Poll: 84% back Mahinda's strategy
Can Ranil survive on 16%?:
Opening the Emergency debate in Parliament for the UNP last week
Lakshman Kiriella said that "the government should target 'Wanni' in its
military onslaught against terrorism instead of focusing its attention
on insignificant locations."
In effect, he is ridiculing once again the achievements of our
soldiers who are sacrificing their lives to liberate the areas held by
the Tamil Tigers. He also said that Mavil Aru, Sampur, Mutur, Thoppigala
in the east and now Silavathura in the west are "insignificant
locations" not worth capturing.
But 84% of the nation, the Security Forces and the military
strategists both at home and abroad think otherwise. They all believe
that the capture of these locations is essential to (1) protect the
nation and (2) pave the path for future negotiations and peace.
However, taking his word for what it is worth, let us consider which
is more "insignificant": these locations or Kiriella? For instance, who
would care two hoots if Kiriella loses his seat in parliament tomorrow?
Does it really matter to anyone?
On the contrary, consider the fate and the future of the nation if
the Security Forces failed to capture these strategic locations. Since
these locations serve a greater purpose in holding the nation together
what justification is there and what purpose is served by directing
Security Forces to guard Ka-kiriella - a totally irrelevant and
insignificant puppet dancing on his master's string?
Genuine interest
Then there is the SLFP MP Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, the new ally of
the UNP. He too said that Kilinochchi and Mulaitivu should be attacked
if the government is genuinely interested in defeating the LTTE
militarily.
Sooriyarachchi said that such major terrorist locations should be
attacked in the initial phase of a war without selecting easy targets.
He added: "I still challenge this government to go to Kilinochchi.
They still have an arrangement not to think of the sensitive areas. Even
Silavathura is a militarily, strategically unimportant place.
Why don't the forces go to Kilinochchi?" This is as stupid as asking
King Dutugemunu why he wasted time in conquering the outposts on the way
up north from Ruhuna instead of going straight to Vijithapura to defeat
Elara.
And guess who else agrees with these two cardboard Napoleons? Who
else but LTTE Military Spokesperson I.Ilanthirayan! He told his
favourite daily, The Morning Leader: (5/9/07) that the government's move
to capture Silavathurai in Mannar was yet another political stunt aimed
at fooling the people in the south and challenged the security forces to
launch an offensive into areas where there are Tiger cadres in the Wanni.
Ilanthirayan, at least, has some hands-on-experience in the battle
field and he may be hoping to draw the Security Forces into the Tiger
trap at this early stage. But what do the UNP Ka-kiriella and SLFP (Moda)
Wing Sooriyarachchi know about military strategies?
It is doubtful whether they were even boy scouts in their school
days. And yet, overnight, they have become Field Marshals dictating
military strategies to the soldiers in the front lines.
Strategies
The strategists in the Security Forces have succeeded so far because
they do not have idiots among them to draw up military campaigns based
on puerile political agendas or challenges.
Besides, it is most unlikely that even primitive dunderheads would
agree to fight according to the political agenda of the enemy. If they
know anything about military strategies they should know that an army
that fights according to a political agenda of either the enemies or
allies is doomed to fail.
Judging from the strategies adopted by the Security Forces it is
clear that their plan is to move slowly and steadily without rushing
into places where experienced and better informed strategist fear to
tread.
The Security Forces began their military movement, almost
defensively, from Mavil Aru and moved steadily to the top of Thoppigala
with the minimum of fuss. In the process they cleared the east,
demolishing the eastern naval and land bases of the Tamil Tigers.
By the way, the Security Forces need not have wasted their energy,
resources, time and manpower if the respective leaders of these two
political corporals, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Chandrika Kumaratunga, did
not hand over the east and the north on a platter to Velupillai
Prabhakaran.
The nation is forced to pay through their noses today - just not in
terms of taxes but in terms of lives too - because Wickremesinghe-Kumaratunga
duo were vying with each other to survive politically by donating the
real estate owned by the nation to a bunch of armed, fascist terrorists.
The nation is in this predicament today because of the monumental
blunders committed by these two leaders.
Besides, they left a dismal legacy and the nation is forced to paying
for it with blood and tears. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government is facing
the brunt of it all. The biggest problem facing President Mahinda
Rajapaksa is to foot the enormous bill of correcting the stupidities of
Wickremesinghe and Kumaratunga.
The cost of living would not have rocketed to this level and the
Defence Ministry would not have been called to spend colossal amounts on
liberating the east if Wickremesinghe did not hand over the north and
the east to Prabhakaran through his failed Ceasefire Agreement.
Coming back to the military strategies, the Security Forces are not
eager at this stage to rush into Vanni for obvious strategic reasons.
The Army Commander, Maj-Gen. Sarath Fonseka, has stated categorically
that his forces need three years to crush the Tamil Tiger terrorists. In
other words, he is refusing to march to the lunatic drum beat of Ka-kirella
and Soriyapathyarachchi and sacrifice his men. He has to calculate every
step of the way to Killinochchi.
Besides, if the Security Forces take their advice and face losses
will these two nincompoops stand up and defend the heroic forces or will
they laugh at our soldiers and cheer the Tamil Tigers?
These two are daring the Security Forces to go to Vanni hoping they
could make political capital out of the possible failures. They are
belittling the capture of the east because each victory exposes the
failures of their leaders who surrendered to the Tamil Tigers.
First they scoffed at the victories in the east and now they are
ridiculing the calculated advances along the western coast because each
gain of the Security Forces is knocking them out as a political force.
In short, these two political pygmies are pretending to be military
Goliaths by recommending the most disastrous course for the nation.
Military matters should be left strictly in the hands of the
experienced soldiers who know their job. They have demonstrated their
skills and capabilities in the recent battles, debunking the myths of
Tiger superiority and invincibility.
It is, indeed, a remarkable achievement when the Security Force
defeat the Tigers who boast that they had defeated the fourth largest
army in the world: the Indian Army.
No wonder Indian military analysts have conceded that the Sri Lankan
forces have shown a remarkable capacity to tackle the Tamil Tigers on
their own.
There is commendable sense in the military strategy pursued by the
Security Forces. Having come down from Mavil Aru to Thoppigala in the
east, the Forces are now moving up north along the western coast to
clear the strategic bases of the Tigers in the Mannar region - a key
base of the Tigers for unloading their smuggled military hardware.
The clearing of the western coast and the adjoining land routes are
also vital for the Security Forces to block supply routes of the Tigers
to their headquarters in Vanni. The Palk Straits in the north is dicey
for the Tamil Tigers because they have to face the Indian Navy as well.
All this is adding up to what seems to be an encirclement of the
Tigers from the east, west and the north and trap them inside Vanni for
the final assault.
Once territories surrounding the Vanni are in the hands of the
Security Forces the Tigers would be forced to fight with their backs to
the wall. This would make the road to Killinochchi that much easier.
At this stage the blocking of land and sea routes are more important
than capturing territory in the Vanni.
There are also the logistical problems of holding on to the territory
regained from the Tigers. All in all, this "heming - heming way" (to
quote Governor Andrew Caldecott) is the more sensible and practical way
to Killinochchi. This is a lesson the soldiers have learnt from bitter
experience.
But, in a policy of wanting to place a bob each way, the UNP voted
for the emergency saying that they are for the war. Once again this
contradictory policy of the UNP leaves them nowhere except in the
wilderness.
When they say they are for the war they lose the Tamil votes. And
when they ridicule the soldiers they lose the votes of villages that had
sent their sons to save the nation.
This leaves the UNP with only the votes of the NGOs and Erik Solheim
who brokered the ill-fated CFA and buried chances of Wickremesinghe
rising ever again from his political grave.
Of course, both Wickremesinghe and Mangala Samaraweera are buoyed by
the belief that the people are with them seeing the ageing loyalists
bussed to each meeting.
But the polls are running against them. A whopping 84% told the MARGA-National
Peace Council (NPC) polls that they are for Mahinda Rajapaksa's war to
defeat Prabhakaran.
In political terms, this means that the anti-war campaign of
Wickremesinghe-Samaraweera duo, denigrating the victories of the
Security Forces, is left with only 16%.
What's the future in that? First, it means that the youth, who see
the military victories with a degree of self-satisfying triumphalism,
are not buying what the Anti-National Congress is selling. Second, the
crowds may flock to the meetings but the votes are with Mahinda
Rajapaksa.
Stunning blow
This massive vote is also a stunning blow to the NGO peace mudalalis
like Jehan Perera of NPC, Kumar Rupesinghe and Paikiasothy Saravanmuttu
who have devoted a life-time in trying to defeat the Sri Lankan forces
by tying their hands behind their back through international pressure.
They also theorise indefatigably in their hollow heads why the war
should be stopped by the Sri Lankan forces leaving the field open for
the Tamil Tigers to grab all the land they want to establish their Pol
Potist Evil-lam. .
As indicated by the polls the post-Mavil Aru-Thoppigala politics has
clearly brought about a decisive backlash against the
Wickremesinghe-Samaraweera-Kumaratunga school of defeatist politics.
The other victims of this backlash are the NGO pundits - the whole
caboodle - with their international network. Swallowing the bitter pill
reluctantly Jehan Perera, the director of NPC wrote: "The LTTE's
behaviour gives a measure of credibility to the government's
justification for expanding the theatre of war."
This obviously is a sign that the post-Mavil Aru-Thoppigala politics
is beginning to sink into the boneheads in the NGOs. After manufacturing
justifications over the years for the brutal violence of the Tamil Tiger
terrorists the NGO pundits have at last come to the conclusion that
there is justification for the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to "expand
the theatre of war".
All these years they blamed the GOSL for engaging in offensives and
counter offensives to retain its sovereignty and territorial integrity,
not to mention liberating the oppressed Tamils from the jackboots of Pot
Potist Tigers. By directing accusations against the GOSL, the NGOs were
directly and indirectly justifying the unending cycle of violence
unleashed by the Tamil Tigers. They argued that the way to end the war
was not to go to war but to appease the Tiger demands.
The new realities, arising from the advances of the Security Forces,
have shaken them up. They haven't given up their anti-Sinhala-Buddhist
campaign yet though. They will continue to give moral support to the
Tamil separatists by highlighting human rights issues.
The NGOs will feed their funding agencies in the West blaming the
GOSL for the violations of "human rights". This is the identical line
pursued by the Tamil Tigers through their expatriate lobbies, Tiger
websites and their agents in the Churches, particularly the Catholic
Church.
The Mahinda Rajapaksa achievement so far has been to change
entrenched perceptions and the conventional wisdom that had stultified
progress towards a political solution.
Wickremesinghe-Kumaratunga formulas went along with the separatist
agenda in one form or another. Mahinda Rajapaksa is now legitimising new
terms. Put simply, he says that all grievances and aspirations must be
resolved within a unity state.
In short, he is de-territorializing ethnic politics which was
obsessed with carving out mono-ethnic enclaves for only one community.
Kumaratunga is screaming her head off saying that this is against party
policies. Party policies were laid down not by her but by her father.
It is she who is deviating from party policies when she discards her
father's policies. Having left the party and specialized in French wines
she has lost the claim to be "the sole representative" who is authorized
to interpret and dictate party policy.
Of course, there is a debate as to what S. W. R. D.Bandaranaike's
policy is in relation to what he called "the outrageous demands" of the
Jaffna jingoists. Whatever compromises he made with the Jaffna Tamils,
it certainly would not have gone down the track of either the Ceasefire
Agreement or her P (Pacha)-TOMS.
Other party loyalists like President Mahinda Rajapaksa who stuck to
the party through thick and thin have a better claim to the Bandaranaike
legacy than the Bandaranaike name sakes.
To all intents and purposes, Mahinda Rajapaksa represents the letter
and the spirit of the people's Cultural Revolution of 1956. Besides,
whatever may be the outcome of this war, it is impossible to argue that
he did not fight valiantly to restore the lost dignity of the nation. He
has stopped the political rot that set in with Kumaratunga-Wickremesinghe
regimes.
He has recast the road map to the future and those who attempt to
reverse it will be courting disaster. His achievements have even forced
the inveterate enemies of the nation in the NGOs to re-think their
political platform.
Only the frustrated Bandaranaikes and the failed Wickremesinghe are
left standing in the periphery wailing for their lost toys. They are
demanding the gifts of power without having worked for it. They believe
that being a Bandaranaike or a Wickremesinghe is good enough from them
to be in power perpetually.
The tragedy with Anura and Chandrika is that neither has worked with
commitment and dedication to save, to protect and to further the spirit
of the Cultural Revolution ushered in by their father.
In all their actions they have veered away from their father. Of
course, from time to time they climb on his coffin and shed a few teary
words to win sympathy votes. But beyond that they have done nothing
substantial to wear his mantle with pride and dignity.
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike certainly deserves better heirs than his
children. Their misguided and unenlightened politics has proved time and
again that their craving for power is merely to consolidate their
personal power and profits and not to serve the historic ideology of
their father who sacrificed his life for the nation.
Their past proves that they have nothing solid to contribute to the
party, the people or politics of the nation. In fact they have brought
disgrace to the Bandaranaike name.
The SLFP and the nation will stand to gain immeasurably if the
children bow out gracefully without being parasites on the state's
coffers.
No one can forget that Bandaranaike was killed by his closest
political allies. Should the children now continue in politics to kill
what is left of his revered name? |