 With
the fourth anniversary of Eelam War Three, the ongoing phase of the separatist
war that ended peace talks between the People's Alliance Government and
Tiger guerrillas only seven days away, Colombo's intelligence community
is literally on red alert.
They have no doubt the LTTE would go for a big target to co-incide with
the anniversary. But what would that be ?
Though impending LTTE plans are shrouded in secrecy, clear signs of
a build up in the Wanni over the weeks have drawn their close attention.
Coming in that backdrop was a meeting last Wednesday (April 7) in Wanni
of top notch LTTE guerrilla leaders. Hundreds of them are reported to have
gathered in the village of Mulliyawalai. This has fuelled speculation that
they planned a major attack either at Oddusuddan or Elephant Pass defences.
This is whilst continuing to destabilise areas that have come under
security forces control since operations Rana Gosa (Battle Cry)- the first
military offensives to be launched in the current year. A group of more
than 150 guerrillas are reported to be operating in small groups and have
since March 4, been responsible for more than 16 separate incidents.
The buildup also comes amidst reports that the LTTE had stepped up its
recruitment drive not only in the east but also in the Wanni in a desperate
bid to raise more cadres. Groups tasked with the latest drive have once
again been screening videos of the September, 1998, attack on the Paranthan-Kilinochchi
defences during the now abandoned "Operation Jaya Sikurui" (Victory
Assured). They have done so in schools, after interrupting classes. They
have also screened them at public places. Residents from the area, who
are arriving in Vavuniya say principals and teachers in many schools were
worried over the latest drive. In the absence of a steady response, they
fear forced recruitment.
Even if there has been reports of fresh acquisition of military hardware,
quite clearly the LTTE was facing a manpower problem. That seemed more
acute than the Sri Lanka Army who are launching the first phase of a major
recruitment drive from May 3, this year.
If LTTE preparations for a major strike are on the way in the Wanni,
plans to trigger off a string of incidents in the City and suburbs in the
past weeks appear to have been thwarted.
Increasing evidence of this has begun to emerge as Police continued
investigations into the abortive attempt to kill Chief Inspector Mohamed
Nilabdeen, head of the Counter Terrorism Unit of the Mount Lavinia Police
on March 16.
In this incident, a female suicide bomber, Mathi Adivai Queen Mary alias
Mary Quida (from Vankalai, Mannar) was killed.
Her accomplice, Peethambaram Jeevendran alias Seelan, swallowed a cyanide
capsule after grappling with a Policeman (Situation Report - March 21,
1999). Police investigations led them to a lodge in Wattala where the two
dead guerrillas had lived. Questioning of other inmates at the lodge has
helped the Police unravel a bigger LTTE network operating in the City.
But a more significant find was a prize catch. Police questioned a female
cook at the Universal Lodge at Wattala to ascertain who visited there to
meet either Mary Quida or Jeevendran alias Seelan. This was done by men
of the Crime Detective Bureau of the Peliyagoda Police. They obtained a
list of names. That included the descriptions of a man who came to the
lodge regularly to meet Jeevendran alias Seelan. The CDB men were on the
lookout for this man when he was arrested by the Ja-ela Police. There he
lay in their custody until men from the Terrorist Investigation Division
(TID), who got wind of the arrest took charge of him.
The TID is the Police Department's counter terrorism investigation arm
and is currently headed by Lionel Karunasena, DIG, a former head of the
Police Special Task Force (STF) who counts wide experience in counter insurgency
operations.
The man whom the TID took charge from Ja-ela Police was Gnanaprahasan
Anthony Thavachelvam alias Anthony Master. He is no ordinary LTTE cadre.
He is a top rung intelligence cadre working directly under LTTE's intelligence
wing leader, Pottu Amman - the man who is among those most wanted for plotting
the assassination of then Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Anthony
Master has bared some startling details to his TID interrogators that throw
light not only on his own role but provide deeper glimpses to the workings
of the LTTE's intelligence machinery.
How did Anthony Master get involved with the LTTE? The story begins
in 1989. Anthony Master is an arts graduate from the Jaffna University
and was looking out for a job. One day, he read an advertisement in a Tamil
newspaper published in Jaffna, calling for applications from those who
wanted to become Translators. The advertisement only bore a box number
care of the newspaper. He applied.
The next week, he was invited to an interview at an office in Tinnelvely.
It was only then that Anthony Master realised that his job was going to
be with the Intelligence Wing of the LTTE. Manivannan Master, an intelligence
cadre who conducted the interview with others, questioned him at length.
He got the job.
Anthony Master was thereafter told to translate English books on matters
relating to guerrilla activity and the war. Most of these books had been
procured by the late Sathasivam Krishnakumar alias Kittu, a one time LTTE
"Jaffna Commander", who was then in London undergoing treatment
for an amputated leg. It was during this period that Anthony Master became
close to Pottu Amman.
Impressed by his translating skills, Pottu Amman, made Anthony Master
a lecturer at the training camps of the Intelligence Wing. Later Pottu
Amman elevated him to the rank of an instructor and co-opted him to the
Analysis Committee - a body that analysed raw intelligence and took decisions
on how to act.
It was in 1998 that Pottu Amman decided to send Anthony Master to Colombo
on a special mission. As a prelude, Anthony Master was asked to train two
other cadres at a camp in Mallavi in the Wanni. The two were identified
as Vylavan and Weerasingham. Having undergone their training which had
included detailed briefs, the two arrived in Colombo and were operating
under cover.
But Pottu Amman had decided against sending Anthony Master through the
same route Vylavan and Weerasingham took. He had worked out a diabolical
plan. He sent Anthony Master across the Palk Straits as a refugee in Tamil
Nadu. Within weeks, Anthony Master had arrived at the Sri Lanka Deputy
High Commissioner's office in Chennai with forged documents. He was seeking
an E-Certificate-a travel document to return to Sri Lanka.
With that in his hand, Anthony Master arrived in Colombo in a regular
flight from Chennai. He was a regular visitor to the Universal Lodge at
Wattala where he met Jeevendran alias Seelan. However, in the company of
others, the two had pretended not to know each other. Before Jeevendran
alias Seelan (and Mary Quida) were to embark on the abortive mission to
kill Chief Inspector Nilabdeen, TID detectives have now found out, Pottu
Amman wanted him to stop visiting the lodge or stay there. However, the
message had not reached him until March 18, two days after the mission
failed. By then, Anthony Master who had been staying at the lodge fled.
Anthony Master made contact with one of the two men whom he trained
in Mallavi at a hideout in Kotahena. They were in regular contact and were
planning to execute some of the tasks assigned to them. The man he met
was Vylavan, who it now turns out, is the Tiger guerrilla who was involved
in the attack on the Kelanitissa Power Station on November 14, 1997. He
had been staying in Wellawatte and had later shifted to Homagama from where
the man is now believed to have escaped. Anthony Master had regularly met
Vylavan and Weerasingham.
Explosives to attack certain targets had been sent by the LTTE from
Mannar. Police believe they may have been transported to Colombo via train
from Puttalam. One of the plans of the trio had been to blast the oil storage
tanks in Bloemendhal. Such an attack could have caused human carnage of
huge proportions since there are hundreds of civilian homes around this
storage complex.
One day, early this year, both Anthony Master and Vylavan met up with
Weerasingham. They asked him to produce the explosives (which were kept
under his charge) so the trio can carry out an attack. Weerasingham who
had been staying in Wattala had then confessed that he had thrown the explosives
and other items into the Hamilton Canal for fear of detection.
TID detectives scoured the Hamilton Canal. They found the explosives,
magnetic mines, an exploder, an automatic pistol, ammunition, a suicide
jacket among other things.
TID detectives suspect Anthony Master was on a much bigger assignment
in addition to directing men to take on specific targets. What was that?
The intelligence wing man had not made that clear and the interrogation
continues.
Anthony Master, it turns out, is an expert at building models of targets.
He is learnt to have revealed that computers in the LTTE offices in Wanni
had layout and details of many targets they eyed. This had included the
Colombo Port, the Bandaranaike International Airport and other key city
installations. These were done after LTTE cadres conducted surveillance
and reported their findings. He has admitted that he built the model of
the Kolonnawa Oil Installations for Tiger guerrillas to practise. It was
only thereafter that the attack was carried out on October 20, 1995.
Police and intelligence officials believe their investigations into
the CI Nilabdeen incident disturbed the LTTE cells operating in the City.
They argue this could be one of the main reasons why the LTTE had not been
able to carry out any major attack. Whether this contention is correct
or not, LTTE's refrain, particularly during the campaign for elections
to the five provincial councils and on polls day (last Tuesday) made the
Police heave a sigh of relief.
Though they had the back up of the security forces, Police were not
only worried about guerrilla activity but also feared criminal groups would
seize the opportunity to carry out robberies. So much so, in many provincial
towns, Police went from one business establishment to another during polls
eve advising them to deposit all their cash in the banks.
Fears also prompted the Ministry of Defence to establish two temporary
security forces detachments in the City suburbs - a Sri Lanka Navy unit
at Kalutara and a Sri Lanka Air Force unit in Negombo.
But that is not to say LTTE activity in the City and suburbs have ceased.
As it is widely known, LTTE groups operate without knowledge of each other's
presence or activity. Early this week, some of these cadres continued their
attacks on power transformers.
A transformer in Sea Street was damaged and bomb disposal experts were
able to defuse another. Intelligence officials say this underscores the
need to maintain strict vigilance in the coming weeks.
With the five Provincial Council elections now over, the PA Government's
attention will now turn to the Southern Provincial Council. Nominations
have already been called and the polls are likely in June.
Even if that continues to pre occupy PA leaders, many key issues in
the defence establishment also await their attention.
Main among them is the future role of the Joint Operations Bureau (JOB)
which has been tasked to plan and co-ordinate all strategic plans after
they are approved by the National Security Council. A report on how to
strengthen and make the JOB more effective has already been handed over
to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga by the JOB Chairman, Gen.
Rohan de S. Daluwatte. This was after he toured United Kingdom, France
and United States studying joint military mechanisms in those countries.
The move comes as another senior retired Army officer is to be assigned
to the JOB. That is Major General Patrick Fernando, who retired from the
post of Chief of Staff on April 1. Maj. Gen. Fernando who is now on the
reserve list is to be re-called and appointed Director General, General
Staff at the JOB.
Major General Lionel Balagalle took over as the Army's new Chief of
Staff last Thursday. He will hold this post in addition to his role as
Security Forces Commander, Wanni. In the latter capacity, Maj. Gen. Balagalle
directed the two phases of "Operation Rana Gosa"(Battle Cry),
this year, leading to the re-capture of over 900 square kilometres of territory
on the western side of A-9 -the highway from Kandy to Jaffna.
An extent of 325 square kilometres, re-captured during phase two of
"Operation Rana Gosa", covered the Madhu Church, considered most
sacred to Catholics. When this operation ended, the Operational Headquarters
of the Ministry of Defence said there were 30,000 displaced persons in
the area.
The Army which began a physical verification have now established that
there were nearly 15,000 displaced persons in the Madhu area. This prompted
senior Army officials to accuse the LTTE of inflating numbers in collusion
with officials and skimming off benefits from food ration issues.
However, one senior official denied the accusation and said the figures
claimed by the Ministry after the re-capture of the areas were compiled
in 1990. Moreover, a large number had left the area since the military
operation ended.
Besides the nearly 15,000 in Open Relief Centres (ORCs) in the Madhu
area, a further 7,000 are located in ORCs in Palampiddi.
According to Mariyadasan Cruez, the Government Agent for Mannar, the
22,000 displaced persons are made up of 6,000 from Vavuniya area, 3,000
from Jaffna and another 3,000 from Mannar. He said the Government was formulating
a re-settlement programme which will get under way in three months.
A "Unified Assistance Scheme" for this purpose is now being
formulated by the Re-settlement and Rehabilitation Authority of the North
(RRAN). In terms of this, those under temporary shelter will receive Rs
7,000 and a further Rs 1,000 to purchase agricultural implements. Those
to be re-settled permanently will receive a housing grant of Rs 25,000
and Rs 5,000 as settling in allowance.
The re-settlement programme will be only in the cleared areas. However,
a lot will hinge on the security situation in those areas. In addition,
those wanting to return to Jaffna will have to await the improvement of
boat services to the peninsula. In other words, the overall re-settlement
programme and the immediate restoration of normalcy revolve around the
degree to which the security forces will be successful in preventing infiltration
and attacks by Tiger guerrillas. This has already become the daunting task
for them.
Securing more than a thousand square kilometres of territory re-captured
after "Operation Jaya Sikrui"was abandoned in December, last
year, has denied to the security forces the possibility of launching major
offensives. Thus, their role in the current year, has shifted markedly
from focusing on counter terrorist activity to weaken the LTTE to one of
supporting political aims, ones that have become imperative in view of
a compelling time frame. The time frame is the scheduled Parliamentary
and Presidential elections next year.
As a precursor to these major political events, normalcy in the re-captured
areas and the functioning of civilian centres become a sine qua non.
That is not only for the conduct of local and provincial polls as a
prelude, but also for the major events next year. That is clearly the task
the Government has now embarked on. How the LTTE will respond in the coming
weeks and months will undoubtedly define the course of events.
Taraki's Column
Editorial/Opinion Contents
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