| Political Column | ||||||
| |
||||||
| Heroes’
week amidst clashes and chaos It should have been some conciliatory soundings, to soothe the nerves. Instead, it was a test of strengths. President Chandrika Kumaratunga had let fly through an interview to an Indian journalist that she felt the LTTE had lied by saying their 'Sea Tiger' chief ' Soosai had left for Singapore by using the good offices of the Norwegian facilitators and the helicopters of the Government of Sri Lanka to receive medical treatment. Then, the Government flatly turned down a request by the Tiger guerrillas for a helicopter last Sunday to take back Trincomalee 'military commander' Sornam and Batticaloa-Ampara 'military commander' Banu to their respective stations. The request was made by the LTTE through the Norwegian Embassy to the Peace Secretariat in Colombo. The usually accommodative Secretariat made it known this time round that all the Air Force helicopters were engaged on that day. The Government standoff did not last long though. Defence Secretary Cyril Herath, approved a helicopter for use by the Tiger guerrillas, subsequently. By then, however, the guerrillas had made a request for Sornam and Banu to travel by road. They crossed the no man's land at Omanthai after being escorted by armed LTTE guerrillas on Tuesday morning. When they came to the Army side, they were taken over by armed Army personnel. Members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) were also present. Accompanying the two military leaders was S. Prabagaran alias Pulithevan, the head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat. Quite clearly, the two military wing leaders did not want to be absent from their stations when their leader's 50th birthday was being observed together with the "Maveerar" observances. Sornam arrived in Trincomalee by 6 pm. Banu accompanied by Pulithevan reached Batticaloa an hour earlier. However, on Wednesday, there were problems when Pulithevan wanted to return to the Wanni. He was stopped at Valachchenai where military officials told him they had no orders to provide him escorts. He was told he could travel on his own if he wished. Intelligence officials in Colombo suspected that the LTTE wanted to pull off a major incident or two before the runoff to yesterday's address by their leader. Security in Colombo was also stepped up. One major attempt was in fact foiled. Three suspected LTTE cadres were arrested by the Welikada Police. They had in their possession two Chinese built micro pistols - the variety only owned by the LTTE. The three youths were together with a driver from Ratmalana described also as a 'businessman'. Police suspect the men who were travelling in a hired Pajero vehicle were targeting a politician returning from Parliament where the Budget debate was in progress. Then in Manampitiya, last Tuesday night, LTTE cadres opened fire on two operatives of the Army's Directorate of Military Intelligence. However, they escaped unhurt. Later, the Army conducted a cordon-and-search exercise in the area and arrested two persons reportedly escaping in a boat. They are believed to have been tasked by the guerrilla leadership to kill the Intelligence operatives. That incident came barely 24 hours after members of the Karuna faction carried out a claymore mine attack on the Wanni faction and a group of civilian helpers. They had been busy decorating the LTTE's 'war heroes' cemetery in Tharivikulam in the Batticaloa district. The claymore mine had exploded when civilian and Tiger guerrilla cadres were travelling in the trailer of a tractor. The LTTE accused the Government of resorting to psy ops in speaking about the incident. According to radio intercepts, it was revealed that five Tiger guerrilla cadres had died, and more than 12 injured in the incident. The LTTE has been playing down all reports of incidents where its cadres have been hit by pro Karuna faction. For obvious reasons, they did not want the world to know that the organisation was riddled with dissension from the Karuna faction of the LTTE, especially in the eastern Batticaloa sector, which seemingly has the backing of the Muslims in the region as well. The Muslims have complained for years that the LTTE Treasury coffers were filled not just from their international operations and from collections of the Tamil diaspora, but also from the 'taxes' they had to pay for their lands, and their boutiques in the East. Successive governments ignored the cries of the eastern province Muslims, and the Muslims had to fend for themselves. When Karuna was brought to Colombo by a UNP MP Ali Moulana, not only did the UPFA government try to make political capital out of the incident by showing a UNP-LTTE nexus, but the embarrassed UNP leadership asked Moulana to quit the party. Moulana not only quit the party, but the country as well and lives today in the US with his family, hoping to return one day to the east, probably claiming the title as the saviour of the Muslims for splitting the LTTE's strangle-hold in the belt between Batticaloa and Trincomalee, where the Muslims live. Elsewhere, the LTTE was also fighting a typical guerrilla war, and yet saying it is not violating the Ceasefire Agreement of 2002. But now, there is some organised resistance to its once dominance in this area of underground activity. Arch rival EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, a top-of-the-list target of the LTTE, is seen as the driving force in this resistance movement. He continues to be in touch with Karuna, the moderate Tamil politician V. Anandasangaree, de-jure (though maybe not de-facto) President of the TULF, and has even begun a dialogue with the JVP. A motley combination one might say, but a grand coalition as well. Though in government, the JVP has kept its street-fighting muscles toned. Some of its critics say that its tearing down of LTTE banners in government-controlled areas, its demonstrations against the Norwegian peace brokers, calling them LTTE agents and the like are mere distractions for its failure in running a government and bringing the cost-of-living down, as promised. Others say that the JVP is doing what it is best at. If you don't know how to run a government, you might as well ensure that your cadres don't get flabby and lazy, in the somewhat unlikely event that the opposition UNP decides to get to the streets. And yet, to say that the JVP is only play-acting on the National Question is to be very unfair by that party, and its leadership. The party is a nationalist party by all means, and it is proud to be one. Into this melee of things walked in the government's Peace Secretariat head Jayantha Dhanapala. He seems to have an immense sense of bad-timing. On Thursday, for the third time, it was not a case of third-time lucky. He was in the midst of a conference with the Government Agent for Mannar V. Vishuvalingam, Wanni Security Forces Commander Major General Parami Kulatunga, and the Norwegian-led Ceasefire monitors of the SLMM, when the GA was alerted about a clash between LTTE sympathizers and the security forces in the town soon after the Army began to pull down an LTTE flag placed in the town-centre. The conference, originally fixed for November 10, was in progress at the Thaladi camp, when the information came, prompting them to abandon the conference. Not quite a reason to call off a conference, but never mind. It was only the previous day that Dhanapala, during a brief stop-over at Vavuniya had said he was happy about the situation in neighbouring Mannar, as a relatively few cease-fire violations were reported. Last month Dhanapala had to call off part of his scheduled programme in Trincomalee due to the protests staged by the North East Sinhala organization which was protesting over the failure of the UPFA government to get two homeguards who were in LTTE custody released. Shortly thereafter, in what was seen as a prisoner-swap, several LTTE cadres in government custody for being in the possession of weapons, were set free. In Jaffna, Dhanapala was not able to visit the Jaffna Kachcheri when LTTE sympathizers and civilians protested over his arrival as the civilians were not able to return to their homes. Our reporters at the scene filed the following account of what was happening in these troubled areas of the North and East."Violent incidents, protests, clashes between LTTE sympathisers and security forces resulting in two deaths were among the highlights of the 'Heroes week' celebrations held in the north and east coinciding with LTTE Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's 50th birthday. "The violent incidents were spread from Mannar to Trincomalee and down to Batticaloa as the military displayed a stronger than usual response to the LTTE's activities. More than 25 were injured in separate incidents in Mannar, Vavuniya and Trincomalee in clashes between security forces, LTTE sympathisers and with JVP members. "JVP members battled with the Police in Trincomalee after they were prevented from moving into the town to remove an LTTE flag hoisted at the Hindu Cultural centre. The clashes prompted the Police to impose a local curfew which was lifted later in the day on Friday. "Yesterday, the North East Sinhala Organisation backed by the JVP in Trincomalee called for a 'Heroes day' to mark the sacrifices made by the armed forces of the country. They had wanted shop keepers to close their shops. "In Vavuniya, clashes broke out between LTTE sympathisers and the security forces after the Army wanted to bring down the LTTE flag put up in the government controlled Verappankulam area. "After the flag was put up, the Army had arrived at the scene and demanded that the flag be removed, and the Sri Lanka Monitoring mission brought into the area. Following an agreement reached between the two sides, the LTTE flag was to be allowed to fly until 5 p.m. on Thursday, but the flag had not been brought down even at 5.30 p.m. when the Army arrived. "LTTE backed crowds had pelted stones at the Army forcing them to open fire into the air in an attempt to disperse the gathering. Six persons were injured. "The military and the LTTE representatives were invited for a meeting on Friday by the SLMM in a bid to defuse the tension where they finally agreed to issue a joint statement where they pledged to increase co-operation. Meanwhile in the administrative capital of Sri Jayawardenapura, Kotte, the TNA had disrupted Parliamentary sessions on Thursday making blood-curdling threats to disrupt the voting of the second reading of the Budget. It was acting either under instructions from the LTTE High Command in the Wanni, or in solidarity with the agitators in the north and east, or both. Later, however, TNA's de-jure leader and Trincomalee MP R. Sampanthan made a statement in Parliament calling for an inquiry into the Mannar incidents and all that happened last evening was for TNA MPs to light lamps to wish Prabhakaran long life. Not to be outdone, JVP's Propaganda Secretary and Colombo MP Wimal Weerawansa wanted a similar inquiry into the incidents in Trincomalee where he claimed that live bullets were fired at the demonstrators instead of rubber bullets. Deputy Defence minsiter Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has promised an inquiry into both incidents. And so, it was in this rival displays of muscle flexing that the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran made his annual 'State of the Union" broadcast, which we are reminded, does not coincide with his birthday, but rather the death of the 'first' LTTE fighter more than 20 years ago in the Organization's liberation struggle for independence from Colombo. Thanks to the good offices of the Royal Norwegian government and the government of Sri Lanka, it will be relayed through the booster-relay facilities gifted to its broadcast station, Voice of Tamil Eelam. Prabhakaran's speech was somewhat upstaged this year, by none other than his erstwhile 2IC (second-in-command), or his key Eastern-wing commander, Karuna. For all these years of the LTTE, only Prabhakaran, now the disputed leader of the group, has been making the annual Heroes Day speech. Karuna decided to, for the first time, throw in his views as well. It was clearly meant to cut across Prabhakaran's speech by praising the fallen LTTE cadres, 17,600 was his count, but then calling for the Tamil people to oust Prabhakaran and to live in harmony with the majority Sinhalese people. He referred to the fight for Tamil liberation being centred on one man - Prabhakaran - and that killing "your own people" is not a liberation struggle. Karuna does not refer to the number of Tamil cadres killed by the LTTE, which would swell the 17,600 figure to nearer the 25,000 mark, surely. Karuna uses harsh words on Prabhakaran - by name - "does Prabhakaran think that nobody knows his crimes"; "Prabhakaran and his associates want to protect their vested interests, first of all"; "Prabhakaran has been confirmed as a terrorist"; "Prabhakaran has killed thousands of Tamils during the past two and a half years"; "Prabhakaran cannot be trusted by the Sinhalese";"Prabhakaran kills for his own survival"; "Prabhakaran is a dictator" etc. The man who got the nickname 'Bloody Butcher of Batticaloa" after he gave orders for the murder of 600 policemen who had surrendered on the orders of President R. Premadasa, shortly before hostilities resumed when the so-called Hilton Hotel peace talks during that period collapsed, now says "human beings should be respected, and human life should be honoured", almost an Asokian change of heart. Karuna, calls on India to be the "arbiter" (not just the facilitator) in the on-going peace process, a view that will surely be shared by the JVP which together with the EPDP organised the massive rally outside the Norwegian Embassy this week, asking them to ‘get out’. |
||||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
