Elimination of LTTE, a victory for entire world

by Ranil Wijayapala

Five years have lapsed since the day Sri Lanka as a nation recorded its second independence, liberating the country from three decades of terror by eliminating the so-called Liberation Tigers who held the country to ransom paralysing its march towards prosperity as an Asian nation.

Though we are celebrating this victory in much grandeur in a terror free environment today, it was an achievement that came the hard way through the sacrifices made by generations of people who wanted this country to be free from terror at least for future generations.

The elimination of the Liberation Tigers, the first terror outfit in the world to use suicide bombers targeting national and international leaders, innocent civilians, religious and economic targets and also the Security Forces who fought against them, marked not only the elimination of an influential and dangerous terrorist outfit from Sri Lankan soil but also the elimination of a terror outfit that had the capacity to infuse more terror tactics among other upcoming terror outfits across the globe.

Though some nations with vested interests try to underestimate this victory by charging that the Sri Lankan Security Forces and the Government allegedly committed war crimes, the elimination of terror leader Velupillai Pirapaharan and his terror gangs on the banks of Nanthikadal lagoon, in Mullaithivu on May 18 and 19 of 2009, marked a victory not only for Sri Lanka but the entire world.

Some Western nations are trying to paint a gloomy picture about the entire military operation that had been carried out by selecting the terrorists among the civilians. It it is obvious that these nations do not have the basic sense to understand how the Sri Lankan Government and the Security Forces carried out this task and are reluctant to accept the ability of a small nation to eliminate such a wide spread terror outfit.

Therefore, it is vital to remind them that all the efforts by the Sri Lankan government to defeat the LTTE militarily after making relentless efforts to take them on the path of negotiations to address grievances and thereby restore the democratic rights of Tamil civilians living under their boots.

If we go through the events that unfolded from the date the LTTE closed the sluice gates of Mavil Aru, the Sri Lankan Government and the Security Forces had to take all necessary steps to liberate the civilians from the grip of terror and ensure their basic human and democratic rights.

It was evident that the closure of Mavil Aru by the LTTE was only to camouflage their intention of isolating the strategically important port city of Trincomalee which was marked as the capital of the imaginary Eelam state they were fighting for. The Security Forces' ability to read their plans made it possible for the troops to thwart the pre-dawn attack on all the Army detachments located around the Koddiyar Bay on August 1, 2006 while the troops were engaged in the Mavil Aru operation.

The liberation of Mavil Aru and the strategically important Sampur, in Trincomalee south ensured the rights of the people in Trincomalee to live peacefully.

From then onwards, the LTTE realised that they have no future if they get further isolated from the public. That was why they used the tactic of creating human shields around them wherever battles erupted.

The Security Forces engaged in these operations used a more humane way to confront the LTTE tactics by adopting the small team operations concept in the battle front.

Officers of the calibre of Major General Prasanna Silva (then Colonel) who commanded the Special Forces troops were able to face the challenge of these human shields by surprisingly taking Tiger territory and liberating civilians from the Tiger grip.

The present Army Commander Lt. General Daya Ratnayake, as the then General Officer Commanding of the 23 Division based in Welikanda took care of the civilians who flooded into Rideetenna in December 2006 and January 2007 days prior to the capture of Vakarai.

Anyone who was there at the battle front knows how humanely the Security Forces treated the civilians while ensuring that no Tiger cadres infiltrated into Security Forces controlled areas. But it took long time for the common people to understand the tactics used by the Security Forces as they could not witness the huge battles that took place when capturing those territories. However, the capture of Thoppigala, considered the pinnacle of the Eastern victories brought the humanitarian operation more close to the common people. The commandos supported by the infantry battalions under the command of Major General Chargi Gallage, made that task a achievable one for the Security Forces by capturing the armouries, training camps, communication bases of the LTTE that were hidden in the jungles for years, by going through the deadly traps set by the LTTE.

The Vanni operations which started in April 2007 with the formation of the 57 Division in Kalmadu in Vavuniya and later expanded upto eight task forces and permanent divisions at the completion of the humanitarian operation, was the most challenging task for the Security Forces.

The liberation of the 'Rice Bowl' in Mannar by the 58 Division led by Major General Shavendra Silva, Madhu shrine by the 57 Division led by Major General Jagath Dias, kept the Vanni operations going. The immense support extended by the Air Force in those operations was commendable as that support made the task of the infantry troops easier .

The Vanni Operations became more challenging as the LTTE continued to create human shields at each and every township they held. The LTTE knew that losing people was more deadlier than losing territory to the Security Forces. That was why they kept more than 270,000 people with them until the final stages of the battles they fought in Wellaimulliwaikkal in Mullaitivu.

The LTTE used ruthless tactics to keep the civilian population with them. Those who tried to challenge them had to become victims of their bullets. The liberation of hundreds of thousands of people in Puthumathalan in April 2009, which was considered the world's largest hostage rescue mission carried out by any Security Force in the world, without harming the civilians trapped inside the no fire zone brought a true sense of humanity to the military operation against the most animalistic type of tactics adopted by the LTTE when treating civilians.

Therefore, winning those battles against the LTTE can be considered a miracle come alive at the hands of the Security Forces. But one should not forget the fact that all those humane acts came from the hands of the Security Forces personnel who fought with the most ruthless terrorists in the world who were ready not only to kill themselves but also to kill their kith and kin for the sake of tarnishing the image of the Security Forces whom they could not defeat through military tactics. Today, a half a decade after that wonderful day in which the LTTE saw their military defeat, the LTTE remnants are trying their best to achieve what they could not achieve through military tactics.

Our Security Forces led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, unruffled by the moves of the pro LTTE international lobbies, continue their efforts to ensure the democratic rights of the Tamil population in the North and the East to make that victory a fruitful one for the entire country. So the international community will have to decide which cause they should support at international fora, either to restore the democratic rights of the people or to bring them back under the iron grip of the LTTE.