|
|
 |
| Sunday, 31 March 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Security |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Militant groups sans LTTE throw in the towel by Ananth Palakidnar It is for the second time the Tamil militant groups except the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the North and the East have handed over their weapons. This follows the Memorandum of Understanding between the United National Front Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE, which came into effect from February 22, 2002. A senior journalist who had contributed to a greater extent mainly on the Tamil militant affairs once said that around five militant organisations had emerged from the North and the East to spearhead the separatist struggle, but that it was pity that those militant outfits had mainly been in confrontation which each other instead of their common opponent, the Sri Lankan armed forces. The Tamil militancy started with the assassination of former Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappaha way back in 1975. Since then extremist activities in the Jaffna Peninsula gathered momentum with several clandestine activities surfacing against the state machinery in the North and the East. According to the present leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leader and the Wanni district Parliamentarian Darmalingam Sitharthan, late Uma Maheshwaran who was the founder of the PLOTE organisation was one of the pioneers in establishing contacts with Arab militant organisations in the Middle East. Uma Maheshwaran underwent militant training with around hundred and twenty other Tamil cadres in Lebanon in 1977. During this period the first batch of militants of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) the late K. Pathmanabha and the former Parliamentarian Suresh K. Premachandran, were also in Lebanon getting trained in handling various types of lethal weapons. It was in July 1983 that the Tamil militancy erupted like a volcano with the landmine attack on a military truck, which was on a routine patrol in Thirunelveli, Jaffna. This attack was carried out under the personal directive of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. The attack at Thirunelveli killed thirteen soldiers, and this led to a holocaust in the south, paving way for a continuous separatist war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Tamil militant organisations. India's role in supporting the Tamil militancy came in the wake of this communal disturbance. At that time, the late Indian Premier Indira Gandhi gone to the extent of not only supplying weapons to the Tamil militants, her government also initiated training programmes for the Tamil militants who went across the Palk Strait in thousands. They were trained not only in South India but even in the state of Uttar Pradesh in the North. Almost all the Tamil militant outfits had their bases in Tamil Nadu with the blessings of the Tamil Nadu politicians. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was the favourite of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, who openly supported the organisation and allocated huge sum of money for its activities. In the mid eighties, following the gradual increase of the presence of the Tamil militants the grip of Government administration started crumbling and the police stations and various small military installations in the North and the East were constantly under the attack. Most of them also became sitting ducks to the fire power of these militants. In the meantime the tussle for supremacy among the Tamil militant groups also surfaced, following the first attempt made with Indian assistance to settle the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka in Thimpu, the capital city of Bhutan in 1984. The bloody battle which ravaged through out the North and the East between the LTTE and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in the mid eighties led to nearly a thousand cadres from both sides losing their lives including TELO leader Sri Sabaratnam. The EPRLF heavy weight Suresh Premachandran commenting on the tussle for supremacy among the Tamil militants said that thousands of Tamil cadres were killed due to clashes between Tamil militant groups than confrontations with the armed forces. The first surrender of arms was after the signing of the Indo-Lanka accord in 1987. At that time all militant movements including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) surrendered their arms. Short lived LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran amidst a mammoth gathering at a rally in Suthumalai, a hamlet in Jaffna made an announcement confirming surrender of arms. The secretary to the Ministry of Defence in 1987 late General Sepala Attygalla, received a revolver from an LTTE senior cadre Yogaratnam Yogi, at the Palali air base as a token of accepting the surrender of arms from the organisation. Huge amounts of weapons of all types, mainly from the LTTE which were surrendered to the armed forces were loaded into several military trucks parked at the Palali base. The ceasefire atmosphere which followed the signing of the Indo-Lanka accord was short lived, and the LTTE again took up arms. This time against the Indian forces which had landed in the North and the East to implement the accord. It was during the fresh clashes with the Indian forces that the LTTE displayed some of its latest weapons. The battle between the LTTE and the Indian forces lasted nearly for two years from 1987 to 1989. During this period the Tamil militant groups which had accepted the Indo-Lanka accord were re-armed as auxiliary forces to the Indian army, to fight against the LTTE. The re-armed Tamil groups which were opposed to the LTTE were operating hand in hand with the Indian army, on the trail of Tiger hunt this time. The two year battle between the Indian and the LTTE also witnessed devastating effects in the North-East region. In 1989 the new leadership of the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa made fresh efforts to renew peace process with the LTTE. As part of the new initiatives the Indian forces left the North and the East. But the peace plans of the Premadasa regime also travelled a very short distance. And it is the war again started between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE which confined until the current ceasefire. The war which occurred during the regime of President Premadasa was popularly known as the `Eelam War Two'. And it was during the beginning of this new chapter, that the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) a break away group from the EPRLF surfaced in Sri Lanka primarily their role was to support the Sri Lankan armed forces to fight the LTTE. The EPDP led by Douglas Devananda, the former chief of the military wing of the EPRLF was fully mobilised in the islets of Jaffna Peninsula and the organisation has been functioning as a trustworthy ally of all leadership which came into power during the past ten years. The UNF Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, new peace efforts was launched with the facilitation of the Norwegian Government. The International community has shown a big interest in settling the Sri Lankan issue this time than ever before. Following the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month in Wanni, the EPRLF, PLOTE, TELO and the EPDP-the four Tamil groups handed over their weapons to the armed forces and expressed their readiness to help in the new peace initiatives. Enormous sacrifice The ex- Tamil militant leaders who by now had established themselves as prominent political figures expressing their views on the handing over of weapons and the present political atmosphere say that the North-East crisis had seen several stages more on the destructive side, than anything constructive. The one time Lebanon trained EPRLF stalwart Suresh Premachandran says "In the past two decades of war, the sacrifices made to achieve the rights of the Tamil people were enormous, but still we have to walk a long distance to find the light at the end of the tunnel. There would have been ups and downs in the arms struggle of the North and the East but whatever, the role of the LTTE in spearheading the arms struggle upto this stage is something remarkable. Myself as a pioneer militant cadre, want total peace in the war-torn North and the East and in the country at large. We should think about the situations which compelled the Tamils to carry arms. Therefore, the new generation of Sri Lankan leaders should not make the same mistakes which were committed by the leaders in the past." The PLOTE leader and the Wanni district Parliamentarian Dharmalingam Sitharthan says that hundreds of ex-militant cadres from all Tamil militant groups, after handing over the weapons expect to lead a normal life with dignity. They are in various age groups. Some of them expect jobs and others need education. We have to prepare them to face the challenges which they come across in the future. "It is very important to ensure that the future Generation of Sri Lankans to see the past only as a nightmare," says Sitharthan echoing the sentiments of the general public, who also want to see peace in the horizon. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
