Gotabhaya: Where was the so-called international
safety net when Tigers brazenly violated CFA?
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Rejecting growing criticism of his recent unprecedented attack on what he termed as the double standards adopted by a section of the international community when dealing with the LTTE, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said that both local and foreign critics had conveniently forgotten that the group quit the Oslo-led peace initiative way back in April 2003 during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the Prime Minister.
"Had Wickremesinghe skilfully handled the peace initiative which was backed by peace co-chairs-EU, US, Japan and facilitator Norway, why did it collapse?" Rajapakse asked.
"Why did they fail to bring them back to the negotiating table? Where was the so-called international safety net when the LTTE brazenly violated the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). They brought in ship loads of arms, ammunition and equipment, forcibly recruited hundreds of children and in an unprecedented attack killed over a dozen Chinese. The Norwegian-led Nordic monitoring mission blamed the attack on the Chinese trawler on an unidentified third party while recommending joint naval action by the government and the LTTE to neutralise the third. Nothing could have been as absurd as this, Rajapakse said. The UNP which now boasts of its efforts to enhance Lanka-China relations turned a blind eye to the transparent attempt at the cover up," he said.
UNP under fire
In fact, the UNP administration had appeased the LTTE in every possible way even after the group unceremoniously quit negotiations, he said. But the international community did absolutely nothing to prevent the disintegration of the Norwegian initiative. they intervened forcefully, the LTTE would not have flexed its muscles," Sri Lanka’s top defence official told The Island.
The Norwegian-led Nordic truce monitoring mission had ruled 111 and 2439 CFA violations against the government and the LTTE respectively by August 31, 2004. Almost half of the rulings against government forces were in relation to harassment of the civilian population whereas there had been 1,424 cases of child recruitment, four assassinations, 45 cases of abduction of children and 359 cases of abduction of adults against the LTTE, the Defence Secretary said..
Tigers given free hand
"The LTTE," he said was given a free hand. The group called a series of high profile anti-government protests styled as Pongu Thamil rallies, carried out sporadic assassinations and rigged the April 2, 2004 parliamentary elections. The EU, in its final report quite rightly pointed out that the LTTE engaged in violence primarily to achieve two targets, he said. Quoting the report, he said the LTTE intended that no other rival Tamil party (or Tamil candidate from the mainstream political alliances) would be able to claim to represent Tamil interests. "A chilling message to this effect was sent early in the campaign when a UNP candidate and an EPDP activist were murdered," Rajapakse quoted the EU as reporting in its final report.
Rajapakse this week accused western nations, especially Britain, of bullying the Sri Lankan government on the issue of human rights. He dismissed warnings from Britain this week that Colombo risked international isolation.
Rajapakse said that critics remained silent as long as the LTTE had the upper hand. The champions of human rights woke up only after Sri Lanka responded appropriately to the threat posed by the LTTE. They were pleased as long as the government did not respond. A case in point was the shameful way Sri Lanka reacted to the assassination of Statesman Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005. The assassination was the culmination of a series of both covert and overt operations carried out by the LTTE in the City and its suburbs, he said.
Water war
Had the LTTE succeeded in defeating the army at Mavilaru in the middle of last year, the situation would have been very different, he said. The LTTE engineered the confrontation dubbed by a section of the press as the water war after it almost succeeded in assassinating Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka April 2006. This was followed by the meticulously planned attempt to blast a passenger ferry carrying over 700 off-duty personnel in May, 2006. ‘Don’t forget the government ordered limited air and artillery strikes only after the assassination bid on the Army Chief," Rajapakse said. He expressed the belief that some of the assassins had moved in after the signing of the CFA.
Police investigations on the assassination attempt on EPDP leader Douglas Devananda revealed that the young female suicide bomber stayed at the Battaramulla residence of the son of former UNP Minister Chandra Karunaratne for over a year. The investigation had revealed that she moved in shortly after the signing of the CFA and worked there as a maid servant before carrying out the attack a few months before the attack on Kadirgamar, he said.
Covert operations
A furious Rajapakse said the UNP had conveniently forgotten the circumstances in which the LTTE mounted high profile attacks in the City and its suburbs. Referring to the ongoing criticism of eviction of about 400 Tamils from Colombo lodges, he accused the critics of taking no notice of LTTE efforts to strike at essentially the political-military establishment. Rajapakse who survived a suicide attack in Colombo late last year regretted the UNP taking political advantage thereby facilitating the LTTE propaganda campaign. The LTTE would do anything to advance its course, a case in point was the character certificate it gave to the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s government in early 1990 just a few months before the outbreak of the Eelam War 11. The LTTE praised the Premadasa administration for the tremendous improvement of the human rights conditions while accusing the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) of a campaign of terror, death and destruction. This was in Geneva, the Defence Secretary said. It was part of their strategy to appease UNP leader Premadasa until they were ready to wage war.
Rajapakse said that the government had to take tough security measures as part of the efforts to neutralise the threat posed by the LTTE. Under the CFA, the UNP had released over 1,000 persons held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The government also suspended the operation of the CFA, disarmed Tamil youth assisting the armed forces and basically made things easier for the LTTE. Had they genuinely ceased offensive action, both overt and covert, the situation would have been different. Unfortunately they took advantage of the lax security measures, the Defence Secretary said, adding that their decision to trigger claymore mines in Jaffna in early December 2005 (weeks after the last presidential election) and the suicide attack on an Israeli-built Fast Attack Craft off Trincomalee was evidence that they meant business. Despite this, the government went ahead with Geneva talks under the auspices of the international community, he said, recalling an ambitious LTTE inspired media campaign to blame claymore and suicide attacks on Tamil speaking civilians. The international community accepted this lie. Both local and international media gave sizeable coverage to LTTE propaganda and in fact some wire services quoted S. P. Thamilselvan as blaming the attacks on the civilians who had been angered by security forces excesses.
Tigers lose east
Had they overwhelmed the security forces in the North-East, peace merchants would have asked the government to talk peace. Had they succeeded, the LTTE would have been in an extremely strong position, the retired Colonel said. The peace industry launched an entirely a different campaign with the focus on democracy, human rights and media freedom once the LTTE lost their initiative. The loss of their major bases in the East along with a sizeable stock of arms, ammunition and explosives, particularly their mortars and artillery pieces had dealt them a critical blow, he said. Although political opportunists continued to question the government’s authority in the East, Rajapakse said that the resettlement of the internally displaced persons in the Batticaloa district was evidence that security forces had regained the area. In fact all civilian centres in the east were in the government’s hands, he said, adding that the ongoing operations in the Thoppigala jungles and west of Omanthai would further weaken the enemy.
Rahapakse said that some people routinely blame security forces for killings, a case in point was the recent massacre of a group of Indian fishermen off Kanyakumari coast. "We were initially blamed," he said but subsequent investigations revealed the LTTEhand in the massacre and the seizure of a large Indian fishing vessel by the group. Had the Maldivian Coast Guard failed to trap the vessel, sink it and capture a group of Sea Tigers and an Indian fisherman, the truth would never have been told.
Those who kept silent when over 100,000 Muslims were driven away from their homes in late 1990 in the North-East and ignored the plight of the Tamils who were chased out from Waligamam area as Riviresa troops regained Jaffna in late 1995 had accused the government of ethnic cleansing, he said. The recent eviction of about 400 was purely a security measure, he said adding that all attacks in Colombo and its suburbs had been carried out by terrorists who had moved in on the pretext of civilians on legitimate business in the city. The only exception was the assassination of TULF stalwarts including A. Amirthalingam during the UNP-LTTE honeymoon. In that particular instance, the killers had arrived in Colombo as part of the LTTE delegation which was flown from the Mullaitivu jungles, he said.
safety net when Tigers brazenly violated CFA?
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Rejecting growing criticism of his recent unprecedented attack on what he termed as the double standards adopted by a section of the international community when dealing with the LTTE, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said that both local and foreign critics had conveniently forgotten that the group quit the Oslo-led peace initiative way back in April 2003 during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the Prime Minister.
"Had Wickremesinghe skilfully handled the peace initiative which was backed by peace co-chairs-EU, US, Japan and facilitator Norway, why did it collapse?" Rajapakse asked.
"Why did they fail to bring them back to the negotiating table? Where was the so-called international safety net when the LTTE brazenly violated the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). They brought in ship loads of arms, ammunition and equipment, forcibly recruited hundreds of children and in an unprecedented attack killed over a dozen Chinese. The Norwegian-led Nordic monitoring mission blamed the attack on the Chinese trawler on an unidentified third party while recommending joint naval action by the government and the LTTE to neutralise the third. Nothing could have been as absurd as this, Rajapakse said. The UNP which now boasts of its efforts to enhance Lanka-China relations turned a blind eye to the transparent attempt at the cover up," he said.
UNP under fire
In fact, the UNP administration had appeased the LTTE in every possible way even after the group unceremoniously quit negotiations, he said. But the international community did absolutely nothing to prevent the disintegration of the Norwegian initiative. they intervened forcefully, the LTTE would not have flexed its muscles," Sri Lanka’s top defence official told The Island.
The Norwegian-led Nordic truce monitoring mission had ruled 111 and 2439 CFA violations against the government and the LTTE respectively by August 31, 2004. Almost half of the rulings against government forces were in relation to harassment of the civilian population whereas there had been 1,424 cases of child recruitment, four assassinations, 45 cases of abduction of children and 359 cases of abduction of adults against the LTTE, the Defence Secretary said..
Tigers given free hand
"The LTTE," he said was given a free hand. The group called a series of high profile anti-government protests styled as Pongu Thamil rallies, carried out sporadic assassinations and rigged the April 2, 2004 parliamentary elections. The EU, in its final report quite rightly pointed out that the LTTE engaged in violence primarily to achieve two targets, he said. Quoting the report, he said the LTTE intended that no other rival Tamil party (or Tamil candidate from the mainstream political alliances) would be able to claim to represent Tamil interests. "A chilling message to this effect was sent early in the campaign when a UNP candidate and an EPDP activist were murdered," Rajapakse quoted the EU as reporting in its final report.
Rajapakse this week accused western nations, especially Britain, of bullying the Sri Lankan government on the issue of human rights. He dismissed warnings from Britain this week that Colombo risked international isolation.
Rajapakse said that critics remained silent as long as the LTTE had the upper hand. The champions of human rights woke up only after Sri Lanka responded appropriately to the threat posed by the LTTE. They were pleased as long as the government did not respond. A case in point was the shameful way Sri Lanka reacted to the assassination of Statesman Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005. The assassination was the culmination of a series of both covert and overt operations carried out by the LTTE in the City and its suburbs, he said.
Water war
Had the LTTE succeeded in defeating the army at Mavilaru in the middle of last year, the situation would have been very different, he said. The LTTE engineered the confrontation dubbed by a section of the press as the water war after it almost succeeded in assassinating Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka April 2006. This was followed by the meticulously planned attempt to blast a passenger ferry carrying over 700 off-duty personnel in May, 2006. ‘Don’t forget the government ordered limited air and artillery strikes only after the assassination bid on the Army Chief," Rajapakse said. He expressed the belief that some of the assassins had moved in after the signing of the CFA.
Police investigations on the assassination attempt on EPDP leader Douglas Devananda revealed that the young female suicide bomber stayed at the Battaramulla residence of the son of former UNP Minister Chandra Karunaratne for over a year. The investigation had revealed that she moved in shortly after the signing of the CFA and worked there as a maid servant before carrying out the attack a few months before the attack on Kadirgamar, he said.
Covert operations
A furious Rajapakse said the UNP had conveniently forgotten the circumstances in which the LTTE mounted high profile attacks in the City and its suburbs. Referring to the ongoing criticism of eviction of about 400 Tamils from Colombo lodges, he accused the critics of taking no notice of LTTE efforts to strike at essentially the political-military establishment. Rajapakse who survived a suicide attack in Colombo late last year regretted the UNP taking political advantage thereby facilitating the LTTE propaganda campaign. The LTTE would do anything to advance its course, a case in point was the character certificate it gave to the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s government in early 1990 just a few months before the outbreak of the Eelam War 11. The LTTE praised the Premadasa administration for the tremendous improvement of the human rights conditions while accusing the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) of a campaign of terror, death and destruction. This was in Geneva, the Defence Secretary said. It was part of their strategy to appease UNP leader Premadasa until they were ready to wage war.
Rajapakse said that the government had to take tough security measures as part of the efforts to neutralise the threat posed by the LTTE. Under the CFA, the UNP had released over 1,000 persons held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The government also suspended the operation of the CFA, disarmed Tamil youth assisting the armed forces and basically made things easier for the LTTE. Had they genuinely ceased offensive action, both overt and covert, the situation would have been different. Unfortunately they took advantage of the lax security measures, the Defence Secretary said, adding that their decision to trigger claymore mines in Jaffna in early December 2005 (weeks after the last presidential election) and the suicide attack on an Israeli-built Fast Attack Craft off Trincomalee was evidence that they meant business. Despite this, the government went ahead with Geneva talks under the auspices of the international community, he said, recalling an ambitious LTTE inspired media campaign to blame claymore and suicide attacks on Tamil speaking civilians. The international community accepted this lie. Both local and international media gave sizeable coverage to LTTE propaganda and in fact some wire services quoted S. P. Thamilselvan as blaming the attacks on the civilians who had been angered by security forces excesses.
Tigers lose east
Had they overwhelmed the security forces in the North-East, peace merchants would have asked the government to talk peace. Had they succeeded, the LTTE would have been in an extremely strong position, the retired Colonel said. The peace industry launched an entirely a different campaign with the focus on democracy, human rights and media freedom once the LTTE lost their initiative. The loss of their major bases in the East along with a sizeable stock of arms, ammunition and explosives, particularly their mortars and artillery pieces had dealt them a critical blow, he said. Although political opportunists continued to question the government’s authority in the East, Rajapakse said that the resettlement of the internally displaced persons in the Batticaloa district was evidence that security forces had regained the area. In fact all civilian centres in the east were in the government’s hands, he said, adding that the ongoing operations in the Thoppigala jungles and west of Omanthai would further weaken the enemy.
Rahapakse said that some people routinely blame security forces for killings, a case in point was the recent massacre of a group of Indian fishermen off Kanyakumari coast. "We were initially blamed," he said but subsequent investigations revealed the LTTEhand in the massacre and the seizure of a large Indian fishing vessel by the group. Had the Maldivian Coast Guard failed to trap the vessel, sink it and capture a group of Sea Tigers and an Indian fisherman, the truth would never have been told.
Those who kept silent when over 100,000 Muslims were driven away from their homes in late 1990 in the North-East and ignored the plight of the Tamils who were chased out from Waligamam area as Riviresa troops regained Jaffna in late 1995 had accused the government of ethnic cleansing, he said. The recent eviction of about 400 was purely a security measure, he said adding that all attacks in Colombo and its suburbs had been carried out by terrorists who had moved in on the pretext of civilians on legitimate business in the city. The only exception was the assassination of TULF stalwarts including A. Amirthalingam during the UNP-LTTE honeymoon. In that particular instance, the killers had arrived in Colombo as part of the LTTE delegation which was flown from the Mullaitivu jungles, he said.
