The Situation Report

'Operation battle cry' amidst cry for peace

By Iqbal Athas

City's Trains Control lers were in a quan dary last Tuesday night over a break-down. The engine and rolling stock that was to leave from Maradana to Padukka was not available. A replacement had to be sent for the next morning's scheduled run, the overloaded service that brought office workers to the City.

A train with four carriages had just arrived at Colombo Fort from Puttalam. Passengers had disembarked. Trains Control assigned a Driver, Assistant Driver and a Guard for the train to proceed to Padukka for the next morning's scheduled run.

The empty train had just passed the Narahenpita Railway Station when a loud explosion ripped through carriage number two at 11.05 p.m. The loud explosion woke up residents in Kotte and Bambalapitiya, among other areas. An explosive device, said to be weighing about 500 grammes that was placed underneath a seat had exploded.

Security officials who pieced together the sequence of events by Wednesday were in for some shock, though the explosion did not kill or injure anyone. Some serious security lapses came to light.

The incident came in the backdrop of intelligence warnings last week that a new group of Tiger guerrillas had infiltrated the City.

Security precautions were tightened following this warning. Intelligence authorities learnt that the guerrilla group in question had landed on the beach on the western flank of Wilpattu jungles. Now there are fears they may have used the train service from Puttalam to Colombo to arrive in the City and also to move bombs.

If security checks at Puttalam itself was lax or sometimes non-existent, there are no checks on disembarking passengers at the Fort and Maradana Railway Stations. It was only the highways that were dotted with checkpoints and sand-barreled barriers.

Therefore, it turned out that trains had become a less risky way for Tiger guerrillas to move men and material in and out of the City.

That has now become the subject of close study by the Operations Command, Colombo-the joint military apparatus tasked with security for the City and suburbs. Measures to impose stricter security curbs on trains were being considered.

Senior security officials who studied Tuesday night's Kelani Valley line explosion at Narahenpita were weighing several theories to ascertain why the bomb exploded in the train. Main among them was a suspicion that a Tiger guerrilla (or more) who accompanied the bomb may have alighted leaving the parcel behind for some unknown reason which may include fear of detection.

In such an event, they say, the bomb may have been armed to explode within half an hour to one hour - a suggestion that the target could have been in an area not far off from the Fort Railway Station. The real answers may not be known unless Police make a breakthrough in their investigations. But the Puttalam-Colombo train link being a direct channel to infiltrate the City has begun to worry them, particularly the thought of how much traffic would have passed through in the recent past.

One case in point is the recent arrest by the Wellawatte Police of a guerrilla suspect. They found in his possession a hand drawn map marking out various roads and positions of a coastal City stretch.

The suspect, whom Police describe as a hard core Tiger cadre, has refused to answer questions. Some officials believed it to be the residence of a VVIP whilst others contended that the markings were targets within the Colombo Port - repeatedly described as one of the key targets Tiger guerrillas planned to strike. The matter assumed importance after varying reports. City Police received what they call 'reliable information' of plans to use a disused multi-storeyed building to fire RPGs into the port. Another by a state intelligence agency spoke of a possible under water sabotage. Early this week there were additions to the list of economic targets Tiger guerrillas had eyed. That included the Oil Refinery at Sapugaskande.

One of the economic targets the LTTE had continued to attack were power transformers. The latest was the bombing of a transformer in Marawila, just 24 hours after the Narahenpita train explosion. Just days before, another was exploded in Katugastota.

The Operations Command, Colombo has continued to maintain the high level alert in the City and suburbs in view of the threats. This scenario was reflected at a top level conference at the Ministry of Defence last Tuesday that saw increased United Kingdom assistance to Sri Lanka in the field of counter terrorism.

Operations Commander, Colombo, Major General Neil Dias, gave a team of UK experts an overview of the security situation in the City. His senior officials followed with illustrations. Giving the Navy and the Air Force perspective was the Western Naval Area Commander, Rear Admiral A.H.M. Razeek and Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Donald Perera respectively.

The Police input came from DIG H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya (Crimes and Criminal Intelligence) who was deputising for Police Chief, Lucky Kodituwakku, who is now busy with polls security.

The UK experts were giving the security forces and Police officials a briefing on Multi Agency Crisis Management. The team, which flew to Sri Lanka and later to India, was made up of UK's leading professionals in the counter terrorism field.

They comprised Vincent Fean, Head of Counter Terrorism Policy Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Roger Knight, Head of Counter Terrorism Contingency Planning, Terrorism, Terrorism Protection Unit, Home Office, Detective Superintendent Tim O'Connor, Association of Chief Police Officers (Terrorism and Allied Matters), Metropolitan Police Advisor to Terrorism Protection Unit and Major Tim Coles, responsible for terrorism policy in the Ministry of Defence.

These developments came as a three month long stalemate in the Wanni battlefields ended last Thursday with the security forces launching 'Operation Rana Gosa' (Operation Battle Cry). The latest thrust gained momentum yesterday with more troops breaking out from their defensive positions. Reports last night spoke of the security forces being able to advance with little or no resistance. They are said to have captured more than 500 square kilometres of territory (made up of 24 villages, and a string of irrigation tanks). The area is said to be on the western side of Mankulam extending through three other villages westwards and later southwards to Poovarasankulam.

This security forces thrust comes after 'Operation Rivi Bala', in early December, where troops in the Wanni re-captured the eastern defences securing Oddusuddan, and annexing a triangular terrain covering Mankulam, Oddusuddan and Nedunkerni. When this operation, unopposed by the LTTE, ended on December 4, the Operational Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence claimed troops had 'captured an area of 134 square kilometres.'

'Operation Rivi Bala' was launched after the Government called off the 18 month long 'Operation Jaya Sikurui' (Victory Assured) whose objective was to re-open the A9 Kandy- Jaffna highway and thus establish a land based main supply route to Jaffna. In this backdrop, "Operation Rana Gosa", military observers say, is not likely to be a prolonged thrust to achieve the same objective but one that is limited in character.

Any further elucidation on this matter is not possible in view of the ongoing censorship which is now nine months old. It was imposed on June 5, last year, thus restricting reportage on the ongoing separatist war. Besides the censorship, the media, both local and foreign, are debarred from visiting operational areas except for arranged tours by the authorities.

'Operation Rana Gosa' is the first military offensive to be launched in 1999 and since the setting up of the Joint Operations Bureau (JOB) with retired General Rohan de S. Daluwatte, as its Chairman.

The JOB came into being on January 6, this year, and was tasked mainly to prepare strategic plans in consultation with the three Service Commanders and present it to the National Security Council. It was called upon to co-ordinate the planning of operations based on the directions given by the NSC.

Interestingly, JOB officials were surpried by the launch of 'Operation Rana Gosa.' Some senior officers learnt of it only after they heard from colleagues that it had been launched. The JOB Chairman, Gen. Daluwatte had also been officially unaware.

When the planning of the latest offensive was under way, he was away from Sri Lanka. He visited United Kingdom, France and the United States to make a study of the joint military command structure in those countries. Having returned to Sri Lanka after a 20 day visit that literally took him round the globe, Gen. Daluwatte is now preparing his report. With that ready, he is to seek a meeting with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to discuss ways and means of strengthening the JOB.

In doing so, there is no doubt Gen. Daluwatte, will also seek to strengthen his own job by seeking ways and means to play a bigger 'military role.' At present the office he holds as Chairman of the JOB is a civilian one and he has absolutely no command and control authority over the service commanders and the Inspector General of Police.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who is also Commander-in-Chief has moved cautiously since taking over the reins of the military machine against Tiger guerrillas. Instead of setting up a fully fledged Joint Operations Command (JOC) with command and control authority, she established the JOB. And it is vested only with advisory, monitoring and co-ordinating responsibilities.

The JOB has cost a substantial sum of money. Nearly ten million rupees has been spent to renovate, re-furbish and equip a building within the Army Headquarters complex as its headquarters. Since being established, the only substantial work it has carried out is a round the world tour by Gen. Daluwatte - a matter which has become a sore point at the highest levels of the three services and the Police. It is not only over the fact that not a single service or police representative was in his study tour, but a more touchy question of the high level officers expected to work with the JOB being kept in the dark about the trip itself. One service commander who had just been told hours before the departure of Gen. Daluwatte's entourage had replied he had already known about it after reading the Situation Report in The Sunday Times. Another Commander had no official intimation at all.

The move has brought to fore the all important question of interaction between the JOB, the respective services and the Police. Since co-ordinating the planning of operations based on the directions given by the National Security Council is the primary task of the JOB, high ranking defence and security officials feel, the Bureau should maintain an excellent rapport and equally importantly, closer confidence. A weaker nexus, they warn, can set off a chain reaction that can have a debilitating effect on military efficiency and morale.

Given the circumstances, it is no easy task for President Kumaratunga, who, in a sense has taken upon herself another security operation in the recent weeks. That is her role as Chairman of the All Party Monitoring Committee for the upcoming Provincial Council elections in five provinces. Even if that role is for a limited time frame, she would have to focus considerable attention to the law and order situation before and after the polls. The fact that she is personally issuing orders to the Police to initiate action on complaints by Opposition political parties underscore the reality of the situation.

With JOB Chairman, Gen. Daluwatte out of the country, the man responsible for initiating the latest offensive 'Rana Gosa' is none other than Deputy Defence Minister, Anuruddha Ratwatte. As reported in these columns last week, Minister Ratwatte flew to operational areas in the Wanni on February 21 in the company of the three service commanders and the Inspector General of Police to set in motion the plans for the offensive. He and his entourage took part in a top level conference in Vavuniya with senior military officials including Security Forces Commander, Wanni, Major General Lionel Balagalle. That was the culmination of a string of meetings Minister Ratwatte had chaired in Colombo.

The precursor to the visit were a string of positional changes of personnel in the Wanni theatre of operations. As reported in these columns last week, Police personnel deployed along the re-captured areas of the A 9 highway (Vavuniya to Puliyankulam) were re-deployed along the Vavuniya-Mannar highway. Their place was taken over by the Army who also established a tactical headquarters of the 215 Brigade in that area.

Minister Ratwatte, the service Commanders and the IGP were due in the Wanni early this week, ahead of the launch of the latest offensive. However, it was called off after the Deputy Defence Minister's delayed return to Colombo from a short trip to India.

With 'Operation Rana Gosa', Minister Ratwatte who directed 'Operation Jaya Sikurui', the longest military offensive in Sri Lankan history studded with a string of reversals, heavy casualties and major losses, is back in the scene. Even if there are war cries from the JOB, which was unaware of the operation, the latest offensive will continue. 

When its aims are accomplished and the next phase comes to be considered, whether it is the JOB that has to co-ordinate the job or Minister Ratwatte, will undoubtedly remain the crucial question. It becomes a crucial question because these tasks cannot be undertaken by both.

The Fifth Column

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