PROGRESS AGAINST THE TERRORISTS SINCE 2005 TODATE

Publish Post

One Country .................... One Nation ......... Sri Lanka

One Country........ One Nation...... Sri Lanka

Tamils who are living with us. Please don't support Terrorism.

Muslims, Please come to front
Sinhalese, you have to give Peaceful country to all our nation (Sinhala ,
Tamil, Muslims, etc.....)
So please be unite as one
and
come to the front.
Lead the nation..

It is a well known fact that Sri lankan tamils complain of not having a
good peaceful country to live. They say that they are discriminated by
Sinhalese who are the majority.So they ask for a separate land.. Then LTTE
spreading terrorism worldwide by the name of liberation of tamils.

________________________________

BUT

How many Tamils are doing executive jobs in colombo without harm?
How many Tamil businessmen run their own busnesses here?
How manyTamil students study here in universities & other private &
government institutions?
Does any sinhala or muslim person has a problem of their presence here?
Does any one has a problem about the ethnity of Muttayyah Muralidaran,
Jeyaraj Pranandupullai or Lakshman Kadiragamer?

NO
We treat them as equals.
We offer every facility to them


BUT

Can any Sinhala or Muslim person go beyond Wavunia?
Can any Sinhala or Muslim person go & do buisness beyond Waunia?
Can any sinhala or Muslim student study in jafna university, even though
it is under government control?


The well known answer is

NO

They will meat instant death if they do so.


So, Think wisely.
who has the bigger problem?
Its up to u to decide, my friend.

Please Do not support LTTE, they offer nothing but the terror..

______________________________

__


What we have here in Sri Lanka is not a freedom fight as LTTE claims. Its
only bloody terrorism.

If Mr.Prabhakaran is leading a freedom fight as he claims, why didnt he
let his children to be a part of his struggle?


Many children were dead during his so called freedom fight & they were
called heroes by Prabhakaran.

So why did he avoid his two children of becoming heroes?



It is because that he s a businessmen & he s doing the buisness of blood
sacrificing not only sinhalese but only tamils also.

And apart from he loves his children as a beloved parent,

So
what about the parents of the children who were dead & currently fighting
for their leader Prabhakaran?
Why dont they have feelings?


This is the truth that should be understood by every one before
donating or supporting or shouting for LTTE.

________________________________

Do you believe,


Do you know that
Army has destroyed
70% of LTTE


Please do not try to protect the remaining 30% of LTTE
Lets Protect Our country!
Please Give your full support to Sri Lankan ARMY

Please let SL army to finish the terrorism.
At the first time in the history they are allowed to do their job well.
Then we can build a better place ,where everyone of us live happily ever
after as
one true nation .

But
one thing we have to remember,

Whoever die out there in LTTE, or in SLARMY are the brothers &
sisters who are supposed to live free in this country.

Every drop of their blood is red as ours , there is no difference.

One Country , One Nation
Sri Lanka………

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LTTE is falling apart like a pack of cards, says Secretary Defence

(By: Franklin R. Satyapalan)

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday (26) appealed to over 10,000 soldiers who had left the military for various personal reasons during the past four to five years to return to fight for their motherland.

"This is a very decisive juncture when the security forces have got the upper hand and need all the help they can get", he told the Sunday Island.

The Tigers are in disarray - they are falling apart like a pack of cards and fleeing for safety leaving behind heavy guns and artillery as never seen before, Rajapaksa asserted.

The LTTE had left behind one 120 mm mortar and two 81 mm heavy mortars and bodies of 33 senior cadres of the elite Charles Anthony brigade, he said.

"We have spent a lot of money and time on training these soldiers professionally and they had subsequently left for personal reasons. We can expedite the process for them to return and all that they need to do is to come back", he assured.

He said that at one time when he had met TMVP leader Karuna and his deputy, the present Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and asked them to have faith in the political process and to enter the democratic mainstream through the ballot, they harboured doubts about such a possibility.

"Today, they have realized that what they could not achieve through the bullet `they had achieved through the ballot".

"Similarly, request those LTTE cadres who have either been misled by Prabhakaran or realized the folly of their resorting to terrorism to surrender to the Government even at this late stage. We are ready to rehabilitate them and assist them to enter the democratic process", Rajapakse said.

"The LTTE cadres only need to place their faith in the ballot and not the bullet and we are genuinely prepared to help them as we have nothing against the Tamils. We are only against terrorism", he pointed out.

"We will help all those who surrender in the same way we helped the TMVP to develop the Eastern Province by entering the democratic process", he noted.

Time is running out for the LTTE, which is facing defeat. The LTTE is collapsing. It's not very far away - it could be today or even tomorrow, the Defence Secretary said.

"I request the soldiers who left the military to return without delay to assist the ongoing operations in the North".

Courtesy: The Sunday Island

Why the Liberation Tigers are not Liberation Fighters

At its worst, a little learning can indeed be a dangerous thing, but at any time it can be exceedingly annoying. As Marx once expostulated "ignorance never helped anyone yet". In recent days the Sri Lankan press has seen the most careless flinging about of analogies, with the LTTE being written of in the same paragraphs as the IRA, the ANC, Hezbollah, Hamas and Nepal's Maoists. Either the Sri Lankan state or the LTTE is urged to adopt these situations/movements as a model. This is simply ridiculous because one cannot profitably compare apples and oranges, chalk and cheese. The LTTE, while certainly not unique, does not belong to the any of the categories that the earlier mentioned movements or struggles belong to.

The relationship between the UK and Ireland was a colonial one, with the UK being a metropolitan imperialist power, and Ireland being Britain's first and oldest colony. Britain invaded, occupied and settled Ireland with Scottish Presbyterians. Sri Lanka is a former colony, not a former colonial power, and its relationship with the largely Tamil North, though arguably iniquitous, is certainly not - and could not have been-a colonial one. The IRA's struggle was therefore a residual national liberation struggle, complicated by the demographics (the Protestant minority of the North whose elected MPs were vital to the balance of power in Westminster).

After three decades, the Provisional IRA realized that a military victory over the British presence was impossible to achieve. The LTTE has not realized that. The LTTE murdered or attempted to murder those it negotiated with (Premadasa, CBK), moderate ethnic politicians (Amirthalingam), foreign intermediaries (Rajiv Gandhi) and its own negotiators (Mahattaya). The equivalent conduct would have been the IRA murdering Tony Blair, John Hume, George Mitchell and Martin MacGuinness. The IRA had a powerful political arm, the Sinn Fein, which had been in existence for decades. It contested elections in Northern Ireland since the early 1980s, though it refused to take its seats in the Stormont parliament. The LTTE registered a political party as late as 1990, dissolved it in short order, arresting and murdering its chairman, Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias Mahattaya. The IRA did no such thing, because the IRA was no such monstrosity.

Rajiv Gandhi 9th Prime Minister of India. He was assassinated by LTTE while campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate on May 21, 1991 at the age of 46.

The IRA agreed to a settlement which entailed the de-commissioning of weapons under international auspices. The political contours of the settlement fell well short of what the IRA had fought for: troops out of Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland out of the UK. Northern Ireland remains very much part of the UK, the IRA shares power with their Protestant foes and Britain remains a unitary state, unconverted to federalism but with devolution of power. The LTTE has done no such thing because it is no such creature.

Contrary to the nonsensical nattering of some columnists, it is not the case that the Tigers were not offered a reasonable alternative to Tamil Eelam. India did so, with the Indo-Lanka Accord. Though Sinhala chauvinist limited the scope of devolution, Prabhakaran did not go to war against the Sinhala Army - which was "gated" by the IPKF-but against the Indian peacekeeping force, proceeding to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil in 1991. Premadasa was willing to give Prabhakaran "the North east on a silver platter" according to Anita Pratap (Island of Blood), but that wasn't good enough. Nor was Chandrika's offer of a restructuring of the Sri Lankan polity into a union of regions. True, Sinhala opinion was opposed to it, but it is not as if Prabhakaran sat down and concurred. He had broken off contacts by blowing up two naval gunboats in Trincomalee harbour-and for his pains, lost Jaffna at the end of that year, never to regain it. Contrary to the lie that federalism was never on the horizon, it is the Tigers that pulled back from and disowned the Oslo understanding to "explore a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka". Anton Balasingham wrote a tract disclaiming any such understanding and provoked even the Norwegians into releasing the minutes of the talks containing that understanding. Lastly, we have the example of the LTTE's sabotage of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesingthe's Presidential campaign, which, had it been successful, would have resulted in a discussion - though not inevitably an acceptance - of the ISGA and/or PTOMS.

Given that both the structural situation and the actors are very different from Sri Lanka and the LTTE, the Northern Ireland model is no model at all.

Things turn even more irksome for the informed reader when encountering references to the ANC, Hezbollah, Hamas and Nepal's Maoists as recommended models for the Tigers.

Ranasinghe Premadasa (June 23, 1924 - May 1, 1993) was the 3rd President of Sri Lanka from January 2, 1989 to May 1, 1993. He was assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing by the LTTE.

The ANC fought for majority rule against apartheid which was a form of entrenched minority rule. Sri Lanka's only experience with minority rule was under colonialism. A democracy however flawed, Sri Lanka's system is one of majority rule and its problems arguably are in balancing majority rule with minority rights. The LTTE's struggle is for a separate state in which the country's minority would be the majority. The ANC was a multiracial organization while the LTTE is mono-ethnic. The ANC was scrupulous in its exercise of violence, carefully targeting its attacks and eschewing violence against civilians or which could affect them. For the mono-ethnic Tigers, terrorism is a major mode of struggle, in a cause which is the direct opposite of majority rule.

Hezbollah, which as a guerrilla army stands in the same relation to the Tigers as the Jimi Hendrix Experience does to Abba, was formed in 1982 with the support of Iran's Pasdaran, as a direct result of and response to a cross-border invasion and partial occupation by a foreign power, Israel. With a solid political base and Parliamentary representation, it is a classic resistance movement against external invasion. The Sri Lankan armed forces have not invaded any other country (not for a millennium anyway), so an armed movement against it cannot be resistance movement against the foreign invaders of a sovereign country, nor can it be compared with such a movement. Furthermore the Hezbollah did not wage war against Iran or Syria and proceed to murder either an Iranian or Syrian leader, as the Tigers did to the IPKF and India's Rajiv Gandhi.

Hamas, though much less successful than the Hezbollah, is also a resistance movement against foreign occupation and annexation, in violation of four decades of UN Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions.

Nepal's Maoists waged a revolutionary war against an entrenched hereditary monarchy. Sri Lanka is a democracy. In any case Nepal's Maoists have been the first to make the point, on the record to the Hindu, that the Tigers are nothing like them whatsoever, and that the LTTE has no political program or ideology other than that of separatism pure and simple.

I am not splitting hairs. My fundamental points are these:

Former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s first public address after the assassination attempt, allegedly by the LTTE suicide bombers, at her final election rally at Colombo Town Hall premises on 18 December 1999. As a result of that suicide attack she lost Vision in her right eye

Firstly, given the character of their causes and the enemies they fought against, the intrinsic nature of their struggles and the absence of serious reform options, every one of these movements, the ANC, IRA, Hamas, Hezbollah, Nepal's Maoists were/are waging legitimate armed struggles which fall into the category of Just Wars, although their methods have not always been just or legitimate, unlike those of the Cuban, Nicaraguan, Vietnamese and Chinese liberation struggles. Neither in its content nor in its conduct is the armed struggle of the LTTE just and legitimate.

Secondly, in analytical terms, the LTTE has to be compared with other armed separatist or secessionist movements, and more specifically, with separatist movements waging war against sovereign democratic states (Chechnya, Kashmir, Nagaland, the Moros, Kurds, the Basque ETA) rather than autocracies (Eritrea). The corollary is that the Sri Lankan conflict has to be compared with situations of independent national states with electoral democratic systems, facing separatist insurgencies.

Thirdly, since the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 the main obstacle to peace in Sri Lanka is not that Tamil nationalism has not been offered a reasonable alternative to separatism. It is that the LTTE has an inflated self-image of what it can and should hold out for, which does not correspond to its performance as an armed movement. That is a subset of the larger problem, namely that Tamil nationalism has a sense of superiority which is mirrored neither by the military achievement of its armed spearhead the LTTE nor by collective arithmetical strength within the polity. It is a problem of the false consciousness of Tamil nationalism - may I say Jaffna Tamil nationalism - and its selected or self selected vanguard, the Tigers.

by Dayan Jayatilleka

(The views expressed here are the personal ones of the writer).

courtesy: The Island

'Victory day not far off'- An interview with the Army Chief, Gen. Sarath Fonseka

Days of pampering "Arm - Chair' Generals Over:

Agreeing that the national problem could only be solved through political means, the Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said that not only Tamils but also Sinhalese and the Muslims need political solutions to solve some of their problems.

He said that the political solution should be completely different from what the LTTE and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were clamouring for. Their ultimate goal is to destroy Sinhalese as was revealed by the 'Eelam Pandiyan' cadres, who had surrendered earlier."

They admitted that they were motivated by the LTTE during their training period not only to kill the Sinhalese soldiers but also the Sinhalese people as well".

The Army Commander said that numerous problems faced by the innocent Tamils in the North and East due to LTTE terrorism would not be solved by making R. Sampanthan or someone else the Prime Minister of the so-called Eelam.

Welcoming President Mahinda Rajapaksa's invitation to the LTTE to resume peace talks provided they lay down their arms, the Army chief assured that the Army's forward march to liberate Wanni would continue without any hindrance.

Commenting on recent allegation on the attack on the media, Lt. Gen. Fonseka said that he has a huge military arm with a strength of over 162, 000 men who have been trained to kill but not to assault.

"Certain media personnel, who have been misled by certain disgruntled military officials, do not write in the interest of the people and the country. How can they demand media freedom when they do not follow basic ethics", he queried.

LTTE's route to ferry across ordnance is blocked with the capture of Vidathalathivu. Some more LTTE controlled areas to be captured before NCP elections. President and the government will no doubt deserve the credit for the military victories. LTTE avoid confrontations with the military to minimize their casualties. LTTE have lost over 9,000 cadres in the last two years and 3000 have been forcibly conscripted. LTTE Leader Prabhakaran is good as dead and is too old to command a terrorist outfit. Prabhakaran's true nature shows when he kills unarmed civilians whenever defeat stares at his face. Army never had an overall strategy earlier to fight and capture LTTE controlled areas. The strength of the Sri Lanka Army has risen from 118,000 to 162,000, with a reserve of 12,000 well trained soldiers in the North. The Army was not responsible for the attack on Keith Noyair. Some disgruntled high ranking military officials provide misleading information to the media. Top Army officers are frustrated because their personal welfare is not looked after at the expense of Army welfare. Officers who ran away from Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass battle fronts are senior Generals in the Army now today.

Excerpts:

Q: What is the strategic importance of Vidathalativu and what would be the impact on the LTTE which had lost its main Sea Tiger base after 18 years of control?

A: Vidathalathivu was a major Sea Tiger base in the Western coast, where most of the sea operations of the LTTE were launched. They maintained this base to smuggle in arms and ammunition from India via the Mannar islands.

Now all their operations in the West are blocked and have to operate from Nachchikuda side, where the movements are quite difficult. The main thrust has now reached very close to Thunukai. The Kokkadival and Kadavan have to be captured to protect the Western flank.

Q: But the Opposition has claimed, that Vidathalativu, was abandoned by the LTTE some weeks ago and now dominated by the military, has become a show piece to get political mileage during the forthcoming North Central Provincial elections?

A: I feel the Opposition must be conducting some reconnaissance missions in these areas. The military is no doubt entitled to get a political mileage especially after capturing areas like Vidathalathivu and Mannar.

Most probably we will capture many more places before the elections. Are they expecting us to sit and wait until the elections are over? We would like to know who the people are keep monitoring our movements from their houses.

Q: They also claim that the Army helps the government to take political mileage through some of these military victories. How do you see these allegations?

A: The President of the country being the Commander in Chief is entitled to get the credit for all these military victories. He is the one who takes decisions and responsibilities of launching these major offensives. Wars are launched by the governments and credit of its success will naturally go to the government and not to the Opposition.

Do they expect the Army to lose these battles and face reversals? So, then the credit will not go to the government like what had happened in the past.

Q: You have set deadlines to capture Wanni in the past and also gave an assurance of a turning point in August. Is the military ready to go for this target now or do you have to reset another time-frame?

A: No, I never gave specific deadlines as such but what I said was that I will here to capture Wanni during my tenure of office. And, I never said as to when I will be finishing my term. That depends on how long the President wants me to serve. I will do my best to finish it within a reasonable time.

I don't think any layman would ever think of capturing such a massive area killing 8,000 to 9,000 terrorists in the process within an year. We captured Vidathalathivu and the troops have advanced 3kms within a day.

In Chirandikulam we killed 25 terrorists few weeks ago. Now we have seven km north of Chiraddikulam and three km in the south of Thunukkai.

The changes are taking place in the battle fronts. The Army could not move even 100 metres further up and we fought for months to inch forward. But now the troops are getting into a faster mode. We had only 12 casualties last week whereas those days there used to over 40 soldiers who get killed.

Now they do not confront us as earlier, where we were able to kill more than 150 terrorists a week. Last week only 15 terrorists were killed. The LTTE is avoiding confrontations with us as they do not want to suffer high number of casualties. They have now changed their way of confronting us.

Q: Isn't this pattern changing because that they are facing a severe shortage of manpower?

A: Yes, that has resulted to a greater extent. They have lost over 9,000 in the last two years. The number of cadres were killed in the East was over 2,000, then over 1,000 in Jaffna, 3,000 in Wanni, over 2,000 in Mannar, and over 1,000 in Weli Oya. The Air Force has killed about a 1,000 and the Navy has killed 329. These official figures were officially released at the last Security Council meeting.

The total number of casualties is very high. According to intelligence there are over 5,000 cadres in the North including their political cadres, home guards in bunkers and Nadeshan's cadres. The LTTE has recruited over 3,000 people forcibly. The quality of their fighting has deteriorated.

In addition to the shortage of manpower, the LTTE lacks leaders, after the death of their so called leaders, Anton Balasingham, Tamilselvam and Balaraj. Prabakaran is as good as dead and is too old to lead a terrorist outfit. Normally terrorist leaders are aggressive and young people. So the LTTE is fighting a losing battle while the Sri Lankan military is becoming stronger day by day.

Q: According to a certain media, the number of LTTE cadres killed is different from the figures that you give. So some claim that it is a numbers game to continue with the war. What do you have to say ?

A: The Army gets these numbers from our intelligence by listening to the LTTE transmissions. After every confrontation, the LTTE updates these numbers and they are not decided by the Army.

In Vidathalathivu, the LTTE has lost over 30 terrorists and these numbers are confirmed by their transmissions. People who claim that this is a numbers game are the ones who believe that the terrorists, and also have more faith in the LTTE than the Sri Lankan Army.

Q: You have said that the LTTE's days are numbered. How confident are you that you can eliminate the LTTE before the end of your tenure?

A: Yes, why I say that their days are numbered is by comparing what had happened during the last two years. In the last two years they have lost territories, the East and now Mannar. Over 1,200 square km area in the North have now been captured. This same trend was there for two years when we liberated the East and the same will followed until we capture the North.

LTTE has lost two thirds of its manpower and a large stock of weapons including 2,500 rifles and other heavy weapons. They are running out of arms now. As the fighting is going round the clock the LTTE could not remain without ammunition and weapons to face us. So, I don't think that the LTTE can keep pace with this schedule. It is an impossible task for them.

Q: How do you assess the input of the intelligence services? Are they more efficient than it was some years ago?

A: Yes, at the moment they are doing a tremendous job. In the past when we were in the field we did not have confidence in their services. They were actually doing basically, 'post mortems' on the movements of terrorists and how their planned attack.

Now the situation has changed and we can rely on them who give us accurate intelligence information on terrorist activities, their strength and possible actions that they may resort to. We revamped the intelligence services with some important changes.

Q: Innocent people in Yala still come under LTTE attacks. Why has the military failed to capture the LTTE terrorists who have a free run in Yala?

A: It is a long 90 km stretch of jungle terrain, with a width of 40 km from Yala to Kanchikuddichchiaru in the Eastern Province towards Ampara. The group which had shot at the bus was the same group that had fired at the Army patrol in Panama about a month ago.

They have used the same weapons this time as well. When they are defeated they use very cheap tactics under the instructions of Prabhakaran, who has never being humane. After the Army clears the Kanchikuddichchi area, the STF will set up new camps in this area to deter them. We have already taken steps with the STF to hunt them.

Q: You have taken part in almost all the major military operations in the last 25 years. Where do you think that we had failed and why?

A: We had failed due to many reasons. The main reason was the Army did not have an overall strategy to fight and capture the LTTE controlled areas. We were only going for very limited operations. We launched offensives without aiming to capture Jaffna and there were no plans to liberate the East.

We commenced operation 'Jayasikuru' and fought for three years without a proper plan to eliminate LTTE cadres from that area. We merely captured camps. We were limited only to certain operations like the rescue of Jaffna Fort or the Elephant Pass. The Army started Eelam war I and II just to rescue camps.

At that time we did not have plans to deploy troops to hold on to these camps. While we were conducting operations in the North the Army vacated all the camps in the East. When I was the Brigade Commander, Welikanda, I remember how we vacated Mavil Aru, Vakarai and Kadiraweli in 1993 and in 1994 because we were attacked from the Punani - Valaichchenai road.

Today, we have an overall plan and this plan did not come up from nowhere. We worked very hard, trained troops, then created over 40 new battalions, and then we have deployed over 8,000 additional troops in the East. And we have a reserve about 12,000 in the North, where we had only 1500 earlier.

In Wanni, Mannar and Weli Oya, over 13,000 troops are going on the offensive operations. We have filled almost all the vacancies. The Sri Lanka Army which had a force strength of 118,000 has now gone upto 162,000.

We have put lots of efforts on training and the expansion of the Army. Although we are fighting in Mannar, Weli Oya and Vavuniya we are also planning ahead to capture Kilinochchi or Mullaithivu. The top officials of the Army do not sit in well secured offices and give them orders. Guidelines are very clear and don't give impossible tasks, so the soldiers are going ahead with lots of confidence.

Q: The Chief Opposition Whip, Joseph Michael Perera has accused you of having a special squad to attack media personnel who are critics of the military. Is there any truth in what he says"?

A: I have a large force operating with a strength of 162, 000 who have been trained to kill and not to assault. He who says all these things must furnish all the details to the police if he has all the information. I think he has lots of sympathy for me. No point in him talking inside the Parliament, where nobody is going to take any action. As far as what he has mentioned all what I can say is that these are baseless allegations.

Q: But it is reported that the Army is behind the attack on Keith Noyair of The Nation newspaper who had written a military story criticizing the military few weeks before the attack. What do you have to say about this allegation?

A: How many other journalists write political or military columns? Why should the Army attack only on Keith Noyair. I have never seen anywhere that Keith Noyair had said that the Army had attacked him. Some people are trying to put us against him. He has never accused that the Army had assaulted him. And I think perhaps he is guilty that he has done something wrong by writing against the military.

Q: Is he tight-lipped because he is supposed to be in fear of reprisals?

A: If he has not done anything wrong, he does not have to live in fear. If he has done some damage to our organisation or to a person, especially when he has done something which he is not suppose to do, then it is natural he must be living in fear. If they think that they have done something of that nature the best thing for them is to correct themselves and rectify the mistake.

Q: What is the role you expect the media to play during the time of war?

A: War or no war, the media should write in the interest of the country and not to please their favourites. The media is supposed to play a neutral role to educate people. They are not supposed to create situations where they groom people and make heroes out of them. I do not think that certain media in this country is doing their duty with a sense of responsibility.

We know that they are being bribed, given 'drinks', treated in restaurants and they have their own vested interests. And is it ethical them to go for agendas misleading people?.

These so called media guys are not responsible to the people and they are not entitled to such media freedom. Media freedom is there for you to do the right thing and to be fair by everybody. Nobody has given freedom for anybody to drive their own agendas. We know very well about those media people who take bribes, write and voice their opinion for some personal gains.

That Keith Noyair who was assaulted was returning from a restaurant with his friends and they were drunk. We do not know that somebody in the restaurant had got annoyed with them, followed him and assaulted.

So, especially the media people should behave well and set an example to others. To me, those who stage protests with unshaven beards, long hairs and wearing costumes like in fancy dress competitions are not scribes who are clamouring for media freedom but a gang of thugs.

Q: Journalists too have the right to stage protests demanding media freedom, justice and their appearance seems to immaterial. Can you deny that right?

A: They can stage their protests in a decent way. I do not mind learning from them if they can behave properly. Behaving like thugs! Is that what you call media freedom? They can talk if some thing goes wrong in the interest of people and the country. They can point it out. I am ready to learn from those who have a sense of responsibility towards national interest.

Q: Some media organisations claim that the military wants to cover up reality in the name of war. What is your comment?

A: I hope I have explained the reality of some of the media people in this country. Those who are criticising on the progress that the Army has made, by confining to their editorials can come with us to have a look at most of the bunkers.

It is a shame that some of these journalists who criticize the military have never gone beyond Madawachchiya. When the offensives were going on in the East they had never stepped beyond Manampitiya.

This is how they write their criticisms claiming the military assault and the media to cover up the reality. So, we can arrange these media personnel to listen to terrorist transmissions. But they have to write what exactly that they listen to.

Meanwhile, I want warn these media guys to beware of those disgruntled high ranking military officials. They are the ones who are leaking out misleading information to the media. We know about them and have sidelined them now.

Q: There is a claim that certain top military officials are frustrated as they are not getting their due promotions. What are the steps taken to rectify the situation?

A: Yes, they are frustrated because we are now not looking after them. I want the Army to look after the welfare of the country. Our army officers can not walk around like US or British Army officers.

These people are frustrated because I am not going out of my way to look after their welfare at the expenses of the Army welfare. If I put a weak man to command a division and thereby sacrifice hundreds of soldiers like what happened in Mullaithivu, Elephant Pass and Killinochchi.

Then I will be really looking after them. Those who ran away leaving their command posts in Mullaithivu, kilinochchi and Elephant Pass are senior Generals in the Army now. Their welfare have been perfectly looked after that time. But who looked after the welfare of those who died and went missing? Do they want me to do the same? No, I will never do that.

Those who can't produce results will not be looked after and the only way that I can help them is by helping them to get a job outside. Because, there are lots of jobs for retiring Generals and Brigadiers.

There are others in the Army who deal with anti-war NGOs and the media to insult the Army. These are the people who leak information and pass the wrong information to create unfortunate situations.

So the media should be careful about these disgruntled top military officials. I am not occupying this seat merely to look after those failured officers.

Q: President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reiterated the willingness to resume talks with the LTTE, if they lay down their arms. Do you think that holding peace talks is necessary when the LTTE is getting cornered?

A: Yes, only if they lay down arms and come for peace talks after totally stopping terror activities. In such an environment, the President's willingness to negotiate with the LTTE is absolutely a correct decision.

Q: If the LTTE accept the condition to commence peace talks will the military be confined to the barracks?

A: That will never happen. They can continue with the Talks but we will clear the North. The President had never said that forward march of the Army to liberate the North will have to stop. Our troops will carry on.

Q: We can achieve military victories against LTTE terrorism. But do you agree that the national problem can be solved only through political means?

A: Yes, I think the whole country needs some political changes to solve certain problems. So these political solutions have to come not only for Tamils but for all the communities.

Some Tamil political, especially the couple of TNA MPs who say some thing here and utter differently when in the LTTE controlled areas may have some serious political problems which no one can address as their aspirations are totally different.

In those war torn areas the people are facing tremendous hardships.

The damage due to war is huge and they do not have better infrastructure like roads and bridges like in other areas. People are uneducated and children are suffering from malnutrition.

These problems cannot be solved by making R. Sampanthan or somebody else the Prime Minister of the so-called Eelam. These people need solution for these problems.

Courtesy : Sunday Observer

Troops Liberate Illuppaikkadavai

Sri Lanka army has declared Iluppaikkadavai town liberated ending 21 years of terror rule of LTTE this afternoon (July 20). According to defence sources troops of Task Force 1 and Commando brigade encircled the remote town situated 12 km North of Vidattaltivu by last night and entered the town this morning.

The sources further said that another large LTTE stronghold situated on the Northwestern coast of the Island has fallen with the new victory.

Military spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara speaking to defence.lk said that troops have also captured the largest LTTE base situated on Northwestern coast. He said that this base was not a Sea Tiger base but used for other terror activities in the area during last 2 decades.

Speaking further he said , troops of Task Force 1 has already marched about 2 Km North of Illuppaikkadavai town and consolidating their defences at present. At least 15 LTTE cadres were killed during the battle ensued during last 48 hours in the area , he added.

Vidattaltivu Liberated; terrorists suffer fatal blow

Gallant soldiers of Army 58 Division and Commando Brigade have liberated the strategically important Vidattaltivu town this morning (July 16), said the defence sources in the Mannar warfront.

According to defence sources, Vidattaltivu is the biggest town situated on the North- Western coast of the Island, 20 km North of Mannar and is the main Sea-Tiger base cum the logistic hub of the LTTE in the West. This is the first time after the departure of Indian Peace Keeping Force in 1987 that troops have dominated the area , the sources added.

Defence observers are in the view that the lost of Vidattaltivu would cast a fatal blow on LTTE as it has lost the most important Sea-Tiger base in the present context. According to them the terrorists have no other option than to shift their Sea-Tiger assets to a makeshift camp further Northwards with the lost of its well-established sea borne operation base.

'A carnivore's offer to be herbivorous'- Island Editorial

The best indication of a terrorist outfit's failure to get out of a cul-de-sac it fights its way into is an offer of a truce. When it is strong and cocky, it doesn't give a tinker's damn about peace; it unleashes hell on others. But, when it sees the writing on the wall, it waves an olive branch tied to a gun barrel hoping that its enemies would fall for the trick.

This exactly is what the LTTE is reported to have done. According to a statement attributed to LTTE political wing leader Nadesan, it has become amenable to a ceasefire all of a sudden! This has come as no surprise. A ceasefire is the only hope for the LTTE, which is being encircled in the Wanni. The history of its armed struggle shows it sues for peace every five or six years to gain a boost for its war effort.

Having carried out its first major attack on the military in 1983, the LTTE formally entered into a ceasefire with the Premadasa government in 1989 and their honeymoon lasted till June the following year. After the PA formed a government in 1994, the LTTE, having lost a part of the Eastern Province due to a military campaign by the Wijetunge government, lured the Kumaratunga government into accepting its offer of a truce, which it torpedoed in 1995 by sinking two naval gunboats in the Trincomalee harbour. Prabhakaran made peace overtures again in 2001 and signed a Norwegian drafted CFA with the UNF government the following year.

The last truce, unlike the previous ones which had lasted only a year or so, dragged on despite serious violations thereof by the LTTE for about five years. Its extraordinary life span was due to three factors: The post 9/11 anti-terror drive by the leading western nations and the attendant apprehension on the part of all terrorists groups the world over, the 2004 tsunami disaster, which had a heavy toll on the LTTE and, most of all, the benefits that accrued to the outfit from CFA such as some legitimacy for its macabre cause through peace talks held in foreign capitals, freedom of movement and opportunity for arms smuggling and infiltration.

The LTTE would still have been benefiting from its wish-granting CFA, while violating it with impunity, having scuttled peace talks in 2003 under the UNF government, unless the present regime had abrogated it officially last year after the LTTE plunged the country back into war in 2006 by capturing the Mavil Aru reservoir.

One may think war is the only means through which the LTTE has sought to achieve its goal of separation. But, 'peace', too, has become part of its strategy, as evident from the punctuation of its war effort by ceasefires.

Until 2006, the war had been fought according to the LTTE's time table. When it wanted war, governments responded militarily and when it sued for peace, governments naively reciprocated its peace offers. Thus, it was able to bring about a discontinuity in State military policy under successive governments. In 1989, the LTTE managed to make the Premadasa regime depart from JRJ government's and India's military campaign. In 1994/95, it succeeded in making the Kumaratunga government abandon the military strategy of the Wijetunga regime, which was doing something similar to what is being done by the Rajapaksa government at present -- liberating the East and moving northwards. (Ironically, the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is opposing war today, was chairing the National Security Council meetings under President D. B. Wijetunge!) In 2001, after the UNF's victory, the LTTE's peace overtures caused the Wickremesinghe government to bid farewell to its predecessor's war effort.

The present military campaign against the LTTE has become successful, as it is not being conducted according to the LTTE's timetable.

The LTTE at present is in the same predicament as the army in 1999, when the latter's camps fell like nine pins. Today, the LTTE camps have become fixed targets vis-…-vis a highly motivated and well-equipped army forging ahead on four fronts. The Tigers are badly cornered with their supply routes being blocked effectively. For the first time, they have lost control of the East and Jaffna at the same time and are facing an advancing army in the Wanni with the Air Force and the Navy on the offensive.

Until a few months ago, the LTTE boasted that the army was stretching its legs far too wide in the Wanni and it would learn a 'bloody lesson' in time to come. But, today theLTTE supporters have changed the tune. Now they are arguing that the LTTE cannot be wiped out, as it has the capability to survive as a typical guerrilla movement. They have chosen to ignore the fact that the LTTE no longer enjoys the support of the populace as manifest in the absence of volunteers to fight for it. It has had to forcibly recruit the young and the old alike as cannon fodder. As we pointed out in a previous comment, resentment of the people under the LTTE's jackboot is only too well known. This is what the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) the UTHR (J) has said about the public mood in the LTTE-held terrain: "Several LTTE leaders who deal with the people know the extent of resentment and the curses uttered out of their hearing. Instances of popular jubilation have also been reported when air force bombers hit an LTTE target. At a place 12 miles north of the frontline, a senior LTTE leader told some friends, `Should the Army advance this far, the people would rebel against us!" -- UTHR (J) Special Report No: 28, Dec. 04, 2007. Thus, it may be seen that conditions prevailing in the Wanni are far from favourable to the LTTE.

No wonder Prabhakaran has decided to swallow his pride and offer a truce. The only way the LTTE can break free from the mounting military pressure is to get a truce, regroup, rearm and make a comeback in the areas from which it has been banished, under the false pretext of doing 'political work'.

The LTTE demonstrated that it was not interested in peace making yet another time in 2003 by unilaterally walking away from peace talks while a robust peace process was in place with the UNF government pandering to Prabhakaran's whims and fancies.

The LTTE needs to be asked some questions as regards its truce offer: Is it willing to give up Eelam? Will it abandon its ISGA demand? Will it eschew violence and desist from truce violations? And is it amenable to a peace process to be conducted according to a timeframe with independent monitors?

Courtesy: The Island

Tigers Desperately Seeking Help

RECENT LOSSES HAVE resulted in the LTTE openly appealing to the government of Tamil Nadu for help in their war. Despite the popularity of the LTTE cause in Tamil Nadu, the LTTE terror tactics have backfired. The Tamil Nadu Government has turned on the LTTE over the last decade, and this LTTE appeal will fail, the respected military website Strategy Page said.

It said: “The fighting continues to go against the LTTE. The Government reports that over 4,800 LTTE fighters have died so far this year.

The LTTE are using their dwindling cadre (hard core members) to insure that poorly trained (and motivated) conscripts (often teenagers) fight to the death, or at least don’t run away as soon as the army opens fire.

Meanwhile, army long range patrols inside LTTE territory report declining morale among the civilian population, and a dwindling supply of weapons and ammunition (that is, little target practice for new recruits, which is a major factor in the low army casualties.) Army commanders are now openly talking of crushing the LTTE by the end of the year.

In southern India, police have, so far this year, arrested 40 Tamils (18 from Sri Lanka, the test Indians) for smuggling military equipment to the LTTE.
(Courtesy : Daily News)

Humanitarian Operations Go On As Planned

WANNI: OFFENSIVES AND MAJOR OPERATIONS to crush Tiger terrorism went on for another day on Tuesday (8) with several confrontations and damages to their infrastructure reported from WANNI theater of humanitarian operations.

One LTTE bunker at PERIYAVALAYANKADDU in VAVUNIYA was attacked and destroyed by the troops Tuesday (8) around 4.00 p.m. after troops slowly approached it. At least eight LTTE cadres were reportedly killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, fresh confrontations in the general areas of KURUKKAIKULAM and north of PALAMODDAI killed one LTTE terrorist and injured eight more the same day (8), according to the ground troops.

In the meantime, two soldiers sustained injuries due to explosion of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) on Tuesday (8) in ADAMPANKULAM and PERIYAMADU areas.

The same day (8), troops captured four LTTE bunkers north of JANAKAPURA in WELIOYA killing three LTTE terrorists and injuring another around 4.30 p.m..

Troops later recovered one LTTE dead body, two T-56 weapons and one radio set from the scene.

Meanwhile, search and clear operations followed by another confrontation, north of KIRIIBBANWEWA in WELIOYA Tuesday (8) around 2.20 p.m. recovered one Light Machine Gun (LMG), two T-56 weapons and one radio set. The incident caused injury to at least two terrorists but the soldiers escaped unhurt.

In another clash, at least seven terrorists died and nine more were injured Tuesday (8) in the north of JANAKAPURA during confrontations. Two soldiers with injuries sustained in those confrontations were referred for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, six soldiers received injuries due to explosion of terrorist IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and attacks of mortar fire in the areas north of JANAKAPURA and north of KIRIIBBANWEWA during late evening on Tuesday (8).

Air Force Pounds Sea Tiger Boat Movement

MULLAITIVU: FIGHTER JETS of Sri Lanka Air Force targeted a flotilla of Sea Tiger boats in the seas about 1 km off the MULLAITIVU beach Wednesday (9) morning at about 8.00 a.m..

One Sea Tiger boat was completely destroyed while a few others were severely damaged.

Novel by child soldier of the LTTE published by Random House India

(By: Walter Jayawardhana)

An English novel depicting the dreadful life of a child soldier under the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the torture inflicted upon him when he disagrees has been published.

India's Random House has just published the English version of an original Tamil novel blowing the lid off the cruel practice of recruiting and engaging child soldiers in war penned by a former child soldier, himself.

The book has been hailed as "Unusual clarity coming from someone who picked up the gun at 15, had to leave his country before he was 20 and then spends the rest of his adult life as a refugee."

Written by the Tamil author, Sobashakti, in his early thirties, who was born as Anthony Jesuthasan, is a Tamil refugee now living in France, earning a living by doing odd jobs at fast food restaurants and working as a dish washer from time to time. The novel entitled "Gorilla" has been described as 'auto-fiction" and as a memoir since it is based on his dreadful past as a child soldier of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.-one of the most ruthless Tamil terrorist groups in the world.

The young author has also written another novel, three collections of short stories, and most recently, a collection of non-fiction pieces.

The novel was originally written in Tamil seven years ago. Since the terrorist group LTTE and its sympathizers take great pains to censor or banish any art work written about Tamil child soldiers like in the case of the recently produced feature film "Prabhakaran", the author admits it was with great fear that seven years ago he wrote Gorilla, about the cruel practice of kidnapping children for war against their will. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) kidnaps Tamil children from their homes, temple festivals, roads, playgrounds and the schools and imprisons them in abominable military garrisons depriving any access by their parents, at least to talk to them and putting them through rigorous military training and punishing them with beatings and death in the attempts of escape.

The novel has been introduced as follows by its publishers:

"Immensely disturbing, Gorilla plunges us into the village of Kunjan Fields, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Here, amusing local thug Gorilla runs wild and poor Rocky Raj, his son, tries to distance himself from his father's antics. Rocky Raj immerses himself in his studies, but the Tamil Eelam Movement comes to town and he becomes a child soldier. Soon, however, he is thrown out by the Movement for not following orders - then recaptured and tortured. What will be this soldier's fate?

"Filled with characters as strange and violent as they are unforgettable - young girls with bombs concealed in their bosoms, delinquent boys, illicit liquor sellers, wily police inspectors, murderers, prostitutes, farmers, innocents - Gorilla was a literary sensation when it first arrived in 2002. Its publication this year marks the English language debut of a remarkable talent."

Troops attack terror bunkers, LTTE body found - Welioya front

Troops operating in Welioya front attacked and captured 4 LTTE bunkers located in general area north of Kiriibawewa last morning, July 8. During the fierce gun battle sparked between troops and terrorists, 3 LTTE cadres was killed, intercepted radio communication confirmed. 2 more LTTE terrorists were also suffered injuries, sources further confirmed.

In a subsequent search operation conducted in the area troops found a body of an LTTE cadre killed in this ballet. Two T-56 weapons, one radio communication set, an identification tag and a cyanide capsule were also found during this search operation.

Sri Lanka needs YOU! - Give your expertise for the struggle against terror

Sri Lanka's Armed Forces, Police and Civil Defence Force are engaged in a historic battle, as they fight against one of the most barbaric terrorist movements known to mankind; that has caused immense suffering to a nation that lived in peace and harmony for thousands of years. Their success, while ridding our motherland from terrorism will also set a milestone in the global war on terror, the greatest challenge facing modern civilization. The Ministry of Defence invites Sri Lankan academics, professionals, technical experts and strategists in all related disciplines and technologies, living in Sri Lanka or any other country, to contribute their knowledge and expertise for the success of this necessary battle. Our aim is to create a new knowledge base vital for the defeat of terrorism, through a network of committed experts who share our vision: Saving the motherland from terrorism and making sure future generations will live in a single, undivided country, in peace and harmony; moving in unity towards the progress that is the right of all our people. If you believe that our cause is worth achieving and that you can help in achieving it, do send us an email via the link given below with your contact details, areas of expertise and how you will be able to help us. The Ministry of Defence will contact you soon. Sri Lanka calls on her best to open a new chapter in our country's history. visit - http://www.defence.lk/rsa/reportknowledge.asp

Surrendered LTTE cadres joins their families after rehabilitation - Jaffna

Sri Lanka's war on terror is a process that goes beyond military operations. Though many LTTE sympathizers and their stooges in media try to give a wrong picture to the world that LTTE is as a representative of the Tamil citizens in Sri Lanka, there is ample evidence barred from the world that Tamils are nothing but the main victim of LTTE terrorism. This was evident when defence.lk covered the recent release of a group of rehabilitated LTTE cadres by Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna.

A batch of 15 former hardcore LTTE cadres who had been successfully rehabilitated at the Army Protective Accommodation and Rehabilitation Center at Thelippale were released on 29th and 30th June 2008. The rehabilitated men were received by their happy family members who had been invited to the Army establishment.

According to an official of the rehabilitation center, the group is a part of the 54 LTTE cadres who surrendered themselves to the Army in earl March this year. Apart from the re-socialization process, the center conducts short professional courses on building construction, plumbing , automobile technology , electric wiring , and also on English language for its inhabitants, he said. The professional courses has been conducted with the assistance of Technical College, Jaffna, he added.

According to the officials, most of the LTTE cadres undergoing rehabilitation had been forcibly recruited to the terror outfit in their childhood and had not received any formal education. It has been the long used strategy of the LTTE leadership to deprive education to the Tamil youth to make sure they would have no other option than to depend on the terror outfit.

"Some of the youth rehabilitated here had killed dozens of armed forces members in claymore attacks as LTTE terrorist " , told one of the councilor of the Rehabilitation center. "They are now astonished about the kindness they receive from Army whom they had been taught as enemies of their race", he added. He further said that they are no longer blinded by tribalism but undergoing the programs with great enthusiasm hoping to for better productive life.

families who received their rehabilitated relatives expressed their gratitude to the Army officials for creating a future for the them who once had been lost in a fanatic dream. The officials told them that the rehabilitation is just the first step and further guidance will be provided for their relatives when necessary.

Padmanadan Vignashwaran a student qualified for university education was also among the men released. Padmanadan said that he would continue his education without further destroying his future for a terror outfit.