Political and military combination to crush terrorism hailed

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

[email protected]

The Leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan who had an hour-long discussion with the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa last week on military and humanitarian operations in the North, said that the security forces would capture the LTTE's last territory soon and there was no chance for Prabhakaran and his terrorists to survive.

"We should really appreciate the firm decisions taken by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to crush the LTTE. "President Rajapaksa takes very firm decisions: the Defence Secretary plans the military operations and the Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka implements those plans successfully in the battlefronts.

This is a good combination, which never existed earlier under any government. This is the secret behind all these military successes", Muralitharan, the former Eastern LTTE Commander said.

Muralitharan told the Sunday Observer that according to informed sources Prabhakaran is well aware of the forthcoming defeat but still holds on to the area and people there by making false military predictions.

He said that since all communication means have been shut to civilians, the LTTE and its leadership mislead the leaders of the outfit and civilians claiming that the security forces would be defeated and would not allow them to capture Kilinochchi.

Muralitharan said that Prabhakaran now plans to switch from guerilla tactics to hit and run tactics as the outfit could not face the strong military offensives.

He also said that the LTTE was now trying to scatter their leaders and cadres outside Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu to disrupt normalcy in other parts of the country to pull out security forces from the battlefronts. He said that the LTTE is trying to infiltrate into the Eastern province to disrupt the day to day life but the security forces and the TMVP keep a sharp eye on suspicious activities in the province.

"The morale of the LTTE cadres has been highly affected and Prabhakaran would not be able to restore it. That is why the LTTE has started to abduct under-aged children and ordered the families to hand over the second child to the LTTE".

Muralitharan called upon the international human rights agencies to pressurise the LTTE to free the civilians who were kept forcibly. He said that the security forces should continue the offensive or else the LTTE will be re-organised. Politically the LTTE has already collapsed", he said.