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Sunday, 26 April 2009

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A tribute to our Security Forces

Sri Lanka's valiant Security Forces deserve the nation's highest tribute for conducting the world's largest humanitarian operation last week, rescuing over 100,000 innocent civilians trapped in the No Fire Zone (NFZ) in the North, the small area held by the LTTE terrorists.

The hapless civilians were subjected to untold hardships as the leaders of the LTTE terror outfit, forcibly held them as a human shield in the NFZ in a desperate bid to survive in the 14 sq km area.

The so-called liberators of the Tamils had thereby violated all accepted international norms and principles by forcibly holding these innocent civilians in the NFZ.

The civilians were not given any chance to move into an area of their choice as the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been using his own community as a cover against the advancing troops of the Sri Lanka Army, backed by the Air Force and the Sri Lanka Navy.

Prabhakaran not only forced the children in the NFZ into the battlefront but also ordered his ruthless LTTE cadres to fire at his own people who attempted to escape from the NFZ. The LTTE showed no mercy whatsoever even to the pregnant women, mothers carrying infants and even the elders who were injured.

All civilians trapped in the NFZ under Prabhakaran's barbaric rule were desperately biding their time for the arrival of the Security Forces to rescue them.

It is under such circumstances that the Security Forces decided to embark on the world's largest hostage rescue mission. However, the Security Forces had to face more risks to ensure the safety of civilians as they were obliged to use only small arms to confront pockets of LTTE terrorists using heavy weapons targeting the advancing troops.

The gigantic humanitarian operation to rescue the civilians trapped inside the NFZ reached a climax after the Security Forces reached the Eastern beachfront dividing the safe zone into two.

This enabled more civilians to arrive into the military controlled areas, resulting in a huge influx of civilians. The Security Forces engaged in the mercy mission facilitated the arrival of tens of thousands of civilians by providing them with water and food no sooner they reached the cleared areas crossing the lagoon in Puthumattalan and the Ampalavanpokkanai area.

As one of the most disciplined armies in the world, the operation to rescue the civilians trapped inside the safe zone was planned in a manner that the civilians could reach the cleared areas by land and sea as ground troops manned the beach fronts preventing the Tigers fleeing by sea.

The Security Forces have done Sri Lanka proud as an exemplary and highly disciplined military in undertaking the hostage rescue operation.

The civilian casualties were caused by the LTTE cadres shooting and killing civilians in a bid to prevent them from fleeing, and by the three LTTE suicide bombers who exploded themselves among the people, who had dared to defy LTTE orders and cross over to the cleared areas.

This was a milestone achievement in the world's military history and full credit goes to our dedicated soldiers for the exemplary manner in which they conducted the operation. No one has been more concerned than the Government about the safety of the country's civilians.

The Government shares the concern of the international community over the plight of the civilians who are being held captive by the LTTE in the NFZ. Some countries, INGOs and the International Community who shed crocodile tears should clearly bear this in mind.

To safeguard innocent civilians, President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a directive to the Security Forces to restrict their operations to take defensive action only during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period.

The recent two-day pause in military action did not result in any significant movement of civilians from the NFZ as the Tigers cared less to liberate their own people.

Instead of allowing the civilians trapped in the NFZ to move to an area of their choice for survival, the LTTE used the Government's humanitarian pause to compel civilians to fortify the earth bunds and trenches.

This prevented people to move out of the NFZ, negating the very purpose of the pause.

The LTTE, having completely ignored the repeated calls by several countries and the UN to permit the civilians' freedom of movement, strengthened its military positions by firing at the Security Forces from the NFZ.

The inhuman acts of the LTTE clearly demonstrated the fact that the terrorists had craftily exploited the humanitarian pause.

It is an irony that these same countries and institutions are still calling upon the Government to extend the humanitarian pause.

This was precisely why President Rajapaksa had to call upon those calling for a ceasefire to demand at least a one-hour pause from Prabhakaran to enable the free movement of civilians. With the complete liberation of the people in the North from the clutches of LTTE terrorism, the next huge responsibility and challenge would be to resettle them.

The Government has already made elaborate plans to look after the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The Government has a proven track record of the resettlement of the IDPs which has been commended by the UN, INGOs and the International Community. Having rescued the Eastern Province last year, the Government not only successfully implemented a program to resettle nearly 300,000 IDPs in the East but also implemented infrastructure development projects rapidly.

A similar program would be implemented soon in the North as well and people in the area could also exercise their democratic rights before long.

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