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| Sunday, 3 November 2002 |
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From T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka's latest book : "Army desertion rate was 20 per cent" Well-known writer on Sri Lankan politics and former diplomat T.D.S.A. Dissanayaka releases his thirteenth book, War of Peace Volume III: The Quest for Peace, on December 1st, 2002. Published by Swastika (Pvt) Ltd., Colombo, it will be priced at Rs. 675/- and is also available at a pre-publication price of Rs. 500/-, purchased direct from the Publisher. The 'Sunday Observer' is privileged to publish, in advance, excerpts from the book. Below an excerpt from the Second Chapter of the book, headed 'The Quest for Peace', from Page 502 to 512. A second excerpt from the book follows next week. Against this background of gloom, there was exhilaration on April 10th 2002 when the route A-9 was opened for civilian traffic on the stretch Vavuniya to Jaffna. It was a joyous occasion for the people of Jaffna because their relatives in Colombo could visit them for the Tamil New Year, on April 14th 2002 after a lapse of so many years. The civilian traffic using this route initially amounted to 1,000 travellers per day in each direction. With the availability of more buses on the routes Colombo-Jaffna-Colombo and Kandy-Jaffna-Kandy, the civilian traffic reached a figure of 3,000 travellers per day in each direction. That included 500 Sinhalese per day in each direction. I myself travelled on this route by car. It was amazing to see what goodwill the opening of route A-9 has generated. Once again, I used to stop my vehicle and speak in pidgin Tamil to the people on the wayside, saying: "Naan Colomba Sinhalavar. Perre Dissanayaka." (I am a Sinhalese from Colombo. My name is Dissanayaka.) Once again the spontaneous reaction was that they greeted me in traditional Sri Lankan style, claimed how happy they were to meet a Sinhalese, and offered me a cup of tea. Thus as April 2002 was drawing toward its end, the goodwill generated by the Peace process was immense. However the intransigence of the LTTE was clearly visible. This resulted in a noticeable reaction in the Sinhalese-speaking Provinces. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga sneered at the strenuous efforts made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet. The JVP, accounting for sixteen seats in Parliament and basically representing the protest vote, was hyper-critical both of the intransigence of the LTTE and the efforts of the UNP to break through the present impasse. The extremist Sihala Urumaya, which accounted for less than one per cent of the vote in the last two General Elections, were more vocal than ever! Notwithstanding these reservations, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, now expanded to twenty four Scandinavians, reported that there were only minor violations of the ceasefire. They also stated that both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE were co-operative in obviating such minor violations. The Christmas truce was operative for two months. It gave way to a permanent ceasefire which up to now had lasted for two months. Thus by the end of April 2002, after a respite of four months, it was appropriate to pay some attention to our Armed Forces stationed in the Jaffna peninsula, now amounting to 20,000 troops. By and large they are confined to barracks. True enough they still man check points but they are under strict orders not to interfere with the movement of civilians. It is however a pathetic sight to see the civilian population of Jaffna ignore our troops with unconcealed disdain. At the Rolex Restaurant, the best cafe in Jaffna, the Tamil clientele who are so kind to Sinhalese visitors from Colombo, ignore our Officers in uniform who drop in there for a good meal. Sinhalese Christians from Colombo attending Church services in Jaffna are most cordially received by the regular congregation, not however Sinhalese Christians in uniform. To say the least, the rape and murder of the saucy schoolgirl Krishanthi Cumaraswamy and her mother is no isolated incident in the Jaffna peninsula. Besides, Chavakachcheri is not the only town where every conceivable building, including outhouse toilets, was devastated in total violation of all accepted concepts of noble warfare. Our Armed Forces stationed in the Jaffna peninsula, ranging from Generals or Privates, now have all the time to reflect on their performance. In April 2001 they were humiliated in Operation Agnee Kheela (Rod of Fire) designed to drive away the enemy from Muhamali to Elephant Pass. On the first day of that battle, 441 Officers and men were killed in action and 2,011 wounded in action. On the second day our Army abandoned the battle! In April 2000, in even more dramatic style the LTTE captured Elephant Pass, our second largest Military establishment in the Jaffna peninsula. It is now their largest Military establishment anywhere in the North-Eastern Province. Down the ages it has been said, "There is nothing called a bad soldier. There are only bad Officers." In the past two years, in the context of conventional warfare, our Armed Forces have lost all their battles barring the battle for Jaffna. The Army admits that their desertion rate is an appalling twenty per cent and that the graffiti on the Camp walls against Officers was shocking. If so, why have our Officers failed so badly? I still remember that meeting in the Ministry of Defence in 1985 presided over by The late Lalith Athulathmudali PC Minister for National Security. The participants were Officers of the Armed Forces at the highest level and civilian officials at the highest level. (I represented the Foreign Secretary.) So many awkward questions were asked as to why the LTTE was winning so many battles. At one point General Sepala Attygalle MVO, the Secretary of Defence and earlier the Commander of the Army, thumped the table angrily and said, "Gentlemen, are you trying to tell me that those sarong buggers from Jaffna and elsewhere can outmanoeuvre my Officers who were trained at Sandhurst, Camberley and the Royal College of Defence Studies or alternatively in Dehra Dun, Wellington and the National Defence College in New Delhi?" It is time that the Government of Sri Lanka sets up a Commission to investigate why those sarong clad yokels from Jaffna and elsewhere outmanoeuvred and outclassed our Officers even in conventional warfare. By May 2002, there were some reports that the LTTE was responding positively to the advice of the Government of Norway. The first reliable reports I had were from Ambassador Jon Westbourg of Norway. He and I are regular worshippers at the Cathedral of the Church of Ceylon in Colombo. He is deeply religious and the son of a Christian priest. Besides, he is reticent by nature, much more reticent than most good Ambassadors. After the ceasefire was operational, he repeatedly told me that the Government of Norway was giving the highest priority to persuading the LTTE to abandon the quest for a State of Eelam and instead opt for a Federal solution. The first corroborative report I had was from the CIA. All American Ambassadors I had known were in my age group. I have known them either since our days at Harvard or since our days as young diplomats or since our days as Ambassadors. Now we are in our mid-sixties. As such they have all retired and so have I. Somehow many of them are in touch with the CIA, hence they continue to be an invaluable source of information to me. According to these sources, the CIA had repeatedly warned the LTTE that after September 11th 2001 the United States would not tolerate any terrorist activity by the LTTE. They explained to the LTTE that they have excellent freedom fighters and that the United States greatly admires freedom fighters, ranging from George Washington to Nelson Mandela. Thus the LTTE would be acceptable to the United States as freedom fighters, if they abandon terrorism. However, according to the Pentagon, the Military capability of the LTTE was to establish a State of Eelam in the former Northern Province only. That would not be a viable State unless oil is discovered there. Previously, explorations revealed the absence of oil. Therefore the United States also persuaded the LTTE to abandon their quest for a separate State of Eelam. Somehow these reports from the States became increasingly frequent when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was due to visit Washington in mid-July 2002 for discussion with President George W. Bush Jnr., General Colin Powell Secretary of State, James Wolfenshon, President of the World Bank and Horst Kohler, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In Washington, President George Bush Jnr. himself assured Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that terrorism is anathema to the United States. Therefore the United States will use its resources to assist Sri Lanka to combat terrorism. Besides, President Bush assured that the United States would make a generous grant to assist in the rehabilitation work in the war-torn areas. Accordingly, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage would be making a visit to Sri Lanka to make an assessment of the rehabilitation aid required by Sri Lanka. By the same token in Washington, the President of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the IMF assured Sri Lanka a generous package of rehabilitation aid. That subject was discussed in great detail. However, the negative factor was that the Peace talks scheduled for May 2002 in Thailand, was postponed for June, then for July, and then for August. Such repeated delays were indeed irritating and it was a heaven sent opportunity for the Opposition to ridicule the Government. Besides, there were many reports from the Navy and the Air Force that mysterious freighters were periodically anchored outside our territorial waters and in the vicinity of the coast of Mullaitivu and Batticoloa. Based on past experience, it was definitive evidence that the LTTE was smuggling arms and ammunition through their well established modality of discharging from freighters to small boats interspersed amongst thousands of bona fide fishing vessels. The Government was helpless, while the Opposition had the infinite potential to taunt. To make matters worse for the Government, there was a widespread belief that the LTTE which outmanoeuvred President J.R. Jayewardene, President R. Premadasa and President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, was now out-manoeuvring Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It is a tragic flaw in life in Sri Lanka, that to our people gossip is sacrosanct and the truth is trivial, whereas in most nations it is the other way around. The rumour mills in Sri Lanka were working at full capacity. Besides, in Sri Lanka our society is full or pitiable creatures who think with their tongues. They were in clover. In direct contrast, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was cautiously optimistic. He seemed so happy in August 2002..... |
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