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Curtains for Army - LTTE contacts It became abundantly
clear last Tuesday that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
has succeeded in dismantling the Sub Committee on De-escalation
and Normalisation (SDN) for good.
Defence Secretary
Austin Fernando declared at a news conference on January 1 that
the SDN would meet last Tuesday (January 14). He said the Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) had officially confirmed a meeting between
the Security Forces Commander (Jaffna), Major General Sarath Fonseka
and "Colonel" Theepan, LTTE's "Northern Commander,"
on that day to discuss the former's report on High Security Zones
(HSZ) in the Jaffna peninsula. The event never
took place. The reasons were known even five days before Mr. Fernando
made the announcement. Responding to the Army's proposal that they
decommission long-range weapons for re-settling displaced persons
in the HSZ, the LTTE declared in a statement on December 26…"the
Sub-Committee on De-escalation and Normalisation is rendered irrelevant
by the SLA's new conditions for de-escalation. The SDN was formed
specifically to work out the details of returning civilian homes
and properties presently occupied by the military to their rightful
owners. As such, and as long as the SLA insists on its unacceptable
demands that the LTTE must disarm and decommission its heavy weapons,
there is no purpose to be served by further meetings of the SDN…"
After the third day of the fourth round of peace talks in Thailand
last month, an accomplished foreign correspondent and now Editor
of the State's own Daily News Arjuna Ranawana quoted Chief Negotiator,
Anton Balasingham, saying that the LTTE would not attend the scheduled
meeting of the SDN on January 14. In the same report, however, he
quoted the Chief Negotiator of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL);
Cabinet Minister Professor G.L. Peiris saying the SDN "is not
dismantled or suspended." Added Prof. Peiris "it is
natural for differences to come up during such a process. If there
weren't any such differences there would be no need for negotiations…" When the latest
round of peace talks ended, the Royal Norwegian Government said
in an official statement "………The parties
did not reach agreement on the continuation of the work of the Sub-Committee
on De-Escalation and Normalisation (SDN)…." If that
sentence left any doubts on the future of the SDN, the fact that
the LTTE and the GOSL did not meet on January 14 makes matters more
clear. Hence, one need hardly provide answers to questions on the
credibility of the assertions made on behalf of the LTTE or the
GOSL by their respective Chief Negotiators. The events speak for
themselves. That means
an important mechanism evolved during peace talks to scale down
the atmosphere of war through direct consultations between Tiger
guerrillas and the military is now gone. One need hardly elaborate
how one bureaucrat's blunder has contributed to all this. The facts
are known. With accountability, either during war or peace, becoming
a matter of least concern to successive governments, the matter
will now go into the limbo of forgotten things. But the manifold
problems it has spawned will continue to impact on matters of not
only national security but also on the peace process itself. The Sub Committee
on De-escalation and Normalisation being rendered defunct means
that the LTTE will no longer deal directly with the Security Forces
on military or any other matters during the ongoing peace process.
No longer will there be meetings in an aluminium tent in a stretch
of no-man's land in Muhamalai (in the Jaffna peninsula) that lay
between the checkpoints of the Army and Tiger guerrillas. It will
be back to the negotiating table in Thailand. And to pave
the way for such talks on High Security Zones, both the LTTE and
the Government have agreed to seek the help of a neutral international
advisor. That is in the form of retired Indian Lieutenant General
Satish Nambiar, until August 1994 the second in command of the Indian
Army. See his profile in the box story on this page. The
UNF Government says his help is being sought in his private capacity
and his assignment does not in any way involve the Government of
India. Minister Milinda
Moragoda, who flew direct from Thailand after the last round of
peace talks to brief Indian leaders, also took the opportunity to
invite Lt. Gen. Nambiar to take a "fresh look" at the
working of the High Security Zones. In view of other commitments,
he is due in Sri Lanka early next month. He is now due to formulate
a comprehensive report on the matter. Lt. Gen. Nambiar
has made two previous visits to Sri Lanka, once in September and
the other in December last year, at the invitation of Prime Minister,
Ranil Wickremaesinghe. During these visits, The Sunday Times learnt
he had been tasked to study and report on possible incorporation
of Tiger guerrilla cadres into the armed services and Police when
a final peace settlement is arrived at. He was also
asked to make a study of the working of the High Security Zones
in the Jaffna peninsula. In this regard, he flew to Jaffna and held
extensive talks with the Security Forces Commander there, Maj. Gen.
Sarath Fonseka. He flew with Maj. Gen. Fonseka in a Sri Lanka Air
Force helicopter over most of the High Security Zones in the peninsula.
Though Lt. Gen. Nambiar is learnt to have submitted a full report
to the Government on the subjects assigned to him, no details of
his observations or recommendations are known. Needless to say his
upcoming study will encompass or elaborate on matters he has already
examined and reported on. Until that
task is carried out, talks on re-settlement of displaced persons
within the HSZ in the peninsula will remain on hold. And the Army's
demand of the guerrillas decommissioning long-range weapons in addition
to disarming their cadres will thus be no longer an issue. A related matter
that appears to have not surfaced is the High Security Zones of
the LTTE itself, particularly around its own expanding military
installations and other locations in the Mullaitivu district. These areas
have also encompassed civilian homes. This, however, will not be
an issue since the UNF Government has recognised that the task of
re-settling displaced persons in those areas was the responsibility
of the LTTE. Hence, priority
attention of the Security Forces Headquarters in Jaffna is now being
focussed on vacating some 700 Army-occupied homes outside the HSZ.
This is besides the vacation of two hotels and nearly 70 homes in
the Jaffna town area. Whilst alternative areas to accommodate the
Army personnel is now being sought, the Government has decided to
utilise a currently valid Indian line of credit to obtain pre-fabricated
units to build housing and office accommodation. It has been agreed
that Indian companies would be allowed to come to the peninsula
to put up these facilities utilising local labour for which they
will be required to pay. The demise
of the Sub Committee on De-escalation and Normalisation, unfortunately,
comes at a bad time for the Security Forces. For the Army, if it
came in for praise by the LTTE for its co-operation soon after the
Ceasefire Agreement of February 22, relations appear to be already
soured. If it was the culmination of a number of events, the issue
over the HSZ appears to have capped it all. A few examples
from the Army's own official website - Army News Centre - (http://www.army.lk/news/)
underscores the situation. Just to cite a few with the headlines: LTTE member
threatens troops A person introducing
himself as a member of the LTTE had threatened the troops to refrain
from collecting details of houses and buildings in the general area
VANNARAPANNAI, about 2.5 km, north of JAFFNA town on 07 January
2003 around 11 a.m. A team of soldiers
have been collecting details of buildings, houses and the occupants
of them in VANNARAPANNAI where a LTTE member in civil attire had
introduced himself as PAVALAN had showed his LTTE identity card
and threatened the troops to refrain from doing so. Further he
had told the troops, if they continued to collect details they would
be arrested. However, to
avoid any dispute with the LTTE the troops have stopped their mission
and reported to their base. Later this
unruly action of the LTTE was reported to the Police station VANNARAPANNAI
and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in JAFFNA. Soldiers
show restraint despite provocative
action Five LTTE cadres
on two motor bicycles proceeding from PUMPUGAR village in the general
area of KALMADU, about 15 km. northwest of VAVUNIYA on 21 December
around 4.30 p.m. had knocked down a soldier who was riding a bicycle. The victim
had gone towards KALMADU tank along with two other soldiers for
a bath at the time of the incident. In the meantime,
the leader of the said LTTE group, named KAPILAN had abused the
soldiers, ignored and proceeded further without stopping. Troops who
were around the area had however shown restraint to avoid any confrontation. Soldiers had
also seen one of the LTTE cadres carrying an Icom radio communication
set. This incident
was reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and KALMADU
Police for further investigation. Men tried
to dismantle bunker arrested KOPAI Police
were able to arrest a group of ten men, suspected to be LTTE cadres
who attempted to dismantle a bunker beside the KAITHADI bridge which
had been in place to protect the historic and architectural value
of this bridge with an arch. The bunker
used by troops to provide security to this arch-bridge in view of
its historical significance after Engineer troops renovated this
British built bridge to its original position after LTTE cadres
blasted it when they were flushed out of the peninsula in 2000. Troops not
allowed into area Troops on routine
patrol in the general area of MARUTANKULAM, about 25 km northwest
of VAVUNIYA town had been stopped from moving into MARUTANKULAM
area by armed LTTE cadres who had arrived there on a Double Cab
on 08 December 2002 around 11.30 a.m. LTTE cadres
have demanded identity cards of the troops and threatened the Security
Forces personnel not to move into the said area. However, troops
showed restraint and returned to the camp. The Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in VAVUNIYA has been kept informed of
this stoppage of movement. Besides these
occurrences, though no longer listed in the daily news releases
once issued by the Operational Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence,
the reports appear daily in the Army website accessible world-wide.
Such incidents do get reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. However, besides
them, incidents of a more serious nature with political and security
implications have also become a cause for concern. One such case is the arrest and detention of soldier Nihal Kumara of the Ranabapura Army detachment, 9 kilometres north of Weli Oya since December 24. He had walked some 75 metres away from the defence lines with his personal weapon when he fell into Tiger guerrilla hands. The soldier has now been produced before LTTE "law courts" by their "Police" and remanded till later this month. On the last date of the case, relatives of the soldier said the LTTE expected lawyers for the Army to come and appeal for his "bail" or "release." Responding to that move would mean the acceptance of the "jurisdiction of the LTTE Courts." Hence, no one has moved in. Some UNF leaders
who argued that the "LTTE Police and Law Courts" had existed
for long years maintained a stoic silence over this whilst the soldier
languished in a jail in the Wanni. Their helplessness now is further
compounded by the fact that it is the first time since the Ceasefire
Agreement of February 22 that a soldier has been remanded by an
"LTTE Court." It has never happened before. If there was
no SDN now to raise issue, the matter did not even figure at last
month's talks in Nakorn Pathom. Nor was there any mention in the
official statement issued by the Royal Norwegian Government. Another incident
that raises serious security issues occurred on December 28 when
Sea Tiger craft rounded up nine Indian fishing boats off Kalmunai
Point, near Pooneryn and arrested 35 Tamil Nadu fishermen. They
were held near the Sea Tiger base at Nachchikudah whilst moves were
afoot to shift them to Kilinochchi to face charges before "law
courts." They were to be later handed over either to the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
(SLMM). The move drew a furious response in New Delhi. Without any
explanation, the fishermen were released by the LTTE on January
2 this year. This is the first time the Sea Tigers arrested a group
of South Indian fishermen and detained them. The only means
through which the Sri Lanka Navy learnt of these arrests and the
subsequent release, The Sunday Times learnt, was through radio intercepts.
Their patrols have been acting with great caution to avoid being
accused of trying to disrupt the peace process. The incident undoubtedly
signals the birth of a new phenomenon - the emergence of a third
Naval force in the Palk Straits and the Indian Ocean besides those
of India and Sri Lanka. If that is
at sea, since the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22, on land, the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil's Eelam's military strength, capability
and their arsenal has grown enormously and is continuing to grow.
There will still be those who refuse to believe in this so rapidly
changing security dimension that reminds one of the proverb there
is none so blind as those who refuse to see. One cannot blame the
LTTE for seizing every opportunity to achieve what they could not
with a million round of bullets.
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