Situation Report

Reggie (left) together with some Karuna Amman men at a rebel base in Vakarai recently

Did LTTE mole kill Reggie?
Fears of a major Tiger guerrilla crackdown on renegade Karuna cadres, voiced in these columns only last week, have now become a reality.

Tiger guerrillas killed the main man who has been spearheading an armed struggle against them in the Batticaloa - Ampara districts - Vinayagamoorthy Sivanesathurai alias Reggie. Brother of renegade eastern leader, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, who is now in a foreign country, Reggie took over the fight against Wanni cadres.

The incident came within days after the military leadership in the area was taken over by Somasekeran Sivanandan alias Banu. He was head of the Heavy Weapons Unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and was based in the Wanni. Jaffna (Ariyalai) born Banu replaced Ramesh, a native of Batticaloa. It came at a time when guerrilla cadres were moving to Batticaloa district in small numbers as revealed in these columns last week.

As a counter to Tiger guerrilla efforts to smoke out loyalists of the Karuna faction, Reggie and his group had been preparing retaliatory measures. In fact he had been named as leader of the newly created Tamil Thesiya Padai (Tamil National Force) before he met with his death. This new TNF was to offer armed resistance to the Wanni cadres.

Details of how the incident occurred are not clear. The Tamilnet whose reports on the LTTE are usually accurate said he was killed "in an ambush by the LTTE forces in the Maduru Oya sector on the Batticaloa-Polonnaruwa district border in the early hours of Thursday….." It quoted an LTTE official as saying "there was an operation by their special forces in the interior jungles northwest of Batticaloa against some elements of renegade commander Karuna's paramilitary, which the Tigers say is working with the Sri Lanka army. 'Reggie,' the deputy leader of the paramilitary, is the elder brother of Karuna.

But reports received by Colombo's intelligence community differed. They learnt that Reggie had moved to an unknown location in the Batticaloa district with three others - Kuvilan, Elil and Pushpa. Whilst they were able to confirm through radio intercepts and ground intelligence that Reggie, Kuvilan and Elil had died there was no word on Pushpa. There were reports that Pushpa, suspected to be an LTTE mole, carried out the killings by shooting Reggie and his two mates dead. However, there is no independent confirmation. Intelligence sources are yet to confirm the exact location of the incident said to have occurred in the early hours of Thursday.

Subsequently the LTTE issued a statement in Batticaloa claiming responsibility of the killings, but the bodies have not been released. The copies of the passport and identity card of Reggie were released to a LTTE newspaper on Firday.

Even if details of the killing of Reggie and two of his colleagues remains a mystery, it is clear the Tiger guerrillas have stepped up their violent campaign against all their rivals.

In Colombo, in broad daylight, two gunmen on a motor cycle shot dead Somasunderam Varnakulasingham alias Singham, a Central Committee member of Douglas Devananda's Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP). The former Chairman of the Pradeshiya Sabha in Manipay was travelling towards his residence at Wellawatte when the incident occurred.

Guerrillas who were aware that the EPDP member was acting as a money broker had called him earlier in the day saying they were visiting his home at Vihara Lane Wellawatte to collect money due to them sent from a foreign country.

Immediately prior to the incident two youth called over at Singham's residence and inquired whether he had arrived. Thereafter with confirmation that he was heading towards his home they waited outside for the EPDP member.

As the black Volvo carrying Singham drew up close to the house a pistol gang member of the LTTE fired at the EPDP member who was in the rear seat along with his wife and escaped.

Singham's death comes five days after EPDP's Puttlam district organiser Thambidorai Shivakumar was killed. He was riding home with his daughter on a bicycle when the pistol gang shot him.

Shivakumar was a key member of the EPDP as he was serving as the co-oraganiser of his party in Jaffna and also assisted in rebuilding the party in Batticaloa.

When these incidents broke out, Norway's Special Advisor on the peace process, Erik Solheim had not yet returned to Oslo. This was after his latest facilitation efforts together with Ambassador Hans Brattskar. He had a meeting with LTTE Chief Negotiator, Anton Balasingham to brief him on the outcome of his talks in Colombo.

Thursday's incidents may draw retaliation from members of the renegade Karuna faction. With no signs of the resumption of peace talks, fears on the future of the Ceasefire Agreement are becoming worrisome.

Promotions on merit and performance
The Government will adopt "a merit and performance based" promotional scheme in the armed forces - a major departure from the hitherto accepted procedure of giving consideration only to seniority.

The move will mean officers with outstanding performance are promoted to a higher rank even before they complete the limit in their substantive posts. To prevent loss of service caused by elevation to higher rank, promotions will be made to a temporary rank. Such a stint will not exceed two thirds of the maximum period specified for the substantive rank as is the case in the Army now.

The move will benefit officers in the Army, Navy and Air Force. The officer cadres in the armed forces and the mandatory periods they are required to serve in their respective ranks are as follows: Lieutenant (Army), Sub Lieutenant (Navy) and Flying Officer (Air Force) - six years.

Captain (Army), Lieutenant (Navy) and Flight Lieutenant (Air Force) - eleven years. Major (Army), Lieutenant Commander (Navy) and Squadron Leader (Air Force) - ten years.

Lieutenant Colonel (Army), Commander (Navy) and Wing Commander (Air Force) - eight years. Colonel (Army), Captain (Navy) and Group Captain (Air Force) - five years.

Brigadier (Army), Commodore (Navy) and Air Commodore (Air Force) - four years. Major General (Army), Rear Admiral (Navy) and Air Vice Marshal (Air Force) - three years.

According to existing regulations, an officer, other than a Quarter Master or a Short Service Field Commissioned Officer, is required to retire on expiry of the period in the substantive rank. This is if they are not promoted to the next higher rank within the substantive period of service specified for their posts.

An official six member Committee has said that with the sudden expansion the cadre in the armed forces, officers were promoted to higher ranks prematurely. Hence, they were forced to retire at the end of the maximum period.

This is among several recommendations of the Committee which President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief has accepted. In other words their recommendations will now become official policy.

Last week The Sunday Times (Situation Report) revealed how President Kumaratunga has accepted a recommendation that officers in the rank of Major General in the Army, Rear Admiral in the Navy and Air Vice Marshal in the Air Force should not be given a "third extension under any circumstances."

This decision has been made on the grounds that granting a third extension of one year to such ranks hindered the promotional prospects of younger officers. It has been pointed out that many young and talented officers were leaving the armed forces or sought to leave in view of bleak promotional prospects. Those holding the substantive rank of Major General in the Army (or equivalent ranks in the Navy and Air Force) are required to serve the substantive period of three years. Thereafter, in many instances, in the case of the Army, they had received three annual extensions thus bringing their total tenure to six years. This long stint is said to deprive officers holding subordinate ranks.

President Kumaratunga appointed the six member Committee chaired by G.P. Abeykeerthi, Additional Secretary, Office of the Cabinet of Ministers on January 1, 2004. They were called upon to examine a Scheme for Granting Extensions to Officers of the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka. Other members of the Committee were B.G. Karunaratne, Director General of Establishments, Sunil Sirisena, Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Major General Jayantha Ranaweera, (represented the Army though he is now Military Liaison Officer in the Ministry of Defence), Commodore T.S.G. Samarasinghe (Navy) and Air Vice Marshal Ravi Arunthavanathan (Air Force).

Their recommendations contained in a six page report have been accepted by President Kumaratunga . Accordingly Secretary to the President, W.J.S. Karunaratne, informed the armed forces chiefs on May 7, this year, of this position.

The Committee has pointed out that neighbouring India is practicing a "Maximum Age System" to each rank. They are: Lieutenant Colonel (Army), Wing Commander (Air Force) and below (except Flying Branch) - 57 years.

Colonel (Army), Group Captain (Air Force) (except Flying Branch) - 57 years. Brigadier (Army), Air Commodore (Air Force) - 57 years. Major General (Army), Air Vice Marshal (Air Force) - 57 years extendable upto 58 years.

Lieutenant General (Army), Air Marshal (Air Force) -60 years.
"Although such a system would be appropriate in the Armed Forces," the six member Committee has said "there had been regular intakes at accepted intervals, introduction of such a system in the Armed Forces in Sri Lanka would deprive promotional avenues for efficient and capable officers who are awaiting promotions from lower ranks."

The Committee adds: "Although age based retirement scheme is practiced in the Public Service, there is a practical difficulty in applying this in the Armed Forces as they maintained a strict hierarchical structure with pre-determined line of command.

"It should also be noted that the existing time based promotion scheme compel officers who have undergone very comprehensive and worthy training locally or abroad to retire prematurely resulting in the effectiveness of the services being badly affected. Although talented officers, who are promoted to higher ranks early, are compelled to retire prematurely, their peers who had been moving slowly in each rank reach top levels and retires reaching closer to the age of retirement."

To other significant recommendations of the Committee that have been accepted are: = The introduction of annual or bi-annual recruitments and promotions to each rank depending on availability of vacancies to ensure that a reasonable number of officers gets an opportunity for being promoted to higher ranks.

To identify and reserve an adequate number of posts at different levels in the Public and Semi Government Sectors to accommodate those who would retire from the Armed Forces due to non-availability of vacancies in the higher ranks.

Preference is to be given to those who fail to reach the substantive rank within a particular age identified for each rank so that it would indicate in advance that one could find alternative employment elsewhere. Vocational training and job familiarisation programmes for such officers are to be organised to perform duties efficiently in their new appointments.

The Committee has said that it examined the existing system of promotion of Officer ranks in the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka, compared them with the systems prevailing in other comparable countries, analyzed literature available for study and the Report has been prepared along with recommendations accordingly.

In what it calls a "Situational Analysis," the Committee Report states: "Promote and sustain peace in the country is the main objective of the Armed Forces. In order to achieve this, it is expected that the Armed Forces should be in a position to successfully meet the challenges with regard to territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country while resolving its internal conflicts. A systematic and continuous Human Resources Management Policy is one of the most important requirements in achieving this objective."

Following the Committee's observation that existing percentages in different ranks in officer grades are not conducive for retaining best talent at higher levels, the Government will adopt another measure recommended by them. That will be the introduction of a career management plan to ensure filling of vacancies in the forces at the time with suitable and trained personnel who could be given choice in the career path they follow consistent with the service requirements.

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