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War and Peace

The Defence Diary by Ranga Jayasuriya

The Geneva meeting set for this week looked like an impossibility.

Even the Norwegian envoy, Jon Hanssen Bauer who made an unscheduled visit here in the aftermath of the LTTE pull out from the sea movement, has so far failed to end the impasse over the transport of Tiger commanders.

The SLMM chief Ulf Henricsson returned to Colombo yesterday, having stayed overnight, but he could not have any new discussions yesterday, other than his meeting with LTTE Peace secretariat Chief Pulithevan on Friday.

Upon his return to Colombo yesterday morning, Mr Henricsson declined to comment on his visit, till he meets the Special Norwegian Peace Envoy.

The SLMM chief's visit was a follow up to the visit by Mr Hanssen Bauer on Thursday. The Norwegian envoy conveyed to the LTTE political commissar S.P.Thamilselvan the government's fresh offer to transport LTTE cadres in a private helicopter from the East to Kilinochchi, to which the Tigers sounded noncommittal and demanded further specifications of the offer.

Indeed, it was air transport that the LTTE leadership, hinted as its preferable mode of travel, when it made the request for the transport of its leadership on March 25.

But, when the Norwegian Envoy told Thamilselvan that the government had offered to airlift them, of course in a private chopper, the Tigers wanted more specifications.

The government has already taken a decision not to provide theatre to theatre air transport to the LTTE military leaders after the reports- which had been verified as true - of the acquisition of light aircraft by the LTTE. And, a few months ago, one Air Force helicopter flying over Iranamadu tank where the LTTE's airstrip is, had its anti- aircraft missile radars activated.

Another reason to abolish the theatre to theatre air transports of the LTTE military leaders was the huge cost the Air Force had to incur, having flown LTTE military leaders frequently between the East and the North during the initial stage of the peace process.

Hence the offer to provide a private chopper rather than an Air Force craft.

But when Mr. Bauer communicated the offer to the LTTE leadership on Thursday, Thamilselvan complained that the private helicopter is too small to accommodate the whole lot of LTTE leaders. (The LTTE wanted to transport 32 cadres, but the Navy said more than 40 cadres boarded the civilian ferry last week to go East, before the LTTE itself aborted the sea movement)

The LTTE also wanted further details on the arrangements of the chopper.

That's what Bauer told the Peace Secretariat officials about his meeting with Thamilselvan. So the government had to be more specific next time and the government told Bauer that, if the chopper could not accommodate the entire group in a single trip, it could fly several trips between Kilinochchi and the East to transport the full team of Tiger commanders.

The government also said a possibility of hiring an Indian chopper could also be considered. At the same time, the government made it clear that the offer of the air travel was valid only till April 24. The rationale was that since the transport is to facilitate the participation of the LTTE Eastern commanders in a preparatory meeting for the Geneva talks, such facilities are irrelevant if the LTTE does not go to Geneva.

So having been briefed of the government's position, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission chief Ulf Henricsson visited Kilinochchi.

In case he forgets anything, the Peace Secretariat in Colombo faxed a copy of the program on the air travel to its counterpart in Kilinochchi.

The SLMM chief met Pulithevan, the Head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, but Pulithevan alone could not decide on the matter. So the retired Swedish General had to stay over night in the Wanni till the LTTE came out with its response after an inner party meeting.

Wanni sources said security had been beefed up in Kilinochchi on Friday and the LTTE military leaders were holding a meeting at an undisclosed location.

What was discussed in that meeting would decide the LTTE's position on the peace talks.

And though it may sound ridiculous, Tiger political wing leader Thamilselvan had demanded return to normalcy in the security situation in the North-East.

LTTE peace secretariat website said the Tiger political chief had raised concerns about " the alarming level of violence against Tamil people by the Sri Lanka Army and para militaries."

The unashamed apologists of LTTE violence, there are many of them and indeed, some find that it is fashionable to be so, would be cheering at such pronouncements. But what should be reminded is that it was the LTTE which triggered violence, blowing up a string of claymore mines targeting security forces in the very pattern as it acted in the immediate aftermath of Rajapakse victory.

It was the same pattern of violence that was directed at the Security Forces since the killing of LTTE activist V.Vigneshwaran two weeks ago. Over 20 security forces have been killed during the past three weeks.

And the modus-operandi of the LTTE is to trigger a communal backlash, which it tried and went almost close to succeeding in Trincomalee on New Year's eve.

The eastern port city would have bled to death, had not there been the intervention of security forces, which though a bit late brought the situation almost under control within a matter of hours.

Having gradually been shut out from its greener pastures in the West, with Canada being the latest country to ban the Tigers, the LTTE want a return to July 83 in order to seek a fresh wave of international sympathy.

The government should educate the public, especially those living in the volatile East, not to walk into the LTTE trap.

On Friday, the Tigers blew up another claymore mine, killing a home guard and injuring another in Dehiwatta, Trincomalee. The aftermath of the blast saw the ugly scenes of a communal backlash with villagers running rampage in an adjacent villages, Menkamam in the Seruvila Division . One person, a farmer is reported to have been hacked to death and several houses have been torched.

The government is indeed concerned about the recent escalation in the communal violence, which had been unseen for most part of the separatist war, at the face of even greater provocations by the LTTE.

One authoritative government source told the Sunday Observer that there could be "foul play" by certain ultra nationalist groups, but he declined to name them.

Within hours after the first claymore blast, a police jeep was caught in another claymore explosion in Thanganagar, near Dehiwatta and two police personnel were killed and two others were wounded.

In the afternoon, a suspected LTTE cadre lobbed a hand grenade at a passenger near Anuradhapura junction, Vavuniya. The grenade missed the bus, but the driver was injured in the blast.

One disturbing trend in the week was the scores of corpses found in the North East. Five bodies were found in Vatharavathai, Puttur.

Tamilnet, which is known for its loyalty to the LTTE and LTTE Peace Secretariat website accused the security forces of shooting them dead, an allegation denied by the security forces.

The LTTE also said three villagers had been found dead in the jungles in Puliyankulam and accused that it was a work of a deep penetration unit of the army. The security forces denied the allegation.

Meanwhile On Thursday, troops on a road patrol shot dead an LTTE cadre in Kanniya, who tried to lob a hand grenade at them.

And on Thursday night troops recovered a massive haul of arms, explosives and ammunition from a house abandoned by a "Mahaveerar" family in Maduvil. The cache included 12 claymore mines, 39 hand grenades, 50 detonators, 10 Anti-Personal Mines, 8 Rocket Propel grenades (RPG), 110 TNT sticks, 250 9mm pistol rounds, 05 T 56 magazines,1400 T 56 bullets and 75 Kg of explosive.

This has been the single largest recovery of arms and ammunition since the truce agreement. This is also a yet another pointer to the arms smuggling of the LTTE into the government controlled area during the ceasefire.

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