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| Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Confining security forces to routine drudgery Bull's Eye by a Special Defence Correspondent
With the advent of the CFA in 2002, Government military authorities would have expected to use the interval so gained to rest the fighting cadres, give them advanced training and procure new fire-power as any fighting army is supposed to do during a ceasefire. But it is doubtful whether the Sri Lankan security forces had done anything to realise those expectations. If one observes the daily routine of work cast on security personnel, how many soldiers could be seen deployed on sentry duty in the capital as well as in other townships in the North and East? How many of them are scheduled to man road barriers while others are put on foot patrol to ensure security for the civil society? Who has created a situation that compelled the government to deploy soldiers on such day-to-day routine duty depriving them of the above-mentioned facilities? It is clear that it has been a military strategy of the LTTE to dissipate the security forces' resources so as to deprive them of combat readiness in the event of a future war. After every sporadic attack by the LTTE, whether it is in the North and East or in Colombo, it is a common sight to see the tightened security and many combat cadres called for sentry and allied duties. Since they have to forego their training this has led to disappointment and low morale among soldiers. Ironical it may seem, recent newspaper reports claimed that the number of deserters has increased during the ceasefire than during the war. Perhaps they get fatigued due to routine drudgery during ceasefire than during active combat. While the LTTE is doing the tricks of the trade to keep government forces busy, the LTTE is fully using the absence of war to achieve the above mentioned targets, giving a good rest to their fighting cadres, giving them advance training, increasing recruitment (international reports confirm that the LTTE recruits children and train them for war as the youth are fleeing LTTE held areas to escape being recruited) and purchasing weapons. At the same time they continue their secret war to eliminate their opponents despite the CFA. The increasing number of CFA violations by the LTTE (up to 5513 by September 24, 2005) is good evidence of LTTE's strategy to deceive the Government, the international community and even peace broker Norway and the SLMM. These proven circumstances show that the Government has already been caught up in an LTTE trap and it is high time the Government and military authorities took remedial action to relieve soldiers from such stress and give them combat training and other facilities to enable them to sharpen their skills to meet any eventuality. After they assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the LTTE failed in their trick - announcing their willingness to return to talks. They failed in their attempt to escape from international disgrace as they are now stuck into bargaining the venue for talks. Bargaining on such meagre issues has already convinced the international community of their dirty tricks to mark time in order to hide their ugly face. The new development in the Vanni is that the LTTE has been using all its strength to reach a climax of their violent separatist struggle for 22 years. It is learnt that the group is preparing a secret mission, which is believed to be a turning point of their separatist war against the Government. Preliminary steps of this secret mission have already been taken. The first step taken publicly was the launch of so called peoples' convention held in Kilinochchi. Having failed to bring the expected crowd, the LTTE this time is using all possible means to attract large crowds pretending to show that a majority of Tamil people in the North are supporting them. It is a pity that religious leaders beat war drums at these meetings as we reported last time and what does the LTTE want to emphases at these meeting is that the demands are made by people thereby using the innocent people as a human shield to win LTTE prolonged demands such as removal of security camps from Jaffna, permission to enter high security zones and destabilizing para militaries in the North and East. Through these meetings, the LTTE strives to show the world that the demands are not their ones but a struggle by the ordinary people. This artificial creation of peoples' struggle and other organized protests in Jaffna, Trincomalee and other areas of concern would be another step in line with their turning point. However, it is clear that all these events are part and parcel of destabilizing the Government's opposition to LTTE's struggle for a separate state, and winning international sympathy and funds to intensify their war against the Government. What the world understands from these guerilla tactics is that events manipulated by the LTTE are sequencing towards the LTTE's separate state concept, not enter the mainstream to negotiate for a democratic settlement but stick to violence and terrorism. Attacks on security forces, police posts and foot patrols by the LTTE have increased during the past few days and through these events, the LTTE tries to provoke security forces to retaliate. If you observe the casualties in each event, it is obvious that the LTTE was so careful to limit the damage to minor injuries. However, in a situation where violence becomes the order, the security forces will be compelled to increase their involvement in the area. LTTE's proxies in parliament have used this situation created by their own goons to scream against the security situation especially in the East demanding the removal of emergency. So far the security forces have reacted very tactfully and patiently without falling into the LTTE trap as they well understand that they should not do what the LTTE wants them to do. One small incident would be a big boost for the LTTE on which they and their local and international separatist agents could go around the globe blaming the Government and begging sympathy for their "freedom struggle". When you look at the casualty dimension of these attacks, it is clear that their objective is just to provoke the security forces to retaliate but not launch a major attack. The new wave of violence which has already started in Trincomalee and Vavuniya by forcing people to take to streets and protest, and the series of peoples conventions to be held in the North and East are some of their new political strategies to campaign for a possible Unilateral Declaration of Independence, which could go on board on November 26. Many European countries have shown opposition towards the LTTE's activities especially after the recent bomb blast in London, and this has led to cripple LTTE false propaganda and fund raising in those countries especially in the member countries of European Union. Apologies, corrections and clarifications The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has sent us a response to last Sundays' Bull's Eye. Its media Spokesperson Helen Olafsdottir has expressed her disappointment at our claim that the SLMM has allegedly offered eight area leaders of the Karuna Group five million rupees each to stop attacks on Vanni cadres which in her opinion was made without proper scrutiny. While we maintain our claim we do apologise to the SLMM for being unable to verify its authenticity from them too before publication. We will be only too glad to publish any correction to this statement if the SLMM wishes to do so. The SLMM could be assured that we would indeed contact them if similar problems crop up in future. We would also like to assure the SLMM that we had no intention to discredit it or its work. - EDITOR |
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