After repeal of CFA

Military operations carried out with more vigour

While being the main force that restored normalcy in the Jaffna Peninsula after many years of on-going war against terrorism, the military is ready to face any terrorist offensive in future.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, Security Forces Commander Jaffna said that the abolition of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) had enabled the military to continue the offensives against LTTE terrorists with more vigour.

"The morale of the soldiers is high and the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) are now totally controlled by the military", he said.

Major Gen. Chandrasiri said that before going for negotiations, the LTTE's strength had to be reduced militarily to bring the terrorists willingly for peace talks.

Here are the excerpts of the interview :

Q: What is the overall situation in Jaffna?

A: I am happy to say that normalcy has returned to the Jaffna Peninsula. People in Jaffna are happy and they are confident that they can live peacefully now. Food distribution is successfully carried out with the assistance of the Government agent and the Commissioner of Essential Services. The military facilitate them to carry out their activities and we hope the somewhat high prices of goods can be brought down if transport costs are reduced.

Continuous education for their children is the most important aspect, the people of Jaffna want. The military is giving its fullest support to these children to do their studies and this year 21 students have got best results at the last Advanced Level Examination and we will continuously help these students to do their studies.

Improving communication facilities for these people is another aspect that the military is giving consideration to and our target is to supply nearly 8000 CDMA connections to these people. Today over 3,500 CDMA connections have been given while restoring electricity. There is now only a one hour power cut daily. The Jaffna people will be provided 24-hour power supply from the end of April.

The military conduct medical camps for the civilians twice every month with the help of the army doctors. Medicine and dry rations are provided to them free at these camps.

Nine UN agencies are engaged in various development activities and they have to produce their progress reports monthly to me. We discuss various ways that these INGOs and local NGOs can assist us to improve the lives of the Jaffna people.

Q: Are you satisfied with the efforts made by the military to restore normalcy in the Peninsula?

A: Yes. I think the Jaffna people are enjoying peace to some extent at least because of the efforts of the military to restore normalcy. We have implemented a complete security plan inside the Jaffna district to make sure that there are no LTTE threats to civilians. Over 15,000 troops are engaged in providing security and maintaining normalcy in the Peninsula.

As I mentioned earlier people are happy about the present food distribution situation and all distributions including food and other goods are taking place in the two harbours according to a proper plan.

Transport was a big problem some time ago and now over 60 CTB buses are plying the Jaffna roads. The private bus owners are actively engaged in improving the service. Bicycles are a popular mode of transport in the Peninsula and now the spare parts are freely available in the Jaffna markets unlike some years ago.

The most important factor, the security of the Peninsula has been entrusted to the military and all the steps have been taken by the army together with the other forces and the Police to minimise terrorist threats. Especially there is no room for the LTTE to engage in any of sort of terrorist activity in the district. A special plan has been implemented under the instructions of the Army Commander to strengthen the security and over 2,000 police officers have been deployed in these areas.

But from time to time the LTTE terrorists try to disrupt normalcy in the Peninsula by provoking the military. They also tried to get money from civilians forcibly and the military is able to thwart their attempts. We have arrested more than five LTTE terrorists who had engaged in these activities. The banks have been informed about these and are instructed to keep a sharp eye on those who deposit huge sums of money to their accounts. Meanwhile public awareness campaigns have also been carried out parallel to this. While the security in the Peninsula is strengthened the LTTE terrorists are still trying to infiltrate some areas.

Q: The major grievance of the fisher community is the present restrictions on fishing. Do you think that it is possible to allow them to go beyond two kilometres under the present situation ?

A: No. Under the present situation we are not in a position to allow them to go beyond two kms. Earlier we had a bad experience where the LTTE terrorists tried to infiltrate into other areas using the facilities given to the fishermen. Now the area where the fishermen are engaged in fishing is controlled by the military due to the security threats and it is a security requirement under the present situation. Without relaxing the limitations we allow lots of fishermen to engage in their work and they are allowed to do fishing from 6 am to 4 pm.

But in Vadamarachchi the fishermen are allowed to go upto four kilometres on certain days. The price of fish is high and we know the difficulties among them but under the prevailing situation the military cannot relax the regulations. But with the improvement of the security situation we hope that they will be able to engage in their normal fishing activities without limitations. New cold room, which is a long felt need will be build soon in Vadamarachchi and Jaffna.

Q: Are there any plans to compensate the landowners in the high security zones?

A: A rental will be paid by the government for the landowners whose houses are in the high security zones. The amount of the rental will be decided after an evaluation of the land and the house. Over 237 land owners are getting the rental now. But for some landowners it is difficult to get the rental as they are unable to furnish proper documents to prove their ownership.

Q: Do you think the military is able to win the hearts and minds of the people?

A: I think the military has already proved that we are there to protect the civilians and make their lives free of terrorist threats. Particularly in Jaffna education is a sector where the people are more concerned about.

In 2006 the education sector in the Jaffna Peninsula was in disarray. The situation there was serious and the LTTE did not allow the children to go to school and schools were shut down. But the military was able to control the situation within a period of six months and we were able to see that the educational activities resumed and continued without hindrance.

I am happy to say that over 1,200 schools are functioning now and the military whenever possible support children to continue their education. We are happy as we have reaped the benefits with regard to our efforts to uplift the standard of education here. Examination results have improved tremendously and the speciality is that these children like to continue with their studies under whatever the situation. So the military has now become a bridge to help them to achieve their targets. The military always help and encourage them.

The other important fact is that the military has become the bridge that takes Jaffna children to Colombo. We have sponsored tours - study and sports - to Colombo. In 2007 over 1,000 schoolchildren have been sent to Colombo and Anuradhapura.

We have donated computers to those students who came first in the scholarship examinations. We are going to continue these programs this year too. We have planned to donate 21 computers to students to encourage them in education and also improve their computer literacy.

Q: The Ceasefire (CFA) has come to an end now. But people in Jaffna are uncertain about their peaceful lives. How will this affect military operations in Jaffna?

A: Actually it will make easy for us to carry out military operations in Jaffna now. We are not going to change our military operations and it will continue with more strength. In fact we are planning to carry out more offensive operations in the future.

The military is 100 per cent ready for any terrorist attack today or tomorrow or in the next month in the Jaffna Peninsula or outside. I do not think that the LTTE can carry out massive attacks after the abolition of the CFA.

The morale of the soldiers is very high and the military will not allow the LTTE terrorists to dance any more. The Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) are totally controlled by the military. The area beyond 500 metres from the FDL is also controlled by the army now. The military is attacking the terrorists daily under the instructions of the Army Commander Sarath Fonseka.

So, I hope the military is going ahead steadily while engaging in humanitarian activities in the Peninsula.

Q: Do you see a need for a fresh CFA?

A: At the moment what the government is doing is quite all right. I think that before doing anything we have to reduce the strength of the LTTE terrorists militarily. We must make sure that they are coming back to the negotiation table. It should be done gradually and it is essential. When they are defeated they will come for negotiation. That is the thing going on at the moment following the instructions of the Commander of the Army.

Q: How genuine was the SLMM when they were doing their duties entrusted to them under the CFA?

A: What they basically did was noting down whatever the incident that took place or whenever we reported.

Other than that we have not seen very positive actions from them. They did not go out of their way to support us. We have not seen anything beyond that.

Q: Do you think that if the military can go ahead at this rate of military offensives, we can capture Wanni?

A: The concept is different. The military is working according to a plan worked out by our Commander. Whether it is from this side or the other side, I am sure we will capture Kilinochchi. We will set the time for that. With the instructions from the higher commanders we will capture Wanni soon.

Q: Are you ready to protect the Jaffna Peninsula from the LTTE ?

A: Yes, by all means the military is ready to face any attack to protect its people in Jaffna.

Q: What do you think is the success behind all these achievements compared to previous operations?

A: I think it is the commitment of the leadership and the commander of the Army and the leadership given to us by them. And also the leadership given at all levels at the Jaffna Peninsula and the commitment of the senior and junior military leaders. I want to highlight that it is especially the commitment of the ordinary soldiers. All of us know and intend to see a good future where peace will prevail. So all are committed to achieve that target. It is the main reason for all the successes and also the high morale of every solider.

On the other hand their welfare is looked after well now. They are happy and satisfied as they are well looked after. They are also well trained and they do not hesitate when a task is given to them.

Q: Are you satisfied with the support that you are receiving from the government officials and the NGOs at the moment?

A: Security forces are having a very good rapport with the Police and the Government Agent. We are working very closely at the moment. We know the areas that we need their support and the military does not try to overlook their duties.

We always support them to carry out their functions and they - the government officials and the NGO and INGO officials - have monthly discussions to review the progress of their work. I am happy about the progress that we have achieved.

Q: According to some media reports the Jaffna Peninsula has become a prison where movements of the civilians are restricted. What is your comment?

A: No. I totally disagree with those media reports. I know that some media had tried to picture the situation of Jaffna as a prison. But they know little about the facilities provided by the military for the civilians to move from there to Colombo. Green Ocean ship comes to Jaffna Peninsula in every 48 hours and facilities have been there for anyone to travel in those ships and the security has been tightened. The military intends to make sure that no terrorist will be moved to Colombo in these ships.

Apart from sea transportation facilities, the civilians have been given facilities to travel to Colombo by air too. Over 350 civilians are being air lifted thrice a day by three aircraft. Therefore no one claims that we are maintaining rigid rules in Jaffna similar to those in a prison. The situation now prevailing in Jaffna is more or less very peaceful despite the LTTE attempts to provoke the military.

Q: Is it true that media freedom is not guaranteed in the Peninsula under the present situation?

A: No. The media freedom is there to comment on us. There are three papers - Udayan, Valampuri and Thinakkural in Jaffna. The best example for media freedom is that there will be at least one article criticising the military published in these papers.

But we have not questioned the journalists and they have the freedom of writing. But what we want is the right reporting avoiding factual errors. When they went wrong we have advised them and requested them to report the correct facts.

The military has arranged a media tour for the editors of these papers to see the real situation in transportation of goods into Jaffna. We showed them how we unload over 2,000mts of goods daily. They saw that there were over 150 lorries ready to transport those goods. So we do not have a serious problem with media as reported. And we are media friendly.

Q: There were complaints about abductions and disappearances in Jaffna and according to investigations who are responsible for these incidents?

A: Yes. Incidents of disappearances and abductions had been reported some time ago. The military tried their best to control them. Most of these incidents had taken place during the night where there is no presence of the army. We cannot guard every inch of the Peninsula.

The military provides the maximum security during the night and lots of such incidents had taken place in the areas we could not block for security. The LTTE had taken the maximum advantage of abducting civilians.

Therefore as a remedial action we have formed vigilant committees. We advised the people to inform the vigilant committees when a abduction was reported to enable us to take action. Compared to last few months with the support of the vigilant committees and the police the situation has been controlled.

Now the people of Jaffna have realised that the military is playing an important role in protecting their lives.

They want military to be present here. Civilians are more active against the terrorists and they give us telephone calls or write to us when they have information about LTTE terrorists moving around their areas. They do not want the LTTE to disrupt their lives now. We are getting more information about terrorists compared to previous years.

Q: Can you tell about the progress of mine clearing?

A: We have a special plan to remove the landmines in the Peninsula. After the CFA the Danish de-mining team, Hallow Trust organisation and the army have started the de-mining process. Mines were spread to a large land area and over 50 per cent of clearing has been completed now. Out of this total 50 per cent or half of the mine clearing was carried out by the Army and the two organisations are engaged in de-mining now.

At the beginning we gave priority to de-mine the land where the civilians were living. No civilian was injured by an anti-personnel mine in 2007 and now we have started the areas where there are no civilian movement. But I hope it will take another six years to make the Jaffna Peninsula free of landmines.

Pix : Thilak Perera

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