The Situation Report

A FREEDOM DAY UNDER TIGHT SECURITY

By Iqbal Athas

With only three more days to go for Sri Lanka's 51st anniversary of independence, the defence establishment has become increasingly concerned about security in the City and suburbs. 

An Army officer in uniform, who parked his car near Independence Square to walk a little distance to meet a friend, found himself being questioned by a Policeman. He asked for the officer's name and jotted it down in a note book. 

Asked why his identity is being sought, the officer was told that Policemen deployed around Independence Square – venue for the independence day ceremonies – have been instructed to do so as a security precaution. There was something the officer did not know. A posse of Policemen in plain clothes had been deployed in and around the area and they were keeping a close watch. 

Elsewhere in the City, Operations Command, Colombo, had strengthened security precautions. Sporadic military checkpoints sprang up in many parts. They conducted surprise checks on vehicles entering or leaving the City. Four man groups – Army, Navy, Air Force and Police – were also increased to conduct checks. Police strength drawn from outlying areas are being brought to Colombo to bolster the strength of City Police stations. 

Colombo's western sea coast has also seen increased security precautions. Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Cecil Tissera and Commander, Western Naval Area, Vice Admiral A.H.M. Razeek, were on board the Navy's latest acquisition, a Hovercraft, as it did a practice run last Thursday along the coast, off the shores of the Navy Headquarters in Fort to Mount Lavinia. They beached at the Mount Lavinia coast and returned later. The trip, to examine coastal security preparations, had other Navy patrol craft accompanying them. 

Designed by Britain's ABS Hovercraft and built by Vosper Thorneycroft, the 20.6 metre long Hovercraft M10 has been specially made for the Sri Lanka Navy. It is capable of carrying 56 troops or two Land Rovers and 20 troops. Able to take a full load of ten tonnes, the M10 has a range of 600 kilometres. 

Built at Romsey (UK), the transport of this Hovercraft was held up for several weeks. This was after reported attempts by the LTTE to photograph it whilst it was in a UK port and subsequent plans to attack it whilst in transit. These threats led to cargo operators being reluctant to transport it to Colombo with security personnel on board. But, arrangements were, however, made to bring it under strict security conditions. Navy personnel have been trained to run the Hovercraft. 

The independence day itself will be on a low key with ceremonies being restricted to military parades. Weapons the security forces personnel will carry have been divested of their firing mechanisms. 

If those were the measures in the City and suburbs, in the re-captured Jaffna peninsula and the battle areas of the Wanni, troops have been placed on alert and other measures taken to thwart any attempts by the LTTE to carry out an attack. 

In the Jaffna peninsula, the measures were in place when a group of Tiger guerrillas ran into a battle with the security forces. The group that included "Thooyawan", the man who has placed his signature on notices sent out to Jaffna residents and Government officials, had been attempting to leave the peninsula when the fighting broke out. 

News reached the Army on Wednesday night of boat movements in the Jaffna lagoon. Army personnel alerted the Navy and the Air Force and began firing artillery into the lagoon. It was after 9 p.m. and the curfew had taken effect. Hence, no other boat movements were expected in the lagoon. It appeared that the boats were to rendezvous with another flotilla in the Palk Straits that was heading towards the peninsula. 

The Sri Lanka Air Force base in Palaly scurried an Mi-24 helicopter gunship to track down the boats. Despite the darkness, the pilot moved into the area and held the gunship right over the boats. The gunners engaged them. In the exchange of fire, a stray bullet hit the rotor of the Mi-24 causing it slight damage. The next morning, security forces learnt from radio intercepts that two Tiger guerrillas had died. Two civlians had also been killed and two more wounded. It is not immediately clear how this came about. 

As reported in these columns last week, there were intelligence warnings to security forces establishments in the Wanni of possible LTTE attacks. It said "an assessment of intelligence reports confirmed with ground forces revealed that LTTE is re-organising its forces in the Wanni mainland to launch a major attack on the security forces personnel deployed on the Mankulam-Oddusuddan axis…….." 

Early this week, the 211 Brigade in Vavuniya was concerned that Tiger guerrillas operating in the area had withdrawn to the Wanni jungles (uncleared areas). That had included local leaders fuelling suspicion that plans were afoot to launch an attack. Major General Shantha Kottegoda, General Officer Commanding the Army's 21 Division has warned installations under his command of the possibility of LTTE attempting to infiltrate cadres from Wanni into Colombo.

These developments come in the backdrop of a lull in the battle areas and hectic activity outside it, both in the security forces and the Tiger guerrillas. The lull came as a relief to the defence establishment which had to cope with security related matters at last Monday's Wayamba provincial polls. 

Yet, the confusion arising out of the setting up of the Joint Operations Bureau (JOB) continued. Last Thursday, Deputy Minister of Defence, Anuruddha Ratwatte, held a conference of the Commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Inspector General of Police and other senior security officials. Though the meeting took place at the Joint Operations Bureau headquarters, the JOB Chairman, retired General Rohan de S. Daluwatte, was conspicuous by his absence. Defence sources said Gen. Daluwatte was present in his office when Minister Ratwatte's meeting was under way. 

According to an official announcement by the Ministry of Defence on January 7, the JOB has been established (on January 6) under the Chairmanship of Gen. Daluwatte to "prepare strategic plans in consultation with the three Service Commanders and present to the National Security Council."

The other responsibilities are: * Co-ordinate the planning operations based on the directions given by the NSC, * Co-ordinate and control the deployment of resources, * Monitor the progress of all operations and * co-ordinate civil administration where necessary after restoring civil administration. 

At Minister Ratwatte's conference last Thursday, some of the matters which are now the responsibility of the JOB, also came up for discussion. Like during all his previous conferences since JOB was set up, Chairman Gen. Daluwatte has been a notable absentee. 

However, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Commander-in-Chief, who set up the JOB, it became clear early this week, envisages a positive role for the JOB in the conduct of the ongoing separatist war. She has directed Gen. Daluwatte to study the military joint command mechanisms as they exist in the United Kingdom, France and the United States. 

Gen. Daluwatte leaves for London on Tuesday (February 2) on the three nation tour which will cover a period of three weeks. He is being accompanied by Brigadier S.R. (Sumith) Balasuriya, Director, Operations at the Joint Operations Bureau and an aide. They will spend three days each in the United Kingdom and France. Their stay in the US will be for ten days and carries an extensive programme. 

Upon his return, Gen. Daluwatte is expected to submit a report to President Kumaratunga, on his observations and any aspects that could be incorporated into the JOB. Though UK, France and United States have their own, different joint command systems, they have been tailored to cope almost entirely with conventional war. However, their respective security arms are trained and equipped for counter terrorism tasks. Moreover, specialised arms are also vested with this responsibility. Hence, the study is likely to focus largely on command and control structures the maximum utilisation of resources and operational planning, among other matters. 

But some influential sections of the defence establishment are disappointed that a representative composition of the security forces is not included in Gen. Daluwatte's delegation. Since the study tour is the product of a Government to Government arrangement, they said, the inclusion of three representatives, each from the Army, Navy, Air Force (and even the Police) would have provided a broader experience for all services to benefit from the opportunity that is being provided by UK, France and the United States.

But JOB officials countered this argument by saying only junior level officers from the three services and the Police had been accredited to the JOB. But that did not seem a convincing answer since the study tour and the composition of the team have been made with the express approval of the Ministry of Defence. Moreover, the Presidential decree establishing the JOB requires it to work through "the respective service commanders for the implementation of all matters pertaining to operations." It adds "The respective service commanders will be responsible to achieve the objectives/tasks spelt out by the JOB." 

In the light of that, the three Commanders and even the IGP would be delighted at the opportunity of sending at least one of their own representatives and thus benefiting from their experience. It is still not too late to accommodate them. 

There is sense in the thinking that representatives of the Services should have been included as members of a study group headed by Gen. Daluwatte. As the functions of JOB concerns the planning, monitoring and coordination of operational matters and advising the NSC in that regard it requires an intimate interaction with the Security Force Commands. 

More so as the implementation of plans are to be the responsibility of the individual Security Forces. Hence the operating procedures between the NSC, JOB and Security Forces HQs must not leave any grey area or room for conflict if the entire exercise is to be successful. It is in that interest that the planning of the functions of JOB should be in consultation with the Services and indeed the Police. 

To ignore joint planning is to leave room for parochiality, a feature which is not uncommon world-wide when rigidly controlled organisations are required to work together. 

Considering that the JOB study tour is to affluent countries whose security concerns are global in nature and vastly different to ours, the need to have a broad based study to suit our needs assumes greater importance.

To import systems out of context or which mismatch our organisational structure, resource base and security requirements will only confuse command and control procedures. This will only add to the conflicting procedures that already prevail which have in no small way contributed to some of the operational mismanagement of the Northern conflict, particularly that of "Operation Jaya Sikurui" (Victory Assured). 

With the coming week's departure of Gen. Daluwatte and Brig. Balasuriya, the Director of Operations, the preparation of strategic plans by the JOB will be put on hold for at least three weeks, till almost the end of February. Thus it would not be a secret to say that a major anti LTTE offensive in the Wanni by the security forces seems unlikely, at least till after the end of next month or early March. That in a scenario where there are intelligence warnings of possible LTTE attacks. 

As reported in these columns last week, the defence establishment has been busy with more procurements – a move which clearly signified that tougher counter measures against LTTE actions were under way. This includes the procurement of Russian built Mi-35 (the export designation of Mi-24) helicopters, a deal for which no tenders have been called. The two Mi-35s to be procured is to cost US $ 2.4 million or over Rs 160.8 million. 

But another deal to counter the air threat posed by Tigers is the procurement of over US $ 50 million worth of military hardware to counter air threats posed by the LTTE. They include Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs), Air Defence Guns, Short Range Battlefield Radars, Mobile Air Defence Radars and Thermal Imagers. 

If the confessions of a captured Tiger guerrilla are true, then the issue of procuring them hurriedly becomes questionable. Keethan, a hard core Tiger guerrilla who was captured in combat, has told his interrogators that a light fixed wing aircraft procured by the LTTE had crashed killing its only two occupants, a pilot and a passenger. 

Keethan, identified as a senior member (who carried an early series serial number for identification) said he was lying injured at a make-shift medical centre in the Wanni when he saw the light aircraft crash. He had later heard that two Tiger guerrillas including the pilot had died. He has also revealed several other matters but for obvious reasons they cannot be spelt out. 

Keethan was one of two Tiger guerrillas who survived a Navy attack on an LTTE convoy off the shores of Pulmoddai on January 11. This took place when a Sri Lankan Navy FAC (Fast Attack Craft) offensive patrol confronted the convoy. Navy officials says they "effectively engaged the convoy destroying three large craft and damaging three others." 

A Navy official said one of the craft was forced to beach near Boulder Point (north of Trincomalee) in area controlled by the Army. Navy craft moved closer to the shore and destroyed the LTTE boat. 

Army personnel on shore recovered a 23 mm gun fitted to the damaged craft, two 50 calibre guns, two MPMG (Multi Purpose Machine Guns), one 7.62 mm Sub Machine Gun. They also arrested two LTTE cadres, Keethan and another. 

Navy officials claim they killed over ten Tiger guerrillas during the confrontation. They say they obtained confirmation of the figure and the ranks of the dead (including LTTE "Lieutenant Colonels", "Captains") from radio intercepts. 

Vice Admiral Cecil Tissera has personally commended the men involved in this offensive patrol since the Navy regards this attack as one of the biggest in the recent years. 

Just before midnight yesterday, another Navy offensive patrol of five fast attack craft confronted what is suspected to be an LTTE logistics convoy of 11 boats. At first, five boats, all said to be equipped with 23 mm guns, had engaged the patrol to be joined later by six more . The engagement off the coast of Chalai had gone on until dawn. 

Navy officials say they fired at the LTTE convoy but were not sure about the damage and the causalties since the vessels had moved towards the coast.

The incident occurred when the Navy patrol was monitoring the movement of two merchant ships 50 nautical miles east of Mullaitivu. Later yeasterday, the Navy intrcepted the two ships, off Trincomalee and carried out a search. Nothing incriminating was found.

So with another independence day round the corner, if one is to reminisce over last year's celebrations, which marked the fiftieth anniversary, many a promise remains unfulfilled. 

That was the year some politicians wished to drive a bus, all the way from Jaffna to Kandy, the original venue for the independence celebrations. That was after the successful conclusion of "Operation Jaya Sikurui." The operation did not then conclude despite the time tables set. The LTTE exploded a bomb at Sri Dalada Maligawa and the venue was shifted to Colombo.

And now that President Kumaratunga has called off Jaya Sikurui and taken the reins of the military machine against the LTTE, the upcoming independence day arrives sans promises and time tables. An anxious nation will no doubt await what follows in the months thereafter.

The Fifth Column

Editorial/Opinion Contents