who has known the facts about the LTTE find the elimination of the terror group to be only a source of comfort.

The capture and removal of KP from the self installed leadership position creates an interesting scenario. Firstly, the overseas pro-LTTE diaspora was convinced that the death of the Tamil Tiger leadership would automatically facilitate removal of the LTTE's terrorist stigma and make it easier for the group to access international political leaders. Statements issued by KP indicating a move towards becoming a democratic entity are aimed clearly towards convincing world leaders with known sympathy for the Tamil Tiger cause that they can now be openly associated with, without adverse publicity. Had the pro-LTTE lobby been capable of building up a coherant campaign which resulted in convincing the interested international players that the group will no longer resort to terrorism, it may have resulted in increased pressure on the Sri Lankan government to negotiate or grant siginificant concessions to them. Although KP made the right noises in this regard he failed to impress anyone even if it seemed to bring about a reconcilliation among some of the fractured pro-LTTE lobby. The wider international community seemed unconvinced, at least for now.

The prevailing politico-military ground reality in Sri Lanka does not allow for another uprising to be successful in anyway for the foreseeable future, unless significantly supported by the regional power India. Given the current political climate in the region, India is unlikely to support another terrorist movement in Sri Lanka knowing quite well that it would lead to disasterous results in Tamilnadu and adjacent states.

Had KP been successful in executing a long term strategy to gain the confidence of world leaders to remove the ban against the group for long enough to re-organize and re-arm a sizeable dissident force within Sri Lankan territory, a protracted future war could have resulted though with predictably doubtful results. From the pro-LTTE lobby's perspective it would have nevertheless been a worthy effort, to show to the world that there is a continuing tamil struggle which needs recognition. To the remaining overseas Tigersit would provide the much needed means to keep the lucrative funding lines open, which in turn provides a life of luxury to those holding powerful positions within the organization.

Now that KP has been virtually eliminated, his overt rival Perinpanayagam Sivaparan alias Nediyavan becomes the heir apparent. Tamil sources are abuzz that it was Nediyavan who provided the information to Sri Lankan intelligence leading to KP's quick rendition. While the circumstances surrounding his arrest by Sri Lankan authorities remain unclear, it appears to have been a Mossad style extraction operation originating in Malaysia and arriving in Sri Lanka via Thailand.

Nediyavan, backed by hardliners who detested KP's apparent soft approach are likely to carry forward the same violent rhetoric while attempting to raise funds from the Tamil overseas diaspora using strong arm tactics. Members of Tamil diaspora are now in for another nightmare period as the new leadership attempts to establish itself in power using the best known method to the Tamil Tigers, physical violence and coercion.

To the Sri Lankan establishment, KP's capture would be another feather in its cap, as the grand finale grinds on. At this moment even if this prized capture is yet another reason for additional jubilation, Sri Lankan decision makers need to focus more on strategically thinking ahead to proactively neutralize the next potential threat to our national security and territorial integrity.

The next threat will come from the Tamil hardliners abroad attempting to re-establish themselves into a coherant organization which will attempt to deny any connection to the globally banned LTTE. Such an entity can be expected to be more successful in winning over the allegiance of a wider majority of overseas Tamils and the usual international political figures most Sri Lankans percieve to be LTTE stooges. The Achelles' heel of any such organization will still be a dire need to finance its operations, primarily from member contributions. Knowing that coercion will be used to obtain contributions, Sri Lankan intelligence needs to watch for tell tale signs and seek the cooperation of international law enforcement agencies to restrict such activity.

The war didn't end when the last shot was fired on a lonely stretch of land in North Eastern Sri Lanka. It merely changed hue and moved overseas. Capturing and incarcerating LTTE leaders whenever possible will not end it either. A series of well planned and executed diplomatic and law-enforcement operations that reach far out across the world are now needed to snuff out the remaining monsters.

LTTE'S NEW LEADER ARRESTED IN THAILAND

2009-08-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

SL defence sources report that the LTTE's self appointed new leader KP has been arrested by authorities in Thailand, where he had been domiciled for a long time.

Though KP made concilliatory noises about a peaceful struggle for a seperate state, it was known that the Tamil Tiger procurement channels were buzzing yet again, collecting arms for a possible resumption of terrorism in Sri Lanka. As recently as a two weeks ago a shipment of arms is suspected to have been recieved by KP's operatives in Thailand from North Korea.

KP's arrest and potential neutralization opens the door for a further alienation of the remaining Tamil Tiger supporters from the moderates who are now attempting to regroup for a more democratic approach towards achieving greater autonomy for areas they call traditional tamil homelands. Remaining hardliners are now more likely to pursue an even more extreme approach leading towards further conflict with the Sri Lankan government, which has already proven its ample superiority in this game. Recent changes made to bring all of Sri Lanka's armed services under one structure for greater functional effectiveness puts the island nation's security apparatus in adequate readiness for any such eventuality. A resurgence of violence will also strengthen the hand of the hawks in the government.

While the news of KP's arrest is still new, prospects for his extradition to Sri Lanka will remain to be seen. India's previous demands for his arrest and extradition in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assasination for which an outstanding Interpol warrant is still pending may take precedence over any requests from Sri Lanka.

BLACK JULY AND POST WAR SRI LANKA - ASIAN TRIBUNE

2009-07-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

A REPLY TO THISARANEE GUNASEKERA - by Sandman

Now that Dayan Jayatilleke has been fired, his old sweetheart comes out of the shadows, spewing venom as we expected. It’s hard to know who actually wrote this article, whether it is Dayan himself.

Nevertheless, here’s yet another example of someone attempting to mislead the public about the facts of the case, and ostensibly for a very likely personal agenda.

The refugee camps are still there, because they are an expensive alternative to a more expensive and absolutely self-destructive one. Letting all who are in those camps out at once could result in a number of destructive outcomes;

1. Most areas are still not completely de-mined. Civillian casualties as a result of being let into dangerous areas cannot be accepted by a responsible govt. The author conveniently avoids analyzing that fact.

2. Most areas are bereft of drinking water, wells were polluted and water tanks destroyed by the retreating Tigers. Restoring these facilities take time, most cannot be even started until areas are completely de-mined.

3. The military are still recovering massive arms caches, which could easily support massive scale guerilla operations within a very short period of time. Both the trained men (now in hiding) and arms have to be located and neutralized before a fully fledged guerilla war imperils the civillians yet again. The near exhausted Army may be at a distinctive disadvantage to deal with such.

4. Majority of the camps now have functioning school facilities. Even young LTTE recruits are currently following the standard school curriculum in many of these. If the camps were dismantled before the schools are reconstructed and restored to operations readiness, it would disrupt their education and make these youngsters yet again vulnerable to the violent rhetoric of the anti-social psychopaths and trained terrorists still at large. Sri Lanka would be back to square one, facing another burst of terrorism, this time led by random destructive instincts. If that happens and the Sri Lankan Army is called out again, people like Thisaranee would have cause to howl at the moon using cookie-cutter phrases like “..sinhala chauvanist, sinhala-buddhist extremist…’ etc a whole lot more. Construction work, including that of schools have to commence once demining is completed. All these take time.

5.Though not reported in most cases, intermittant and scattered attacks are already happening in the Wanni and other areas again. The military is effectively dealing with most, leading to arrests and unearthing of new and more astonishing evidence of preparedness for very long term underground guerrilla operations in most areas. The amount of arms hidden in the Killinochchi area alone may take years to locate and destroy.

De-mining and disarming a conflict area of unexploded ordnance is a dangerous activity which requires specilized skills and equipment. Sri Lanka does possess some of these skills and tools, but not in quantities that would facilitate swift progress, considering the large swathes of land that was mined by the retreating LTTE. To compound the problems, the Tigers are believed to have destroyed all maps describing the mined areas. Thus search itself consumes considerable amounts of time and patience. Six decades after the end of its last war, Germany is still finding unexploded bombs in her suburbs.

The problem the world faces from people like this author is exactly this; they twist and misinterpret facts to suit their own agenda. When there aren’t any, they even go to the extent of manufacturing some. Case in point; the author in one para claims sinhala racism is dead, and then later claims we are back to where we were; in an era when sinhala racism was the staple diet of the majority.

Now that Dayan J has got the boot from the govt, these venomous outbursts targetting the Rajapaksa govt, the Sinhalese and also the Buddhists can only be expected to get worse. Don’t be surprised.

There is a distinctive difference between a journalist and a mud-slinger.

A journalist reports facts, with clarity and accuracy, and definitely without prejudice. A true journalist will never do anything to lose their credibility.

A mud-slinger on the other hand will deliberately mispresent facts, take facts out of context and manufacture evidence where there is none, or even simply make accusations believing that ‘told enough times with conviction, any lie can become the truth’. The author definitely fits into this mould. Thisaranee Gunasekera is a mud-slinger.

To understand this analysis, take this example; Walter Cronkite was a true journalist. He was trusted and never did anything to violate the trust the nation placed on him. When he broke the news about losing in Vietnam it was perhaps one of the worst news to report home, but he did it nevertheless, reporting facts and not his personal interpretations.

Cronkite’s recent death diminishes the world of quality journalism. Worse, it leaves us with the likes of Thisaranee Gunasekera.

[Article under reference can be found here; http://asiantribune.com/07/26/black-july-and-post-war-sri-lanka/comment-page-1/#comment-777 - Ed. ]

THE NEXT WAR IS ON, WHILE SRI LANKA SLEEPS

2009-07-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

END of the war saw the Sri Lankan economy teetering on the edge, battered from all sides. A no-holds-barred war faught for the first time in its history of combatting terrorism amidst a global recession which seriously affected her exports led Sri Lanka deep into the red. Even though the main arms suppliers China and Pakistan were happy to provide weapons and ammunition on credit, other needs of the country suffered serious economic lapses causing untold hardship to most of the population concentrated in the cities.

The Sri Lankan government's commitment to completly eradicate terrorism from our shores must be applauded, even though it caused horrendous casualties even among the armed services. By conservative estimates the number of soldiers killed in the last two years of fighting is around 6,500 while opposition party sources quote much higher.

Having lost the war on the ground, the pro-Eelam lobby was faced with a number of obvious realities. Another war on the ground on Sri Lankan soil could not be even attempted for a very long time for the sheer lack of man power and the extreme combat readiness of the government forces, while there was opportunity to take up the issue in the diplomatic forums in an environment where the current Sri Lankan government has plundered almost all goodwill and cornered herself internationally. Also the lack of a coherent opposition by the pro-Sri Lankan diaspora abroad provides the pro-Eelam lobby a distinct advantage. Having access to world leaders such as Hillary Clinton and others in Canada, EU and Australia, most of whom view the Sri Lankan government with obvious distaste provides unprecedented leverage to the pro-Eelam lobby currently. The hurried preparations being made to build a comprehensive case against Sri Lanka, including war crimes allegations, arise from this percieved advantage. Any new combat operations on Sri Lankan soil also would need to be of a guerilla nature, using hidden arms caches and well trained cadres currently holed up in refugee camps under assumed names.

However, this scenario is not without its own flaws. Since taking office, Hillary Clinton has continued to perform less than expected and has continued to shrink in stature and, so far, in utility. Widely distrusted by most Americans and having bungled even her first high profile meeting with the leaders of Russia, Clinton is facing an uphill task staying on the job. Irrespective of how she is percieved by the American general public or how she performs in office, Sri Lanka could face serious problems with her unless new found evidence allegedly linking Clinton having contacts with the Tamil Tigers isn't taken up officially. In this connection the testimony of an escaped LTTE high ranker who in an interview with Indian media claimed that the Tamil Tiger leadership was certain of Clinton rescuing them from the advancing Sri Lankan Defence Forces needs to be further investigated. There has been intermittant evidence of a link between the Clinton's Presidential campaign and the LTTE lobby for a while, providing credence to such allegations.

The desperate efforts now being made through various non-governmental organizations and media to facilitate the premature release or escape of trained cadres currently in refugee camps assumably to commence guerilla operations has been stymied by the Sri Lankan government's efforts to unearth the hidden arms caches and identify the terrorists among the civillian population. The government is correct in refusing to give into pressure by pro-eelam parties to allow civillians into heavily mined areas before they are cleared, and thereby potentially facing charges of public irresponsibility. It's heavy handed actions, often leading to raised eye brows in Colombo and elsewhere do in fact have valid reasons behind them, even though the continuing qualitative decline in our diplomatic corps hinders the ability to rationally explain these measures to the outside world. The departure of diplomats of the calibre of Dayan Jayatilleke will further impede Sri Lanka's communications effectiveness in the diplomatic war that is imminent.

BUY SRI LANKA

2009-07-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

The end of the war may not mean the end of all problems in SL. Though there will be recurrent issues, Sri Lanka currently is one of the most viable emerging markets because of how far the stocks have fallen and also the SLRs has depreciated against the dollar and other currencies.

This is a great time to pick up some investments that can make you laugh all the way to the bank in another 10-15yrs. By committing as little as $100 a month, you could build a well diversified broad based portfolio of investments in as little as 12 months at present day market prices. There are also plenty of reliable stock brokers in SL. Do check the Colombo Stock Exchange web site for more information. http://www.cse.lk/welcome.htm

If majority of Sri Lankans abroad were to invest in stocks of our very dynamic private sector, the nation's working assets wil continue to remain liquid and the returns will be ours as well.

BIG LIES FROM THE BIG BOYS - Prof Rajiva Wijesinghe

2009-06-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 02 June 2009

Setting the Stage

Last week, the Times of London announced that 20,000 civilians had died altogether in the course of this year because of the operations in the North. This claim was not surprising since, as I had just pointed out, the British were determined to crucify us and had already begun to inflate the figure. Six thousand had gone to seven and then to eight, in rapid succession, so more was inevitable, though the speed of the escalation was remarkable, even for the Brits. Predictably enough, the new figure began to reverberate round the Western World, with reference not to the Times but to its presumed sources.

These were as usual supposedly from the UN. From February on, the game had started, with the UN supposedly developing a count which was promptly leaked. Regularly the UN Resident Coordinator would bleat that the figures were just an extrapolation (i.e. completely made up, as his Security Coordinator admitted when we called him in and used logic and argument, elements with which he had evidently not been familiar with previously).

Then he (the RC, not the SC - no bleater he - with a Boer determination, now evidently at the service of the British agenda) would bleat that certainly there had been no leak from his office, though he left it open whether there had been leaks in New York . Then he would bleat that he would hold an inquiry, though these never seemed to get off the ground, and we were always too nice to press him on his promises. And then the whole cycle would start again.

This time around, there seems nothing for Buhne to bleat about, though it would be interesting to record his response if our Foreign Ministry were to call him in and get something on record instead of the customary sweet talk. This time, the Times claimed that it had gathered its own evidence, though with characteristic sleight of hand it tried to draw the UN in too - 'The UN estimated that 7,000 people were killed in the first four months of this year; the figure now appears to be at least 20,000’.

There was no note there that the 7000 was not an official UN figure, and that the 20,000 had nothing to do with the UN, unless it were gossipy underlings of the (both British) Dix and Campbell sort Buhne had to repudiate and get rid of, so hysterical were their emotions, so biased their assertions. The UN then does not have much to answer for in this instance. But their reaction, which is defensive, plays straight into the hands of the Times, since it allows others to declare that something is fishy and the Times allegations must be investigated.

Conjuring tricks -

Extrapolating from extrapolations - How exactly then did Catherine Page (or whichever groupie did the calculations) arrive at this magic figure of 20,000? The first article was extraordinarily vague. The manner in which the groupie uses language merits careful study -

“Some civilians were probably killed by the Tigers, whose brutality and ruthlessness over the past 28 years has fully justified their depiction as terrorists. Finding out what happened, however, is impossible: the army has barred entry to all outsiders. Food is short, sanitation appalling; wounded and traumatised civilians are in desperate need of help. That much is clear from those who have been able to escape. More sinister reports are now circulating of systematic “disappearances” of families separated and young men taken away. But until the Government allows in aid workers, the presumption must be that it wants nothing to be heard or seen of what is going on. This tactic was used in the final push to beat the Tigers."

The language used provides a fascinating study in obfuscation. The transition from the past-tense to the present is intended to create the impression that the description is of the present situation in the welfare camps, where those who were rescued from the Tigers are housed. The second part of the paragraph, with its mention of the reports that British media outlets have been putting out with increasing shrillness, clearly applies to the current situation. In the process we lose sight of the fact that those who managed to escape, did in fact escape from the Tigers, and the hostage situation the British seemed to wish to perpetuate in refusing to follow the rest of the world and call upon the Tigers to surrender.

All this confusion has the effect, as doubtless intended, of drawing attention away from the absence of any argument to justify the newly inflated figure of 20,000. The text itself refers to hundreds of fresh graves, and apart from that there is no trace of argument for the new numbers.

This came later, first through a remarkably silly assertion that, to the earlier (and in any case, unverified) 7,000, there had to be added 1,000, a day which was what the UN was claimed (again with no verification) to have estimated. The Times itself, on the 30th, produced an even more lunatic argument, also worth quoting in full -

“The figures have been collated from deaths reported by priests or doctors and added to a count of the bodies brought to medical points. Of the total, the bodies collected, accounted for only a fifth of the reported deaths. After the bombing intensified this month, the only numbers available were by a count of the bodies. The 20,000 figure is an extrapolation based on the actual body count”.

Put in simple English, that means that the Times believes there were 4,000 bodies in May, which they multiplied by 5 to get at the figure they tossed into cyberspace. Even more astonishingly, it would seem that the earlier figures are based on reports from individuals, identified as priests or doctors, which were then added to bodies brought to medical points. This suggests there were 'doctors' not at medical points who added their stories to 'verifiable' bodies, also presumably reported by doctors. At all stages the figures were the highest possible that could be put together, and the failure to identify bodies to substantiate these claims was then turned into another instrument of aggression, to justify actual (or rather reportedly) verified figures to be multiplied by five.

The historical continuity of the current Western approach

Underlying this balderdash is the assumption that only callow Western reporters care about Tamils. This I find particularly irritating, since I have been concerned about Sri Lankan treatment of minorities long before it became fashionable. I remember taking Radhika Coomaraswamy, now wailing and gnashing her teeth because there is no war crimes probe, to task more than a quarter of a century ago because she kept quiet about what the J.R. Jayewardene government was doing to the Tamils. I could understand family gratitude, since I have been told regularly how well J.R. treated her father Raju, but that was no excuse for the International Centre for Ethnic Studies keeping quiet about what was happening to Tamils in the early eighties.

Radhika explained that ICES was allowed to operate on the condition that it would not look at internal problems - a compromise I found shabby - and which I described as such in an article at the time. Fortunately the situation changed after 1983, but even then Radhika operated through a different body that she had set up called the Committee for Rational Development, for which responsibility was entrusted to a younger, but still idealistic and clear-thinking Dayan Jayatilleke.

Now ICES has swung the other way, and even Mrs Tiruchelvam, forgetting how her determinedly anti-terrorist husband died, hankers after tying the Sri Lankan government up in knots for daring to go after his killers. But ambition makes strange bedfellows of us all, and the West and ICES which connived at the oppression of the Tamils and of democracy in the early eighties, when Cold War compulsions held sway, now wish to perpetuate a patronising unipolarity through an even more ruthless hypocrisy.

Comparisons with intelligent and concerned monitoring

Our own approach has been equally consistent, care for all our people, criticism of those who wish to abandon our sovereignty and betray our friends on whose defence of our common interests we can rely. I make no apologies, and now I do not need to, for the consistently pro-Indian sentiments I have expressed for nearly 30 years, and for having my first novel and my first political history published in India, way back in 1985 and 1986, when the Sri Lankan printer thought my direct critique of the Jayewardene government for the 1983 anti-Tamil riots too dangerous to publish.

In the same spirit, I have, at the Peace Secretariat, monitored TamilNet - all allegations of harm to civilians caused by military offensives, and asked the forces for explanations as necessary. That is how I could say proudly that, until the end of 2008, our record was the best in the world, even on a worst-case scenario - for surely TamilNet would not have omitted any possible charge. I should note that, while my staff may have missed an item or two, the al-Jazeera reporters who compared my lists with theirs thought I had covered pretty much everything (and they were British, though obviously not paid by the British).

There were only 78 civilian deaths alleged in all army operations in the last seven months of 2008. In over 400 airstrikes, there were fewer than 20 in which there were even allegations of civilian deaths, and in all such cases I was promptly given information of the target taken, and the distance from regular civilian areas. Of course, no one could guarantee that there were no civilians in military installations, but I also know that my other staff complained that even when precise locations were provided, the air force would not strike if there were civilian dwellings nearby. I should therefore take this opportunity to pay tribute to the decency of our forces, who never lost sight of the fact that these civilians were our people.

The situation changed after January, and while of course there must have been some collateral damage, given the way the LTTE had set up (with some connivance from some Western elements) their hostages, the evidence also shows clearly how much damage the LTTE themselves caused, and how they forced civilians into the battle lines. Obviously they wanted as many civilian casualties as possible, and that explains both their callousness and the inflated figures, which even our now worst enemies cannot claim are substantiated by body counts even in the tiny area to which the LTTE and its vicious leadership were finally confined.

Yet with all this desire to inflate figures and play on (or add support to) gullible (or bitter) Western feelings, TamilNet allegations in May give far lower figures for civilian casualties than the Times groupies wish to perpetuate. In the first weekend in May, they alleged 64 deaths. Then there was a lull until the 8th when 47 deaths were alleged. That, it will be remembered, is when there began again an exodus of civilians after the LTTE had brought the shutters down after the mass exodus in the latter part of April. Forty-seven is indicative not of a barrage by the Sri Lankan forces, but of LTTE killing with small arms as 1000 civilians fled. On the 9th, the LTTE brought out its heavy weapons, and for a short time they succeeded in stopping the flood. I believe the Sri Lankan forces had a moral obligation to quell the heavy weaponry, but for the moment they failed, and, while claiming that 1,200 had been killed, the LTTE brought down the shutters again.

The Times probably does not understand enough about logic to work out who benefited from these deaths, and the stopping of civilian escapes, but unless it has completely forgotten its basic arithmetic, it will understand that until May 10th, the TamilNet allegations amounted to fewer than 1,300 deaths, not 10,000 on the assumption of 1,000 a day. The Times may believe that TamilNet was now in the pay of the Sri Lankan government, or wicked non-Western countries, and that the Times and its little friends in the UN know better, but any government that does not see this as a worst-case scenario is obviously working to a perverse agenda.

After the weekend, the figure was raised to 3,200 by a TRO spokesman, referring to Sunday night to Monday morning, but this was not taken up elsewhere, and it is not clear whether he was referring again to the carnage caused by the LTTE stopping of the escape earlier in the weekend.

Over the next few days there were new allegations about a hospital being hit, with varying figures for deaths of 38, 47 (the same figure as ten days previously) and over 100, the smallest coming at the end. While this drama was going on, the Sri Lankan forces made another breach in the defences, and over 5,000 got away on May 14th. So, on the 14th, there was yet another TamilNet claim of 1,700 killed, though significantly enough it claimed that this was over the previous 48 hours.

After that we simply had mass hysteria, with a claim by the Sea Tiger Leader Soosai, whose wife had got away by sea with several relations and plenty of money, that 25,000 were 'injured to death'. That claim was repeated on TamilNet on the 17th, along with the assertion that the forces preferred to kill those who were fleeing, a strange assertion given how many were helped to safety.

That figure could not be the basis of the Times assertion, unless they decided that Soosai was exaggerating and they reduced his figure by a mathematical formula they had worked scientifically, as they did their one for extrapolating deaths from bodies they accepted on trust from unidentified sources.

Omitting this last claim then, it is clear that TamilNet has much to learn from the Times about how to make up figures. Or perhaps we were wrong to think that TamilNet figures are of a worst possible case, and actually they have been lying throughout to conceal the true depths of Sri Lankan iniquity, which only the Times and its unnamed informants can truly fathom.

Whatever the explanation, the Times decided to go out on a limb last week. They were justified in their view of Western gullibility, for their speculative figure, justified subsequently in the shadiest way (or rather ways, for good measure), has now become gospel in what purport to be influential Western eyes.

Sir John Holmes, in Sri Lanka , warned us we had to expect this type of behaviour from newspapers. The war was over, they were sitting in Colombo with nothing to do. But the way in which the Times in general, and a couple of correspondents from other places, have made things up relentlessly, suggests something more than just pique and anxiety for sensation.

They are determined, together with their friends in low places in the UN, and high places elsewhere, to put pressure on senior officials, and then misreport what they say - as we have seen happen already, when John Colville speaks for Navanethem Pillay and she and John Holmes are alleged to want a war crimes inquiry, and the Secretary General is pilloried for not being tough, i.e. not doing exactly what a few Western countries want.

Over the next few days, those countries will try to build on what the Times has started. More recent articles suggest what the agenda is, and I shall look at that next. But for the moment we have clear evidence that what is termed the independent international media is partisanly parochial.

Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary General
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process

HUMAN RIGHTS TERRORISTS RULE AT THE UN

2009-06-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

THEY are now known as Human Rights Terrorists; those who attempt to covertly support various terrorist agendas hiding behind the sanctimonious banners of human rights and opposition to war crimes, by pressurizing legitimate governmental action against terrorists on their soil. The UN is widely infested with this variety and they are fed and nurtured with support from the shadowy world of corrupt politics and even worse; groups that support illegal and even terrorist objectives targetting elected governments world wide. Most prominant among such activist organizations that provide a basis for their existance are the so called Non-governmental Organizations [NGOs] which are non-regulated, raise funds unrestricted and virtually un-audited and apparently are not accountable to anyone.

The rise of these organizations and individuals as champions of human rights was phenomenal a few years ago. A troubled world awash in cash provided a convenient and lucrative feeding ground for those who could argue loudest on behalf of who ever pays the best made such organizations into sources of quick money for the unscrupulous and unemployed former civil sector employees with high level diplomatic contacts. The existance of the world's conflict zones and human misery provided them a ready platform to preach from and hold the world to emotional ransom. Perpetuating such problems and human misery now provide these people life long lucrative careers. The proof is in the speed and instant clamoring with which various NGOs flock to places of conflict and natural disasters, claiming to be international do gooders and demanding instant access. It goes without saying that any efforts to end a conflict is detrimental to the welfare of the NGOs and their carrion birds who aim to feed off human misery for the rest of their own lives.

There is also a reason for the thriving existance of such NGOs operating mainly in under-developed and conflict torn places on earth. To the western nations interested in exerting a far ranging sphere of influence, they provide a means of pressurizing local governments through various means including corruption, and thus have become an efficient control mechanism which works well in nations which could otherwise resist diplomatic channels. NGOs operating in rural parts of developing nations also gather grass roots level information and have the ability to fund and support covert action against nation states. Norwegian NGO action in rural parts of northern Sri Lanka is widely suspected of having facilitated the Tamil Tiger movement for a long time, while bringing in pressure to prevent successive Sri Lankan governments from taking effective anti-terrorism measures through various means.

Such organizations and UN based bureacrats who are apparently part of the same gravy train [I often wondered who paid off the colorful African UN official who repeatedly praised the Tamil Tiger 'rebels' for releasing child soldiers] have grown over the years to tremendous stature and today are a shadowy organization which exerts considerable pressure on the UN itself. In most cases they are able to interfere unrestricted with the activities of legitimate governments worldwide to a level which undermines the very precepts of democracy, soverignty and even poses significant threats to the national security of target nations. A few years ago during the Bush administration an excessively vocal and out of control UN human rights official was removed from her position after challenging the US's conduct of anti-terrorism operations in various parts of the world. Since then these shadowy groups seem to have shifted their focus to more vulnerable countries, especially those in the developing world, who they deem incapable of putting up a fight.

Sri Lanka has been a very attractive feeding ground for such organizations for over two decades and has suffred numerous reported and unreported ignomities as a result. While the majority of these organizations did not provide services to the extent of the funds collected by them from the UN and other donors, some have even covertly funded and supported tamil tiger terror activities for many years. Other activites such as NGO employees being involved in child molesting and pornographic movies involving minors etc have largely gone unreported, while successive governments have resorted to silently having such individuals deported without legal process to avoid antagonizing the organizations they consider too influential in the international diplomatic arena.

The apparent current raging antagonism against Sri Lanka by western (predominantly an EU phenomenon) nations needs to be understood in this context. It is not about the tamil civillians, who have been victims of terror of an extent which will perhaps be never known. That is evident from the fact that their opinion, or that of moderate tamil voices are not being considered by these chauvanistic vocal bandits who are still attempting to hijack human rights to further their own agendas. It is instead based on the fear that just as Sri Lanka set a precedent in stamping out terrorism by military force, that the island nation may also set a precedent in curtailing the activities of the shadowy organizations through which lack luster former colonials have so far managed to exert indirect control over poorer nations.

The attempts presently being made against Sri Lanka to threaten it with not only human rights violations but also war crimes lack basis in evidence. This is quite obvious from the way even the UN chief Ban speaks out from time to time. His comments on the Sri Lankan anti-terrorism operations producing 'unacceptably high number of casualties' raises the interestingly disturbing question of exactly how many casualties are acceptable in such situations to the people at the UN. To the civilized mind none should be, while to the rational, there can not be a pre-determinable quantity in the rapidly changing chaos of war. Similarly are the wild accusation of high death counts made by western media's instant military experts whose only known and provable skills are that of operating a camera or speaking sensationally in front of one. Where sensationalism is concerned such media persons are often capable of making a hot piece of dog droppings appear to be a biological weapon as long as suits their intended audience.

Similarly are the likes of Navi Pillai, an ethnic tamil from South Africa whose personal emotions are quite obviously clouding the objective discharge of her duties at UN. Her attempts to use official position to wage an assault against Sri Lankan leadership based on what apperas to be purely personal sentiment based purely on sensational journalism is another symptom of how far the UN has been hijacked by individuals prone to human rights terrorism. A recent comment by the Head of the UN Ban Ki Moon carries a subtle change in language which perhaps indicates that he too is now becoming suspicious of the activites against Sri Lanka that are being rushed at warp speed. His second comment calls for impartial investigation of 'all credible evidence' of war crimes, instead of the earlier version which lacked any reference to the credibility of accusations being thrown around. "I would like to ask the Sri Lankan government to recognize the international call for accountability and full transparency," he said. "And whenever and wherever there are credible allegations of violations of humanitarian law, there should be a proper investigation." Looks like ol' Ban Ki clearly doesn't want to be associated with the lunatic fringe, while keeping all options open for any future action.

Sri Lanka has stood firm and defended her national security, integrity and more importantly our self respect as an inclusive single nation which embraces all people who consider themselves Sri Lankan. Our youth have willingly sacrificed lives and many will continue to live with visible and invisible scars of our nation's heroic struggle to achieve a semblence of dignity. While not all among us are happy with everything that happened in the course of decimating the tyrannical tamil tigers to bring peace to the nation, it must be bourne in mind that those who now attempt to press charges against the nation's leadership intend nothing less than to take away our nation's self respect. They are definitely not our friends, nor are they friends of our enemies.

They are the enemy.

LOOKING BACK| WHAT OUR CRITICS REALLY ARE LIKE ON THEIR TURF

2009-05-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

WORLD famous minority rights advocate Desmond Tutu is unlike anyone else. The image is bigger than the man and it over whelms most people. Quite obviously his contributions to the liberation struggles of black Africa must have been significant, unless everyone is mistaken.

And from that moral high horse, the good Arch Bishop has lectured Sri Lanka a few times, about how it should conduct its internal affairs. But when a group of South Africans set upon a some others from a minority causing grievious harm exactly one year ago, the voice of the usually prominant freedom fighter was conspicuously absent in demanding action.

This made an interested someone write to the Arch Bishop. Following are the emails which passed between these two parties;

Sent: 27 May 2008 12:00 AM
To: mpilo@iafrica.com
Subject: Light 'em up, eh?

My dear Arch Bishop

The boys with the matches are at it again, and this time it is in your own back yard. And this time, they are your boys.

I thought of giving you a wake up call, since you, old chap, are rather fond of making lengthy and emotional speeches calling for action against those who commit horrific deeds targetting innocent victims. I didn't want you to miss out on this big one in your own back yard.

By the way, some vindictive people who still think South Africa should have remained under those horrible Aparthied folks say you'd never venture out to condemn and demand action when it is your own boys committing the horrible deeds. But dear Sir, I know they are saying such things out of the malice in their hearts. And I await breathlessly to hear you condemn the terrible deeds we just witnessed and call for the perpetrators to be taken to task without any further delay.

Please don't keep me waiting..

Respectfully

Ron Tills
Kentucky , USA

..It evoked the following response from the office of the Arch Bishop

Dear Mr Tills

I acknowledge receipt of your letter. Thank you for expressing your opinion.

Lavinia Browne
Personal Assistant to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
----------------------------------------------------------------
Postal address: Street address:
P O Box 1092 44 Frazzitta Business Park
Milnerton 7435 Koeberg Road , Milnerton 7441
Cape Town Cape Town

Tel: 0027 21 552 7524
Fax: 0027 21 552 7529
cell: 082 459 2731
mpilo@iafrica.com

NOW | SL'S VICTORY OVER TERROR OFFERS LESSONS TO OTHERS

2009-05-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

The tactics the government used to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels could help other nations grappling with insurgencies. - By Mark Magnier, May 23, 2009. Reporting from New Delhi

Sri Lanka's victory this week after a 25-year battle against the Tamil Tiger rebels represents a rare success story for governments fighting insurgencies.

Even as leaders in Colombo, the capital, declared a national holiday and citizens danced in the streets, military planners and analysts around the world began scrutinizing the war for lessons on how to fight Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militant groups.

For more than two decades in the conflict in Sri Lanka, neither side was strong enough to overcome the other. That changed three years ago, when the army adopted more mobile tactics, overhauled its intelligence system, promoted young commanders and steadily hemmed in one of the world's most ruthless and innovative rebel movements.

At its peak, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the rebels are formally known, controlled one-third of the country, had their own army, a sizable navy and nascent air force, and served as a role model for insurgencies worldwide with their pioneering use of explosives vests and female suicide bombers. This week, the army displayed in triumph what it said was the portly, bullet-riddled body of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in his signature fatigues.

What may be the most important factor in ending the stalemate was the political will to do whatever it took. In a supreme irony, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected in November 2005 by a 1.9-percentage-point margin after Prabhakaran urged Tamils to boycott the election. Rajapaksa made military victory over the Tigers a cornerstone of his administration and signaled to the military that it could get whatever resources it wanted simply by asking.

"They did everything a general dreams of," said retired Indian Maj. Gen. Ashok Mehta, a commander of the Indian peacekeeping forces in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. "Unfettered resources and no political interference."

The military budget grew by 40% a year, and the army exploded by 70% to 180,000 troops, adding 3,000 a month compared with 3,000 a year previously, drawing largely from rural Singhalese attracted by relatively high wages in a struggling economy.With more soldiers, the army was able to hit the Tigers on several fronts simultaneously, breaking with years of hit-or-miss operations.

"Before, the army would take territory, then move on, allowing the LTTE to come back," said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara. "That changed and we hit them on all four fronts so they could no longer muster all their resources into one place."

Some of the lessons are transferable, experts said."Sri Lanka provides a case study," said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.

Other lessons are either unique to Sri Lanka or would be politically unpalatable in other societies, including the high civilian and military death tolls and alleged human rights violations. The United Nations and many human rights groups repeatedly called for a cease-fire so civilians caught in the crossfire could flee the conflict area -- calls the government largely dismissed.

"They were not worried about collateral damage," said Ajey Lele, an Indian military analyst and ex-wing commander. "So in many regards it's a very difficult model to adopt."

By some estimates, nearly 100,000 people died in the war, which began in 1983, including more than 7,000 civilians since January.

Because Rajapaksa's base was the nation's Sinhalese majority, there was relatively little domestic pushback over the deaths and displacement of ethnic Tamil civilians. The government restricted the access of international media and independent humanitarian groups, making it difficult to report what was going on.

The lesson of nonstop, no-holds-barred combat -- the army even powered on during monsoons -- was complemented by better use of small, flexible "deep penetration" special forces units, many trained by their U.S. and Indian counterparts. Dressed like the rebels, they went behind enemy lines, assassinating Tigers, crippling infrastructure in rebel-held areas and reporting target locations to the army and air force.

Cutting supply lines, creating faster and more mobile special forces units, going after financing and hitting jungle hide-outs are additional strategies applicable to other insurgency battles, experts said.

At the same time, the Tigers' scope made them a bigger target. For years, they parked freighters at sea and ferried arms, oil, food and other supplies into ports they controlled.In recent years, the government destroyed seven of these mother ships, reportedly with the help of satellite intelligence from India and the United States, and made better use of small, maneuverable, heavily armed "Arrow" vessels.

"It adopted many new tactics and techniques," said retired Indian Col. Ravindra Tripathi, a military analyst. "And it imbued fighting spirit in its troops."

The broader political climate also was changing, some critics said. Any lingering sympathy for so-called freedom fighters eroded after the Sept. 11 attacks. Though some militant groups, such as the Irish Republican Army, eventually opted for political settlement, Prabhakaran rejected the idea of compromise.

In this new climate, Sri Lanka also gained access to U.S. satellite intelligence and training and benefited from designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and India. Smuggling and arms deals, as well as financing from the Tamil diaspora, became more difficult as the international community stepped up its scrutiny of money trails.

"A military precept the world over is that you can't win militarily against an insurgency, which is essentially a political struggle," said Maj. Gen. Mehta. "They turned that on its head."

mark.magnier@latimes.com (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-sri-lanka-lessons23-2009may23,0,2254784,print.story)
Pavitra Ramaswamy in The Times' New Delhi Bureau contributed to this report.

LOOKING BACK| EPILOGUE - OF A DIVIDED SRI LANKA

2009-05-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

''There's an eerie feeling here,'' the diplomat said of the capital. ''People are going about their business as if they don't realize that their country no longer exists.''

STEVEN R. WEISMAN, Special to the New York Times published the followng article on Wednesday, October 28, 1987. Sri Lanka was in turmoil, the IPKF had landed and were fighting a war they would lose horribly to the LTTE in the north, while the SL Army was cracking down on a vicious JVP insurrection. Forecast; Sri Lanka will end in two seperate states.

By capturing the Tamil rebel stronghold of Jaffna this week, Indian Army troops signaled their determination to enforce a peace accord in Sri Lanka. Yet achievement of a genuine peace here appears to many analysts to be more distant than ever.

Indeed, a mood of pessimism has settled among diplomats, Sri Lankan leaders and Indian officials regarding the future of Sri Lankan national unity. More and more, one hears comparisons with the permanent divisions and alien occupation forces of two other troubled islands, Ireland and Cyprus.

''I don't think that until recently I realized how much I love my country,'' a weary and saddened Sri Lankan official said. ''But I have to be realistic. Sri Lanka is finished as we have known it.''
Since 1983, Sri Lanka has been torn by warfare as ethnic Tamil rebels in the north and east pressed their fight for a separate country. The island is dominated by the Sinhalese ethnic majority.

A Shift in Tactics

This summer the Sri Lankan Army counterattacked, pushing the main guerrilla group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, into the northern Jaffna Peninsula. Then, President J. R. Jayewardene shifted tactics and agreed to a negotiated settlement with India as a collaborator.
At first the Liberation Tigers seemed to accept the Indian-Sri Lankan accord calling for them to surrender their arms in return for greater political autonomy in Tamil areas. The Tigers, in effect, bowed to New Delhi after years of using southern India as a sanctuary, supply center and training base.

But this month the Tigers resumed attacks on military and civilian targets, evidently feeling that India and Sri Lanka were not living up to their part of the bargain. The collapse of the accord compelled India to disarm the Tigers by force or risk being ordered to leave by Mr. Jayewardene.

The current pessimism derives from the configuration of armed forces in Sri Lanka and the increasing likelihood of continued fighting.

In the north and east, Indian troops are given little chance of crushing the Tamil rebellion, as they had recently hoped to do. Meanwhile in the south, the Sri Lankan Army has become almost an occupying force, itself pressing a campaign against extremist Sinhalese who have carried out assassinations and other acts to undercut the peace accord.

In Jaffna, the escape of Tamil guerrillas this week rendered the fall of the city a hollow victory for India, which lost more than 200 men by its own count. ''No doubt India has dealt a psychological blow to the guerrillas,'' a Western diplomat said of the Jaffna campaign. ''But the guerrillas are alive and well in the countryside, armed and dangerous, with a sense of fervor that is extremely worrisome.''

Sri Lankan and Indian military analysts say also that the Liberation Tigers are likely to melt into the jungles, the countryside and even urban centers in classic guerrilla fashion. Indian troops are handicapped by their inexperience at this sort of fighting, and by their role as an alien force unable to speak the local language.

Some analysts think there may be a lull in attacks by the Tigers in the next few weeks, but the group's leaders indicate that they may soon turn to suicide squads to bomb civilian targets. The Tigers are also considered certain to continue their highly effective technique of blowing up police convoys and troops with land mines and other kinds of bombs.

These tactics, in turn, almost always provoke retaliatory excesses such as mass arrests of young men suspected of involvement, further inflaming the civilian population. Jaffna residents appear to distrust or hate Indian troops after the death of hundreds of civilians and uprooting of tens of thousands of residents in two weeks of fighting.

India's main task now is widely seen as restoring its credibility by rushing in food, medicine and other supplies to Jaffna and surrounding areas it occupies. But two other tasks facing India are much more urgent and difficult, if not impossible.

Given the likely refusal of the Tigers to lay down their arms or participate in a peace settlement, the first of these is to somehow keep them on the run, unable to inflict military damage.
Second, Indian officials say they must somehow help knit together a force of mainstream Tamil leaders to assume control of the civil administration in the north and east as an alternative moderate political force. Mounting Political Pressure

But this task is shadowed by fear on the part of moderates that they will be assassinated if they try to present themselves as rivals to the Tigers. Such assassinations have occurred many times in the past.

A few months ago, the presence of Indian troops here was looked on as a temporary measure to enable Tamil guerrillas to surrender their arms. But now, no one can see circumstances permitting an Indian withdrawal in the near future. Some say that Indian forces could be here for years, constrained only by the possibility of mounting political pressure in India for their withdrawal.

An irony of the situation is the perverse pride that many Sri Lankan Sinhalese who despise the Tamil guerrillas take in the skill, courage and fighting ability of the Tigers. ''The Indian Army thought they were coming here to subdue a bunch of primitive tribesmen,'' said a Sri Lankan official who is Sinhalese. ''But these boys are Sri Lankans! The Indian Army had a superiority complex that was unwarranted.''

Another paradox is that the presence of Indian troops in Tamil-dominated areas has already created a kind of de facto separate state with a separate form of government in the north and east, except in those areas where there is such chaos that no government exists at all.

A diplomat friendly to Sri Lanka pointed out gloomily that with the Indian Army in the north and east, and the Sri Lankan Army in the south, only two parts of the country are in a truly normal state of affairs. These are the capital, Colombo, which bustles warily with tourists and commerce, and the central highlands, an area of forest and tea estates.

''There's an eerie feeling here,'' the diplomat said of the capital. ''People are going about their business as if they don't realize that their country no longer exists.''

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/28/world/analysis-sri-lankan-epilogue-a-divided-land.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

WHEN REALITY IS HARD TO TAKE,DENIAL WORKS FOR SOME FOLKS

2009-05-21T17:54:00.001-07:00

Pro-LTTE lobby in Tamilnadu trying hard to deny the death of their favorite terrorist, with photoshpped pictures.

A TENTATIVE TIME LINE OF EVENTS

2009-05-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

It is quite possible that we may never know the entire sequence of events in the last few days of the 'Final War for eelam'. But even for us who live half a world away from the action with an ear to the ground, a timeline is not too difficult to construct.

As our forces closed in from all round, the pressure mounted, in particular as a result of the Indian elections getting close. It may have seemed like the life line opportunity the tigers waited for. Yet when the SLG didn’t seem too concerned about the fall-out on the Indians in Tamilnadu from the anti-LTTE operations in Sri Lanka's North east, the screws started tightening. This time it was the Americans who were joining the cacophony from europe. The pressure instantly became overwhelming, and even the Chinese and Russians are believed to have told SLG that they may not be able to hold off a UNSC resolution against Sri Lanka. SLG for once blinked, and asked the SL forces to go slow.

And then the 13th May rolled past and Indian voters ruled the pro-LTTE monkey circus in Tamilnadu out of style. The same Indian power bloc was back in the saddle and our part of the world rapidly started to look familiar. In the Wanni, the SL forces loaded their guns.

In India Manmohan spoke against the tamil tigers and Obama wanted them to surrender. UN’s Ban condemned the LTTE’s human shields.

Somewhere in Washington big brother reluctantly nodded.

And on a thin strip of wasteland in the north east of Sri Lanka, lights went out for the monsters.

DEATH OF A MONSTER

2009-05-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

LTTE's numero uno, aka Thalaivar, aka sooriya thevan (Sun God) lies in a muddy lake front part of his head blown off. The third eye of wisdom this self appointed savior of the tamil people and God of the Sun lacked in real life, was evidently given him by a Sri Lankan Defence Force sniper in the form of a bullet hole centered on the forehead, which perhaps blew the back part of his head far into the muddy lake.

The LTTE leader may not be alone on his journey across the river styx. At least 18 of his closest terroristas including son fat Charlie also were despatched to hell at the same time by Sri Lankan forces. After all, those who kill together deserve to die together.

Life can be a whole stranger than fiction. The irony of the first picture is one such case. Standing beside the corpse of the slain LTTE leader in business casual is his former stalwart Karuna who switched sides at the right time and now enjoys the priviledges of being a Sri Lankan cabinet minister. Standing next to him is a recent LTTE decamper who also is now being tolerated undeservedly by the Sri Lankan government at tax payer cost.

STUNNING END TO TERRORISM IN SRI LANKA

2009-05-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

IN an almost unrealistic and yet historic turn of events in contemparary times, Sri Lankan forces have successfully concluded the anti-terrorist operations begun 2 years ago today by killing the top leaders of the Tamil Tigers in one final fight.

The last few days saw urgent and desperate attempts by pro-LTTE nations and groups making countless attempts to rescue the LTTE leadership from the determined Sri Lankan forces closing in on them. Perhaps disappointingly for them, the nations which could have potentially brought about even a temporary halt to the military campaign, the US and India remained diplomatically uninvolved, while the Sri Lankan leadership's determination to finish the LTTE off remained unwavering. The last 24-48 hours of the battle was almost the stuff of a first class thriller, which kept not only the Sri Lankans in the island, and in other parts of the world glued to the internet searching for breaking news.

The LTTE leadership met their deaths in a desperate attempt to break through the SLDF lines following a high intensity battle between the remaining units of sea-tigers in which 15 SLDF soldiers and over 70 tigers were killed. In the break-out attempt that followed, the LTTE leader and his entire leadership group were killed by Sri Lankan special forces.

Over the next days, weeks and months the story of the final fight will emerge to be told and retold for generations.

END OF WAR; BEGINNING OF ANOTHER JOURNEY

2009-05-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

As much as it is a significant victory in contemporary Sri Lankan history, we must be empathic to how the tamil citizens of our country may feel about the Sri Lankan defence forces eliminating the LTTE. Without a doubt the majority of ordinary tamils must feel a difficult to explain mixture of sadness, hopelessness, resignation and even some relief. Understandably most would refrain without showing how they feel.

Sri Lankans must clearly understand that there is nothing to be gained by adding insult to the psychological and other injuries already sustained by the tamil bretheren living among us. Those who rub salt into the wounds of friends will only make enemies, and our true enemies of the pro-LTTE mob must be waiting for that to happen. Such behavior on its own could turn out to be another July-83 even if it is sans violence against anyone.

This is exactly why it becomes very important that the President, other prominant statesmen, opposition leaders, tamil politicians such as Devananda and Ananda Sangaree etc address the nation, not to give victory speeches, but to deliver cold sober 'Let's talk of where we go from here as a single nation' talks. There must not be any declarations which further alienate the tamil citizens of Sri Lanka, but only verbal attempts and actions that are aimed at healing the wounds. This is not a victory of one community over another, but the defeat of a tribal, racist terrorism no Sri Lankan will ever want to live with. However, all Sri Lankans must necessarilly be aware of how our tamil neighbors may be feeling deep in their hearts. Reaching out to the tamils among us and speaking openly of understanding those feelings and apprehensions will open an opportunity for free and honest dialogue which can lead to greater understanding of not our differences, but how common our future aspirations can be.

The next goal before our nation will be to find the common grounds on which all of our people can feel a sense of belonging, and pride of ownership. Finding the answers will not be an easy task, but as Sri Lankans have already proven that we are capable of accomplishing the impossible when we really want to. The journey may not be easy, but it will be one which rewards everyone on all sides, unlike the end of a war in which there is always the defeated and the dead.

The Buddhist clergy, long associated with sinhala nationalism also have a unique opportunity to change that public perspective and become pillars of a unifying force that embraces tamils and other minorities for their own cultural values. It is imperative that the leading buddhist monks and figureheads of other faiths all deliver a message of hope for a unified future in which the military aspects of our past are down played.

Here's an important message for some of you younger hot heads; Sacrifices made by our soldiers were for the purpose of unifying our nation and restoring dignity as a single nation which includes everybody. We just militarily beat the opposing view. At this critical time, we will remember the scrifices our soldiers made, but we will not talk of them and their actions in ways that will defeat the purpose for which they died.

BREAKING NEWS - FROM SLBC

2009-05-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

An explosion occurred in an LTTE high security bunker in Safety Zone.
16-May-2009

Security sources say that an explosion has occurred in a high security bunker in which a number of senior LTTE leaders believed to have hidden. The bunker is totally destroyed due to this explosion. Security forces suspect that all top leaders of the LTTE in the bunker have been killed.

CASH AND GOLD STOLEN FROM CIVILLIANS RECOVERED FROM TOP LTTE FAMILIES

2009-05-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

It appears that the LTTE leaders have robbed the cash and jewellery they forced the civillian population to deposit in the so called eelam banks. The buildings housing these banks were later demolished using explosives.

By destroying the buildings the Tigers may have attempted to hoodwink the population into believing that the SL forces bombed them, and thereby not become aware that their money and gold has been robbed by the LTTE leaders.

It also may have been an attmept to pin the blame for the missing money and gold on the advancing SL forces, while the top tigers live in luxury with the stolen assets in some distant land.

Sri Lanka should invetigate the cash and gold further and let the public know where and how this woman and anyone else acting like her accumulated any wealth found in their possession.

TOP TIGER FAMILIES SURRENDER

2009-05-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

TOP LTTE member families have started to surrender to the SLDF. A large number of rank and file has also started to drop weapons to join the civillian exodus.

In the meanwhile three massive explosions have taken place where the Tiger honchos are dug in. Two of the explosions are from SLDF attacks on arms dumps of the LTTE while the third is speculated to be from an LTTE initiated destruction of own weapons storage. Spculation is rife that the LTTE also may have corralled a large number of civillians and blown them up, in a mass suicide to discredit the government.

The army's pincer movement to deny sea access to the LTTE has been completed by early Saturday. Media footage from the area shows that the LTTE has blown up a large number of vehicles etc in the area. Debunking all media reports claiming that SLDF artllery hit the civillian area, none of the houses in the area show any significant damage which would have been proof of such attacks. In fact most houses still have all of their red roof tiles intact, which would be an impossible had any artillery struck the area.

NEWS FLASH

2009-05-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

UNconfirmed news from senior military sources from Colombo say that the LTTE leader has been killed. A formal verification has not been concluded and announcement has been delayed pending the return of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa from Jordan.

A formal announcement may happen as early as Sunday, Sri Lankan time.

ENDGAME - NEXT 48 HOURS

2009-05-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

SLDF has entered the civillian hostage zone and is gunning for the tamil tiger terrorists. Led by elite Sri Lankan special forces, the thrust is likely to end in complete annihilation for the LTTE leadership. The LTTE leaders, with whom MI had established communication links, have informed that this would be a fight to the finish.

And finish is estimated to be within 48 hours, according to SLDF spokesmen.

KILLING THEIR OWN FOR SYMPATHY

2009-05-12T05:30:00.000-07:00

Corralled like pigs waiting slaughter, the Tamil Tiger hyenas are doing the predictable; killing civillians in a desperate bid to garner international sympathy and bring in pressure on the government to slow down or hold off the pending coup de grace.

In the western nations where pro-LTTE demos have been strongest, public opinion is starting to build against the inconvenience caused by the actions of tamils blockading streets while carrying flags of a terrorist organization. Realization is also starting to dawn on ordinary people that they now harbor a large group of violent and unpredictable foreigners who may stop at nothing to gain what they want. Western political sentiment, though rarely expressed openly, is becoming contemptous towards the demonstrators as they realize that the demonstrations are in support of and aimed at saving the terrorists, and actually not on behalf of the civillians the Tamil Tigers are holding and killing to win sympathy from the western nations.

Over the past week subtle diplomatic manuevering by pro-LTTE nations and western politicians pressurized Sri Lankan government to scale down military operations while India also was glad see a slow down until the elections are over. Attempting to take advantage of the respite and in an effort to bail out the tamil tigers, three western nations, Britain, France and Austria tried to bring Sri Lanka to the UN Security Council table yesterday but their efforts were shot down by a much larger vote comprising UNSC permanent members Russia and China and others who consider the anti-terrorist operations in Sri Lanka to be a purely internal matter.

As the LTTE realizes that its overseas diaspora is now becoming ineffective at bailing them out as did the Tamilnadu politicians, they are limited to resorting to the final act that is now available to them; bargain for the personal safety of the tiger leadership with the lives of the civillians still held by them. At least 300 tamil civillians who attempted to escape the tiger area have been killed by artillery barrages fired by the LTTE.

Though there needs to be some sensitivity to geo-politics even when dealing with internal issues, the Sri Lankan government at this point must not be swayed too much by international opinion. The entire nation's future is at stake and there can hardly be any credible denunciations for taking the next most logical step towards rescuing the remaining tamil civillians and eradicating the tamil tiger menace from Sri Lanka.

RE-BUILDING SRI LANKA, THE RIGHT WAY

2009-05-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

THE war was long over even before the first shot was fired. When the LTTE started preparing and began bragging about winning a seperate state in a "final war" and the Americans weighed in from the sidelines, the endgame was a foregone conclusion. The fighting left to be finished is only an epilogue.

Fortune certainly was on the side of Sri Lanka this time around. The Bush administration's pressure was on most other nations to turn a blind eye to the propaganda of the tamil tigers and their supporters in western nations. And then there were Sri Lanka's long term friends China and Pakistan ready to provide material support, with high tech surveillance being provided by Israel. That was the material side of the military campaign.

On the decision making side, the government and the military were headed by men who talk the same language and did communicate seamlessly. They all were connected, not only professionally but also from personal acquaintances which went far beyond in some cases into some individuals' school days. A virtual dream-team of political and military heads whose commitment to decisively defeating terrorism extending to a level unseen before in Sri Lanka. The skills they brought to the battle field is only matched by the political skills demonstrated by the President and his law makers when dealing not only with international interference, but also with domestic annoyances.

There is little doubt as to the debilitating effects of the punishing military campaign these men and women conducted with vision and valour, on the tamil tigers, who are no longer significant to any peace equation within Sri Lanka. Even then Sri Lanka must prosecute the military campaign until the last hostage is rescued from the civillian human shield, and ending only once the capture or elimination of the LTTE leadership has been accomplished. Letting Tamilnadu burn and making a few secret enemies such as the Norwegians into open enemies is an acceptable expense in that process. After all, those who attempt to stand in the way of our national defence should not be mistaken to be friends.

When this is all over, Sri Lanka will need assistace to re-build. But we do not need to beg from those who cannot even feed their own, and are facing literally unsurmountable economic hurdles. Sri Lanka instead needs to look inwards to her own sources, as much as to her staunchest of friends to rebuild our nation.

Instead of waiting for outside help, Sri Lanka also needs to utilize the opportunities the nation can offer her own expatriate children to become partners in the nation's growth. Sri Lanka's economic strength always lay in her vibrant and dynamic private sector. Without attempting to attract funds to the government in the form of high cost borrowings, Sri Lanka should invite investments in her stock market from expatriate Sri Lankans. Equity is always cheaper than debt and diversifies risk and increases pressure for sound business decision making. The presently depressed stock values and depreciated dollar-ruppee exchange rates offer plenty of lucrative investment opportunties which can easily pay off handsomely in a period of 15 to 20 years into the future for the investor.

Sri Lanka is the next economic miracle waiting to happen. Sri Lankans abroad should not miss the opportunity to benefit from her growth.

More information on investing in Sri Lankan stocks can be found here. http://www.cse.lk/welcome.htm

DOCUMENTARY ON THE SRI LANKAN STF

2009-05-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Chris Ryan, a former SAS trooper travels to Sri Lanka for an in depth documentary on the Sri Lankan elite Police Force, the Special Task Force.

Here's a link to the first part of his real life documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkomY92FSy8&feature=related. There are three more parts to the series and the remainder can be found on the same web page.

On the battle front, troops are on the move and have restricted the LTTE into an ever shrinking land mass of less than 4 kilo meters. SLDF troops also are capturing large amounts of weapons, including boats and other assets. The remaining number of civillians held hostage by the LTTE has now diminished to less than 15,000.

In other interesting developments, the top UN bureaucrat has been summoned by the SLG in connection with fictitious and cooked literature indicating unverified civillian deaths leaked to the international press. The UN official's tropical holiday in Sri Lanka is about to end, by the looks of it. The Sri Lankan government means business and in that context, kicking out a couple of UN wallahs are a worthy inconvenience.

The Norwegians are making noises too. Having tried hard to get the LTTE off the hook by all possible means, now the decietful salmon eaters are crawling back, mouthing soothing sounds which are meant to ease the distruct the Sri Lankan state and her people have of them. Sri Lankans need to be reminded of the old adage ' never fall into the same pit twice' when dealing with the Norwegians.

Surrendered LTTE cadres including various self-styled 'master' title holders are singing different tunes to the military interviewers. Daya Master, a one time tamil tiger big wig assures that the LTTE leader is a pussy who will never dare step outside his bunker and sacrifice every man, woman and child before risking his own life. He also assures that the LTTE leader is still hiding among the civillians and is awaiting a rescue by the international community.

BROWN AND OBAMA - DISASTERS IN PROGRESS

2009-05-02T06:17:00.000-07:00

Gordon Brown and Obama have one thing in common. Maybe two; both are leading nations that have been run to the ground, and have no idea of what they are doing either. They are both fancy talkers who are 'frightfully good at all sorts of things, with the notable exception of knowing what to do about the economy...' as Simon Heffer very aptly points out in the online version of the UK's Telegraph.

About Gordon Brown he says "..At the root of all this is Mr Brown's pathological inability to admit error. Given the Prime Minister's record, it would be a bit like Fred the Shred claiming he did a great job at RBS. Mr Brown not only cannot make a sensible decision: he becomes trapped in his bad ones..."

And about Obama, he "...thought it was rather naff of President Obama to hold a news conference to mark his first 100 days in office. His recognition of a landmark that is merely a journalistic stunt is not the sort of thing new messiahs should sink to doing.

When I watched his campaign last year, he was frightfully good at all sorts of things, with the notable exception of knowing what to do about the economy. As you may discern, this is potentially difficult. After 100 days, he still hasn’t a clue. Will he have one after 200? Or 300? ..."

This entire document can be found here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/5259028/Theres-one-more-thing-Gordon-Brown-can-do.html

MEXICO - A CAUSE FOR SERIOUS CONCERN

2009-04-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

MEXICO was on the fore front attempting to paint a picture of extreme anxiety over Sri Lanka sometime ago. The land from which the most number of illegal aliens invade the continetal United States was making a strenous effort to drag Sri Lanka's anti terrorist operations before the U.N Security Council but met with no success as a result of the island nation's friendly heavies Russia and China weighing in against it.

The reason for Mexico's attempts were suspected by most to be an effort to divert attention from itself, after being labelled one of the most vulnerable nations on the verge of a complete law and order collapse. In this respect Mexico was listed along with Pakistan, which is currently facing a wave of Taliban and Islamic extremism revival. THough different to Pakistan, Mexico's problems have a long history; instituionalized corruption fed by lucrative and violent nacro-trafficking. The depth of the problem can be seen from the fact that an entirely new religion which worships "Saint Death" has sprung up recently to cater to the land's violent criminals generally shunned by the church and now caters to thousands of such social lepers.

The latest distressing news to originate from Mexico comes in the form of a potential pandemic. The swine-flu which is now rapidly spreading all over the United States and a number of other nations have been traced back to Mexico. The swine-flu is a variant of the asian originated avian-flu (bird-flu) which was watched carefully by the scientific community as having the potential to cross the barrier from bird to human. In this case it appears as if the bird-flu virus mutated enough to infect pigs and then cross over to humans. Already over 100 people are dead in Mexico and hundreds infected are being discovered in the US and elsewhere.

The US and some of the other nations may be easily capable of dealing with the medical emergency, but Mexico's vulnerability to the virus will leave the world open to greater danger in the future. As the virus mutates within the human hosts, it is also likely to become more and more resistant to treatment and could potentially become a mass scale cause of death in months to come. Thus Mexico is already becoming a much bigger security threat than an Iranian nuke, to the US and other nations.

Now it looks like just a matter of time before Mexico becomes a Security council agenda item.

CANADIAN LAW MAKERS START TO SEE THE LIGHT

2009-04-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenny lost his cool yesterday when 5,000 Tamil protestors blocked all roads to Canada's parliament in Ottawa, carrying flags with the LTTE Logo.

When the media requested him to speak to the protesters, he replied " I have nothing to say to them. They are terrorists , if not they would not be carrying flags with the Tiger logo. They should be carrying black flags if they are mourning for their kith and kin ! They should be asking the Tamil Tigers to surrender and save the lives of the tamil civilians, instead of asking us to request the Srilankan government to stop the war . I indeed, have nothing to say to them..."

TIGERS AT BAY - THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL

2009-04-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, one of the world's most violent terrorist outfits, are surrounded in northern Sri Lanka and about to be destroyed - but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and European self-styled peacemakers are getting in the way of victory. The meddlers should let Colombo finish off this menace.

In desperation, the Tamil Tigers are using tens of thousands of locals as human shields. The Sri Lankan government declared a cease-fire and called on the Tigers to release their hostages, but unmanned-aerial-vehicle video footage shows the terrorists holding masses of innocents at gunpoint, refusing them freedom. Last week, Mrs. Clinton played into the hands of the terrorists by blaming the Sri Lankan government for the crisis. "The entire world is very disappointed" that they were "causing such untold suffering," she said.

Foreign governments and aid organizations are calling on Colombo to cease operations, fearing that further action will lead to a humanitarian calamity. Norwegian Environment Minister Eric Solheim has been the point man in trying to negotiate a new truce, but he has been denounced by both sides. In response to his unwelcome efforts, the Nation, a Sri Lankan newspaper, editorialized that "the caravan of military operations has to move on. The time has come to tell the salmon-eating international busybodies to mind their own business."

The Sri Lankan government is justifiably confused and angry at the international response to their progress. Sri Lanka has been fighting the Tamil Tigers for over 30 years. The Tigers pioneered the modern use of suicide bombing and have killed thousands of civilians. A U.S. government expert on the group tells us that the Tigers are "one of the most odious insurgent groups around, and for a long stretch of time had more suicide attacks than the rest of the world combined. It has made a cult of martyrdom and violated every single previous cease-fire." During the most recent truce, the Tigers took the opportunity to assassinate about 200 moderate Tamil politicians and the Sri Lankan foreign minister.

Last year, Colombo decided enough was enough and withdrew from the cease-fire agreement. Using innovative counterinsurgency tactics, the Sri Lankan defense forces dismantled the guerrilla network on land and at sea. They drove the Tigers from their safe havens and bottled them up in a four-square-mile patch of beachfront swampland. Tiger leaders are hunkered down in underground bunkers trying desperately to stave off their looming demise.

We can only imagine American satisfaction if we had al Qaeda in this position. It is unconscionable for the United States to castigate its Sri Lankan ally for prevailing in its war against terrorism. The Tamil Tigers have purposefully created the conditions for a humanitarian crisis and deserve neither amnesty nor mercy. There are ways to help resolve this standoff that will not allow the Tigers to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, such as providing military and intelligence support for pinpoint strikes against the terrorist leadership. Failing that, the Obama administration should mind its own business. The Sri Lankans are winning; we should let them finish the job.

FOREIGN INTERFERENCE AND SRI LANKA'S OPTIONS

2009-04-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

AS the final stage of the humanitarian operations are reaching a climax, international pressure on the Sri Lankan government is also reaching its own crescendo. And interesting other activities are taking place, which disturb the geo-political pecking order and leading potentially to chaos of a higher intensity.

Sri Lankan Defence Forces have decisively decimated the tamil tigers' fighting prowess. What is left is a brief series of skirmishes to liberate the remaining few thousands of civillians still held hostage by the LTTE. The Sri Lankan military commanders are determined to annihilate the LTTE this time and have recieved reliable intel that the leadership is trapped within the approx 5 kilometers of land mass now completely surrounded. Special forces and commando units are infilterating the remaining area and are being guided to specific targets based on real time intel from both air-borne surveillance systems and operatives on the ground. Attacks carried out based on such intel have completely wiped out all of the tamil tigers' heavy weapons arsenal.

Sensing the imminent endgame, overseas LTTE supporters are in over-drive attempting to halt the military operations by whatever means possible. They were successful to some extent to obtain a brief declaration of condemnation of Sri Lankan military action by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is suspected by most Sri Lankans as sympathetic towards the tamil tigers' cause. Clinton's remarks are more of an embarrassment to herself than to anyone else, due to the absence of a factual basis for them. Well organized Sri Lankan groups can be depended on to challenge her views openly in coming days.

Other nations too have entered the frey, in some cases potentially disturbing the military status quo in the region, which may not be to the liking of nations aspiring to regional super power status.

A French helicopter carrier [probably the Jeanne d'Arc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_d'Arc_(R_97)] which was recently on a port call in South India is reportedly in close proximity to Sri Lanka in international waters, and so is an Indian frigate. These vessels possess the ability to launch helicopters which can easily reach Sri Lankan shores within 15 minutes. The US Navy is also said to be on alert but are stationed further afar.

The French have also offered to assist with evacuation of civillians and their senior diplomats have made veiled threats of military action against Sri Lanka as well. It would be in Sri Lanka's interest to take these threats seriously and prepare her defence forces to take all necessary action to defend our nation's soveriegnty and her territorial integrity. It is a well established fact that the French can't piss straight if the Americans aren't there to hold their dick for them, so dealing with any Frenchy adventures should not be too much of an issue for Sri Lanka's veteran armed forces. To back down in the face of these threats would definitely amount to inviting further interference from the pansies of the Western world.

These developments involving western naval operations in their own back yard must make the Indians predictably uneasy and unhappy over the percieved lack of control in a pond that they have struggled to assert dominance for decades. And that creates opportunity for Sri Lanka to play a balance of power game to neutralize the entire circus.

The Sri Lankans have the option of calling the Chinese to send in a sophisticated missile frigate capable of decommisioning the old Frenchie, on a friendly visit to Trincomalee. That is guarateed to piss everybody off even more, but will estalish one solid rule; when it comes to our business, we make the rules.

When a status quo breaks, chaos happens. And there's always profit in it for those who know how to play the game. It definitely looks like the right time to ratchet up the rhetoric on our side.

RANSOMED IN THE LAST REDOUBT -

2009-04-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

A veteran Sri Lankan monitor, Lord Naseby sees an end in sight to the country’s bitter ethnic strife – even if a worrying number of civilians remain trapped in the northern conflict zone ...

I have known Sri Lanka since 1963 when I worked there. The purpose of my visit in January was to assess the political situation and to do some private touring to revisit places I had not seen for 45 years.

One has to remember that tension between the minority Tamil community (18 per cent) and the other ethnic groups goes back to British rule when the civil service was purposely recruited from the minority on a sort of divide-and-rule strategy. One could go back to the first century AD and right through the centuries as the people of South India invaded, destroying what are now World Heritage sites at Anuradhapura and Polannaruwa. I visited them both and what a wonderful job of restoration has been done by the Sri Lanka Department of Culture and Unesco.Post-independence, the tension increased under the two Bandaranaike governments in the ’50s and ’60s, when Sinhalese was made the only official language. Gradually it eased until today when both Sinhalese and Tamil are official; indeed I noted many road and other government signs in both languages. Moreover, it is now a requirement of people entering the civil service to be able to write and speak both languages. The language issue has now virtually been solved, but it caused today’s problems.

In 2005 President Rajapaksa was elected. He is astute and clear-headed: either the Tigers come back into the democratic fold of a united Sri Lanka or they have to be wiped out. Prabhakaran, the leader who is believed to have murdered, amongst hundreds, Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian president, played for time but foolishly fell out with his lieutenant, Karuna, who controlled the Eastern Province. When Karuna saw there was no future in Eelam (the native Tamil homeland) and came over with his fighters to the government side, the Tigers were effectively finished in the East.In 2008 when I saw the president he said the army was now well trained and it would slowly engage the Tigers to weaken them until territory fell into their hands.

This year I arrived just as the Tiger capital of Kilinochichi was taken. Remarkably, this advance was achieved without a single reported death of a civilian. Each day more and more ground is taken; the A9 road to Jaffna was reopened after 10 years. The only sinister element is that the Tigers have forced the Tamil civilians to go with them to provide a human shield. The UN estimates the numbers at 250,000 but others state 100,000, however nearly 50,000 have got out, despite the Tigers shooting some. Appeals have been made by the UN, the four Co-Chairs, the Red Cross and the Sri Lankan government to allow civilians to leave as the area of jungle held by the Tigers gets smaller and smaller – but to no avail.

People ask why there can’t be a ceasefire: the answer is that this terrorist group has held Sri Lanka to ransom for 25 years. They can surrender or be wiped out. The Tigers do not represent anyone – certainly not the Tamil people.

What will happen when the Tigers are defeated? The Tamil people are extremely industrious. They will rebuild the north, providing the international community really does respond with the aid that has been talked about for years. Tony Blair’s government promised to me that, once there was peace, Britain would be generous. I remain totally confident that elections will be held as soon as humanely possible and Tamils will be democratically elected to Parliament. I also believe that the sticking points of devolution to all the provinces will be overcome.

I confess I do not understand why the prime minister and foreign secretary have decided to appoint a special envoy when we have a highly competent High Commissioner. It’s about as sensitive as the foreign secretary telling the Indian government that the Mumbai terrorist attacks were due to the Kashmir issue.

THE LARGEST HOSTAGE RESCUE IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY

2009-04-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

By: Professor Sunil J. Wimalawansa

Hostage takings have been reported sporadically, throughout the world. However, none was even closer to the recent captivity of approximate of 250,000 of civilians by the Tamil Tiger terrorists (LTTE) in the north eastern jungles. Over the past three days 60,000 hostages were rescued by the Sri Lankan Forces; the largest number of hostages rescued in such a short period, anywhere in the world.

LTTE is banned world-wide as a terror outfit for their work on suicide bombings, child soldiering, organized crime, and unlimited human rights violations. In addition to the billions of rupees in property damage, LTTE violence has consumed over 140,000 lives; the majority had been women and children. Three decades of government-initiated and third party mediated negotiations as well as peace discussions were failed. Terrorists have constantly violated all ceasefire agreements. The final turning point towards defeating terrorism in Sri Lanka was attained in mid-2008, after three years of careful and strategic planning by the current Sri Lankan government. LTTE terrorists never anticipated such a rapid advance of the military, which has now completely encircled them.

It is important to note that in spite of the military disadvantages of it, to-date, the Sri Lankan government continues to supply food, water and medicine to the terrorist held areas. Up to now, about 180,000 civilians have been fled safely from the terrorist's captivity. To safe guard these civilians and to establish a safe route for them to escape LTTE prison, in concurrence with the UN, a no-fire zone (a safe haven) was established by the Sri Lankan government. Many who attempted to escape were shot or maimed. UN and other agencies, and those civilians who survived from the captivity confirmed that terrorists used them as human shields, forced them to fight with them and to participate in suicidal missions.

In addition to the strategic ground and navel blockade of weapons supply, destruction of its naval hardware, the fall of LTTE is also in part due to sheer exhaustion and the lack of confidence in its leadership. Nevertheless, some of these terrorists have managed to escape by intermingling with civilians, and are currently engaged in sporadic attacks on civilian targets in the rest of the country, to divert attention from the battle front in the North. Meanwhile, the government has initiated a massive US $150 million humanitarian programme to care for the IDPs with the assistance from the UN and others.

Under the direct supervision of the Sri Lankan Army Commander and the Defense Secretary, three major army divisions surrounded LTTE terrorists in an area of about 200 sq. kms. Due to successful army advances, this area has now been reduced to less than 18 sq. kms; a relatively thin strip of land consisting of the no-fire zone. Battle hardened ground troops have been supported by Special Forces and the Air Mobile Brigade, as well as an increasingly sophisticated Navy who have developed the skills to carry out targeted, small group operations minimizing collateral damage. Meanwhile, terrorists keep on resorting to the inhuman practice of suicide bombing and use of civilian, human shields.

Sri Lankan government had repeatedly requested the terrorists to surrender, to end this siege. However, LTTE leadership has opted not to do so, and have ordered them to fight to death. This decision had already led to the demise of most of the LTTE terrorist's leaders. Those remaining few hundred fighters, half have been assigned to protect its leader; another example of the self-centered leadership style of the LTTE.

It is only a matter of days, before the Tamil Tiger Terrorists are completely eliminated. Hence, there is no reason for the continual suffering inflicted upon these hostages by the Tamil Tiger terrorists. Many governments and leading agencies including the UN have repeatedly requested the Tamil Tigers to release their captives unharmed; but these terrorists have refused to do so. All key players including the four Co-chairs, India, the UN as well as independent groups like the Crisis Group, and envoys like Lakdar Brahimi and Load Neseby, etc., have said that the quickest and most humane way to end conflict now is to release the hostage, for LTTE to disarm and surrender its cadres and for the GOSL to consider fair trial for cadres. Recent interviews by the Chair of the UK-all party MPs, Lord Naseby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtl4t7LJXs) on 16/4/09, and the UN under-secretary, Sir John Holmes, also confirmed this.

The UN Secretary General has refused to call for a ceasefire. He welcomed the Government's recent approach of two no-hostility periods, further facilitating the safe rescue of trapped civilians. Yet, LTTE has unequivocally stated that they will not release civilians from their hostage. Therefore, a ceasefire would make no difference to detained civilians. Ceasefire would only allow terrorist an opportunity to re-arm and re-group, which can lead to further hostage taking, and causing chaos, death, and misery. If anyone currently suggesting a ceasefire, they must be reacting to misguided information provided by the LTTE-related paid lobbyists.

The majority of Tamils in Sri Lanka lives happily and successfully, outside North and the North-Eastern areas, and do not want a separate state (so-called Elam). It is ironic that there is a recent worldwide sudden rush of destructive behavior by small groups of Tamils who are pleading with their governments to impose a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Who are these suddenly emerging protestors, and why are they protesting now? Accumulating evidence suggest that they have little interest towards the trapped hostages or their safety. Moreover, there does not seem to be any sincerity of these self-serving, sporadic protests by a handful of Tamils in various countries. The main interest appears to be to save the LTTE leadership. Many of expatriate Tamils protesting abroad seem to be the ones who have been donating significant amounts of money to this terrorist group. They suddenly realized that their long-term investment will soon disappear without any chance of return for their investments.

Currently, the Sri Lankan government is rightly proceeding with the help of its armed forces to free thousands of Tamils held in captivity by the LTTE. Sovereign Sri Lanka can handle its internal affairs, and it is unwarranted and unwise to interfere with its national security issues by outside entities. Recent liberation of over 30,000 captives in a single day, from the world's largest hostage taking, further demonstrates its capabilities to handle the situation.

Terrorism and the violence will never succeed. The Sri Lankan government will soon effectively eradicate the LTTE terrorism. In spite of the carnage they created over a three decades, LTTE has miserably failed both domestically and internationally, wasting hundreds of lives and infrastructure worth billions of rupees. LTTE has also disappointed its worldwide; thousands of financial donors who fueled this misery. Those who funded this war with selfish expectations for major favors in the future from the LTTE regime must now be deeply disappointed. This has now led to the recent sporadic protests by Tamil expatriates. The civilized world will never condone nor reward terrorism, child soldiering, or hostage taking.

"HOSTAGE ZONE" EMPTYING FAST

2009-04-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

FOR the second consecutive day thousands of civillians previously held hostage by the LTTE terrorists have been escaping and pouring into Sri Lanka government controlled areas. Consequent to the dissection of the hostage zone by the Sri Lankan Defence Forces, the LTTE hardcore is now holed up in a very small area of less than 4sq.miles with a fairly large group of civillians held hostage. In opening the escape routes, Special Forces snipers eliminated a over a dozen tamil tigers who were guarding these areas within a very short time. With over 100,000 rescued, Sri Lankan forces have already created a world record of unprecedented size and complexity in a single massive hostage rescue operation.

SL Military sources estimate the number of persons still held by the LTTE terrorists to amount to around 40,000 civillians, some of who may be residing willingly with the terror group due to their past allegiances and criminal activities against the Sri Lankan state.

In the meanwhile the SL government pulled an effective diplomatic coup against nations led by Norway and to some extent the US, who were demanding an immediate cease fire. A group of diplomats from US, UK, France, Russia, China and India were allowed to view live UAV footage of the unfolding rescue drama during which LTTE artillery and tank attacks on the columns of escaping civillians were witnessed by them. While in some instances civillians being shot by the LTTE could be seen dropping by the wayside, Sri Lankan soldiers were seen rushing in and carrying the injured to safety.

In another area covered by the airborne surveillance platform, thousands of civillians herded like animals by the LTTE could be seen forced to the sea shore and being made to stand on the very edge of the beach with waves washing around their feet. Intermittantly the LTTE goons were seen firing at or beating persons attempting escape while several immobile bodies were lying where they fell.

In response to live hostage scenes witnessed by foreign diplomats, France has suggested a joint mission along with Britain to rescue the remaining civillians held by the LTTE in close proximity to the sea beach. However no military action is envisaged by either force, which raises the question as to how it is to be accomplished. Sri Lanka would do well to be cautious of meddling foreigners with bleeding hearts.

In yet another development two top ranking tamil tigers who have the added title of 'master' to their name surrendered to the security forces. This is the first such instance of such a high level surrender which will allow the SLDF to use their testimony as evidence. This is also proof that while expecting subordinates to commit suicide rather than surrender, the top rung tiger cowards are not prepared to do so themselves.

Civillians who agreed to be interviewed also spoke of the Tamil Tigers executing at least 20 of their seriously injured cadres to prevent their surrender to the Sri Lankan forces. Some civillians are currently attempting to cut deals for their associates and relatives within the LTTE ranks to facilitate their surrender and safety.

The end of the despotic terror empire is coming fast and in strange ways resembles witness accounts of similar historic events elsewhere in the world. Endgame could be within hours, or at most a few days from now.

EXODUS AND ENDGAME

2009-04-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

THE long awaited day is coming. Sri Lankan Special Forces broke through LTTE defences holding thousands of civillians in a human shield late last night. The well rehearsed assault which was led by elements of the Special forces, division 58 units and commandos smashed through the enemy earth defences and destroyed a number of bunkers and reinforced defences. The assault which was launched around midnight is said to have had the undivided attention of the President, and all three forces commanders until late morning.

The attacking troops have established a broad open front somewhere in the middle of the long strip held by the LTTE through which over 35,000 civillians have streamed out into government controlled areas. All LTTE attempts to prevent the exodus have failed completely, though a large number of civillians have been injured and approximately 200 killed when the tamil tiger terrorists carried out multiple suicide attacks and fired with a tank at the escaping civillian mass.

Meanwhile the United States government is reported to have attempted to force a cease-fire on the SLDF by threatening criminal action against the island nation and by vetoing an economic package sought by Sri Lanka from the IMF. President Rajapaksa has refused to bow to international pressure which appears to be aimed at providing a life line to the beleagured LTTE and has given the terrorist group a final ultimatum of 24 hours to surrender. In the meanwhile Special Forces operations are targetting cornered LTTE cadres in the area.

The exodus predicted by military analysts has begun. Endgame is next.

SRI LANKA DEPORTS BRITISH STINKER

2009-04-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

"...Jeremy Page, reporter for the British paper The Times was escorted to the detention room on arrival at the Katunayake International Airport last week, locked up for the night, and deported to the UK the next day, says Page in an article in Timesonline.

He was denied a journalist's visa for Sri Lanka since August despite multiple applications, and he was identified and deported when he tried to enter Sri Lanka on a tourist visa. "I know why I'm blacklisted: the Government [of Sri Lanka] thinks, or pretends to think, that I support the Tigers... " So says the Tamil tiger website the Tamilnut.

"Mr. Page somehow doesn't seem to get it. We in Sri Lanka don't think much of his writing skills. Deporting him had nothing to do with it either. It was just that we didn't like his ugly face, or his horrible smell"...says a Sri Lankan Immigration Official.

LTTE ATTACK IN BUTTALA

2009-04-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

SL sources say Buttala is being attacked by LTTE terrorists right now, around 10:00pm Sri Lankan time.

No further information is available yet.

SUICIDE CADRES DEPOLYED IN LONDON

2009-04-11T10:40:00.001-07:00

There is a so called death fast going on in London by two 'students'. It is now well established that the LTTE has for years used student visas to get thier operatives abroad and into places where they can be useful as propaganda tools and also as spies keeping an eye on the expatriate tamil diaspora. The visa status and their own individual status allows such Tamil Tiger operatives to move freely and be replaced with ease in the event of exposure to law enforcement or becoming ineffective.

One of the young tamil guys on death fast who goes by the name Subramaniyan is yet another student who arrived in Britain three weeks ago. Subramaniyan told The Times on Wednesday 36 hours after beginning his fast that five members of his family had been killed in the past few days as the Sri Lankan Army closed in on the rebel fighters’ stronghold. “I heard yesterday that my mother, my sisters, my brother and his son are dead,” he said. “One of my sisters and my brother were members of the LTTE. They are not terrorists — they are freedom fighters. I want answers for my family’s death, otherwise I will not leave here.” His story raises interesting and troubling questions; how could someone leave abroad for educaiton at a time when his own family is facing imminent annihilation? Given the seriousness of situation the LTTE members in his family were facing, it is hard to believe Subramaniyan is just another innocent. My bet is that he is a trained terrorist, or someone who is now very willing to become such an entity.

The Tamil Tigers are considered the world's most dangerous terrorists by the FBI and have been banned in most nations across the world. They are currently under military pressure in Sri Lanka following a decisive campaign by the island nation to eradicate terrorism from its shores. Cornered into a thin strip of land facing the dark blue sea, the tamil tigers have been given an ultimatum by the Sri Lankan government to surrender or perish. Thousands of tamil civillians held hostage by the tigers are starting to escape, leaving the LTTE leadership to face the brunt of the SL government's long arm of the law. Caught between a hard place and the deep blue sea, the Tigers are desperately in need of outside assistance to bail them out.

Having failed its achieve its objectives by using suicide bombers on the streets of Colombo in Sri Lanka, the tamil Tigers have now deployed one to the streets of London. Quite obviously for Mr.Subramaniyan to arrive in London just in time to go on hunger strike is no coincidence. His motives and whether he is a genuine student pursuing an educational agenda or not needs to be assessed. The very sense one gets of this individual is that he too is a tamil tiger and his hunger strike is a much milder form of protest than what he could easily be capable of. If he too is a tamil tiger like the rest of his family, strapping on a claymore mine and walking into a crowd on a busy London street could easily be the next thing he does to draw attention to his cause.

London now has its own potential resident Tamil tiger suicide bomber. This could be the wild card that London's best may need special training to deal with. Ask any one familiar with the a situation involving Tamil Tigers; Mr Subramaniyan will never go quietly. His type always take a few others, usually innocent bystanders, along with them in a loud flash and bang. When that happens the pieces will need to be shovelled and the ground washed clean. But the sense of terror they leave behind will incapacitate London's innocent for years.

London's nightmare could be much bigger than Subramaniyan. He's probably the only one they now know about, who is willing to die readily and waiting patiently for the orders to do so.

ALLOWING TERRORIST LEADERS ESCAPE WILL DEFEAT THE PEACE

2009-04-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

THE news from the western side of the hemisphere is that a lot of our friends would like to see a negotiated end to the fighting. There are many reasons for the requests and not all of them are going to be practical in Sri Lanka's own unique situation. Worse, a negotiated escape or exile of the terror leadership would without a doubt be only the starting point of the next round of hostilities.

Sri Lanka has shown the world that it can carry a military campaign to a successful conclusion with absolute commitment. There's no doubt that a convergence of many advantageous situations contributed to the SLG's victory over the world's deadliest terrorist organization. The US's own war against terror was certainly one of the most significant among those contributory factors. Even though the US did assist SL upto a point and then seemed to back off -especially since the new administration came into power- training and other assistance provided to SLG and her armed forces did help Sri Lanka continue the humanitarian operations targetting the LTTE until now. This does put Sri Lanka in a situation where she needs to consider opinions and requests of nations such as the US.

Even then it would behoove the Sri Lankan leadrship to be cautious of deals that offer a way out for the tamil tiger leadership. Every criminal must face justice, and the LTTE's leaders are guilty of horrendous attrocities. To allow them escape would be a denial of justice for the thousands of innocents who died in vain. To bring in a lasting peace breaking the LTTE's military capabilities are not enough. The job isn't over until its leadership is brought to justice as well. In the end what matters is self interest. Diplomats learn this on day 1 in the business.

SLDF BIDS ITS TIME WHILE LTTE LEADERS NEGOTIATE

2009-04-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

There's conflicting information from the civillian zone where the LTTE terrorists continue to hold a large number of civillians as a human shield. While some sources indicate limited contact between the SLDF and LTTE front line, other deny any engagements.

The truth seems to be a mix of both since SLDF certainly has snipers deployed who have so far taken out a number of LTTE targets from those deployed near an earth bund built by the tigers as well as from the cadre attempting to stop the civillian exodus. The SL forces also seem to have not only eyes in the sky but also feet on the ground, either long range surveillance teams or infliterators from pro-govt tamil militant groups.

In the meanwhile the US and a number of other nations have come forward to negotiate a successful conclusion to the humanitarian war. The UN has requested a careful military campaign to limit civillian casualties if the SLDF goes in after the LTTE leadership, while the US seems more intent upon the live capture of the terrorist leaders by negotiating through the Norwegians. The LTTE leaders are said to be leaning more towards getting a reprieve by offering to release the remaining civillians unharmed.

The civilized world watches with interest as these events unfold. Whether the LTTE leaders die or live makes very little difference for Sri Lanka militarily. The LTTE has been only considered for its military prowess and its decimation conclusively resets the clock to a point far back in history where a certain segment of tamils made a decision to attack and destroy all minorities in search of an ethnic-pure tamil home land. For the past twenty years the mantha was that there could never be a viable solution with anything less. Now it will be interesting to watch whether or how the rhetoric will change.

Sri Lankans are in a unique position in history. They've single handedly destoyed a terrorist outfit more capable than the Al Quieda, while nations such as the US have been incapable of defeating the Islamic terror group even with plenty of assistance and participation by a number of other global powers. There is plenty of admiration in many of these nations for the little island nation and its firce fighting spirit which its friends are hopeful will evolve into fearlessly visionary leadership that will lead the nation out of years of darkness and chaos into a more prosperous future.

THE HIDDEN DEATH COUNT OF THE LTTE

2009-04-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

SLDF has so far counted approximately 525 heads of LTTE cadre killed over the week end. In military operations the number of dead are counted by the number of heads found while any bodies missing the head are not added. Hence the term 'head count' which is often used in everyday parlance.

While limiting the counting to the heads of the dead helps keep the numbers accurate and prevents double counting, high intensity confrontations which result in missing heads often leads to under-reporting. The last confrontation in which the SLDF broke the LTTE's backbone may well be one such instance.

It is now known that the LTTE leader and his entourage managed to penetrate through the military cordon and escape with a contingent of body guards and others who managed tp escape with them. As intense barrages of attacks followed as they fled, a large number is said to have perished while equal numbers are mortally wounded. The remaining tigers have somehow managed to drag the dead and the injured away with them into the no-fire zone, which the government had instructed its forces not to attack. In the overall count, at least 750 bodies of slain LTTE cadre have been found in various states of decay while only 525 have been taken into the official count.

Though the military sources refrain from commenting on the potential death count, tamil sources in UK and elsewhere are whispering the LTTE head count may be anywhere between 1000 -1200. These may include the numbers killed while attempting to evade the SLDF and escape into the civillian zone and those who died since then.

In the meanwhile unconfirmed reports from SL indicate a large number of friendly fire injuries to SLDF, and a sizeable number of deaths as well. However these numbers are not in anyway comparable to the numbers suffered by the LTTE.

Sometimes it takes a picture to tell a thousand words. In this case the numbers themselves are conclusive.

A SALUTE TO THESE GUYS AND ALL OTHERS IN MELBORNE

2009-04-07T13:39:00.001-07:00

WINNING THE WAR, PEACE AND THE WORLD

2009-04-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

CAN the Sri Lankan government with its hardline approach to dealing with the LTTE not only win the war, but long lasting peace and more importantly the favorable opinion of the outside world? The answer most probably would be in the negative, if one is to go by what the popular media says.

Most of the media appear to portray a negative perception of any peaceful outcome in the aftermath of the military operations, even though none offer valid reasons or facts other than their own concocted behavioral forecasts to base those predictions on. Some quite obviously are media that have long been supportive of the tamil tiger cause such as AP and BBC, while some who are supporters of Sri Lanka's opposition party who attempt to paint all possible outcomes in bleak terms for obvious reasons.

Since the LTTE deprived water to 30,000 civillians by shutting off the sluice gates in Mavil Aru, these media have been consistently drumming in a 'no win possible' message targetting Sri Lankans home and abroad. For many years such media was successful in maintaining a conviciton in the minds of most Sri Lankans that the Tigers cannot be defeated militarily and demotivated successive governments from making a concerted effort. Thus the media by design or default performed a valuable psy-ops function for the tamil tiger terrorists who thrived unchallenged. That was until it decided to take the war to the present government, either severely under-estimating its decisiveness to prevail in a war to the finish, or over-estimating its own ability to surviev all out war against the Sri Lankan state. A post mortum would probably indicate both.

Last weekend's confrontation in which over 525 including high ranking LTTE cadre were killed or surrendered to the Sri Lankan Defence Forces broke the terror group's back decisively. Losses in men and material, organizational and operational capabilities in this one episode has now effectively finished the LTTE as a fighting force when compared to the SLDF units staring them in the face, simply waiting to be unleashed.

The government appears to have temporarily stayed the hand of the executioner, and very rightly so. There is increased pressure on the SLG to prevent civillian casualties from many nations and from the UN. While some of these obviously are from those who wish to find some way to save the LTTE leadership from capture yet again, most are well intended and are requests from nations which seek a civilized way of doing things. By acceeding to such requests at least for a short while, the SLG wins the goodwill of our friends at the marginal risk that the friends of our enemies may use the window of opportunity to attempt to rescue the LTTE leadership. Or they may seek international intervention under the guise of humanitarian action. These risks seem well worth the goodwill we will earn by treating the international community's wishes with adequate respect as far as they can be practically accomodated.

Providing a reasonable time frame in which the LTTE is pressured into letting the civillians go would be more than enough for the SLG to do as a responsible government. As a responsible government the SLG's primary obligation is national security and thus eliminating the tamil tigers cannot become secondary to any other consideration. That is why the SLG needs to put counter-pressure on the UN and other friendly nations to understand that we will not be idle in such status quo for long and will take action to eradicate terrorism within a short time. While not engaging the enemy directly, the army must be allowed to conduct operations to facilitate the movement of civillians away from the LTTE controlled area, which can no longer be considered a no-fire zone due to the attacks emanating from therein. The right to shoot in self-defence must always remain unchallenged.

There is a bottom line to this situaion, as is for any other. It is only as long as we insist our security to be a non-negotiable prime concern that other nations will recognize our right to exist. It is only to the extent we are willing to go to defend our territory that others will allow us our soveriegnty. It is only to the extent that we stand firm on our convictions and are prepared to fight for them that the world will respect us.

If the LTTE refuses to let go of the civillian human shield, it becomes the government's responsibility to go in and bring them out. How we do that, we can discuss to some extent with concerned friends. But it must be held to a firm time line, enforceable unilaterally on our side.

Destroying the LTTE over-rides anything else. The continued existance of this virulent terrorist group's leadership is a threat to the very existance of our nation and its elimination is a priority which must be achieved without delay. We owe no obligation to discuss our means or methodology with anyone. In a worst case scenario, SLG should be prepared to go in and finish the LTTE irrespective of international community concerns. Good will can be earned again later if necessary. In two years from now, no one will give a rat's ass as to how many died in the process but will only remember how we defeated terrorism.

LARGEST EVER HOSTAGE RESCUE OPERATION IN HISTORY BEGINS

2009-04-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

A day after they dealt a debilitating blow which killed over 400 and injured many more tamil tigers, Sri Lankan Defence Forces have launched the largest ever hostage rescue operation in military history to save thousands of tamil civillians held forcibly by the LTTE in the 'no fire' zone.

The unconventional attack which killed hundreds of tamil tigers was a classic case of how real time information can be a decisive factor in military operations. The military and the tigers both appear to have planned heavy attacks on each other, but it was the SLDF's eyes-in-the-sky UAVs that made the difference. As the UAV footage began to provide a detailed battle ground scenario in which the tigers were amassing for a major assault, urgent preparations were made under the direct supervision of the Army Commander to induct at least 3 divisions of battle hardened troops, Special Forces and the Air Mobile brigade as well.

The LTTE appear to have been unaware of the military's move to completely circle them until almost too late, by when only its leader and a few of the top rungers managed to escape the dragnet. The remaining tamil tigers were offered a chance to surrender by the Army, but were ordered by the LTTE laeders to continue with their attack which ended in the annihilation of the entire force and the death of over 20 high ranking 'commanders'.

While the LTTE still has at least 100 well trained and heavily armed terrorists providing cover for the LTTE leader, his son and a few of the remaining high rankers, their ability to defend themselves as well as preventing civillian movement is very unlikely, given the speed and clout of the Sri Lankan forces.

As the LTTE's brutal second in command Pottu has been heard apologetically telling the remaining cadre, the game is over. Surrendering is still a short lived option while in the alternate, death looms certain.

UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE PRE-EMPTS LTTE COUNTER-STRIKE

2009-04-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Information from the last heavy fight which pushed the LTTE remnants into the safe zone to hide among civillians indicates that the Tigers were preparing for a heavy counter strike against the SLDF also.

By some estimates the LTTE plan may have coincided with the SLDF's own plan and apparently was pre-empted disasterously for the tigers when outflanked by 3 divisions who made a pincer movement from the north and south.

Captured along with documents of military significance is one which should cause a stir in the tabloid media; the horoscope of the LTTE leader.

UPDATE:

MULLAITTIVU: Five more LTTE leaders were among the senior terrorists killed during confrontations in Puthukudiyiruppu north area Sunday (5).Leader of LTTE’s Radha Regiment Seelambarasan, his deputy Anbu, the terrorist in charge of mortar section Gopal, the terrorist in charge of mines section Asmi and a leader of Sodia Regiment Mohana were also confirmed killed in the gun battles.

UPDATE

2009-04-05T06:21:00.000-07:00

Fighting for PTK and surrounding areas has ground to an end. Over 420 Tamil tiger dead bodies have been recovered so far, with many of their iconic leaders among them. Most of these individuals who were known by one name, as is the case with most terrorist groups but did raise adequate fear among the civillian population they controlled with an iron fist and creative brutality. These front line LTTE cadres were probably left behind by their leadership with the intention of carving out a beach head for a counter-strike into the area. However they proved no match for the forces arrayed against them.

The LTTE leader and his intelligence leader Pottu are said to have escaped from the liberated area and are currently hiding among civillians in the 'no fire' zone. A few skirmishes on the lagoon seperating the SLDF occupied area has resulted in the sea-tigers being annihilated.

The SLDF is currently inventorizing the massive arsenal of captured weapons, some of which had not been known to be in the tigers' possession. Also found abandoned by the LTTE leadership are many of their personal documents and other items of significant intelligence value. Also over 110 cadres surrendered to the SLDF and they are talking. Unlike in previous occasions, the LTTE leaders were unable to prevent this from happening due to the speed of the military assault and for the siginificantly high numbers willing to surrender.

BREAKING NEWS

2009-04-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

ALL of Puthukudirippu area has been cleared of LTTE by Sri Lankan Defence Forces.

The remaining LTTE cadres and the leadership are now inside the 'No-fire' zone and taking cover behind civillians. LTTE artillery is continuing to fire from among civillian settlements.

The government is expected to induct special forces into the zone shortly, with a view to capture or kill the remaining tamil tiger terrorists to bring lasting peace to the country.

Meanwhile the Secretary General of the UN has issued an ultimatum to the LTTE to release the civillians held in a human shield, but the tigers are continuing to attack those who attempt to flee to government controlled areas.

Peace seeking Sri Lankans all over the world wish the nation's security forces all success.

SOME BAD GUYS ARE STILL OUT THERE..

2009-04-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

THOUGH the govt media won't tell us much about them, there appear to be a few pockets of resistance in places that are supposed to have been over-run by the SL Defence Forces. For instance there is still intermittant fighting going on in and around Killinochchi and Mullaitivu, even though the main thrust of the two forces are locked in mortal combat in the area of Puthukudiruppu [PTK].

A force of approx 200 LTTE cadre had been operating in Mullaitivu and have now been cornered with their leaders in a large coconut plantation area, where they were 'softened up' with artillery and mortar fire yesterday. Though such places offer cover from horizontal fire, vertical fire causes extraordinary damage from 'tree bursts'. A tree burst happens when ordnance hits a tree and explodes spewing not only shrapnel, but pieces of the tree trunk also. The wooden shrapnel from such bursting trees is said to travel at such massive speeds and can cut clean thru a human body at close range. Approx 75 of the LTTE cadre have perished in the fighting so far and the remainder are being requested by the SL forces to surrender. They will be disarmed one way or another.

CHARLIE THE PUSSY TO BE SENT TO SAFETY

2009-04-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Confirming our yesterday's report, government intel has learnt that the LTTE leader has determined that his son Charlie the coward should recieve treatment abroad for the so called 'serious injuries' recieved while valiantly leading an attack against Sri Lankan forces.

The truth is that the hyena and his pussy son never faced Sri Lankan soldiers. With the likelihood of a complete rout happening anytime now, Charlie wants to get out of the way and live a luxury life somewhere else with his dad's loot stashed abroad. Other people's anducted kids will be forced to face the determined Sri Lankan forces and die in vain, to facilitate Charlie and his dad's escape.

DID THE HEIR APPARENT GET INJURED, OR GO INTO HIDING?

2009-04-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

THE media reports that the son of the LTTE's chief has been injured. Some say he is critically injured, while others quoting unverified intelligence sources claim the injuries to be superficial.

It is no secret that the LTTE leader's modus operandi had always been to look after his own family very well, while committing all others to fight for his now defunct day dream of an ethnic pure Tamil homeland. Thousands of kids were abducted from schools while his kids attended foreign schools and univesities. Given the above scenario and the fact that there is ample opportunity for his family to live to a ripe old age in luxury from wealth stashed abroad, it is highly unlikely that Velupillai would risk his own son's life in a fight to the death. Especially into one in which the outcome is now a foregone conclusion.

Thus the reason to create a valid excuse to get Charlie the pussy, Velu's heir apparent out of the battle field and into a safe location. Charlie is the smart type who can even think for himself. So it is quite possible that he even shot himself in the arm, to make it look very real.

The bottom line is the LTTE top honchos are getting set to make thier escape, while the rank and file who were denied basic human dignity for almost all their lives by these barbarians, will be made to die in a futile effort to stall the Sri Lankan military juggernaut.

The grand finale of the crazy eelam dream will not be any different to what it has been all along. When the smoke clears, what will remain of the relentless racist tribal tamil terrorism will be a collection of destroyed lives and dead bodies. In the long term, the vast number of cemetaries dotted across the landscape will be the lasting evidence of the thousands who died to deliver the day dreams of an illiterate criminal turned mass murderer.

STORIES UNTOLD

2009-03-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

FEEL FREE TO GO FOR A RIDE...

THE LAST FEW MILES

2009-03-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

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

WALL ST. JOURNAL TELLS SLG NOT TO STOP WAR NOW

2009-02-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

Wall street journal tells Sri Lanka not to stop the war now
(By Walter Jayawardhana)

Expressing its assertion against the Western opinion that the Sri Lankan war should be suspended, for the sake of trapped civilians, in a leading article, the Wall Street Journal said, among the few options Colombo is having the worst would be to stop the war now.

The leading article said, "The danger is that any let-up in the assault will give the Tigers time to regroup, thus extending the conflict and the civilian suffering even longer."

The editorial further said, ". A reminder of the danger the Tigers still can pose came with Friday's kamikaze aerial attack on Colombo with two small planes. That attack also casts doubt on the sincerity of the request for a cease-fire the Tigers issued Monday, especially since that proposal didn't include a promise to lay down their arms."

The Wall Street Journal further pointed out that the Tamil Tigers cannot be trusted to honour any of the promises they make as history would show: "Nor is there any guarantee the Tigers would honor a break in the fighting, let alone allow the civilians to leave. The last time a formal cease-fire was negotiated, in 2002, the Tigers spent the following four years violating it frequently. Tiger leaders must also be keenly aware that their human shields are their last remaining "defense" against a Sri Lankan army better equipped and trained than any in the country's modern history."

In no uncertain terms the newspaper argued: "The civil war has come at a high cost in Sri Lankan blood and treasure, a cost that may grow as this offensive reaches its conclusion. But the cost of stepping back from the fight would be higher still."
[ www.defence.lk ]

Strangely however, Sri Lankans are yet to make a comprehensive declaration of their opinions on whether or not the present humanitarian operations should continue. It is without any doubt that the vast majority of Sri Lankans overwhelmingly support the government's military initiative to eradicate Tamil tiger terrorism.

INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION...?

2009-02-24T20:31:00.000-08:00

THERE's much speculation in Sri Lanka on the prospects of foreign intervention, ostensibly to provide a life-line to the tamil tiger terrorists. Increasing and already heavy pressure on the SLG not only to conduct military operations according to international standards, while preventing loss of civillian lives. Some of the oft repeated demands are simply laughable not only for their lack of practicality in a war setting, but also for the fact that some of these very nations are guilty of horrendous deeds of their own at some point in history. As often proven in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, even the world's most sophisticated armies are incapable of conducting military operations without causing civillian casualties in heavily populated areas.

However, there is increasing prospects for foreign military involvement in the final stages of the Sri Lankan humanitarian operations. As a result of the attacks by the LTTE against forcibly held tamil civillians when they attempt to cross over into government conrtrolled areas, both India and the US have offered assistance for their evacuation. While it is debatable whether India actually is capable of delivering on such an offer, the US Pacific fleet would be easily capable of making a decisive impact on the evacuation efforts, when backed by its enormous naval and air superiority.

In any case, the closing chapter of the conventional military operations will most likely end within days, while the LTTE attempts to revert to a guerilla mode. A well trained, armed and motivated Sri Lankan defence force awaits the next stage knowing fully well that in that stage, it is just a matter of liquidating the leadership to decimate the cohesiveness and threat level of the LTTE.

LTTE REVERTS TO ETHNIC CLEANSING

2009-02-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

IN clear proof of the fact that as long as the LTTE remains armed, there can never be peace in Sri Lanka, the tamil tiger terrorists reverted to their trade mark attack strategy, ethnic cleansing.

The LTTE had been threatening a return to 'guerilla warfare' which term the terrorist group has successfully used in the past to sanitize the fact that in reality they are engaging in ethnic cleansing, an activity which makes its leaders and supporters liable as war criminals.

Yesterday, in a dawn attack against a sleeping village in Inginiyagala in the Ampara District, the tamil tigers slaughtered 2 civillians and mutilated 15 others.

Sri Lanka needs to bring these activities to the notice of the international community, and demand agencies such as the UN bear witness.

RECOVERING LTTE HEAVY ARMOR

2009-02-18T20:03:00.000-08:00

SRI Lankan Defence Forces [SLDF] today recovered 2 no's 130mm artillery guns buried by the LTTE in the Puthukudiruppu area. These weapons, which appear to have been made in China, are brand new. However due to the close quarters fighting which is the way the final stages of this war will be faught, it is doubtful whether these long range weapons will serve any useful purpose for the SLDF either.

The guns are said to be worth at least USD 0.8Million each. Indeed a nice Independence Day gift from the hard working tamil diaspora to the SLG.

PLAYING WITH WORDS WHEN THE GOAL IS CLEAR

2009-02-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

THE shady crooks and peacenik faggots are playing the words game, when our goal has been written on the wall. I am referring to the media proclamations stating that 'peace remains illusive' irrespective of an outright military victory in Sri Lanka.

Let's keep the record straight. Sri Lanka didn't start this round of violence. The LTTE did. They did it at a time and place of their choosing, with the declared intention of fighting a conclusive 'final war' to establish a mono-ethnic tamil only seperate state. The military operations the government is folliwing through with determination is a reaction to the unending provocations by the tamil tiger terror group. The goal of the military operations is to decimate the military capabilities of the LTTE and bring relief to Sri Lankans oppressed by the terrorists.

Peace, in this context, is a desirable outcome. It does not necesarily have to be or may not even be the immediate outcome. It doesn't matter. Once terrorism is crushed, and complete state control over all of Sri Lanka's territories are established, a gradual return to normalcy will happen. Even though a certain degree of unease may prevail in the terror ravaged areas for a reasonable period of time, resumption of economic activity will bring about stability to the region. Peace will come eventually, if and when the local population deems it desirable.

Even though peace is considered a quintessential for prosperity, one doesn't necessarily have to precede the other in that order. Neither has simply having peace proven to be the basis for prosperity. There are too many hot-spots across the globe where prosperity prevails even in the absence of peace, and similarly peaceful regions which have not been prosperous in recent history. Israel and most parts of Afrika are living examples.

Sri Lanka's has been a unique case, unparalleled in history and almost exotic in character. Sri Lankans are similarly a unique people, who have proven capable of deciding their destiny in ways deemed impossible by others.

In our case, Sri Lanka needs to clearly follow the military doctrine to the hilt. There cannot and will never be any prospects for peace as long as anyone else carries weapons and possesses the capacity to challenge the government's will. The LTTE must be crushed militarily, at any cost.

The government's task in the aftermath would be to create a conducive environment for economic activity and to enhance infra-structure in the country not only with a view to attract investment, but also the Sri Lankan talent who currently serves other nations. SLG should engage in talks to address any genuine grievences of minorities, but never concede priviledges which provide an undue advantage to any individual or group.

There are many opinions out there about what's best for Sri Lanka. The very same people who were eager to concede half of the country to a group of illiterate murderers now opine a desperate need for talks, when the need of the hour is action. The action needs to be decisive, backed by a clear vision. Let sustainable peace be a distant outcome, it does not need to be right now. Stability and revival of economic activity are more urgent and important.

EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL - NEW STRATEGY OF THE TAMIL TIGERS

2009-02-16T10:13:00.001-08:00

HAVING exhausted the world and even the Tamil community's patience and now cornered into an inhospitable corner of the world, far from his mythological racist tribal jungle empire, the Tamil tiger chief is said to be preparing to cause mass homicide under the guise of a communal suicide by force on the civillians held at gun point by his remaining armed terrorists.

The rationale and thinking behind this alleged plan is clear; it is to cause the international community remorse for not bailing out the tigers each time they continued with relentless murder and mayhem. The LTTE chief seems to have a maniacal belief in a right for immunity from consequences for any and every criminal action, seen commonly in most criminals with large scale psychosomatic disorders. His periodical claims to being the 'sooriya devan avatar' or human incarnation of the god of the sun, is a symptom of such a disorder, commonly known as illusions of granduer.

Sri Lanka is facing pressure from all over the world, based on activities launched by the overseas sympathetic tamil diaspora. At the same time, foreign governments which host large expatriate tamil populations such as UK, Norway, Canada and Australia will be under a heightened level of alert for the possibilities of infilteration by tamil tigers on the run from the war zone in Sri Lanka as well as for potential domestic terrorist activity by LTTE sleeper cells implanted on their soil over the past two decades, now desperately attempting to attract attention to their cause. It is a well known fact that the only way the tigers have been successful at getting attention was by engaging in destructive activities, whether harming people, property or coaxed self-immolation.

The last stages of the military operations are unfolding as the SLA switches gears and tactics to weed out the terrorists from civillians in their attritional attacks. Irrespective of who says what, the Sri Lankan government's primary obligation to the nation is its national security and that prime directive must be adhered to at all costs. The citizens of Sri Lanka have paid a very high price for their nation's security and the government must obey the demands of its master, those who call themselves Sri Lankan.

DEATH BY FIRE, THE LTTE'S ENDGAME - by Rover

2009-02-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

I found this very insightful article by Rover, which deals with the plathora of lies, deception and myth surrounding the 'self-immolating' activities engaged in by militarily defeated and desperate racist tamil terrorists and their supporters.

"..After 30 years of self-destruction of its cadre with the intention of terrorizing innocent civilians by creating suicide bombers, LTTE is now encouraging self destruction of their remaining cadre in protest of being annihilated for being suicide bombers and terrorists! Seriously, how smart is this? Here I analyze generally why people resort to death by fire, the explicit message the LTTE is trying to convey by this, and the futility of this primitive practice...

Read this very insightful article here http://roversterrain.blogspot.com/2009/02/death-by-fire-tigers-end-game.html?showComment=1234724340000#c7677065551608916360

DEALING WITH 'INTERFERING' FOREIGNERS

2009-02-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

There are many who are expressing their opinions and supporting a 'go to hell' attitude for the Sri Lankan government to adopt with those pesky and 'interfering foreigners and colonials'.

The hard fact is, it is not that simple.

The Brits, Indians and others arn't getting concerned for nothing. And let's stop kidding ourselves; they are not being colonial, neither benevolent towards insignificant, black skinned tamils who speak with a horrible accent and have a history of even horrific brutality against their own kind.

Their problem is with their own domestic concerns. They've slept with mongrels and now its time to wake up with the fleas. LTTE getting decimated in SL could make the 'immigrants' in their own little home towns go ballistic, and the occasional suicide bombing could happen in a, let's say, a crowded train. This is a scary reality the western politicians who have sizeable and potentially dangerous tamil populations are waking upto and realizing with horror. And it is not because they do not care about anyone else. They care about themselves more, and their main yet unexpressed concern is for their own safety.

This is why it behooves SL to walk the diplomatic line diligently, softly and yet carry a big stick. NO can be said politely, empathetically while being emphatic.

Arrogance isn't clever. It is plain stupid. Especially when there's so much at stake and a much easier and better way is available.

[Sandman, in Asian Tribune]

DELIBERATE MIS-INTERPRETATION CONTINUES TO BE SRI LANKA'S ENEMY

2009-02-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

THRU' most of the two plus decades of conflict with racist tribal tamil terrorism, Sri Lanka has had to fight an uphill batlle against interested and powerful international players. It was not only foreign governments themselves who engaged in these politically devastating games, but in later stages even foreign non-governmental organizations began to use such strategies to prolong the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's misfortune thru' it all was her relative inability to effectively defend against or counter the propaganda value of such deliberate mis-interpretations of fact, and in some instances absolute fiction created by some of these governments and organizations perhaps due to reluctance on the part of her bureaucrats who were left powerless by various previous SL governments.

Largely until the breakout of hostilities in the current 'Final War' declared by the LTTE and behind the scenes diplomatic support extended by the US and India, Sri Lanka had been not only ineffective, but also helpless. However, the current government has not only committed to a comprehensive military-politico strategy to curtail terrorism on her soil, but has also embarked on robust counter-propaganda activity.

While only a fool would assume Sri Lanka would be able to deal the coup de grace to the LTTE with its extensive overseas support base without having to suffer some diplomatic fall-out, the SLG also needs to restrain itself, in order not to appear too aggressive in responding to minor irritants. The recent diplomatic uproar with the Germans and the Brits could have been avaoidable cases. This is not to say we need to be survile to anyone, but to remind that we need not make enemies out of friends. Let's leave that to the LTTE, who've been masterful at antagonizing absolutely anyone and everyone who supported them at anytime.

Sri Lanka has already done the impossible, against all odds. In success we must find humility and understand where our strengths lie. Appearing arrogant in success will not only make us lose good old friends, but could also potentially disappoint and alienate our own diaspora.

Giving decision making power to the Generals for military operations brought us military success. Similarly the government should engage career diplomats and effective professionals to deal with the diplomatic scene which is gradually evolving into something less than friendly towards Sri Lanka. It very much looks like the right time to re-inforce Sri Lanka's achilles' heel, which has always been propaganda ineffectiveness, by employing capable professionals to aggressively project a positive image of its efforts to restore peace by eradicating terror.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK - 2009/2010

2009-02-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

THE Economist forecast for Sri Lanka dated Feb 10th 2009 is given below

From the Economist Intelligence UnitSource: Country Forecast
Sri Lanka
Outlook for 2009-10

The government is expected to regain control of all territory held by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Tamil Tigers) by the end of 2009. The ethnic conflict will decrease in intensity in 2010.

Unrest will continue in the Tamil community and the LTTE will carry out further attacks on civilian and military targets. Government plans to devolve power to Tamil regions will produce results only in the long term, if at all.

The president, Mahinda Rajapakse, and his brothers will continue to dominate the government. Mr Rajapakse's United People’s Freedom Alliance administration is set to secure re-election in the 2010 parliamentary election.

Real GDP growth will slow to 3.2% in 2009, before accelerating again, to 5.4%, in 2010. Weak external demand will be partly offset by the positive impact that improving security will have on domestic demand.

The rate of consumer price inflation is expected to remain rapid, despite weakening global food and oil price pressures. The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that inflation will average 10.2% in 2009 and 7.4% in 2010.

As government spending on infrastructure investment falls, import growth will slow in 2009, helping to reduce the current-account deficit to 3.2% of GDP in that year.

We believe that Sri Lanka’s economic outlook is subject to downside risks. The exchange rate remains an area of particular concern.

Monthly review

In a string of advances in January Sri Lanka's military regained control of the LTTE's administrative capital of Kilinochchi, as well as the strategic Elephant Pass on the A9 highway.

A journalist critical of the government was shot dead by assassins on motorcycles in January.

Another independent media organisation's offices were vandalised by armed men.

Sri Lanka's foreign-exchange reserves dropped to US$2bn, or 1.7 months of imports, at the end of November, according to government data.

On December 30th the government announced a series of measures designed to stimulate and support the export sector.

Sri Lankans living overseas will be permitted to invest in Treasury bills and bonds in another effort to attract funds from abroad.

Real GDP growth reached 6.3% in July-September, boosted by a 12.4% surge in agricultural output as land in Eastern province was brought back into productive use.

http://www.economist.com/countries/srilanka/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=13003159

FROM OTHERS' FAILURES...

2009-02-11T18:15:00.000-08:00

...COME lessons worth learning.

It should be to no one's surprise that the Americans want Osama bin Laden dead. So do most people who know what monsters like he stand for. But so far, the world's most powerful armed force has not been able to accomplish this feat.

Though there have been various accounts of US efforts to eliminate bin Laden, a very credible accounting of the failed efforts come from a book written by Daulton Fury, ostensibly a Special Forces soldier with experiences in Afghanistan. His book Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for World's Most Wanted Man [St Martin's Press, 2008] has valid lessons for Sri Lanka, in their hunt for an even bigger fugitive and a killer without par.

"...The military we had in 2001 was probably too cautious, and too wary of the PR and political fallout that could come with failure, to mount the kind of high risk operation that would have been necessary to bag Bin Laden. At other times, the puny number of Americans sent to Tora Bora makes one wonder if the American government was ever really serious about getting him. Fury's orders were to kill Bin Laden, and bring back proof. His orders were specific - Bin Laden was not to be taken prisoner. A trial would embarrass the Saudis, and perhaps miscarry. And with no reliable infantry to seize and hold ground, the possibility of capture was remote..."

Without beating the obvious to the death, the similarity in situations are stark and unavoidably revealing. Sri Lanka has carried the fight to the enemy with resolve until now. It must continue to hold that same resolve until the job is done and completed. Nothing less than the complete annihilation of the LTTE leadership would bring lasting peace to Sri Lanka.

Perhaps this is a book worth reading for the Sri Lankan leadership.

GETTING THE TALENT BACK TO RE-BUILD SRI LANKA

2009-02-10T18:28:00.000-08:00

Sri Lanka Appeals to Citizens Living Abroad to Return, Help Rebuild
Reports Raymond Thibodeaux from Colombo

..With Asia's longest-running war drawing to a close, analysts say the next big hurdle is convincing Sri Lankans who fled abroad that it is time to come home. But that is exactly what Sri Lanka's government is setting out to do..

The government at times seems almost serious about it. In fact the President himself made an impassioned plea for Sri Lankans who migrated abroad to return home and become a part of the reconstruction effort. Going by such periodical and intermittant pleas that we've heard over the past few years, it seems that the importance of getting back the lost talent has been realized at the very highest levels of government and has remained a fairly top level priority.

Yet, besides the invitations and pleas, the government hasn't got its act together to lure back the lost talent. Perhaps the government too realizes that with the war in an unfinished state, the probabilities of success in such an effort are marginal at best. And the government would be correct in assuming so, since the large numbers of Sri Lankans abroad would risk returning for good only in a situation of relatively improved security, and economic stability.

Nevertheless, there are many who would voluntrarily assist in anything on a short term, if the government made the effort only to ask them. I personally know of doctors and other professionals who have returned to Sri Lanka at their own individual cost periodically to attend to the needs of our security forces and other affected people in the so called 'border villages' affected by tamil tiger terrorism. Sri Lanka needs to identify such individuals, recognize their deeds and attempt to retain their enthusiasm in the long term.

If Sri Lanka is envisaging a situation where her sons and daughters now domiciled abroad are to return voluntrarily to serve the mother land, she needs to understand the basic necessities that have to be fulfilled before the idea can become a serious proposition to the majority of such people.

-The anti-terrorism operations need to be prosecuted to a successful conclusion. Irrespective of what anyone may say, the large numbers of Sri Lankans abroad view the present anti-terror operations with satisfaction and consider them to be a measure of the present govt's seriousness towards eliminating this particular and persistant problem.

-Law enforcement also must be cleaned up, and the government must be able to guarantee a satisfactory level of individual security to all citizens. A nation which managed to bring absolute descipline to its fighting forces should be able to bring similar or better descipline to its police force.

-Sri Lanka should consider offering free or even honorary dual-citizenship to the people she wants to bring back to the country. A large number of those who are willing to consider returning are discouraged by the prospect of having to navigate typically convoluted Sri Lankan governmental bureaucracy. Assurances of streamlining processes will not do. Just give it freely to the deserving, if they are needed badly enough.

-Identify the most productive group to attract. There is a large population of young to middle aged professionals who would return to Sri Lanka if suitable schools could be found for their children. These are the people in the most productive years of their lives, possess higher education, valuable skills and experiences and hence should be considered the prime target group to be attracted.

The numbers of Sri Lankan professionals who would willingly return if these requirements can be fulfilled are significant, and can easily be the game changer for the future of our nation. A good starting point would be for the Sri Lankan ambassadors abroad to start asking the expatriate Sri Lankans the obvious questions such as what it would take to get them to return home.

All that it takes is serious action in place of serious sounding speeches. Speeches sans action will make the Sri Lnkan diaspora doubt the seriousness of the government and the credibility of its future plans to attract the overseas talent will suffer as a result.

WHY THE LTTE HATES SONIA GANDHI - by B.Raman

2009-02-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

Angered by the reluctance of the international community, including the government of India, to exercise pressure on the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to observe a ceasefire to protect the 150,000 Sri Lankan Tamils caught up in the conflict zone in the Wanni area, pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam web sites have kept up their attacks on the government of India and the Congress party. These attacks are in the form of unsigned or pseudonymous articles and letters to web site editors.

The attacks on Congress President Sonia Gandhi tend to be vicious. The Congress is projected as the 'Sonia Congress' and the 'Dynasty Congress' and the government of India as the 'Sonia Establishment'. She has also been projected as not nationalistic. On February 3, criticism of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi appeared for the first time. Pro-LTTE elements abroad seem to be unhappy with him for not exercising pressure on the government of India to stop the fighting in the Wanni area.

While there is no evidence to show that these attacks are emanating from the LTTE leadership, the fact that they are being disseminated through pro-LTTE web sites would show a silent nod of approval of the LTTE leadership for these orchestrated criticisms. Keeping in view the dangers of a negative impact of such attacks on the minds of irrational elements in the Tamil community, it would be prudent to strengthen the security for Sonia Gandhi.

The LTTE leadership and those sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora supporting it are increasingly desperate and bitter over the reluctance of the international community to exercise pressure on the Sri Lankan government to suspend the military operations in Wanni. The LTTE's calculations that just as the international community exercised pressure on Israel to suspend its military operations in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza recently before Israel had achieved its military objectives, it would exercise pressure on the Rajapaksa government to suspend the military operations against the LTTE have proved wrong.

LTTE chief V Prabhakaran's cynical use of the civilians to intimidate the international community into intervening is one more disastrous blunder committed by him and has lost him even the little sympathy which he might have had in the past. He is apparently in such a state of illusion that he does not seem to realise that whereas almost the entire Islamic world supported the Hezbollah and Hamas and exercised pressure on Israel to discontinue its operations, the LTTE has no friends left in the international community except possibly the African National Congress of South Africa.

He and his irrational supporters do not seem to realise that the world's attitude to terrorism changed after 9/11 and that India's attitude to terrorism became stronger after the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. How can India demand strong action against the jihadi terrorists by Pakistan and come in the way of strong action by the Sri Lankan government against LTTE's terrorism?

The anger of many of the Sri Lankan Tamils should be a cause for concern. While India cannot but support or at least refrain from criticising the counter-terrorism operations of the Sri Lankan government, it should remove the impression widely prevalent in the Sri Lankan Tamil community that but for its military assistance the Sri Lankan Army could not have succeeded. Large sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Sri Lanka as well as abroad have convinced themselves that India has been playing a double game making a pretense of supporting the human rights of the Tamils and, at the same time, quietly assisting the Rajapaksa government in crushing the Tamils.

In the absence of strong statements or denials from Delhi, the Sri Lankan government and its officials such as Gothbaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary, who is the brother of the President, and Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, the army chief, have been mischievously creating an impression that whatever they are doing against the Tamils has the tacit support of India,
It is not advisable for India to be seen by large sections of the Sri Lankan Tamils as not only anti-LTTE -- rightly so -- but also as anti-Tamil. Indira Gandhi was the most popular Indian leader among the Sri Lankan Tamils. They felt that her heart genuinely beat for the rights and sufferings of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Large sections of the Tamil community are bitter that the present Congress leadership does not share her empathy for them.

How to have this impression corrected without giving an impression of encouraging terrorism? That is the question, which should engage the attention of the Indian political leadership and diplomats.

[Source: http://www.rediff.com/ ]

LIONS DECIMATE TIGERS AND THE COYOTES MOVE IN

2009-02-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

AS the LTTE faces imminent and irreversible defeat, the usual predators have begun to lurk in the background. It is no secret that Sri Lanka's troubles had their beginning, and reached its maturity with the covert assistance of some individuals, non-governmental organizations, and even nations who at all times exploited our tolerance and democratic values to hurt us.

To the average Sri Lankan, Eric Solheim is no stranger. The Norwegian who has been a shadowy presence in and around places where Sri Lanka's destiny was decided, has had a hand in most of her misfortunes. Though it may be difficult to prove, this man would be considered by most to be guilty of providing opportunities for the Tamil Tigers over the past couple of decades which helped build the terror group into a formidable force and caused death and immense destruction in Sri Lanka. During all those years, Solheim and his Norwegian entourage have been very adept at portraying themselves essentially as peace-makers and earned a level of recognition in the world that is essentially meant for the likes of Mahatma Gandhi. Solheim may have fooled the world, but the Sri Lankan on the street knows he is no friend to us or our country.

Solheim was instrumental in formulating the illegal and fundamentally flawed cease-fire agreement [CFA] between the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, bestowing on the terror group powers of a separate state. At the time of signing the CFA, they moved fast and managed to push the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike to sign the document, contents of which were not known to her. The Norwegians had their lap dog Ranil Wickramasinghe, who has since brought down the opposition UNP to the level of non-existence agree to carry out the functions of a pawn to achieve this goal. The CFA was surreptiously intended to be essentially a starting point of a more vigourous and better prepared launching ground for seperation of Sri Lanka and creation of a Tamil only Eelam. Sentiments expressed by Solheim and his group at the time which are now surfacing, indicate that they believed a stronger and militarily better placed LTTE would be a suitable situation for any discussion for the settlement of the ethnic issue. Solheim also has been one of the loudest proclaimers of the existance of an 'ethnic' issue in Sri Lanka, and pushing world powers to accept the LTTE as the sole representatives of all Tamils on the island.

As our street-wise Sri Lankan would already know by gut instinct, Eric Solheim is no friend and in fact is worse than most enemies. It is his kind that gets close and then knives the unsuspecting victim. He does suit the LTTE lobby's own game plan, since he also operates by the same rules. If there is a difference between the average tamil tiger suicide bomber and Solheim, it is that the former is braver and is willing to die for his/her cause. The Solheims of this world are truly the coyotes and carrion birds who rejoice and fatten themselves in the death of others.

Currently Solheim is making the usual noises in India. He has told Indian media that the failure of the CFA was unfortunate. It is believable, since it was intended to form the basis for a much bigger game and that game didn't materialize since the LTTE chief was too impatient and mistimed his attack on the Sri Lankan security forces. Had he waitied until a more pliable and demoralized Ranil Wickramasinghe, who implicitly believed the Norwegians' theory that the LTTE cannot be defeated came into power, eelam could even have been a ground reality today.

Sri Lanka and her leaders cannot afford to continue to make the same mistakes yet again. Not only is Solheim the friend of our enemies, but is also the enemy of our friends, since they deny the rights of democratically elected tamil leaders such as Devananda to be representative of tamil aspirations to exist within a unified Sri Lanka. The likes of Eric Solheim need to be treated with utmost suspicion at all times and their minions monitored when on our soil. In the aftermath of the fighting these carcass feeders will descend on our shores yet again under the guise of re-construction. That is when the next game of subversion against the Sri Lankan state could begin. It would be wise for Sri Lanka to prepare now for these possibilities.

FOLLOW-ON AIR STRIKES DECIMATE SEA TIGERS

2009-02-07T16:41:00.001-08:00

THE SLAF took the game to a new level. Follow on air strikes on the location where leading sea-tigers were targetted in Puthukudiruppu destroyed at least 3 back hoe machines and killed a large number of LTTE cadres summoned to cordon off the area.

The SLA has also launched a sustained artillery attack on this location.

Reports in from the battle front indicate the death of 2 LTTE leaders speculated to be Soosai and Ramesh and at least another 15 tamil tiger terrorists.

TROOP TRANSPORT OVER MULLAITIVU

2009-02-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

A Russian built Mil17 flies over a troop carrier in Mullaitivu.

DE-CAPITATION STRIKES ARE A SOLUTION

2009-02-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

SRI Lankan Defence Forces are closing in on multiple fronts and the news is that the LTTE leader Velupillai has hightailed it out of the war zone, leaving the rank and file to defend his 'Suriya devan' (God of the Sun) title and self-proclaimed 'sole-representative of the Tamil people' status with their lives. Quick to decamp when cornered, this guy has always been good at getting conscripts to take the heat and die so that he can get away safely.

Meanwhile the SLAF was given a tip off by 'Wanni sources', typically moles within the LTTE about a gathering of Tiger top rungers at a house owned by Soosai, the sea-tiger leader. Jet fighters struck the house while a surveillance aircraft kept vigil overhead to ensure that no one escaped. Soon afterwards, a back-hoe was seen desperately attempting to dig through the demolished house to access an under-ground bunker. A second air strike by the SLAF destroyed the earth moving equipment as well as causing more casualties to the terrorists.

OPERATION SRI LANKA REBUILD - VIEW FROM NEW DELHI

2009-02-01T13:12:00.001-08:00

INDIA seems to be getting it right finally.

After years of being a malefic regional presence in the eyes of many of her neighbors, India is starting to see things in a new perspective where her smaller neighbor is concerned. In a region where she is flanked by nuclear armed rivals China and Pakistan, India is now starting to realize how vital it is to build a strong and dependable relationship with Sri Lanka, so that the smaller neighbor's very strong ties with the regional nuclear powers do not become a potential future source of threat.

It is with this view that India seems to have embraced a policy of differentiating Tamil terrorism from Sri Lankan tamils and deal with each seperately. Sri Lanka could not have asked for more, especially from the very nation which created the terrorist monster the Sri Lankans now have to eliminate by themselves.

India also sees a prminant role for herself in re-building Sri Lanka. Such a policy would provide India a foothold where she has slipped considerably in the past and an opportunity to earn the trust and gratitude of her smaller neighbor, a solid foundation for a long lasting relationship.

Here's a great article on India's apparent perspective, potential short and long term strateges in Sri lanka http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday_TOI/Sri_Lanka_rebuild_View_from_Delhi/articleshow/4058287.cms

THE TARGET IS CLEAR

2009-02-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

Under increasing pressure and imminent death, the LTTE supremo is said to have found a hobby; pocket-billiards.

MULLAITIVU, CLOSING TIME - by Dayan Jayatilleke

2009-01-28T17:03:00.001-08:00

January 28, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) The trick is to grasp the main needs of the present while being able to see into the future, with its problems and prospects, while being aware that the choices we make today, in the here and now, will determine the shape of tomorrow.

First things first: the Tigers have been almost completely overthrown and almost totally defeated, but not yet and not quite. The task is to stay focused and finish the job, resisting all external pressures from whichever quarter however exalted or powerful. If the foot-soldiers of an army survive but not its General staff, it is almost impossible for it to continue to fight, but as long as a leader and his General staff survive, they can raise an army. Antonio Gramsci reminded us of this, with Napoleon Bonaparte as the classic example.

Velupillai Prabhakaran and his commanders are still alive, and as long as they remain so, they pose a deadly threat to the Sri Lankan state. The war can be said to have been won only when they are eliminated. That remains the task at hand.

More..http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/01/mullativu-closing-time.html

ASSOCIATED PRESS RETRACTS CANARD ABOUT SRI LANKA

2009-01-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

AP kills Sri Lanka-Civil War story
By Associated Press
7:53 AM EST, January 28, 2009
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Kill the Sri Lanka-Civil War story, V5414. The source denies he wrote the letter that said more than 300 civilians had been killed and 1,000 wounded in fighting in northern Sri Lanka.

The weirdos at AP always find ways to mis-represent Sri Lanka's struggle against LTTE terrorism and have even found innovative ways of becoming a proxy propaganda platform for the tamil terror group. Often they boldly publish tidbits of their own fertile imaginations and then retract them inconspicuosuly, in the inner pages where no one in their right minds read or look for news. Shown above is one of those bitchy little things.

The " 300 civillians killed " canard was prominantly carried to possibly instigate a smear campaign against Sri Lanka internationally., and was ostensibly 'sourced' from someone who later denied responsibility. As a leader of the news world, such irresponsibility on the part of the publisher reflects their own credibility since they carry the news to the world. AP perhaps considers itself above the law, and beyond the reach of small nations such as Sri Lanka.

Ap also carries a standardised statement about discrimination over decades against Tamils being the alleged reason for terrorism, presented in legalese which absolves them from responsibility for the unsubstantiated, yet detrimental image it projects against the majority Sri Lankans.

PICTURES FROM MULLAITIVU

2009-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

SAME OL' CRAP, DIFFERENT DAY

2009-01-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

SRI Lanka cannot win militarily against the Tamil tigers, was what they used to tell us. Not only the NGO's, the slimy Norwegians, but even some of the half baked armchair military pundits used to dish out this manthra on a regular basis, until most of us were either believed them outright or were prepared to do so.

I was one of those who used to breathlessly read Iqbal Athas' proclamations of imminent doom for a long time until the continued failure of such dire forecasts to materialize began to shade his credibility in my mind. And that made me start wondering why some of these people act as they do.

For a long time, Sri Lanka's English literate 'elites' effectively influenced the government's attitudes and its approach to the increasingly destructive terrorism problem. Even while it was quite evident that there was no real 'ethnic problem' as the NGOs and the Norwegians always termed it, being able to demoralize and browbeat the opinion leading group in Colombo made it possible for these shadowy groups with links to the LTTE to manipulate facts and force their own deliberate misinterpretations on the entire population of Sri Lanka. Gradually we came to accept whatever the Norwegians trotted out, even when the gut-feel was that it was all wrong, but was the only way out of a situation which they had convinced us was definitely going to end in Sri Lanka's complete defeat by the LTTE.

Never was this situation completely true, while the Norwegians were behind many obstacles thrown against arms and intelligence procurement by the Sri Lankan government. Today we know that the Norwegians wanted to see a powerful LTTE negotiating from strength and browbeating the Sri Lankan government into submission. No wonder the Indians started getting uncomfortable with this process.

Terror attacks in September of 2001 in New York brought about a change of world perception of terrorism, and a definite change to Sri Lanka's fortunes as the US entered the fray. The rest is history.

Now that the LTTE is about to recieve the coupe de grace from the Sri Lankan defence forces, the very same maggots and anti-Sri Lankan covert forces are coming out of the wood work. The new theory is that the LTTE will turn magical guerilla, assumably superior to anything the SL can muster against them and unconquerable as they were touted before being conclusively routed by our boys. The modus operandi is the same; half truths, deliberate misinterpretations, unsubstantiated, unsupported and unverifiable, mostly imaginary capabilities attributed to the magical guerillas who will be able to attack with impunity and continue to wage an unending war against us. This, I presume is supposed to worry or even scare us.

There are many reasons why re-birth of the 'magical LTTE guerilla' is only a figment of a maggot's imagination.

LTTE leadership is destined for extinction. That's guaranteed, given the fact that the present mood in Sri Lanka is overwhelmingly slanted that way. With the lunatic fringe leadership out of the way, most of the youger generation tamil youth will be open to seeing ground reality for what it is; the only outcome from a confrontation with the Sri Lankan military is a speedy death.

The tamil youth will also get a taste of democracy, and the freedom of the wild ass that reigns everywhere in Sri Lanka. Perhaps they may even learn to appreciate thetrue sense of human freedom for once in their lives without a sense of destiny entrenched in self-destruction.

The real possibility of having the good life; relationships without approval from a beauracratic apparatus, a right to enjoy a beer with friends, and the national past time - cricket or even fornicate at will.

There'll of course be those who will want to turn the clock back. Sri Lankan military intelligence can be depended on to deal with them using our own tested and proven, inimicable counter-terrorism techniques.

Those who are attempting to give us a sense of new foreboding are the same carion birds. The faces may be different, but there should be no mistaking who they are and what their agenda is.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

2009-01-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

PREZ Rajapakse is one helluva smart cookie. Now that he's managed to keep Tamilnadu's top politicians off his back until major military ops are over, he has thrown them a bone that cannot be ignored, nor taken lightly. The Sri Lankan president has invited both Chief Minister of TN, Muthuvel Karunanidhi and his opponent Jayalalitha Jeyaram to visit northern Sri Lanka and also to intervene in obtaining the release of civillians held as a human shield by the LTTE. How this interesting situation pans out will need to be closely watched.

In other news, the Brits switched their tone, condemned the beaten LTTE again as terrorists and praised Sri Lanka's military gains against the terrorists. Similarly, the Danes are suddenly ready to ban the LTTE's fund raising organ, the TRO while always welcome Akashi of Japan is fully behind the military solution to Tamil Tiger terrorism and promised further support for development of the liberated areas.

Other unverified sources claim that the Sea-tiger chief Soosai has surrendered to the SLA.

THE LAST TERROR BASTION FALLS

2009-01-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

ENDGAME IS HERE

MULLAITIVU has been taken by the Sri Lankan Defence Forces, routing the final desperate attempts of the world's most notorious terorrist organization, the LTTE.

Many were the pundits who predicted the efforts of the Sri Lankan government to deliver a decisive military response to Sri Lanka's festering terrorism problem would fail. Many were the nay-sayers and fashionable liberals who dismissed the efforts of the Sri Lankan military as inadequate or incapable of delivering the goals set by the government to decimate the LTTE.

The historic military win, was a combination of fearless and decisive leadership, vision and flawless execution at every level in the chain of command. Many of those who made life altering sacrifices would go unknown and unsung, but their deeds would be immortalized by what they've contributed towards achieving; a nation in which its people can live in dignity and self-respect, with the knowledge that we've faced a level of evil unknown in any other part of the world and beaten it conclusively all by ourselves.

CONGRATULATIONS SRI LANKA AND HER ARMED FORCES
A new future dawns tommorrow.

LIBERATION DAM BUSTERS OF TAMIL EELAM

2009-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

UNDER a determined and multi-pronged assault by the Sri Lankan Defence Forces, the LTTE resorted to further terrorism by blowing up a reservoir which caused a two feet tall tidal wave to wash through and damage much of the civillian property in the area.

In much the same way as they did in Killinochchi, the LTTE's intent appears to be to destroy as much of the infra-structure in the area and make it uninhabitable so that the civillians held as a human shield are compelled to stay under the terror group's control.

The destruction caused to the tamil civillian population did not prevent the take over of the Mullaitivu town by the SLDF, now effectively confining the LTTE to a stretch of jungle, approx 200km in area. Unlike in previous combat, the SLDF wields specialized forces who will wage an effective war of attrition in the jungle, even though the presence of the civillians held hostage by the LTTE limits the use of air power and deployment of heavy weapons.

Capture of the Mullaitivu town completes 95% of fighting and opens doors for the government to enter into a permanent political solution with the participation of all parties. Sri Lanka's military victory proves that terrorism can and must be beaten militarily.

LTTE KILLING ITS OWN

2009-01-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

LTTE leadership has ordered the battle field execution of all injured cadre who are immobile. Anti-LTTE tamil sources report over 400 LTTE recruits have been executed on these orders over the past week alone.

In the meanwhile air ops in support of advancing SLDF are hitting concentrated LTTE target with increasing intensity. SL military planners did get their game right and placed their bets where they should be. Cornering an illusive enemy into a small territoty has now enabled the SL forces to have real time intel both through aerial surveillance as well as human agents.

There is also signs that the Tigers are losing their grip on the civillians as well as their own recruits. As the news filters into the LTTE rank and file that those who surrendered are treated well and given a chance to return to civillian life by the government, more are starting to abandon ranks and surrender to the SLDF.

Though the pro-LTTE media rushed to blame the SL forces for a wanton shooting incident committed by the tigers against a group of civillians attempting to flee into government territories, more news of this attrocity is also now filtering out through those who still dare escape.

The count down to the grand finale is on and End-game is nigh.

DIFFICULT TIMES AND HARD DECISIONS

2009-01-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

SRI Lankan Defence Forces are on a roll. Six divisions of highly trained and motivated troops are fighting battles that are the stuff of legend and stories told someday to grand kids yet to be born. Unprecedented in Sri Lankan history, over 150,000 troops are now engaged in the on going humanitarian operations.

In the face of the determined SLDF juggernaut the LTTE hyenas are scattering and taking shelter behind the civillian human shield. The UNESCO is demanding safe passage for the Tamil civillians held by the LTTE, while the UN is furious over a group of its employees being detained by the terrorist group.

In the meanwhile a naval engagement sank four sea-Tiger craft and the SLN lost a Dvora fast attack craft to a suicide boat explosion. Nineteen saiors have reportedly died in this attack. The navy's divers recovered sections of the craft and its advanced armaments.

Speculation was rife over the past few days that the top tigers are attempting to flee by air, possibly to Malaysia or Indonesia and the SLN was said to have fired on an unidentified aircraft in the Wanni skies. There's some confusion about the accuracy of this report, which has been denied by the SLAF which supposedly had a sophisticated surveillance craft airborne at the same time. Hon. minister of Parliament Karuna, the ostensibly reformed former mass murderer of the east claims that the LTTE leader is still in the uncleared areas. Most well known Tiger leaders are also said to be engaged in the combat zone.

At the same time, attacks against dissenting media is continuing with yet another day light assault against a well known news reporter and his spouse. These happenings led to six former US ambassadors to Sri Lanka write to Prez. Rajapakse seeking a restoration of true democratic values in the country even while having to deal with the scourge of terrorism.

LTTE STARTING TO LOSE CONTROL OVER ITS HUMAN SHIELD

2009-01-22T19:46:00.000-08:00

NEWS filtering in from various sources indicate that the LTTE is fast losing control over the civillians held forcibly in the Wanni.

A crowd of over 70,000 had attempted to move into the government controlled areas yesterday and the LTTE had opened fire to stop them. Over 10 have been killed in this incident while a large number injured. Some of the civillians somehow had managed to escape the LTTE cordon and reached government areas.

As news of the shooting spread in the refugee camps, an LTTE child soldier recruiter who was masquerading as a civillian had been identified by the Tamil civillians and severely assaulted. This person has now been transfered into a different location.

In the meanwhile pro-LTTE media is on a whirlwind campaign to blame the deaths caused by the LTTE shooting as having been caused by an artillery attack by the SLA.

VIGILANTEISM ON THE RISE IN THE RECENTLY LIBERATED AREAS

2009-01-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

VIGILANTEISM is said to be on the rise in the recently liberated areas in the North as it has started to take root in the eastern province. Over two decades of unparalleled blood letting would undoubtedy leave behind a badly scarred and deranged social system incapable of taking care of itself. The spate of killings in the eastern province blamed on a power struggle within the TVMP could be the tip of an ice berg of unfathomed size and depth.

Expat Tamil sources opposed to the brutalisty of the LTTE appear to be humored by the prospect of seeing its decimation at the hands of the Sri Lankan Defence Forces, to be followed by acts of revenge by local lynch mobs who have waited their turn for over two decades. The LTTE rank and file may have bigger problems than they envisage currently, if any of this information is based on fact. With the SLDF, they could surrender and go thru rehab and return to civillain life. What awaits them there is yet unknown.

Add to its problems the thousands who are going to be left to their own devices once disarmed, with no markettable skills to find gainful employment in an increasingly competitive world. These men and women are trained predators for whom killing comes naturally, let loose in a world where relatively defenceless civillians are enjoying soft skills acquired by sheer circumstance of their individual birth. This is an expplosive mix, one to which rehabilitation and power sharing itself may not necessarily provide lasting solutions.

The end of fighting and annihilating the LTTE will not end Sri Lanka's social problems. Instead it will be the start of a process when our leaders need to show equal resolve in dealing with a pandora's box of evil yet to descend on the landscape.

FATE UNCERTAIN FOR INJURED LTTE CADRES

2009-01-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

OVER 2,000 LTTE cadres are currently being treated at the Thevipuram hospital in Pudukuduirippu, and these will face an uncertain fate when the SLDF decieds to take the area.

Local sources have infomed that the LTTE lacks the means to transport the injured, as it involved a drain in its already diminished resources. The civillians have expressed the fear that the seriously injured who are unable to move with the LTTE may be executed, as per the terrorist leader's standing instructions in similar earlier instances.

Reports also claim that severe disagreements have risen among the LTTE leadership regarding the treatment of injured cadre, leading to growing factionalism and hostility within the ranks of the organization.