Brightening the green

‘Rice Bowl’ sows the seeds of hope:

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

[email protected]
 

Massive bunker lines with water barriers	LTTE booby traps (IEDs) in the plains	LTTE booby traps drifted due to floods

We were walking again on the bund of the Giants’ Tank in Mannar last Wednesday after our previous visit in mid April this year. The difference was remarkable. I and my colleague, who was busy taking photograph of nature and soldiers, felt the real liberation.

During our last visit we were just able to steal a look at the massive water body of the tank.

Now, we are free to walk on the sand banks of the ‘Yodha Wewa’ without fear or anxietys thanks to those young army men who care for our Motherland more than their lives. We were enjoying the beauty of nature surrounding this irrigation tank, in the safe hands of our brave brothers.

While returning on the third day of our visit, the Air force attacked a well identified terrorist target close to Vedithalathivu. And on the ground, limited operations were going on close to Vedithalathivu area.

Our most fertile land - the ‘Rice bowl’- is liberated from the clutches of the Tiger terrorists by our own young men - true sons of our nation.

They are not giving up their effort to liberate our island from ruthless terrorism, with the strong guidance and support they receive from Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka and the ground commanders led by General Officer Commanding (58th division) Brigadier Shavendra Silva. These young men are heading on in an unbelievable speed.

At present soldiers of adjoining divisions, namely the 58 and the 57, are moving forward jointly. This was significant and strengthens their force.

While the 58 division, or the Task Force I, secure the North Western coastal line and Manthai west area of Mannar, the 57 division led by Major General Jagath Dias is setting free the area West of A9 road - with the back up assistance from the 61 division and the Task Force II.

The Rice Bowl

At present in Mannar paddy and other crop cultivation happens only in the Nanattan area, District Secretariat (Government Agent) A. Nicholaspillai told us when we met him in his office. The GA was very generous since he made himself available for us in very short notice.

“This area holds records of the highest paddy harvest in the recent history. This is a very fertile soil. The area was very famous for its top quality seed paddy,” the GA said. Nocholaspillai is the 20th person to hold the Government Agent position in Mannar District.

According to statistics, in the year 2006 the total Mannar district recorded 47,958 metric tons of paddy harvest in the Maha season.

During the Yala season it has dropped to 181 metric tons. The area is capable of producing a massive yield of paddy harvest but in the newly liberated areas what we only see is stretches of paddy fields abandoned due to the threats from the LTTE terrorists during their presence.

Hopefully in few years we may see beautiful green paddy fields, when the original owners of this patch of land resettle in these newly liberated areas. It would be a giant steps towards making our country a prosperous one.

A soldier over looks at the destroyed Adampan Hospital

The legendary Mannar - Thalai Mannar Bridge

As per the 2006 statistics, a total of 19,685 farm families have been living depending on the Giants’ tank. And the irrigable land area under the Giants’ tank is 24,438 acres, the statistics further reveals.

Apart from the Giants’ tank, the irrigable stretch of land that comes under Akaththimurippu and Viyadikulam tanks in the Musali DS division are 6,231 ha and 1,223 ha, respectively. In addition, Periyamadu, Welimaruthamadhu, Kurai, Adampankulam of Manthai West and Periyapandivirichchan, Thedchnamaruthamadhu of Madhu and Maruthamadhu anicut in Musali provides water to a total of 530 ha of irrigable land.

The total Mannar district owns 199,906.74 ha out of which Manthai west owns 51,282 ha, Madhu owns 65,889 ha and Musali owns 47,122.72 ha.

Apart from the rich paddy harvest the Mannar district was a proud owner of a flourished fishing industry. In 2006 there have been 9,147 active fishermen, according to the statistics issued by the Department of Aquatic Resources Development, Mannar.

By 2006, Manthai West had 25 Government schools out of which 20 were for Tamil students and the balance for Muslim students. In Madhu there were twelve Tamil schools, one Muslim school and one Sinhala school.

And according to the statistics released by the offices of Divisional Secretariats Musali DS division records 06 churches, 04 kovils, 11 mosques. And in Manthai west there are 27 churches, 35 kovils; Madhu area records 14 churches, 17 kovils and one Buddhist temple.

Being in the coastal line Mannar, encountered foreign invasions, particularly Portuguese and Dutch, in the history.

This fertile stretch of land, or better known as the rice bowl, was never benefitted by development programs during the past twenty years due to the continuous threat from the LTTE terrorists.

Along with the liberation of the area by our Sri Lankan forces, we may see a beautiful, prosperous stretch of cultivated land, ready to feed the whole nation.

Eye witness

During our visit in the area we came across a LTTE artillery gun position in the Nedunkandal general area of approximately 20 feet in width. It is totally surrounded by hard teak timber - two layers of three feet tall logs. The area is now secured by the 12th Gajaba Regiment under Major Saliya Amunugama.

It was the typical hot mid day of the area and the king coconut water the soldiers served us was very refreshing. Amidst their own difficulties they never forgot to serve their visitors at their best. For them this was home away from home.

When we reached the Adampan town, secured by the 10th Gajaba Regiment led by Lieutenant Colonel Sarada Samarakoon, there was ample witness as to how the Tigers have destroyed the public property, during their strong hold. Having our tea, I had the chance of speaking to the group of soldiers to whom a LTTE girl surrendered during an attack. This 17 year old girl is now under the safety of the relevant authorities in Colombo.

The righteous act

The team, led by Corporal Jayantha Arachchi, comprises Lance Corporal Tharanga, Lance Corporal Karunarathne, Priyantha and Gamini and Soldiers Karunaratne, Bandara, Kumara, Dissanayake, Hathurusinghe, Piyathissa, Silva and Ranawaka.

On June 7, this team of 16 men went to capture a bunker line in Kantankulam in the wee hours of the day.

When they forcefully led their way to the bunker there were three dead bodies of female caders and this girl was lying in between weakened and without ammunition. She surrendered.

“Why didn’t you shoot her? She was your enemy?” I asked them. They said, she was weak and had no ammunition and we did not feel it was right. The right thing they did was direct the girl to the nearest army camp and hand over the responsibility to their higher officers to send her to relevant law enforcement agencies. This is the discipline of our soldiers.

Sri Lankan security forces comprises all ethnic groups of our country. They all fight for one cause - to flush away terrorism and bring a peaceful land for their own brethren. This may be the secret of their victory.

Soldier Bandara stepped on an Anti personnel mine and now under medical care, his colleagues said.

When we visited the 08th Gemunu watch battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel Suminda Jayasundara and Major Rizan Hamidon as the second in command, some of the soldiers were trying to treat a calf, hit by sharpenel. “Our soldiers have doing these things whenever they come across. They are experts in healing wounds,” Major Hamidon said.

While our soldiers were healing injured beasts we saw platforms made out of Aluminium sheets in the abandoned LTTE camps which were used to dry meat, beef in particular. This shows the shortage of food supply to the LTTE cadres.

In every abandoned LTTE camp, we saw only ‘pittu’ and ‘kirihodi’ or dried string-hoppers, all packed in small polythene bags. LTTE’s zero level jungle discipline was evident with the amount of garbage dumped by them around their camps.

On top of clearing the areas and establishing themselves, troops have to clean these garbage as well.

Brigadier Shavendra Silva General Officer Commanding - 58 Division

By the end of September 2007, Commander of the Army Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka decided to launch the 58 division to liberate the ‘Rice Bowl’ and the intention was to cause maximum attrition to the LTTE cadres. Division was launched initially with two brigades and four battalions.

The “Rice Bowl’ covers a total of 123 square kilometres and comprises of approximately 153 major and minor tanks and irrigation systems. Having studied the ground, the situation and the strength of the enemy we launched from Thirukethishwaran towards Manthota and another front towards Palakkuli and another one from Uyilankulama towards Parappakandal.

By around November (2007) we found that the LTTE was facing difficulty in recapturing any of the grounds we captured, as the response was declining.

On November 05, the enemy lost 45 LTTE cadres in Pallakkuli and was the last counter attack, with a considerable impact. But they kept on pumping LTTE cadres, preventing us going forward and holding their strong holds, villages and tank bunds that were strategically important for them to hold their ground.

By end of November we were able to capture their main defence line including Pallakkuli, Manthota and Parappakandal. Thereafter the challenge we faced was the start of the monsoon rains.

From December, 2007 to February, 2008 the entire area was flooded up to knee level. LTTE would have expected us to throw out our momentum but with sheer determination troops went ahead. They were marching forward more aggressively. By this period the LTTE killed in action rate was nearly 250 per month and in some it was over 300.

As we were heading towards their strongholds, they were putting their fullest effort to hold their ground by deploying more and more LTTE cadres. Yet we managed to destroy a major part of their cadre strength during this period.

Thereafter we captured Adampan, Pikkulam general area, Parappakandal and Karukkankulam. Here we found their second defence line. Having captured their second line troops forwarded towards the North.

Advancing from Adampan, we captured Minnukulam, Nethunkandal, Periyakulam, part of Alankulam. By then we have crossed their third line of defence, the final. This has been constructed for many months since it was built very strongly using free labour of civilians and heavy earth moving equipment.

This line had an earth bund that was almost seven feet in height and trenches behind which were 5 - 7 feet deep. Some were with water drenches where the assaulting soldiers had to cross these. They have diverted water from nearby irrigation canals.

However, troops advanced and breached the bunkers in Nedunkandal and Minnukulam north. Thereafter we captured two important villages at the centre of the bowl, namely Maraththikandal and Chalampan. With this we successfully blocked their main supply routes of the enemy, from Vedithalathivu to the ‘Rice Bowl’. And there they lost the battle in the ‘Rice Bowl’.

Even after this capture we got hold of another 30 square kilometres of land within 24 hours. Troops liberated the ‘Rice Bowl’ on 29th June 2008 capturing over 120 square kilometres of land and the giants’ tank which extends to about 23 square kilometres. During this liberation we achieved the intention of our Commander.

Totally 2,058 LTTE cadres were killed as per the confirmed information we receive through monitoring LTTE transmissions. Injured is reported to be 1,408. And so far we have handed over 100 bodies to the LTTE through the International Red Cross.

We found bodies of experienced senior LTTE cadres as well. This is in addition to the large stock of weapons and ammunition we were able to recover during our operation ‘Rice Bowl’.

We are highly satisfied as we were able to achieve both the intentions of our Commander. We were able to weaken our enemy as well as liberating the ‘Rice Bowl’.

The 58 division soon after capturing the Rice Bowl, marched North and due to the sheer dedication and commitment of all the ranks of the division, troops were able to capture another 24 square kilometres within 24 hours.

Pix: Thilak PERERA