Rajpal's Column

The story the conflict analysts missed

But, the massive propaganda and public relations advantage that has accrued to the LTTE has eluded the government's tribe of conflict analysts. The LTTE, previously seen as a group of fanatics and marauding zealots, is now seeking to acquire ( with the help of the Sri Lankan forces, particularly the Airforce of course) an image of respectability. Its operations will now be seen as short sharp clinical exercises, which target military installations. Incurring civilian casualties being strictly eschewed.

The Sri Lankan government has on the other hand acquired, already, a reputation of being led by bumbling buffoons. The Sri Lankan forces are seen to be peopled by a simpleton indolent officer class supported by assorted lotus eaters.

An e-mail (anonymous no doubt) emanating from an intriguing source, says "commandos were not in military gear when the Tigers attacked. They went to action in shorts and sarongs.'' The e-mail goes onto say " that night, the Kty Air Force officers have had a grand party with Thai cabaret dancers. They were drunk when the visitors arrived. Not less than 10 per cent sentries were issued with weapons. There has been a long queue in front of the armory to get weapons. They had to sign the weapons book and read/ write a ten digit weapon serial number….''

Now, it's moot whether the public, consisting of lay tax-payers, should believe the Sri Lanka Airforce, or a tell-all e-mail. Given the performance of the Air Force during the Katunayake attack, I'll definitely be partial towards the latter. 

All the government should be advised to do is to take the allegations in this anonymous communication seriously. Given the record of the Air Force at Katunayake, the state has a moral obligation by the taxpayer to do so.

The communication states among other things, " the first clue about the KTY airport attack was unearthed about 3 years ago in Riyadh. Photos of many vital installations in KTY were discovered in a computer in a shoddy cargo handling agency…naval intelligence, senior officers in the Air Force camp were informed….. army has no dedicated intelligence in this area…one army intelligence officer overlooking this area is buying and selling dried fish at Kalpitiya…with 2 junior men from the navy, it was observed that a concentrated pattern of boat movements from the uncleared areas of Mannarama and Silawathura towards Negombo exists….. beach landings in the dark hours were discovered… utter security lapses and bribe taking by the Negombo police was discovered….. weapons used in the attack were previously brought by boats via the routes described earlier…… "visitors'' had duplicate keys to doors in the terminal buildings which were so unknown that even long serving Air Lanka employees had not used these doors….. the Negombo lagoon along the flight take off path has no security ….there are no sentries present…… nobody will ever change this situation.''

Scurrilous e-mail? Probably the Air Force will think so, but neither the AirForce nor any forces intelligence will have the elementary right to an opinion. Whether the state investigates these possibilities or not, a few things are clear then from the content of this communication.

On an international reckoning, the Tigers have not only secured a strategic military advantage and succeeded in delivering a knockout punch to the economy, but also succeeded in securing the overall propaganda advantage. The equation is of a tight knit military outfit, freshly disposed towards not harming civilians, as opposed to a corrupt inept and a lotus-eating tribe of bumbling leaders and defence top brass, who cannot even protect the nation's most basic military assets. 

Note: Assets acquired after levying exorbitant and extraordinary economic taxes on the people, and inflicting heavy austerity measures, and after effectively compromising national sovereignty by mortgaging the country to the IMF and the World Bank. 

But, even in the face of such an incredible lapse, the Sri Lankan government is not seen as one which seeks to maintain even a façade of accountability. In this sense, the government's culpability is total and complete.

On a simple analysis of international perception, the final conclusion would be that internationally, the government is fast losing legitimacy to the Tigers. By praxis, if not by the legitimacy of cause, the Tigers are wresting the moral advantage from a recognized nation state. 

The Special Report

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