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| Sunday, 14 September 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Peace: At what cost? Intelligence reports most frightening In July 2003 it was our pleasure to serialize Sri Lanka: What Went Wrong? Chapter I of the new book 'War or Peace in Sri Lanka' (Volume IV) written by the well-known author T. D. S. A. Dissanayaka, a former Ambassador to Indonesia, Egypt and the European Union. Today we commence the serialization of Chapter II Peace: At What Cost? 'War or Peace in Sri Lanka' (Volume IV) is now being printed and will be launched on October 15th 2003. War or Peace in Sri Lanka (Volumes I to IV) will be published in New Delhi very shortly by the well-known Indian publisher Popular Books (Private) Ltd. It is intended for readers in India, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE were quite pleased with the third sessions of Peace talks held in Oslo in December 2002. On the other hand there were dissenting reports which of necessity had to be taken seriously. Firstly, our Military Intelligence was consistently reporting that the LTTE was smuggling in arms and ammunitions in huge quantities while negotiating for Peace. According to the LTTE, they had to smuggle in arms and ammunitions after the Ceasefire Agreement was signed to ensure their fighting capability remains on par with the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka who were modernizing our Navy and Air Force while negotiating for Peace. Over the years it has been established that the Sri Lanka Navy and the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy based in Vizagapatam just cannot eradicate the menace of smuggling arms by the LTTE. Secondly, the CIA operatives based in Colombo produced irrefutable evidence that in 2002 the LTTE had done absolutely nothing to change its structure as a terrorist organisation. Admittedly there were some cosmetic changes such as abandoning the policy of recruiting children in the North but not in the East. On the other hand, no decision was taken to dismantle the suicide squads. In fact some death squads were operating in Colombo and exterminating Tamils who were informants of the Government! This opinion was shared by the RAW, the Indian equivalent of the CIA. RAW has an extensive coverage in Sri Lanka, by virtue of the fact that Sri Lanka is a neighbour of India. For sheer ability the RAW is truly splendid when operating in the neighbourhood of India. (I saw this for myself while stationed in Bangladesh, Burma and Nepal). In preparing for my visit in 2003 to the Jaffna peninsula and Killinochchi, scheduled for January, of necessity I had to have in-depth discussions with Professor G. L. Peiris, Rauf Hakeem and Milinda Moragoda, the three Cabinet Ministers on the Sri Lanka delegation to the Peace talks. All three are personal friends of mine and I do admire their unquestioned ability and integrity. In my opinion Sri Lanka is indeed fortunate to have Cabinet Ministers of their high calibre. I benefited immensely from the in-depth discussions I had with them, separately, before they left for Thailand to participate in the fourth sessions of Peace talks from January 6 - 9th 2003 to be held in Nakom Pathom, Thailand. When they returned they were beaming. All three confided in me that the Peace talks were progressing well. I admire Dr. Anton Balasingham, because his knowledge of Foreign Affairs is comparable to that of a senior or retired member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service currently serving as Ambassador or High Commissioner. (They account for about sixty percent of all such appointments). He was also so pleased with the progress made in Nakom Pathom, Thailand. Both parties agreed that a Muslim delegation will be invited to the peace talks at an appropriated time for deliberations on relevant substantive political issues. Both delegations confirmed that subsequent sessions of Peace talks will take place on February 7th - 10th 2003, and March 18th - 21st 2003. The parties also agreed that additional sessions will be held on April 24th - May 2nd 2003, as well as an appropriate time in June to be determined once dates for the International Pledging Conference in Japan are established. (Source: National Peace Secretariat) In direct contrast, reports from our Military Intelligence, were most frightening. They described in minute detail that the LTTE was smuggling in huge quantities of arms and ammunition from all over the northern coast barring the Jaffna peninsula, which was under the control of the Government of Sri Lanka. For reasons of security of the nation, such details cannot be revealed in this Volume. I left for Jaffna by air on January 28th 2003 in a thoroughly perplexed state. The Army had not vacated the Gnanam Hotel which was still a Brigade headquarters and a sentry chased me out! Therefore I left for Chundikuli where at short notice my gracious host in Jaffna was the Venerable A. S. Nesakumar, the Archdeacon of Jaffna of the Church of Ceylon. He made me more than welcome in his home. Pursuant to discussions in Colombo, he had worked out a very busy schedule for me. Due to his efforts, I met everybody in the Church of Ceylon and the Roman Catholic Church, I wanted to meet in Jaffna. Both Churches have very good grass roots organizations hence they have with unfailing regularity predicted with great accuracy the outcome of elections, be they Local Government, Parliamentary, or even Presidential. My gracious host in Killinochchi was my friend S. P. Tamilchelvam, the Head of the Political Division of the LTTE. By and large my visit to the peninsula and Killinochchi was most rewarding. I was now under the impression that the information I gathered in Colombo from our Military Intelligence was correct and the information I obtained from the three Cabinet Ministers did not reflect the harsh realities at the grass roots level. The day of reckoning was February 5th 2003, when for the first time since the Ceasefire the LTTE launched a campaign throughout Jaffna to recruit young people in the age group of 18 years and more. Around the time the schools closed, the LTTE propaganda units arrived outside St. John's College, Chundukuli, Jaffna right opposite the Vicarage in which I stayed. In no uncertain terms they said that the Peace talks were a farce and war will break out soon. They said the LTTE will capture the Jaffna peninsula in three days of fighting because General Janaka Perera is not in the Army any more (he saved Jaffna in April 2000 and on retirement was appointed the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia) and the LTTE now has very good supply lines from nearby Elephant Pass as opposed to the supply lines in April 2000 from relatively far away Killinochchi. The LTTE propaganda units claimed that with the assistance of the Sea Tigers, large consignments of arms had been smuggled in. Thus the LTTE now had enough and more arms and ammunition. Therefore what they wanted now was enough manpower. Apparently the LTTE had recruiting squads like this outside all major schools in Jaffna that day. Therefore on the telephone I contacted Ravi Karunanayake, in public life Cabinet Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs and in private life my sister's son and my God son. I deliberately spoke to him in Sinhala, which I rarely do, and the conversation was as follows: "Ravi, this is Uncle Al, speaking to you from Chundikuli, Jaffna. While I am speaking to you the LTTE is across the road and outside St. John's College, Chundikuli, Jaffna. They are attempting to recruit schoolboys of eighteen years and more. They claim ................" "Uncle Al, how do you know what they are saying. You do not understand or speak Tamil" "Hold on Ravi. My interpreter will now speak to you. He is a priest from The Church of Ceylon. After their conversation, was over I spoke again, "Ravi, at a confidential briefing I had from the Church of Ceylon in Jaffna I was informed that (deleted due to security considerations) ..............................." "My God, Uncle Al, you are frightening me". "Ravi, in a confidential briefing I had from the powerful Roman Catholic Church in Jaffna I was informed that (deleted due to security considerations) ................." "Uncle Al, this is very serious. Can I quote You?" "Of course. Please convey what I have told you now to anybody whom you deem fit. "Any other info for me to pass on" "Please tell Aunty Marlyn (my wife) that my departure from Jaffna is postponed indefinitely. She need not know repeat she need not know what is delaying my departure for Colombo". "Okay, Uncle Al, What you want conveyed will be conveyed to those who matter, message to Aunty Marlyn will be conveyed immediately". "That's all for now, Ravi, Cheerio". That evening Marlyn telephoned me to inquire what was delaying my departure from Jaffna. I said something vague but plausible. She telephoned me again the following morning. That time she was crying because a very dear cousin of hers who was ailing had passed away during the night. He had been so kind to me and the least I could do was to attend his funeral. There are seven flights daily on the service Colombo-Jaffna-Colombo, yet it is impossible to obtain a seat at short notice on the morning flights from Colombo and on the evening return flights from Jaffna. Mercifully the Station Manager of Lion Air voluntarily gave me his seat on their evening flight to Colombo. After the funeral I rushed back to my base at Chundikuli, Jaffna, and into the vortex of another storm. The previous day the navy had detected a trawler with Indian registration marks being towed by a boat of the LTTE. The Navy observed that there were twelve LTTE cadres on board their boat, including two females, and three LTTE cadres, all males, on board the trawler. The LTTE refused to allow the Navy the right to search the vessels though they were well within our territorial waters. The Navy Fast Attack Craft (FAC) which made this detection was assisted by other FACs which sailed in and surrounded the two LTTE vessels. When the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) arrived on the scene, they made a meticulous search of the boat and advised the Navy that there was no incriminating cargo on board. Therefore the LTTE boat and their crew of twelve were allowed to sail away. On the other hand a painstaking search of the trawler revealed the following contraband: On 23 mm anti-aircraft gun When confronted with these arms and ammunition, the three LTTE cadres advised the SLMM that they would set the trawler on fire and thereafter they would commit suicide by taking cyanide. Therefore they advised the SLMM personnel to jump overboard and save their lives. Then the LTTE cadres carried out their threat while the Navy rescued the SLMM personnel from drowning. The Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE hierarchy in Jaffna and Killinochchi traded insults on this debacle. Besides student unrest began in Jaffna and the LTTE called for a boycott of the opening of the Jaffna Public Library scheduled for the following week. (The original Library was set on fire in 1981 by Sinhalese goons, probably by some Policemen seeking revenge for the slaying of three fellow Policemen earlier that day). Besides, the Sea Tigers undertook a retaliatory raid off Trincomalee and by error sank a Chinese trawler. Seventeen Chinese lost their lives. However, Dr. Anton Balasingham magnanimously announced at the fifth sessions of Peace talks held in Berlin from February 8th to 10th 2003, that the LTTE was at fault and that this incident would not derail the Peace talks. The fifth sessions of Peace talks in Berlin was also successful. Largely due to the magnanimity of Dr. Anton Balasingham, the fifth round was held with a definite measure of goodwill as reflected in the Agreed Minutes. Both parties expressed their concern about the situation at sea and their strong commitment to ensure that an incident such as the one which resulted in the tragic loss of three lives on a Sea Tiger vessel near the Delft islands on February 7th 2003 does not recur. Recognising the gravity of the consequences of incidents of this kind, both parties agreed that a meeting will be held soon between the Government, LTTE and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to work out effective safeguards............... On March 10th 2003 a shocked nation heard the following communique issued by our Ministry of Defence and broadcast repeatedly by all radio and TV stations in Sri Lanka. "Yesterday The Sri Lanka Navy received credible information that a LTTE cargo vessel carrying arms and ammunitions was approaching the coast at Mullaitivu with the aim of unloading weapons at mid sea into small boats. "The Sri Lanka Navy ship "Sayura" which was on a routine patrol in the areas was directed to investigate. The "Sayura" challenged the suspicious ship 185 nautical miles east of Mullaitivu in international waters. "The LTTE ship had no name, no registration number, no flag. The Navy therefore tried to communicate with the ship through the international maritime communications channel. Since the response received was vague and contradictory, the Navy ordered the ship to stop to verify that it did not pose a security threat to Sri Lanka. The suspicious ship did not respond to this command, instead attempted to escape. The Navy then gave chase whereupon at close range the LTTE ship opened fire on the SLNS "Sayura" causing injury to one officer and three sailors on board. "The SLNS "Sayura" then took appropriate retaliatory action whereupon the LTTE ship caught fire and sank approximately 180 nautical miles east of Mullaitivu. There were no survivors". (Source: Ministry of Defence) In subsequent news bulletins, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission confirmed that the LTTE had informed them that one of their ships was sunk in international waters when fired upon by the Sri Lanka Navy. (Continued next Sunday) |
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