Troops poised to capture Periyamadu

by Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The last hope of the LTTE to sabotage the process of establishing true democracy in the Eastern province diminished on Thursday when M.L.A.M. Hisbullah was sworn in before President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Eastern Province Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine, Social Welfare, Probation and Child Care Services, Women’s Affairs, Youth Affairs, Sports, Information Technology, Education, Co-op Development and Food Supply and Distribution.

The Muslim factions who expressed their dissatisfaction over the appointment of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council finally could brush aside the differences and agreed to join hands with other constituent parties of the UPFA to run the Eastern Provincial Council.

M.L.A.M. Hisbulla’s decision to swear in as a Minister came at a time the LTTE was trying to take advantage of the uncertain situation in the Batticaloa district arousing communalism in the Eastern province. At least five people were reportedly killed amidst this uncertain situation.

Two Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) members were gunned down by unidentified gunmen in Kaththankudi town on Thursday who had been identified as Shanthan, the party’s chief organiser of Kaththankudi and Parasuraman, a party member.

The victims were riding a motorbike when they were shot by gunmen in front of the Kaththankudi bus stand around 11.55 a.m. on Thursday.

Two more civilians who were injured in this shooting incident were also admitted to the Batticaloa hospital. Following the incident, Police imposed a curfew in the area. Three more killings were later reported on Thursday.

However, the tense situation that prevailed in Batticaloa has returned to normalcy with M.L.A.M. Hisbulla expressing his solidarity with the appointment of Pillayan as the Chief Minister and with his decision to swear in as a Minister of the Provincial Council.

At last the Government has displayed its ability to bring warring parties together and form the Provincial Council that can set an example to the whole world about ethnic coexistence in Sri Lanka instead of the bad picture the international community is having about the ethnic conflict in the country.

Yet, it can set example to the whole world by continuing the administration in the Eastern province effectively enabling all ethnic groups living in the Eastern province to feel that the authorities running the Provincial administration are equally treating them.

Despite the LTTE losing its last chance of sabotaging the process of establishing full democracy in the East, it had not given up the efforts yet.

According to intelligence reports Keerthi, the former intelligence leader in the Batticaloa-Ampara sector, had sent messages to the Tiger cadres clandestinely operating in Batticaloa to create a favourable environment in the Batticaloa district for his arrival.

It was after this message the many killings were reported in the Batticaloa district including the assassination of several Police officers in Batticaloa. The authorities in charge of the Batticaloa district has also been baffled by this situation, as they believe the incidents that are taking place in Batticaloa had been a result due to the political uncertainty in the district.

However, intelligence sources had confirmed, that the situation in the district has been created due to the activities of the Tiger cadres clandestinely operating in the district, capitalising on the political uncertainty in the district.

Therefore, the Security Forces and the Police - especially the Police Special Task Force in charge of security in the Batticaloa district - will have to make an extra effort to get rid of these Tiger elements from the Batticaloa district without allowing them to increase their presence in the district and establish a proper network for their effective operations.

LTTE base cracked

However the strong message that is springing on the part of the LTTE from all these failed attempts to sabotage the establishment of full democracy in the Eastern province. That is that the very basement of the LTTE has been cracked after the Government’s decision to appoint Pillayan as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council.

It was a severe blow on the LTTE. That has been proved beyond any doubt by the number of telephone calls received by Pillayan after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council.

Sources told this correspondent that a large number of LTTE cadres including Tiger leaders had phoned him with two intentions. Both love and hatred included in those calls that were received from the one time fellow members of Pillayan.

A section of Tiger cadres had wished him well for his appointment as the Chief Minister. At the same time he has also received threatening calls warning Pillayan that he will soon be assassinated.

However many senior Tiger cadres had called him out of jealousy, as it was a sore in their eyes to see such a junior LTTE cadre becoming Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council.

The brief sketch of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan given elsewhere on this page will give a brief idea as to how he climbed to this position after joining the LTTE as a young Tiger cadre.

It was true that these senior Tiger cadres had been deeply upset to see Pillayan in his western attire taking oaths before President Mahinda Rajapaksa, but many of the Tiger cadres have expressed their willingness to join hands with the TMVP after observing the position that Pillayan is now having.

However it has now become a very difficult task for the TMVP to identify those who are genuine about joining with the TMVP and the Wanni cadres who are with the ulterior motive of assassinating Pilleyan. Therefore, the TMVP leader will also have to follow strict security measures, like Social Services Minister Douglas Devananda, to protect from the threats from the Wanni LTTE cadres who are coming to him as friends.

Therefore, extreme vigilance has to be maintained in the process of handling personal security of the Eastern Province Chief Minister as he is the key figure who can throw a challenge to the LTTE at present in a bid to convey a positive message to the Tamil population entrapped under the iron boot of the LTTE that they too can enjoy the same rights once they are liberated from the Tiger grip.

As the process is on full swing to establish full democracy in the Eastern province to give the true feeling of liberation to the people in the East, the Security Forces are now turning their military strategies into action to further paralyse the LTTE outfit now entrapped in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts.

The sudden death of Balraj, the Military Wing leader of the LTTE, on Tuesday came as another severe blow on the LTTE, which had suffered enough with the lost of their leaders due to offensive operations by the Security Forces.

Balraj who was born on 27 November, 1965 was a member of the 9th batch of the LTTE along with Theepan, the present LTTE Military leader in Jaffna. Balraj had heart surgery in Singapore in 2003. The present Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka and Balraj fought during the Yaldevi operation in early 1990s and both sustained injuries.

Destiny

Destiny was that the Army Commander even survived a deadly suicide attack but Balaraj could not even survive from a heart attack after having best treatment in Singapore.

According to the LTTE the funeral of Balraj was held on Friday evening in Mullaitivu with the participation of several Tiger leaders.

It was amidst people preparing for the funeral of one of their top leaders that the LTTE announced the killing of 16 civilians in Mullankavil in Kilinochchi. Though the Sri Lanka Army’s Deep Penetration Units were blamed for this claymore attack on the van, the Army denied any involvement in the attack.

The LTTE media machinery is in full swing to capitalise on this incident highlighting the deaths of these civilians to tarnish the image of the Security Forces and justify their brutal attack on civilian targets in the South.

With this background chances are very high for the LTTE to take another civilian target in the South in retaliation. The LTTE is engaged in this false propaganda highlighting the civilian victims even due to air raids as their movements are highly restricted with effective targets taken by the Security Forces.

At this point the Security Forces have been able to restrict the LTTE supplies to the Mannar and Vavuniya battlefronts cutting off many of the supply routes from Kilinochchi.

Troops operating in the Vavuniya front had shifted their operations to the Mullaititvu district close to the Mannar-Vavuniya border. The troops of the 57 Division are now poised to capture Periyamadu as they have cut off all supply routes to Periyamadhu.

However, troops are expecting a severe resistance from the LTTE due to the importance of this strategic location, which they used to locate their long-range heavy caliber guns to pose a major threat on the Security Forces operating in the Vavuniya and Mannar fronts.

With the expansion of the area coming under the 57 Division, the Sri Lanka Army is now in the process of forming the 61 Division to back up the task of the 57 Division, which is functioning as an offensive division in the West of the A-9 road.

The basic idea of the formation of the 61 Division is to hold the ground captured by the 57 Division enabling them to further advance into the Tiger territory.

Therefore the 61 Division is expected to form as a defensive Division, most probably under the command of Major General Davulugala, who acted as the Acting General Officer Commanding of the 57 Division and 58 Division in the absence of the 57 GOC Major General Jagath Dias and 58 GOC Brigadier Shavendra Silva.

The formation of this new Division will be another step forward by the Sri Lanka Army to achieve its objective of bringing the ongoing battle in the Wanni to a turning point. As claimed by the Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka to bring the North East war into a turning point where the LTTE is pushed into the jungles of Wanni by August this year, is becoming a realistic one as Security Forces are achieving this task in a step by step process.

So far the Security Forces has not faced with a human resource problem as it got the highest number of army recruits to all its Regiments within the last year and within this year. Therefore, the formation of new Divisions will not be a problem for the Army.

According to latest statistics 9,000 Tiger cadres so far have been killed after the break out of the fourth Eelam War with 1,700 Security Forces personnel sacrificing their lives.

The current progress of the war predicts that the LTTE will soon have to face a decisive phase of the battle in the Weli Oya battlefront as troops have already advanced nearly seven Kilometres into the Tiger territory from the Weli Oya front.

They are now reaching towards the famously known 1-4 Base of the LTTE located in the Mullaitivu jungle close to the Nityakulam tank. Heavy fighting are expected in this region with the troops reaching this strategic LTTE bases in the Mullaitivu district.

With the fall of key LTTE locations after a long and arduous task by the Security Forces in the Mannar and Vavuniya front, the task of bringing the war into a turning point is becoming more and more realistic.

From terror outfit to mainstream politics

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan had his own way to politics and to become the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council. The very roots of Pillayan lie in the Batticaloa district to which they wanted a separate leadership, distancing from the Northern leadership.

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan was born in August 18, 1975 in a small village called Pethalai, in Kalkuda, Batticaloa. His father Sivanesathurai Arumugan (62) and his mother Sivanesan Kamala (52) are still living to see his son’s achievement.

Chandrakanthan was the second among the seven children his parents had. Suresh Kumar (35), Sugandhi (32), Chandrakanthi (29), Meena Lakshmi (27), Sugandan (30) and Kumar (28) were the other members of his family.

Chandrakanthan had his education at Pethalai Vipulananda Vidyalaya and Valachchenai Hindu College. At the age of 15, as a young boy enjoying his days in the beaches in Kalkuda, Chandrakanthan joined Karuna Amman who was the Eastern LTTE leader in Batticaloa.

Having undergone military training under the LTTE, he joined Karuna Amman for the Pooneryn Battle in 1993. Since then he had participated in all the major battles along with Karuna Amman.

When Karuna Amman defected from the LTTE on April 3, 2004 Pillayan was also with him. The Tiger leader Prabhakaran declared war against Karuna cadres with the political backing from the South.

As the cadres under Karuna Amman were entrapped in the Verugal Aru bordering Trincomalee and Batticaloa district, Karuna Amman summoned all the Tiger cadres under his command to Meenam Base in Thoppigala and allowed them to leave the organisation.

But Pillayan did not leave the organisation and continued to work along with Karuna Amman. He became the leader of the Karuna faction’s military wing after Regie was assassinated. In May 2007, Pillayan distanced from Karuna Amman and shifted to the Trincomalee district.

On November 2, 2007 a group led by him captured the Batticaloa office of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal and became its leader. Since then he is following the foot steps of democracy with the backing of the present Government and contested the Eastern Provincial Council election held for the first time after 1987 to become the Chief Minister.