Archive for May, 2008
by Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne
It was a new experience for me, to watch the Human Rights Commission sittings, chaired by Nissanka Udulagama. I know Nissanka as a soft but fast spoken person with a precision mind. A true noble, ever so humble and never gives into perks or pressures. Perhaps the truth will come out from this Commission. We have to cross our fingers and wait. But already there is pressure from racists such as Gomin Dias and SL Gunasekara to tarnish the image of the Commission and that of the commissioners. They want the Government to dismiss this commission, apparently because it is full of people committed to seek the truth! I am not joking. What else can you say about the people such as Manori, Nesiah and Wijeratne? I am sure these racist campaigners will ask whether we are interested in the human rights violations by the LTTE. Of course we are.
Merciless
The LTTE is conducting a ferocious military fight against the Government and as Trotsky said in Their morals and our morals the LTTE terror is merciless. The LTTE is committed to Tamil Eelam and it will fight using all methods available to achieve that. The only moral principle that can defeat the LTTE is total liberty, equality and the right of self determination to the Tamil speaking people. Nothing else. Merciless killing of Trinco Tamil youth or the brutal murder of 17 welfare workers at Sampur is not going to change anything. In fact the cover up of the truth only added salt to the wound.
I was asked to come and watch the sessions by Chandra. He insisted that my presence could give a morale boost to those who stand for human rights against the threats of the racists. I heard that chauvinist leaders visited the commission with threatening behaviour. On that day no such thing could be seen. However, many who were there were happy to see me. The Commission sat in a room designated as the restaurant! Though the battle was of words spoken, breaking the dead silence from time to time, it was a real battle of heroes and villains. Obviously my heroes were Ranjit Abeysooriya, Rathnavel and Chandrapala Kumarage. The trojans were represented by SL Gunasekara and his adjutants. Ranjit, my Achilles, with sharp questioning dissected every word uttered by police DIG Wijethilaka. Were the arms carried by the suspected police officers used in that moment of tragedy? This can be ascertained only by checking the issue and the return of weapons and ammunition from the documents kept at the armoury. Substantial support was given to Ranjit by both Rathnavel and Kumarage. SL spoke very little. Maybe because more words would have brought out more truths. The DSG representing the interest of the police officers followed SL and earned his living. No one can blame the poor bloke.
New technology
This investigation will be completed if and when witnesses who are scared to come in the open are allowed to give evidence by cyber conference technology. Today a real witness may not come physically to the court house, if there are threats that can be proven to be real. New technology allows witnesses to be in a safe place and participate in the commission sitting.
Apparently this has been approved and the foreign money component is already provided but the local component which is an insignificantly small amount is being withheld by the presidential secretariat. Who is protecting whom? Are the killers paid agents of the Mahinda regime? I cannot see in anyway the logic of killing innocent youth or the killing of welfare workers. How can that help to suppress Tamils, if that is the aim of the killers?
However this sort of commission, even if it fails to bring the wrongdoers to books, will give the public a picture of what happened, and who is to really blame. Already the picture is in the making and the continuation of the Commission will expose the horrible repression launched by the Government. Obviously one can understand the eagerness of the chauvinist supporters of the Government to stop the continuation of the Udulagama Commission.
On the other hand, the wilful attack on the Commission will further destroy the image of the Government both locally and internationally. Mahinda managed to please India and the West by appointing a Tamil chief minister in the Eastern province. However the gamble may not work for more than a few weeks unless Mahinda plays a few more tricks to satisfy both his masters and the local followers. One such gamble maybe to continue with the commissions disregarding the pressure from the chauvinists.
May 31st, 2008
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj
The morning of Thursday May 22nd saw a comic scene being enacted in Colombo. Devouring humble “kanji” (porridge) before his excellency President Mahinda Rajapakse was the “honourable” Mohamed Lebbe Alim Mohammed Hisbullah.
The reputed party-hopper from Kaathaankudi was being sworn in as a minister of the eastern provincial council headed by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan.
[M.L.A.M. Hisbullah]
Becoming a provincial minister would be regarded by many as going up the ladder but for Hisbullah it was a case of coming down as the ambitious eastern Muslim politico had aspired for the chief minister post.
In his unprincipled quest for power , Hisbullah had delved deep into communalism and widened the chasm between the Tamil and Muslim communities of the eastern province.
Blinded by his myopic vision of assuming the eastern province chief minister portfolio “Janab” Hisbullah had for a brief period of time engaged in a vainglorious performance that would have surely made “the angels weep”.
After issuing many threats and making several demands Hisbullah like Orson Welles in “The Magnificient Ambersons” had had his “come - uppance”.
The “Sultan of somersaults” was in Colombo grinning from ear to ear as he took oaths before the President as the provincial minister in charge of Health, indigenous medicine, social welfare,probation and child care services, Women’s affairs,Youth Affairs, Sports, Information Technology education, Co-operative development, Food supply and distribution for the eastern province.
Whatever the power and extent of minister Hisbullah’s portfolios there is no denying that Humpty Dumpty had had a great fall.
After clashing bitterly with the Government for appointing Pillaiyan and not himself as chief minister the chameleonic Hisbullah was now reconciled with the regime and ready to work closely for the betterment of the east with “sahodarar” (Brother) Pillaiyan .
Power hungry, unprincipled politicians like Hisbullah may be prepared to turn and twist readily and speedily but the forces they unleash in their bid for power are not contained or transformed so easily.
The reconcilatory atmosphere in Colombo was not prevalent in Hisbullah’s native Kaathaankudi (K’kudi). All was not quiet on the eastern front.
Basking in the warmth of President Rajapakse’s benevolent smile, Hisbullah was apparently in blissful ignorance of what was going on in his hometown when all hell broke loose there.
There had been a killing actually a double killing in K’kudi of two Tamils. This in turn had evoked violent reprisals in neighbouring Aaraiyampathy (A’pathy). Three Muslims were killed. Around fifteen were injured. Some had been abducted. Buses were stoned. Muslim traders were threatened in Batticaloa town.
A major Tamil - Muslim conflagration was ready to envelope the east.
Within hours President Rajapakse saw to it that Hisbullah was put on a special flight and sent to the east as a trouble - shooter.
Hisbullah together with his chief minister Pillaiyan embarked upon the unenviable task of cooling communal passions.
Both men had positioned themselves as champions of their respective ethnicities during the election campaign.
Both had appealed to primordial feelings in a bid to garner more votes.
After splitting the Tamil and Muslim communities further to enhance their political standing both men had now come together to share the spoils. Both were now “united” and going through the motions of peacemaking.
The fundamental fault however does not lie with Pillaiyan or Hisbullah in “ethnicising” the politics of the east. The blame has to be laid fairly and squarely with the Rajapakse regime.
Instead of forging ethnic amity through a multi - ethnic coalition the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA)had cynically exploited the ethnic divide by promising both Pillaiyan and Hisbullah the chief minister post if the members of their respective ethnicities voted for them.
Now the chickens were coming home to roost!
The littoral in Eastern Batticaloa district is often referred to in poetic terms as “Eluvaankarai” or shore of the rising sun. Ethnic Tamil and Muslim villages and towns are interspersed along this picturesque coastal strip.
The adjacent existence of Tamil and Muslim villages has often evoked the imagery of a “puttukkulal” or pittu bamboo where the flour and coconut are packed in layers on top of the other.
This geographical proximity along with usage of a common mother tongue and also shared cultural attributes like the “kudi” or clan system have forged strong bonds between the “Tamil speaking people” of the East.
Yet with ethnic relations deteriorating in recent times this very proximity and shared heritage itself has at times caused tensions and strife. An important bone of contention has been land.
While Tamils dominate hinterland areas to the west of the lagoon known as “Paduvaankarai” or shore of the setting sun, Muslims are concentrated mainly along the “Eluvaankarai”littoral..
Their areas of Muslim habitation are less while population density is more. It is said that Muslims are roughly 30 % of B’caloa district population but own only about 2 % of the land.
This leads to great need for more land among Muslims. The escalation of the ethnic problem has virtually cut off Muslims from the fertile paddy fields, coconot groves and lands for animal husbandry in the hinterland.
Muslims are therefore compelled to seek space for expansion among traditional Tamil areas.
Kaathaankudi is a Muslim village sandwiched in between the Tamil villages of Aaraiyampathy (known earlier as Aaraipathai) and Manjanthoduvaai.
Situated to the South of Batticaloa town along the Kalmunai road, Kaathaankudi has now developed into a booming township. K’kudi has the highest population density and birth rate in Sri Lanka. .
The growth and development of K’kudi has often resulted in tensions with neighbouring Tamil villages. The large population confined to a small area is naturally forced to expand beyond its original boundaries.
The Tamil “liberation” struggle has caused many Tamil villages to become neglected and impoverished. Muslim areas like K’kudi have flourished.
K’ kudi muslims have gradually expanded into Tamil territory. In many instances they have bought Tamil properties.
Earlier K’kudi and A’ pathy were part of the same AGA or Pradeshiya division. It was re- demarcated some years ago on ethnic lines.
The demarcation left much to be desired as Tamil and Muslim lands were inter - mingled in border areas.This contributed to much discord and dissatisfaction among both communities.
It is against this backdrop that the recent anti - Muslim violence in the region should be viewed.
It was around 11. 45 am on May 22nd that two stalwarts of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) on a motor cycle stopped briefly at Kaathaankudi (K’kudi).
They were both on their way along the Batticaloa - Kalmunai road to Aaraiyampathy (A’Pathy) from Batticaloa.
One of the men was Sashidaran alias “Shanthan” or “Aaraippathai Shanthan” of the TMVP. He was the TMVP leader for Aaraiyampathy Assistant Government Agent (AGA) division known officially as Manmunaipatru.
The other was Parasuraman alias Tharshan from Nochimunai who was a sidekick of Shanthan and doubled as a bodyguard cum aide.
While Shanthan remained on the motor cycle ,Tharshan who was on the pillion got down and went to a shop near the bus stand. He bought two cigarette packets and a chocolate slab and returned to the vehicle.
Since there were a few other customers there had been a delay of some minutes to complete the transaction.
The motor cycle was about to take off when some youths on motor cycles blocked it. At the same time a few other youths wearing caps started chasing passers - by and by - standers away from the vicinity.
Shanthan then tried to turn his vehicle about 90 degrees and circumvent the obstacles. Tharshan got off the pillion to make the manouevring easier for his boss. Both were unarmed.
Suddenly two youths with T - 56 assault rifles began firing from the side of a small mosque called Zain Moulana Thaikka. As people screaming in fear fled the scene the TMVP’s Tharshan clambered back on the vehicle again. Both were hit.
Despite the injuries Shanthan managed to steer the motor cycle on to the main road and rode off to the South towards A’pathy.
The gun toting youths gave chase and fired away.
Unconfirmed reports say there were at least two bursts of sustained firing near the Masthijul Hasanath Thaikka mosque and the Meera Balika school.
At one stage Tharshan fell off the vehicle on to the road. .
Shanthan went on riding for a further distance almost near the A’pathy border and then collapsed. This was seen by TMVP cadre near the border.
Then the TMVP cadres from the A ‘pathy office streamed out firing in the air. The gun - toting youths from K’kudi fled . The TMVP cadre retrieved the bodies of Tharshan and Shanthan.
Both were then taken to Batticaloa reportedly with protection provided by the Special Task Force (STF). There is a STF camp close to the TMVP office in A’pathy.
Though the incident had upset routine life in K’kudi and A’pathai for a while normalcy began prevailing rapidly.
It was shortly after 1.00 pm that Shanthan was pronounced dead at the B’caloa teaching hospital. Tharshan was pronounced dead upon admission.
When they heard the news about Shanthan frenzied TMVP cadres went on the rampage against Muslims.
According to TMVP sources this was due to the suspicion that Shanthan had been killed by an armed Muslim group from K’kudi. The TMVP suspects that this “Jihadist” group is heavily influenced by Wahabism.
Ironically many Karuna faction cadres themselves helped this group enhance its firepower when they defected from their parent organization the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004.
Many sold their guns and ammunition to radical Muslim youths. Some even provided clandestine training in firearms for a fee.
The blunder made by the TMVP in seeking revenge against the armed group responsible for the killing was that instead of identifying the perpetrators specifically they were targeting the community at large.
Unleashing violence against innocent civilians under any circumstances needs to be condemned vehemently.
Roughly around 1. 15 pm several TMVP members at Aaraiyampathy came out on the B’caloa - Kalmunai road and started firing at people known to be Muslims.
Since life had returned to normal there were some Muslims from K’kudi in A’pathy. Some were doing business.They were taken by surprise when the TMVP commenced firing.
One of those killed was the highly respected K’kudi businessman Sultan Muhammed Munsoor known popularly as AFRA Munsoor on account of his travel agency AFRA Travels.
42 year old AFRA Munsoor had come to the AGA office in A’pathy and was doing some purchasing at the market when he was shot dead.
Another man from K.kudi , 51 year old M. Abdeen was also shot dead at A’pathy by TMVP cadres. Abdeen was a petty trader who rode a bicycle selling tea.
The TMVP goons also fired at vehicles plying on the B,caloa - Kalmunai road.
One vehicle hit was a lorry (WP PA 9421) belonging to the CEB. Among people injured in this incident were a Sinhala woman and an old Muslim woman.
A van owned by Alli company manufacturing pappadams was also shot at. A Muslim salesman and Sinhala driver were injured.
While this firing was going on another group of TMVP cadre with guns and swords and knives began roaming the neighbourhood in search of Muslims. People living in Tamil - Muslim border or mixed areas fled to other places or kept indoors.
Places like Keechaanpallam, Kaankeyan Odai, Poonochimunai, Ollikkulam, Paalamunai and housing schemes like Karbala nagar and Sigaram were affected as TMVP cadres fired at random.
52 year old T. Farook a fisherman cum labourer from Kaangeyan Odai was hacked to death by TMVP mobs on Kaattumaavadi road.
A shop at Kaangeyan Odai junction was set on fire along with a three - wheeler. The shop was owned by a Muslim , Ansar.
As TMVP violence increased some Muslim youths in K’kudi also formed themselves into groups to protect the community. A few Tamils in the border areas were attacked.
Tamil and Muslim armed groups began stopping vehicles going along the B,caloa - Kalmunai road and assaulting identified members of the other community.
TMVP cadres in white vans began scouring the roads in search of Muslims. Many Muslims escaped by seeking refuge in Police stations and security force camps.
Rumours began spreading that a number of Muslims had been taken off buses at Kallady by the TMVP and killed. The bodies were thrown into the lagoon at Kallady bridge the rumours said. These were proved false.
Two Muslims were abducted by the TMVP at Eravoor when they went to pay their electricity bills. They were 37 year old Cassim Lebbe and 19 year old Abdul Hashim Haneer. Both were supporters of the Muslim Congress.
TMVP cadres also ran riot in B’caloa town. There is a small Muslim colony in the heart of B’caloa town along Sinna Lebbe Street and the area known as Aameen corner. Most of them are businessmen and their families.
Shortly after 2. 00 pm TMVP cadre armed with batons and rods began attacking these helpless , innocent people. Calling them derisively as “Kaakka” the TMVP cadres ordered them to quit B’caloa town.
Many people including elderly persons were mercilessly assaulted. An owner of a grocery sustained serious injuries in the neck and had to be hospitalised.
The Muslims shouting “Allah, Allah” ran for safety to the Jumma Masjid mosque. Some TMVP cadres continued to beat them.
The STF and Police had been strangely inactive for about an hour or so in the initial stages. But the security personnel became active after 2 .30 pm. It was as if some “time” had been given unofficially to the TMVP to retaliate for the killing of Shanthan and Tharshan.
The situation began improving rapidly after the Police and STF got into action. A Police curfew was declared at 3. 30 pm.
Innocent civilians were given protection. Security escort was provided to vehicles. Stranded people of both communities were taken safely to their homes.
Rampaging TMVP cadres were brought under control. Security personnel began patrolling streets and roads. TMVP cadre were prevented from venturing outside their offices and camps.
Five persons comprising two Tamil TMVP members and three innocent Muslim civilians had been killed on Thursday. Around 50 - 60 persons had sustained injuries.
Fifteen of these required hospitalisation at B’caloa and K’kudi. Eleven were Muslims, two Sinhalese and two Tamils. An overwhelming number of those with minor injuries were Muslims.
Meanwhile the newly appointed eastern chief minister Pillaiyan was under strong pressure to take appropriate action. Muslim Congress chief Rauff Hakeem telephoned Pillaiyan and urged him to bring the situation under control.
A group of prominent Muslim clergy and Laity from K’kudi converged late afternoon on 22nd at the Methaipalli Jumma mosque to discuss ways and means of rectifying the situation.
This was followed by a peace conference later in the evening at the residence of the most Rev Kingsley Swampillai the catholic Bishop of Batticaloa-Trincomalee. Several Muslim dignitaries from K’kudi and top Police officials attended.
[From the war front to the the Political table: Eastern province chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan listens to the speeches at the 24 th Chief Ministers, May 31-pic:Sundaytimes.lk]
Chief minister Pillaiyan sent some TMVP representatives. These included Pillaiyan’s personal assistant Ragu, media spokesperson Azad Moulana and two senior TMVP members Seelan and Jeyanthan.
An agreement was reached by both sides to stop all violence and discuss the issues involved with a view to resolving them peacefully.
The Bishop was also a signatory to this agreement. Jeyanthan was nominated as liaison officer between the TMVP and the K’kudi mosque federation.
There was however some violence in the night at B’caloa town. A muslim owned wholesale provisions shop on Pansala road was ransacked of about 12 lakh rupees worth of goods and set on fire.
Attempts were made to set fire to two Muslim owned textile establishments “Sattar tex” and “Marliyas”. Concerted action by the owners and security forces prevented the fire from engulfing the shops.
The arrival of Hisbullah and constant pressure from Colombo saw a refreshing development on Friday 23rd. In a commendable gesture Hisbullah brought Pillaiyan and some of his deputies to the Meera Jumma grand mosque.
This was the same mosque where 103 Muslims were massacred in cold blood while worshipping by the LTTE in 1990. After Prayers Pillaiyan addressed the gathering where he tendered a public apology for the violence unleashed by his TMVP cadres.
He promised that there would be no violence against Muslims in the future. The arch political rivals Hisbullah and Pillaiyan then embraced each other in an act of rapprochement.
However on that night many Muslim dwellings in the Sigaram housing scheme were set on fire.
The funerals of the three Muslim civilians were held at Kaathaankudi and Kaankeyan Odai.
The funerals of the two slain TMVP members were held in their own villages Araiyampathy (Shanthan) and Nochimunai (Tharshan).
They were buried at the “Meenagam” grounds.
TMVP cadres tried to enforce a hartal on saturday in honour of the Slain TMVP members. But Police and STF personnel got the shopkeepers to open up for business.
TMVP cadres stopped vehicles at Thalankudah on May 24th and assaulted Muslim businessmen.. This led to Muslim businesses being closed in protest at K’kudi and B’caloa.
Tension was also building up over the abducted Muslims from Eravoor. B’caloa’s TMVP mayor Sivageetha Prabakharan revealed that the abducted Muslims were safe and that they would be released on Sunday May 25th.
When this did not happen as pledged the Muslims of Eravoor declared a hartal in protest on Sunday May 25th.
When vehicles continued plying on the roads , three buses from the Vaazhaichenai depot bearing the numbers NA 4581, NA 1367 and NA 4984 were stoned by Muslim youths at Eravoor.
Two conductors and seven passengers including a mother and daughter were injured.
In a separate development two Muslim traders SH Mustapha (44) and Sinna Lebbe (43) from the Muslim area of Meerankerny were abducted by TMVP cadres in the Tamil area of Iyankerny.
The TMVP abductors were in a white van and on three motor cycles.
This led to reprisals from the people of Meerankerny.
An armed mob moved from Meerankerny to Iyankerny to unleash violence on the innocent Tamil civilians as revenge for the TMVP abductions. This caused the Tamil population fleeing to Chenkallady.
The situation may have deteriorated further but for prompt action by the Eravoor Police. A police curfew was imposed at 2 pm and the armed mobs were dispersed after firing in the air.
[Pillayan and Hisbullah in a friendly handshake on Friday May 17th morning before the ’split’ in the evening:Pic-sundayTimes.lk]
A special security conference was held where Hisbullah, TMVP representatives and senior Police officials participated.
Acting on a tip - off the Police also raided the TMVP office at Kommathurai and rescued the abducted Muslims from Eravoor. They had been assaulted and bore injuries. The TMVP official in charge of the office was taken into custody.
As the week progresed the situation began to improve and gradually an uneasy state of normalcy was ushered in.
The prospects for durable peace remain dim because the fundamental grievances of the TMVP and K’kudi Muslims have not been redressed.
The TMVP cadres responsible for killing Muslims and engaging in anti - Muslim violence have not been charged.
Likewise those responsible for the killing of Shanthan and Tharshan have not been identified and penalised.
Though the LTTE has been blamed in certain circles the TMVP has not accused the tigers openly.
This is because the TMVP firmly believes an armed Muslim group was responsible. There may have been a tiger connection but the actual act seems to have been planned and executed by Muslim youths.
Police sources also believe a Muslim group was responsible.
This columnist also spoke to some residents of Kaathaankudi by telephone . According to these sources Shanthan was hated in K’kudi as a notorious anti - Muslim person.
There had been a long history of animosity.
39 year old Shanthan whose real name is Palanithamby Sashidaran belongs to a socio - culturally backward community from Aaraiyampathy. He had at one time worked as a labourer for a rich Mudalali in K’kudi.
This experience had embittered him and thereafter he nursed a grievance against Muslims. This feeling was exacerbated by the general mood of Aaraiyampathy vis a vis Kaathaankudi.
Sashidaran had joined the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and functioned under Robert (different to the EPRLF Robert from Jaffna) who also hailed from Aaraiyampathy. Later he had joined the splinter group under Varathan.
The Varathan group of the TELO like that of the EPRLF - Razeek group and PLOTE - Mohan group worked closely with the security forces against the LTTE in the east.
Varathan was killed by the LTTE after the ceasefire of Feb 23rd 2002. Thereafter Sashidaran alias Shanthan was drifting.
When “Col” Karuna of the LTTE revolted and formed the TMVP Shanthan was encouraged by the intelligence apparatus to team up with the TMVP.
This Shanthan did and soon became the TMVP area leader for Aaraiyampathy. Recently when local authority polls were held to the Manmunaipatru Pradeshiya Sabha , it was Shanthan’s wife Christina who topped the TMVP list and was elected chairperson.
Given Shanthan’s hatred towards K’kudi Muslims there was always simmering tension. Muslim traders were intimidated into paying “kappang” to the TMVP.
Apart from extortion, Shanthan also tried to evict Muslims from border areas and supplant them with Tamil settlers.
Shanthan began inciting Tamils of A’pathai against K’kudi Muslims. Many of the shops and market stalls in A’pathy were owned by K’kudi Muslims. Besides there was this feeling that the growth of K’kudi was slowly strangulating A’pathy.
Adjacent Tamil areas like Paalamunai, Kaankeyan Odai, Ollikulam. Keechaan Pallam etc had a strong Muslim presence now. Kankeyan Odai for instance had become 100% Muslim.
New Muslim colonies like Karbala nagar and Sigaram housing scheme etc were strongly resented by the TMVP.
There was fertile ground for mobilising Aaraiyampathy Tamils on grounds of ethnicity against Kaathaankudi. It is always easy to whip up hatred against the “other”.
It must also be remembered that the TMVP is an off - shoot of the LTTE. The LTTE mobilises Tamils against the “Sinhala” state. The TMVP mobilises Eastern Tamils against Northern Tamil hegemony.
Since the party is now the lapdog of Colombo the TMVP cannot whip up hatred against the Sinhala people. But it is always possible to target Muslims . It is even more easier in A’pathy which is both resentful and fearful of neighbouring K’kudi.
The tsunami of Dec 26th 2004 and the military activity in re-taking LTTE controlled territory in the east resulted in a large number of internally displaced persons.
Shanthan re- settled many such Tamil IDP’s in the border areas of Aaraiyampathy - Kaathaankudi. This led to much friction with the K’kudi Muslims.
Violence escalated and there was a crisis early last year. Finally the 23 - 3 commander at that time Col. Subasinghe had to intervene. He promised Muslims that Shanthan would be transferred out of Aaraiyampathy.
After lying low for a while Shanthan returned to his old position in A’pathy. Once again there was Tamil - Muslim friction.
This state of affairs reached a nadir on Jan 12th this year when Shanthan fired at Muslims returning after evening worship at the Karbala nagar mosque. Three persons including a Moulavi were injured.
Complaints were made to the Police and eye - witnesses identified Shanthan as the perpetrator. Yet no action was taken and Shanthan was a free bird.
This led to strong resentment in K’kudi among Muslim youths. A plot was hatched to assassinate Shanthan when possible.
Such an opportunity presented itself on May 22nd when Shanthan stopped at K’kudi with Parasuraman alias Tharshan.
Given the enmity towards him in K’kudi it was a foolhardy or exceptionally brave act on Shanthan’s part to have lingered there without any firearms.
His assassins succeeded in killing him though the operation was somewhat amateurish and clumsy.
Yet the killing at Kaathaankudi is viewed as an act of provocation by the TMVP .
One cannot see the TMVP rest until it gets its revenge.
Also innocent Muslim victims of TMVP violence must gain justice.
Thus the chances of a durable peace seem flimsy at the moment.
It would be appropriate to end this piece with an extract from an article written to “The Sunday Leader” last year. It is applicable in the current context too.
“The socio - political situation of the East can lead to more Tamil - Muslim friction in the future. Kaathaankudi and Aaraiyampathy may be the future flashpoints of tension. The TMVP could deliberately promote anti - Muslim feelings to consolidate its hold on the Tamil people. Muslim politicians could incite Muslims for short term gain.In a worse case scenario the security forces with their familiar divide and rule tactics could encourage divisive communal trends.”
What was written a year ago sums up in a nutshell the current situation also.
DBS Jeyaraj can be reached at djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com
May 31st, 2008
Statement by National Peace Council of Sri Lanka:
The silencing of journalists by killing and intimidating them has become a major problem in Sri Lanka. The National Peace Council condemns the killing of Paranirupasingam Devakumar who is the ninth journalist to be killed in the past two years. We are appalled at the brutal manner of his death by waylaying him as he was traveling and hacking him to death. This killing comes soon after the brutal assault and torture of senior journalist Keith Noyahr in Colombo.
International experience has shown that a key component of any political solution is its acceptance by the people of the country. It through public awareness creation, in which the media plays a central role, that the people’s mandate for a sustainable political solution can be found. The National Peace Council notes that the government continues to stand by the position that it is for a political solution to the ethnic conflict and the ongoing military operations are meant to facilitate that political solution.
In this context, the killing of Paranirupasingam Devakumar, who worked for a national television network in Jaffna will be a further constraint on the free flow of information from the war zones of the north. We reiterate our concern about the continued incarceration of senior journalist J S Tissaianayagam, whose arrest and detention now continues into its third month without charges being made against him in a court of law.
We are perturbed by statements made by senior Defence Ministry officials that the military and its leadership should not be criticized by the media and that journalists working for the state controlled media had no right to criticize the government. While welcoming the Media Minister’s statement that this is not government policy, we ask the government to ensure a unified media policy as contradictory statements may be taken by various groups as a further license to behave with impunity towards the media.
The National Peace Council expresses solidarity with those journalists who are courageously committed to revealing realities from the ground and to risking their lives in the service of truth. We express our admiration of the willingness of media personnel to continue their work in the face of such fatal risks. We call on the government to put in place protection mechanisms that would ensure the safety of journalists in Sri Lanka and the right of citizens to access a diverse media that provides free and accurate reporting on national affairs.
Media Director
On behalf of the Governing Council
National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
May 30th, 2008
Statement by Reporters Without Borders:
Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the murder of Paranirupasingam Devakumar, a television reporter of Tamil origin, who was hacked to death yesterday evening as he was returning to his home a few kilometres outside the northern city of Jaffna. A friend who was with him was also killed in the attack.
“Devakumar is the latest journalist to fall victim to the spiral of violence that has wracked the Jaffna peninsula since fighting between the government and Tamil Tigers resumed in 2006,” the press freedom organisation said. “The government in Colombo must do everything possible to establish the circumstances of this murder and identity those responsible, so that it does not go unpunished as so many others have.”
Reporters Without Borders added: “Although no suspect has yet been found, the security forces should explain how this attack took place in an area of the peninsula that is supposed to be under close military control. The government is exposing both its inability and its lack of political will to protect journalists.”
Aged 36, Devakumar had worked for the past three years for the three stations owned by the Maharaja Television group-MTV, Sirasa TV and Shakthi TV. He was hacked to death by an unidentified group of assailants at Navanthurai, a few kilometres outside Jaffna, as he was returning to his home in Vaddukoddai. The friend accompanying him, 24-year-old computer technician Mahendran Varadan, died later in hospital from the injuries he sustained in the attack.
The government has reportedly assigned three police teams to probe the incident. Priority could not be given to any hypothesis for the time being as Devakumar was known for covering both sides of the war between the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He had not been criticised or threatened in the past and a personal motive cannot be ruled out.
Stressing that Devakumar’s murder was just the latest in a series of killings of journalists in the troubled Jaffna region, the Free Media Movement said condemnations and promises of investigations had no meaning “without the political will” to complete the investigations. “The repugnant impunity that aids and abets violence against journalists and media personnel must come to an end,” the FMM said.
Caught in the crossfire between two armed forces, journalists in the Jaffna peninsula are constantly the targets of threats, kidnappings and murders, and many of them have been forced to flee the region.
Reporters Without Borders has long condemned the untenability of this situation in its press releases and in a report entitled “Jaffna’s media in the grip of terror” which it published on 24 August 2007 as a member of an international press freedom mission to Sri Lanka.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently reiterated his determination to “defeat the terrorism” of the Tamil Tigers, who are blamed for the frequent deadly bombings in the Colombo region. Despite their attempts to suppress the information, the security forces have sustained heavy losses in the course of their attempts in recent months to dislodge the LTTE from the Jaffna peninsula.
May 29th, 2008
by Col R Hariharan (retd.)
There should be no illusion that despite the flare of success in repelling a division strong security forces offensive at Muhamalai in April 2008, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is fighting a war of survival. The continuing ground and air operations of the security forces after Muhamalai debacle, and the progress they have made during this month in Mannar sector capturing Adampan and other outlying LTTE defences have further constricted the territory under active LTTE control in the Northern Province.
The fall of key LTTE defences in Mannar sector indicate that the LTTE probably pulled out some of its forces earlier to reinforce Muhamalai-Kilinochchi. This would enable the LTTE to repel future forays of security forces into the vital heartland of the LTTE from the north.
As the troops advance further in Mannar and Vavuniya sectors, and as pressure builds up in Welioya, even without a major offensive along Muhamalai, the LTTE’s options would be reduced further. As the war prolongs further, the constraints of conventional warfare dictate that the LTTE has to progressively pull back its defences, and reduce its frontage to conserve its strength to offer better resistance. This would be the long term picture even if the security forces have a few debacles along one or more fronts in their offensive, as long as they do not give up half way.
There had been few pro-active LTTE operations after Muhamalai. These were limited to dropping of three bombs on the security forces in Welioya front by two Air Tiger aircraft, and sinking of A 520 (MV Invincible), a naval logistics vessel in a clever underwater suicide operation by the Sea Tigers in Trincomalee harbour during mid May. This would show the LTTE has severe limitations in its conventional operational capability.
The security forces have carried out relentless bombing of suspected LTTE assets. The LTTE has accused the security forces’ deep penetration unit of killing 17 people including women and children in a claymore blast well inside the LTTE territory in Vanni. This is the third time the LTTE has accused the security forces of carrying out such clandestine attacks deep inside its territory. The security forces have routinely denied these allegations. These killings targeting civilians are probably retaliatory in nature for settling scores for the LTTE’s killings of civilians elsewhere.
While they do not directly impact the current operational situation, they impose caution on movement of cadres and spread insecurity and panic among the population. These could get worse as the war makes further inroads. If the LTTE accusations are true, they show the weakening ability of the LTTE to dominate areas under its control. If it is not the security forces, who are behind these deep penetration operations in depth? Are they the handy work of one of the shadowy “para military” outfits that the LTTE accuses of colluding with the security forces? These questions are probably being debated within the LTTE and some of its attention would be diverted to prevent such attacks as the war progresses.
Recourse to unconventional war
LTTE’s strong suite had always been its guerrilla capability in areas outside its direct control. Under present circumstances, to compensate its limitations in conventional operations, the LTTE appears to have stepped up its unconventional actions with a series of bomb blasts in areas outside the battle zones.
The LTTE attacks outside the theatre of operations started the day after Muhamalai attack, with the killing of 26 civilians in a bus bomb blast at Piliyandala on April 28, 2008. This was followed by the Amparai caf頰arcel bomb blast on the eve of the eastern provincial council elections in which 11 people were killed and 29 others wounded. There was a motor cycle-borne suicide attack on a police van in Colombo on May 16, 2008 killing 10 persons including seven policemen. The latest in the series was the bomb blast carried out in a train at Dehiwela near Colombo on May 26, 2008 in which nine people were killed and 73 others were injured. Only two days before the train bombing, three time bombs were defused before they exploded - two on passenger buses near Colombo and one in the Kandy area.
Of course, there was the tragic, gangster style LTTE killing of Ms Maheswary Velayutham, while visiting her ailing mother in her Jaffna home. She was better known for years of yeoman service in the cause of human rights and Tamil refugees than for her later day role as advisor to the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP). And how her killing makes it easier to gain Tamil Eelam is a question only the LTTE’s warped logic can answer.
Essentially an insurgent force, the LTTE probably feels more comfortable in carrying out bomb blasts, suicide killings, and other such attacks targeting civilians. Such acts by themselves do not win wars. But they tend to create panic among the population and psychologically pressurise the government to ease military operations if the social and political environments encourage such developments. Whether these happen or not in the current situation in the country, the feeling of insecurity among Tamils living in Sri Lanka will be increased every time the LTTE carries out such strikes due to inherent ethnic overtones of such acts. In any case President Rajapaksa appears to be undeterred in his intention to crush the LTTE after each bomb blast. In fact, he has reiterated the same sentiment after the May 26 train blast. And after his successful election foray in the east he would have no hesitation to enlarge its scope further.
Human rights issue
The failure of Sri Lanka’s bid for getting elected to the membership of the UN Human Rights Council for a second term was not unexpected. On this count the President had probably underestimated the increasing importance attached to human rights questions in many democracies regardless of their own human rights record. At present no counter insurgency operation can be carried out with utter disregard to human rights issues. And Sri Lanka had continued its war with total indifference to human rights. Moreover, it has not covered itself with glory on this count even on the eve of the UN HRC elections. The international group of eminent persons called upon to advise the commission of inquiry into killings quit in disgust after a long tussle with the bureaucracy. Strong arm tactics have continued to suppress dissonant voices of the media. Reputed international NGOs have been castigated and prevented from entering or working freely in Sri Lanka. And Sri Lanka has persisted in refusing to allow a representative of the UN HRC to be positioned to monitor its human rights performance.
Notwithstanding the rhetoric of Bruce Fein and the detailed reports of Human Rights Watch, even nations which voted against Sri Lanka are unlikely to pressurise Sri Lanka to curb the President’s pursuit of war effort immediately. Such pressure is applied in small doses and often gets diffused due to diplomatic and political compulsions of different nations. Moreover, globally counter terrorism and human rights aberrations are far from being equated as a zero sum game. Perhaps, the flow of foreign aid and the vigour of foreign trade would be affected if Sri Lanka persists in errant ways on human rights. But the President retains the option of visibly improving his human rights record, and carry on with the military operations when the chips are down.
Though the LTTE propaganda machinery had been harping upon the human rights issue, its own hands are tainted with too many human rights violations to point a finger at others. In fact, its dismal human rights record has been used by Sri Lanka to ward off the flack in international forums on this count.
Sri Lanka security forces
Muhamalai was undoubtedly a debacle for the security forces in that they suffered probably double the number of casualties suffered by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. And in the operations probably 300 fighters from both the security forces and the LTTE lost their lives. Offensive troops always suffer more casualties in operations. However, the operation should be put in perspective while assessing the future capability of the security forces. The security forces had shown three weaknesses in this operation.
The first was not coordinating the Muhamalai offensive with other simulated or actual operations on other fronts. That would have prevented the LTTE from beefing up its Muhamalai defences by milking forces from other sectors on the eve of operations. Though operations have been launched in multiple fronts for some time, the security forces appear to have failed to take advantage of creating confusion in the minds of opposition by coordinating them and fine tuning them to derive maximum advantage. Despite expanding the army, this weakness to coordinate formation level operations on multiple fronts exhibited in earlier Eelam wars has persisted in the higher direction of war.
The second relates to tactical intelligence. The security forces probably went in for a silent attack, a very sound proposition if the surprise element was there. But there were enough battle indications in Jaffna peninsula for at least ten days in advance about the impending operation in this front. When surprise was neutralised the silent attack becomes a futile effort. The LTTE is a past master in deception and the offensive troops appear to have been taken by surprise when they ran into unexpected resistance from defences. This would show battlefield intelligence acquisition was not real time. Moreover, silent attack requires accurate real time tactical intelligence and probably this was lacking despite the modern battlefield surveillance equipment available to the security forces.
The third major weakness is strategic. Sri Lankan operations are slow and plodding which fails to take advantage of tactical success in conventional operations. It also gives sufficient time for the opposition to readjust, reinforce or pull out from defences. There could be non military reasons for not pushing through with the offensive for fear of suffering more casualties. According to the figures of the government, since January 3,873 LTTE cadres have been killed as against the loss of 298 soldiers in operations. While these figures might be disputed, there is no doubt the LTTE losses had been heavier. But the operation has gone into the third year, and the indications are that it would be a long haul if present strategies are continued.
While tactical weaknesses can be set right, the strategic weakness might continue to dog the Sri Lankan operations. And that could prolong the war and increase its human and material cost to the nation.
Future course
Overall, LTTE actions outside the operational zone are unlikely to discourage President Rajapaksa from his pursuit of military option. And if he stays determined and the security forces do not blink as they did in their infamous Elephant Pass disaster in 2000, the military operations are likely to gobble up further territory in Mannar sector in the coming months. The LTTE attacks on civilians are not going to put a stop to the military operations. They only show that the LTTE for all its pretensions of de facto governance has not changed its Tiger stripes. As the LTTE has little choice, one can expect more LTTE attempts at creating mayhem, chaos and killings as the war intensifies in the coming months.
The strong defences of LTTE in Muhamalai axis to Kilinochchi show that it is not going to allow easy passage through. Strategically, the security forces will have to probably consider coordinating the Jaffna offensive along A9 with offensive along A32-Pooneryn to enhance the threat to Kilinochichi and weaken the LTTE defences. Whether the security forces have the wherewithal to carry out such a complex operation is the question only the Army commander can answer best. [saag]
(Col. R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90.He is associated with the South Asia Analysis Group and the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail: colhari@yahoo.com)
May 29th, 2008
Selected events covering the period from January to early May 2008:
The early months of 2008 provided stark reminders of how rapid economic growth in parts of the region has changed nothing in many day-to-day lives. People continue to live in poverty and under abusive governments. An extreme case was the government of Myanmar’s disregard for its beleaguered population as it failed to facilitate aid reaching those suffering the impact of Cyclone Nargis.
Many people were executed by their governments as the year wore on, and thousands more continued to live on death row. The true total is unknown, as figures for China, Viet Nam and other countries are kept secret. Thousands faced extreme violence and losing their livelihoods as armed? conflicts intensified or reopened.
Repression of dissent
In Tibet peaceful demonstrations by monks in Lhasa led to violent protests in March, including racially targeted attacks on Han Chinese, which in turn prompted a heavy crackdown by Chinese authorities. Tibetan sources estimate that more than 150 people were killed in the unrest, with thousands detained and unaccounted for.
The crackdown on those suspected of being involved in, or supporting, 2007’s peaceful anti-government protests in Myanmar continued, with further arrests and lengthy jail terms. At least 700 prisoners of conscience arrested in relation to the demonstrations remain in detention. UN Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari again visited Myanmar in March, but concluded his visit “yielded no tangible results”. On May 10, even as hundreds of thousands of people who survived Cyclone Nargis suffered without adequate food, shelter, and access to health care, the government proceeded to hold a national referendum on a long delayed draft Constitution, while introducing a law criminalizing protests against the referendum.
Vietnam stuck firmly to its long-held pattern of repressing legitimate and peaceful dissent — the government brought at least seven dissidents to trial and sentenced them to lengthy prison terms, and arrested at least 14 people protesting Chinese policies during the Olympic torch relay in April.
In Indonesia, 20 people in Maluku who reportedly attempted to raise a flag of independence in 2007 were sentenced to long jail sentences in April. One of them, Johan Teterisa, received a life sentence.
The Australian publishers of the Fiji Times and the Fiji Sun newspapers were deported in February and May respectively — raising concerns over a continuing trend by Fiji’s interim military administration to intimidate the media.
Human rights defenders
As the Beijing Olympics draw nearer, the authorities tightened security and the government arrested or sentenced increasing numbers of human rights defenders, often on charges of “abusing state power”.
Authorities in Cambodia arrested 16 villagers protesting to protect their land — the opening months of 2008 saw at least four incidents of forced evictions. The arrests illustrate concerns over authorities’ abuse of the criminal justice system to silence defenders of land and housing rights. The majority have since been released, six after the Prime Minister’s direct intervention.
In the Philippines further periodic political killings of leftist activists included that of trade unionist Gerardo Cristobal in March. In January the Supreme Court issued rules designed to improve habeas corpus protections as the government continued to try to improve the effectiveness of police investigations and the work of prosecutors.
However legal challenges in Malaysia against the detention without trial of five members of the Hindu Rights Action Force under the Internal Security Act were unsuccessful.
People under fire
In Afghanistan, there was no let up for those caught in the crossfire. In fact a marked rise in insurgency-related violence — including suicide attacks by the Taleban and other armed groups — directly led to civilian deaths. By April, at least 120 civilians had been reported killed in 20 separate suicide attacks.
The 2002 ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in Sri Lanka broke down in January, making civilians increasingly vulnerable to abuses by all sides in the escalating armed conflict. A series of suspected LTTE bomb attacks on buses resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths.
Violence in southern Thailand continued unabated with abuses by both sides, including targeting of civilians by armed groups and reports of torture of detainees by security forces.
People power
Voters across the region defied expectations by punishing governments with poor human rights records and pushing for human rights assurances from their candidates, and the resulting governments — in words at least — made positive commitments.
Historic elections in Nepal in March, for example, led to the establishment of a Constituent Assembly. Voters clearly expressed a desire to see the full realization of the human rights commitments in the 2006 peace agreement, including measures to combat impunity and enfranchise historically marginalized groups, such as women, lower castes, and various ethnic minorities. Concerns over excessive use of force and arbitrary arrests by the police force re-emerged both in the context of the election campaign, and during police operations against peaceful Tibetan and other demonstrators in April.
Malaysia also went to the polls in March. Opposition parties broke the ruling party’s half-century long monopoly of power, fuelling expectations that laws restricting freedoms of expression, association and assembly may be eased and reform of the police accelerated.
Elections in Pakistan in February brought to power a coalition government composed of parties opposed to the rule of General Pervez Musharraf. The new government promised to restore human rights safeguards undermined during the late 2007 State of Emergency, particularly by reinstating independent judges improperly removed by President Musharraf and repealing restrictive legislative amendments. In April, the new government ratified or signed three key international human rights covenants.
Impunity
In Sri Lanka the spiralling conflict fuelled concerns over the administration of justice and the misuse of emergency laws, with the authorities failing to effectively investigate patterns of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings, including of media workers.
Better news from Bangladesh, where in April, three months after a high-level Amnesty International delegation visited the country, the caretaker government raised the possibility with the UN Secretary General of UN support to address war crimes allegedly committed in the 1971 war of independence.
Meanwhile in the same month in India, the Supreme Court asked the National Human Rights Commission to investigate human rights violations allegedly committed by government-backed militiamen within the context of continuing violent protest against industrial projects in adivasi (tribal) areas.
Torture
Reports of police brutality and abuse of detainees persisted throughout the Asia Pacific region. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment by state agents continued in Indonesia, with the UN Committee against Torture due to consider Indonesia’s compliance with the Convention in early May.
Death penalty
As global scrutiny focuses on China’s excessive use of the death penalty in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, other countries in the region continued to apply capital punishment. Seven inmates have been executed since January in Japan, for example, with at least 105 remaining on death row. In North Korea, 15 people were publicly executed for attempting to cross the border into China without permission. More welcome was the news from South Korea, where six of the 64 inmates facing execution had their sentences commuted. And in March, three members of the ‘Bali Nine’, all Australians convicted of drug-trafficking in Indonesia, had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court. At least 112 others are known to remain on death row in the country.
Asylum seekers
In Australia the government announced in February that it would release 21 Sri Lankan asylum seekers still held in Nauru and that discussions had begun with the Government of Nauru to close the detention centre, thus ending the much-criticized “Pacific Solution” to those seeking asylum in Australia.
In January at least 75 Chin refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar were reportedly made homeless after immigration officials in Malaysia burnt down a campsite.
For more information please call Amnesty International’s press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK www.amnesty.org
Amnesty International: Sri Lanka Country Report 2008
Related ~ BBC Sandeshaya: ‘Impunity’ for rights violators
May 28th, 2008
by Col R Hariharan (Retd.)
The death of Balraj (given name Balasegaran Kandiah), one of the competent and battle-scarred commanders, due to heart attack on May 20, 2008 could not have come at a worse time for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting a losing war with its back to the wall. His death is sure to aggravate the organisation’s ever increasing problem of dwindling number of field commanders with operational experience. And that could affect future operations.
Balraj’s cameo of guerrilla career eloquently presented by the TamilNet and better informed columnists like DBS Jeyaraj give a glimpse of the making of a modern guerrilla commander from an ordinary civilian. It also represents the milestones of LTTE’s growth from a rag-tag outfit to a monolithic and modern insurgency outfit with multiple capabilities, with its attendant bureaucratic trappings and ponderous ways. The career growth of Balraj from an armed cadre to a loyal trustee at the time of internal crisis in the LTTE did not stop there. He went on to command the Charles Anthony Brigade, the LTTE’s first conventional military outfit.
To start with Balraj had suffered from two handicaps that could have put an end to his career in the LTTE. The first was Balraj’s earlier affiliation with the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE)-an organisation Prabhakaran had sworn to eliminate. The second was his latter day association with the much maligned LTTE leader Mahattya, who was sentenced to death for his alleged disloyalty to Prabhakaran. Balraj not only overcame these handicaps but gained Prabhakaran’s confidence. He proved his loyalty to Prabhakaran in the internal struggle for power and later showed his battlefield capability in 1999-2000 in the LTTE’s Unceasing Waves III (Oyatha Alaikal III) operation that led to the investment and capture of Elephant Pass resulting in resounding victory for the insurgents.
When we had interacted with Balraj during the days of the Indian Peace Keeping Force, he was neither a senior leader nor a military commander of proven competency, but a green horn member of the 9th batch of LTTE cadres trained in India. He cut his military teeth in operations against the IPKF.
By 1989 Balraj quickly climbed the leadership ladder when the sub unit leaders from earlier eight batches of were almost liquidated during operations with the IPKF. In fact, when the IPKF operations engulfed the rest of the peninsula and pushed Prabhakaran to seek refuge in the steamy jungle confines of Wanni, Balraj’s proximity to the leader increased. But Balraj over the years went on to become a multi-faceted guerrilla leader with conventional warfare capability. He put the two decades of war and peace to develop his competencies. The latter day entrants have neither the luxury of such a long exposure in leadership role in operation nor the time horizon to enable them to emulate Balraj.
Conventional armies have a clearly laid down succession process which comes into play automatically at times of war. However, the LTTE despite its claims of conventional capability is essentially an insurgent force. In the LTTE to fill the berth of a senior military commander like Balraj, the successor will have to fulfil twin requirements - proven operational experience, and unswerving loyalty to its supreme commander V Prabhakaran. Balraj, in his quarter century of service in the LTTE came out successful on both the counts.
Insurgent bodies which are highly paranoid crack both at the operational and leadership level when they come under severe operational pressure. So far Prabhakaran, despite the aberration in mishandling Karuna and losing him, had warded off such a development thanks to commanders like Balraj. But as the juggernaut of security forces inches forward beyond Adampan today, and probably towards Mullaitivu tomorrow, Prabhakaran needs experienced commanders who understand the nuances of conventional warfare and fight steadfast a battle of attrition. The moot point is can Prabhakaran find them?
As it is there are just a handful of experienced field commanders left alive. They are aging, and some of them like Soosai are not in good health. And as the war continues more heads will roll. The newly inducted commanders, unlike the earlier ones, are more likely to be post 1983 products who were blooded at the cadre level only in the last Eelam war between 1995 and 2000. Their active conventional operational experience at a little higher level would have been in response to the security forces offensives during the last two years.
The security forces have superior force levels and fire power than the LTTE, and as the war progresses further into the north, their superiority is likely to increase. In the face of such odds, only the commitment of LTTE commanders and their ability to inspire the cadres can compensate for LTTE’s organic limitations (as it probably happened at Muahamalai in April 2008). But thanks to the LTTE’s emotive but self-defeating tactics of suicide bombing both in land and sea, the LTTE gallery of martyrs is already filled with names of potential leaders who could have made the difference with their experience and motivation.
Even in the present situation, Prabhakaran’s unique ability to pick the right person to lead his teams should not be under estimated. In the past he had demonstrated an uncanny ability to bounce back in the face of defeat with such commanders. It was enabled by the 1983 vintage veterans like Mahattaya, Karuna, Balraj and the like who are no more available.
Can Prabhakaran do it all over? Will the new commanders have the same level of personal loyalty, commitment and military competency? The answer will probably emerge in the battlefronts in the coming months. [saag]
(Col. R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90.He is associated with the South Asia Analysis Group and the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail: colhari@yahoo.com)
May 28th, 2008
While Sri Lanka’s armed forces battle Tamil Tiger rebels in the north, sections of the country’s media are embroiled in a war of a different kind-a fight to pursue their mission as journalists under a mantle of death threats
By Frederica Jansz
The international community should be applauded for having given Sri Lanka the resounding slap it deserves for its continuing disregard of human rights.
[Keith Noyahr, at his desk on Thursday May 22, hours before he was abducted and savagely attacked-pic: Ishara S. Kodikara]
The abduction and assault of a senior and respected journalist in the country, Defence Columnist and Associate Editor of The Nation, Keith Noyahr, appears to have been the Sri Lankan response to being voted out of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Keith’s shocking abduction and assault took place a mere 24 hours after Sri Lanka was beaten to the UNHRC seat by Pakistan. The whole disgusting and ugly incident once again smacks of state compliance.
Keith has in recent weeks, in his defence column, been critical of the Sri Lanka Army and its Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka.
Spate of attacks
Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka today, critics are touted by this government as being traitors. This in the backdrop of increasing support-at least by the Sinhalese majority-for the government’s military thrust against the LTTE.
Such attacks as that which took place against Keith come against a background of increased conflict in Sri Lanka following the collapse of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
A number of journalists in Sri Lanka received death threats in the wake of knife attacks on two journalists in January this year. Lal Hemantha Mawalage, a leading news producer with the state-run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), was stabbed in the southern city of Athurugiriya on the night of Friday, January 25.
Four days later, the five persons entered the Colombo home of Suhaib M. Kasim, the Associate Editor of the Sri Lankan state-owned Tamil daily Thinakaran. They forcibly took him to his veranda and stabbed him in his abdomen.
Since this attack, another SLRC staff member reported to the Police that he was threatened at gunpoint. Duleep Sanjeewa told the Colpetty Police that two armed men threatened him with death at his home at the end of January.
On March 14, Anurasiri Hettige, also an employee of the state television corporation, was attacked with an iron club as he waited for a bus in a Colombo suburb. He was the fifth employee of the channel to be attacked or threatened within the last three months.
The attacks were believed to have all been linked to an incident on December 27 last year, when Minister Mervyn Silva stormed into Rupavahini and abused senior staff over a news programme. Silva was assaulted and daubed in paint by angry Rupavahini employees as he was escorted out under military protection.
On the same day that Hettige was attacked, an unidentified gang stormed the home of journalist M. Parameshwari in Gampola.
Parameshwari had spent three months in detention last year after being taken into custody by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), a state investigating branch that has wide powers to detain any citizen without charges.
She was held on charges of allegedly associating and helping the Tigers, who have been waging a separatist campaign for over three decades to create a homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority community on the island’s north and east. But Parameshwari was released by a court order after the arresting authorities failed to prove their case.
Police are also investigating an incident where a car and a motorcycle followed a Ravaya newspaper journalist on the night of Tuesday, January 29. Lasantha Ruhunage complained to the Police that he was followed on his way home from work.
Serious concern
The increasingly frequent attacks on journalists and a climate of impunity for the perpetrators are a matter of serious concern.
In the absence of independent monitors in the north and east, it is impossible to verify or refute claims or abuses from both sides to the conflict who blame each other.
Journalists, therefore, play an important role in reporting on the conflict and exposing human rights violations that have occurred. Journalists in the south of the country play a vital role exposing corruption among politicians and the military.
But Sri Lanka has repeatedly displayed scant regard for its obligations, particularly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The first part of this report sets out international standards and the domestic legal framework in respect of freedom of expression. The second part summarises increasing attacks on the freedom of expression outside of the immediate context of the conflict.
While Sri Lanka’s armed forces battle Tamil Tiger rebels in the north, sections of the country’s media are embroiled in a war of a different kind-a fight to pursue their mission as journalists under a mantle of death threats.
Three unrelated events involving men and women working for television, print and an online publication have brought this dire situation into sharp focus. In all cases, media practitioners have been under fire, triggering outrage from local and international media rights groups.
An equally disturbing incident for the local media was the arrest of five media workers, both from the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil community, for their links with Outreachsl.com, a recently-launched website focusing on current affairs related to the ongoing ethnic conflict. Among those detained by the TID is Jayaprakash Tissainayagam, a columnist for The Sunday Times and the Editor of Outreachsl.com.
Tissainayagam has been held by the TID since March 7, along with four others who were involved with the website. No formal charges have been pressed and access to legal representation has been denied. The five journalists have been held for alleged links with the Tamil Tigers, including receiving funds from the Tigers or fronts operating on their behalf.
But local and international media groups have condemned the arrest and said that funds for the online project were received from legitimate sources. The Paris-based media rights watchdog Reporters without Borders (RwB) said that funding for the website had come from Funding Local Initiatives in Conflict Transformation (FLICT).
Tissainayagam had received Euros 12,000 (US$ 18,800) in November 2007 for the operation of the website. FLICT is backed by the German development agency German Technical Cooperation, or GTZ.
RwB stance
“The anti-terrorist Police are accusing the journalists of receiving money from the Tamil Tiger rebels, but after investigating, we can confirm that the funds in question came from a German foundation and from Tamil exiles,” RwB said. “We condemn the fact the some of these journalists were badly beaten during their first few days in detention, and that this was clearly done to extract confessions from them.”
In fact, the websites of two government institutions-the Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Ministry and the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)-have openly backed the many projects launched under the FLICT initiative.
According to RwB, V. Jasikaran, one of the five detained in the website case, had received money from members of the Tamil exile community in Germany to help students in the east of the island.
The current attacks on media freedom in the country will only add to Sri Lanka’s worsening rights record. In 2006, for instance, the island had dropped to 141st in the annual media freedom rankings published by RwB, from an impressive 51st ranking in 2002, when the CFA was in operation.
The government, however, sees the reality in a different light. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asserted that there is absolute media freedom in the country and the government is not bound to be answerable for isolated incidents as and when they occur.
It is indeed fitting that winners of the Nobel Peace Prize from three continents called on UN members to reject Sri Lanka’s candidacy for the UNHRC.
Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina, and Jimmy Carter of the United States each published statements urging opposition to Sri Lanka because of its abusive human rights record.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa charged that “the systematic abuses by Sri Lankan Government forces are among the most serious imaginable,” citing widespread torture and extrajudicial killings.
“Governments owe it to Sri Lankan human rights victims-and to victims of human rights abuses around the world-to ensure that the Sri Lankan bid fails,” Tutu declared. Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his leadership of the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa.
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel compared the routine torture and the hundreds of “disappearances” and extrajudicial killings committed by Sri Lankan Government forces to the “dirty wars” waged by various Latin American governments against their own citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.
“As Latin Americans know all too well, there are few crimes more horrible for a government to commit than summarily removing its own citizens from their homes and families, often late at night, never to be heard from again,” declared Esquivel. “Latin American governments can do a great service to the people of Sri Lanka by rejecting their government’s candidacy for the Human Rights Council.”
Esquivel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for his opposition to the “disappearances,” extrajudicial killings, and torture used by the military government of Argentina in combating domestic terrorists.
Nobel laureates speak out
Former US President Jimmy Carter observed that the UN established membership standards for the HRC in 2006 so that it would be “led by countries with a greater commitment to human rights.”
A statement released by the Carter Centre in Atlanta “calls on the General Assembly not to re-elect Sri Lanka to the Human Rights Council,” citing “the country’s deteriorating human rights record since its first election to the Council in 2006.”
Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work to resolve international conflicts, advance democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development.
The Nobel laureates added their voices to the Sri Lankan and international campaigns against the re-election of Sri Lanka to the council. Human rights organisations within Sri Lanka urged UN members to “hold the Sri Lankan Government accountable for the grave state of human rights abuse in the country” by rejecting its candidacy, observing it “has used its membership of the Human Rights Council to protect itself from scrutiny.”
A coalition of more than 20 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from all regions of the world wrote to UN members to oppose Sri Lanka’s re-election to the council, citing its government for a wide range of serious abuses, including hundreds of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, widespread torture, and arbitrary detention.
The website established by the NGO Coalition for an Effective Human Rights Council detailed how Sri Lanka rejects the recommendations of UN human rights experts, launches harsh verbal attacks on senior UN officials who report on human rights issues, and refuses to engage in serious discussions to allow international human rights monitoring. [nation.lk]
May 25th, 2008
by D.B.S.Jeyaraj
Kandiah Balasegaran alias “Brigadier Balraj” the Deputy military chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) died of a heart attack at Puthukkudiyiruppu in the Mullaitheevu district on May 20th. .
In a condolence message issued by him , LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakharan says “The man who was at the center of many of our Himalayan victories, the heroic military leader, who trained,guided and fought with our fighting formations and conventional brigades is with us no more.”
Prabakharan goes on to say of Balraj ” His ability to move the fighting units, his focused actions and his martial characteristics struck fear in the hearts of the enemy. These same characteristics strengthened the conviction and morale of our fighters. They brought us victories”.
“Colonel” Balraj who like former tiger political commissar Suppiah Paramu Thamilselvan was promoted posthumously as Brigadier was responsible for many tiger victories on the battlefront.43 year old Balraj was a courageous fighter who led from the front in battle.
In recent times his health had deteriorated making it virtually impossible for Balraj to be at the Frontlines regularly. Yet he used to visit the Manal aaru /Weli - Oya battlefront as frequently as possible and supervise/coordinate the military arrangements there.
Severely afflicted with coronary disease and a kidney ailment Balraj was receiving medical attention at Puthukkudiyiruppu. He died of a cardiac seizure at about 2 .00 pm. A three - day period of mourning from May 21st - 23rd was declared by the LTTE.
Balraj was one of those rare leaders in the LTTE who was genuinely admired and loved by the Tamil people he associated with. He was simple, courteous and accessible.
Balraj used to listen to the problems of the people and tried in his own way to help resolve them. In doing so he fell foul of some other senior LTTE leaders at times.
Balraj after heart surgery in 2003 [Photo: LTTE]
Many of the tiger leaders have been responsible for several human rights violations. But the deputy military chief was one against whom there were none.
He also commanded the respect and awe of LTTE cadre. Balraj who rose from the ranks earned this position through his military skill and courage. His military exploits were legendary making him an icon for many young tigers to follow and emulate.
Kandiah Balasegaran alias Balraj was born in 1964 in the coastal area of Kokuthoduwaai in Mullaitheevu district. He was one of the few top tigers born in the Northern mainland region known as the Wanni. Most tiger leaders now in the Wanni were born outside the Wanni.
Though Balasegaran was in every sense a native son of the Wanni soil his family roots too were from the Jaffna peninsula. His ancestors hailed from Karaveddy in the Vadamaratchy division of Jaffna. Balraj’s great - grandfather had migrated to Kokkuthoduwai almost a century ago.
The family engaged in both seasonal fishing and agriculture. In recent times after being displaced from Kokkuthoduwaai , Balraj’s family relocated to the Mulliyawalai - Thaniyootru area in Mullaitheevu and engaged in agriculture.
Young Balasegaran was the fourth in a family of four boys and a girl. He was supposedly the brightest child in the family and his father Kandiah and mother Kannagi were very keen to send him to the university.
This was not to be as Balraj had opted to join the Tamil militant movement while doing his GCE advanced level.He had passed his “O”levels with flying colours.
None of his siblings joined the tigers but some nephews and nieces did so and the son of a brother who did so is now holding a senior position in the LTTE.
Balraj had his primary education at Kokkuthoduwaai in Mullaitheevu district and secondary education at Pulmoddai in the Trincomalee district.
This was because Pulmoddai was closer to Kokkuthoduwaai than Mullaitheevu. There were also some close relatives in Pulmoddai.
Kokkuthoduwaai like Kokkilai and Nayaru were places where a large number of migrant Sinhala fishermen used to come and make “Wadiyas” during fishig season.
As a youngster Balraj used to interact with these Sinhala “visitors” and learnt Sinhala well. He was also able to speak English with reasonable fluency.
An interesting feature about the great tiger military commander is the fact that his militant roots were in the Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE).
Affter the original LTTE split and Umamaheswaran had formed the PLOTE “Suntharam” of Chulipuram played a big role in the new organization until he was shot dead at Chitra press in Jaffna by the LTTE in 1982.
Suntharam had travelled the length and breadth of the North and East and formed clandestine PLOTE cells. Since the PLOTE in those days did not believe in “hit and run “tactics and was preparing for an all - out onslaught these cells were virtually “sleeper” cells.
Balasegaran was recruited by Suntharam while still a student.The youngster was impatient for some action but continued to be a member of the “dormant” PLOTE cell.Graffiti , handmade posters and distribution of leaflets were the modes of political protest.
Meanwhile Lawrence and Saba of the tigers had begun LTTE work in the area and were promoting the movement.
When the July 1983 anti - Tamil pogrom took place and thousands of Tamil youths started joining the militant movements to get military training.
Balasegaran also wanted to do so. But there was family pressure that he continue his studies and enter university. Thus he did not join the rush.Events however began overtaking.
Balasegaran was in Kokkuthoduwaai for school holidays when some youths burned a CTB bus after making crew and passengers dismount at gun point.
This act was the first of its kind in the area and there was a backlash. The security officials began arresting youths on a large scale.
Many were assaulted and tortured. Several youths were forced to go underground to evade arrest.Balasegaran was one of them.
Realising that a normal school life was not possible for him any longer Balasegaran decided to join the militant movements. Wanting quick action he thought the LTTE and not the PLOTE was the best group to join.
For most Tamils at that time all Tamil groups were the same. All were fighting for a common cause.
There was a school master from Jaffna named “Thaas” in the area who was in charge of recruitment for the tigers.Balasegaran approached him. Despite his PLOTE background he was selected and sent to Jaffna.
Balasegaran found himself in the hands of a tiger operative known as “Bruce” or “Kannadi”. There was a hitch. Balasegaran’s PLOTE link made him suspect in the eyes of the LTTE.
Still the youth’s sincerity was patently visible. So the LTTE kept him but did not send him for military training in India. He was given limited local training and used as a “helper”.Officially he was not made a LTTE cadre.
This was like a period of probation where his conduct was scrutinised carefully. Fate however intervened. Balaegaran was accidentally injured in a skirmish with the army though he himself was not a combatant.He was taken to India for medical treatment.
Gopalaswamy Mahendrarajah alias Mahathaya was now the LTTE military commander for the Wanni region. Mahathaya was in Tamil Nadu for surgery when Balraj was receiving medical treatment.
The “senior” Mahathaya began interacting with Balasegaran and discovered that he was from the Wanni with thoorough knowledge of the Manal Aaru/Weli Oya region.
Mahathaya liked what he saw. It was Mahathaya who “recognized in him (Balraj) from the very beginning, the rare martial nature and martial characteristics that were natural to him”.
Initially it was Mahathaya who helped Balasegaran”develop as an idealistic fighter with great skill and leadership”.
Mahathaya urged Prabakharan then in Chennai that Balasegaran be given military training in India and recruited into LTTE ranks. Prabakharan agreed reluctantly and authorised training for Balasegaran.
This was a departure from the usual LTTE practice where those from other groups were not taken in as regulars.
Though the LTTE chief was reluctant about Balraj later he diascovered the military potential in him. Prabakharan liked the man and promoted him to unparalleled heights . He even got Balraj married to a close relative..
The fact remains however that Balraj was originally of the PLOTE and that he was a protegee of Mahathaya. In the current LTTE propaganda barrage about Brigadier Balraj two salient factors are missing.
One is his PLOTE antecedents and the other is his Mahathaya link.
After recovery Balasegaran was formally inducted into the LTTE in 1984 and given military training in Tamil Nadu as part of the ninth LTTE batch.. His nom de guerre was Balraj.
After training Balraj returned to the Wanni and was absorbed into Mahathaya’s bodyguard unit. Gradually he was utilised for regular combat also.
Balraj made his mark first in 1986 when he played an active role in taking over the Karadipokku junction in Kiinochchi in what was an abortive bid by Mahathaya to encircle the Kilinochhi military camp.
When Mahathaya was made deputy - leader of the LTTE he continued to be in overall charge of the Wanni. Jeyam,Suseelan and Paseelan were appointed as military commanders for the districts of Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Mullaitheevu respectively.
Balraj became Paseelan’s deputy and functioned in the Mullaitheevu district.He was stationed at the Manal Aaru - Weli - Oya region. He knew the terrain well.
When the war with the Indian army began the LTTE supremo Prabakharan, Mahathaya and other senior tiger leaders relocated to the Wanni. Prabakharan himself began camping out in the dense jungles of Mullaitheevu.
Lt. Col Navam was in overall charge of Prabakharan’s security in particular and Mullaitheevu defences in general. Balraj functioned as Navam’s deputy.
It was then that Balraj began interacting closely with his leader Prabakharan. The LTTE numero uno who at one time was reluctant to induct Balraj into tiger folds due to his PLOTE past was now greatly impressed by his unassuming simplicity and quiet efficiency.
After the withdrawal of the Indian army the tiger leader moved back to Jaffna with his retinue. There had also been a policy change of sorts where the LTTE was now as far as possible encouraging cadre from a particular locality to take up leadership positions there.
In keeping with this policy Balraj was made military commander for the Wanni in 1990. This was the opportunity Balraj had been waiting for to demonstrate his military acumen.
The A - 9 highway or Jaffna - Kandy road was then under the “nominal” control of the army from Vavuniya to Elephant Pass. The army had military camps in key areas.
The LTTE led by Balraj launched two attacks on the Kokavil and Mankulam camps and overran them. Later another attack was conducted against the Kilinochchi camp. Though it was not overrun the soldiers later evacuated and strengthened the Paranthan camp.
These victories raised the LTTE stock. Balraj also became known as a reputed military commander.
One of his plus points was that he led from the front. He would inspire and galvanize tiger cadre by courageously leading them up front into the thick of battle. There was no “bull shitting”.
More than 20 years ago this columnist interviewed former LTTE Jaffna district commander Sathasivampillai Krishnakumar alias “Col” Kittu for the Indian newsmagazine “Frontline”.
A pertinent point made by Kittu then was about the leadership qualities of LTTE commanders. Unlike others , Kittu said, LTTE field commanders lead from the front and do not direct operations from the rear.
Kittu observed that tiger commanders go out front and call upon cadre to follow by shouting “Come Up! Come up!” instead of egging fighters on from behind by ordering “Go forward! Go forward!!”
This tiger trait identified succintly by Kittu was something Balraj had in ample quantity. Till he became seriously afflicted by ill- ness Balraj always used plunge into thick battle leading from the front.
This is a quality absent in many of the present crop of “heavyweight” tiger military commanders.
Another operation where Balraj proved his military prowess was the Elephant pass operation of 1991.
This was the operation codenamed “Tharai - Kadal - Aahayam ” (Land - sea - Air )and led by Mahathaya to lay siege to the Elephant pass base and overrun it.The operation ended in failure and 673 LTTE cadre were killed.
Balraj and his fighters were tasked with the goal of penetrating the complex from the Kurinchatheevu sector.
Balraj and his men delivered results by infiltrating through the lagoon and overrunning the military installation set up in the former guest house premises and retaining it till the operation was called off.. They destroyed it when withdrawing.
The failure of other LTTE cadre to achieve their objectives led to overall failure of the operation. It was however a personal triumph for Balraj.
The LTTE in 1991 formed its first infantry brigade It was named after Charles Anthony , Prabakharan’s trusted deputy and close companion who died in Meesalai on July 15th 1983.
Balraj was Prabakharan’s choice to be the first special commander of Charles Anthony brigade. He served so until 1993.
Apart from leading military assaults and offensives Balraj also excelled in strategic defence. He was mainly responsile for defeating, preventing, restricting or nullifying several military offensives by the armed forces.
Some of these were “operation Wanniwickrema” in Vavuniya, Operation ” lightning” in Manal aaru/Weli Oya, operation “leap forward” in Jaffna, , operation” Yarl Devi ” in Kilaly /puloppalai and operation “Agni Kheela” in Elephant pass.
One offensive Balraj failed to thwart was the first phase of “operation Jayasikurui”in 1997 where the armed forces took Omanthai and Nedunkerny. Operation ” riviresa “in Jaffna where Balraj also participated in defence was another failure for the LTTE.
Balraj was in overall charge of LTTE defences during Jayasikurui till the fall of Puliyankulam. Thereafter erstwhile eastern LTTE regional commander “Col” Karuna took over defence arrangements.
Balraj’s finest accomplishment in defensive war was Agikheela on April 24th 2001. The armed forces had moved out from the Kilaly - Eluthumattuvaal - Nagar Kovul FDL’s in a bid to re- take Elephant pass.The LTTE inflicted heavy losses on the army.
Balraj was injured during Operation Yarl Devi in the fighting at Puloppalai. He sustained serious injuries on a leg when he was firing an RPG at a T - 55 tank.
The injury caused him to limp slightly when walking.Also the leg started paining when he walked for a long distance.
It was in 1996 that Prabakharan gave Balraj his greatest military honour. He appointed Balraj as deputy - military commander.Prabakharan is the military commander of the LTTE. Thus Balraj became number two in the military hierarchy.
But Balraj had to pay a ” price ” for the honour prior to receiving it.
Balraj’s one - time patron and benefactor Mahathaya had fallen out with Prabakharan . Now Prabakharan wanted to detain and interrogate his deputy - leader.
Prabakharan sent three LTTE leaders to “arrest” Mahathaya. They were Sornam, Soosai and Balraj. This was perhaps Prabakharan’s perverse ruse to test Balraj’s loyalty. Balraj had to act against Mahathaya to prove his loyalty to Prabakharan.
This Balraj did. He went along with the others to apprehend the man who had given him his break and taken him under his wing.But then could he have refused to obey Prabakharan?
Hundreds of LTTE cadre surrounded Mahathaya’s place. Initially a young boy was sent to the house. He knocked on the door and rudely asked Mahathaya to accompany him. The LTTE deputy - leader gave a resounding slap and chased him away.
Then Balraj himself went to Mahathaya’s door. The deputy - leader was taken aback to find his former protegee entrusted with the task of arresting him. The fight went out of him.
When Balraj said “Engalode Vaango Annai” (Come along with us elder brother) Mahathaya promptly agreed. He instructed his 40 odd bodyguards not to resist and asked Balraj to ensure that nothing happened to them. He then went meekly with Balraj.
This was the “trial by fire” that Balraj had to endure to prove his loyalty to Prabakharan. This betrayal of Mahathaya was Balraj’s stepping stone to greater success and recognition.
The LTTE’s new deputy - military commander began demonstrating his mettle in battle.
On July 18th 1996 the LTTE overran the Mullaitheevu camp killing more than a 1000 soldiers. Balraj co-ordinated the operation codenamed “Oyatha Alaigal - 1.”
In February 1998 the LTTE attacked Kilinochchi The soldiers withdrew after incurring heavy losses.. Balraj was in overall charge and adopted psychological warfare as a military tactic.
Then came “Oyatha - Alaigal - 3 in 1999 November when the LTTE in a series of co-ordinated offensives overran military camps in Oddusuddan. Karippattaimurippu, Mankulam, Kanagarayankulam, Puliyankulam etc.
Most military gains of “Jayasikurui” were reversed.
“Oyatha Alaigal” or unceasing waves was an on going operation with more battles to follow in the Jaffna peninsula. The greatest of these was the lengthy series of operations to take the strategic military base in the Elephant pass isthmus.
The key element in the LTTE’s “encircle and enfeeble”strategy was the interdiction of supplies along the A - 9 highway between Eluthumattuvaal and Iyakkachchi / Elephant pass. The besieged Elephant pass garrison had to be “cut off” and isolated.
In a bid to prevent such an eventuality the armed forces had fortified a rectangular area extending from Thaalaiyaddy - Maruthankerny along the Vadamaratchy east coast of the peninsula up ro the Puthukkaadu juction on the Jaffna - Kandy road.
This area known as the “Vathiraayan box”included Vathirayan , Pullaa veli, Soranpatru and Maasaar. Thus Elephant pass was assured of continuous supply from Eluthumadduvaal in the hinterland as well as Thaalaiyaddi in the littoral.
How the LTTE breached these impregnable defences amounted to a modern military miracle. It was Balraj’s crowning achievement.
In an ambhibean operation on March 26th 2000 , the sea tigers led by “Col” Soosai succeeded in transporting 1200 cadre from the mainland coast to the peninsular coast.
These cadre led by Balraj landed at Kudaarappu - Maamunai and then moved clandestinely into the interior by walking through the inland lagoon and marshy lands known as “kandal”.
Army posts in Soranpatru and Maasaar were overrun and the tigers reached the A - 9 road near Puthukkaadu junction.
Thereafter the tigers led by Balraj moved up and set up positions at a place called Ithaavil near Pallai thus blocking military supplies to Iyakkachchi - Elephant pass.
The next few weeks saw an intense battle where Balraj and his band of intrepid fighters held on to Ithaavil against formidable odds. There were many twists and turns but Balraj fought on stubbornly beating back attempt after attempt to dislodge him.
After 24 days of fighting the army gave in. Elephant pass was abandoned on April 19th. The LTTE hoisted its flag ceremoniously on April 22nd.
Balraj’s incredible military feat was analysed and dissected in military manuals.
The LTTE under Balraj had demonstrated that it could engage in offensive and defensive positional warfare in deep enemy territory and triumph against superior armed forces without air support.
It was hailed as a paradigm shift in the conduct of “limited wars”.
With this victory and the magnificient resistance displayed during “Operation Agnkheela ” in retaining Elephant pass the LTTE deputy - military chief’s reputation was further enhanced. He became a larger than life legend.
But things changed as Balraj’s health began to deteriorate. He had always had a “heart condition” and this began to worsen. In addition there was diabetes and kidney complications.
When the ceasefire was in progress Balraj went to Singapore with two bodyguards for advanced medical treatment. He obtained heart surgery there. Balraj’s visa application to enter Malaysia for further treatment was refused.
There was trouble on the domestic front too.
In keeping with the LTTE policy of arranging marriages within the movement Balraj too had married a woman cadre Varathaa.
She was a close relative of LTTE supremo who had personally arranged the marriage. Varathaa like Balraj had injured her leg in a battle.
Married life however was not a state of bliss. There was temperamental incompatibility and the couple had serious differences. At one stage the wife started “complaining” against Balraj in public places.
This led to arguments and squabbles. Then Varathaa went to the LTTE police station and registered a complaint that Balraj had assaulted her.She also complained to the LTTE leader who was her kinsman.
Prabakharan then intervened and admonished Balraj. He also separated the couple. This increased Balraj’s misery.
In a tragic twist Balraj’s separated wife was stung by a russel’s viper and died.
Though separated , Varadhaa’s death through snakebite caused inconsolable sorrow to Balraj.Apart from physical ill - health it is said that Balraj’s emotional state declined considerably after his wife’s death.
Due to his deteriorating health Balraj began to pursue a comparatively , sedate life. He was involved as a lecturer and instructor at the LTTE’s military academy for officers.
Balraj taught military stratehy, planning and tactics.He also provided specialised training for the LTTE commandoes and special forces.
He had earlier been a visiting instructor and demonstrator at various LTTE training camps. The recruits and conscripts liked to be taught y Balraj.
But there was no way in which his services on the military front could end.
In 2001 when “Col” Shankar was killed in a landmine attack by the army’s deep penetration unit a virtual state of emergency was declared y Prabakharan.
Balraj was directed to coordinate a defence strategy to counter the DPU and prevent further attacks. Balraj was engaged in this when the ceasefire was promukgated on Feb 23rd 2002 .
[Brigadier Balraj-pic LTTE]
During the ceasefire Balraj was sent to the east at one stage to strengthen LTTE defences. This was after the Karuna revolt.
Balraj was in Vaaharai when the tsunami struck on Dec 26th 2004. Balraj reportedly had a miraculous escape.
The recent past had seen his health deteriorate drastically. He used to spend most of his time in a hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu. Yet he would leave the hospital and undertake prolonged trips to the frontlines inspecting and supervising defences.
The raising of the 59 division and its deployment in Manal Aaru / Weli Oya created fresh difficulties for the LTTE. Contaiing the armed forces in this strategically important terrain was of crucial importance.
Once again Prabakharan turned to Balraj. Despite his ill - health Balraj began staying at te Frontlines for extended periods. This worsened his physical condition.
It was very recently that senior LTTE commanders Sornam and Bhanu were sent to Manal aaru to help ease Balraj’s burden.
Balraj like Soosai was genuinely popular with the peop0le and well - liked by tiger ares. This was due to the fact that both were simple , accessible persons without pompous pretensions.
Both got on well and Balraj went to Soosai’s aid when the latter got into “trouble” with the leadership over eastern special commander Ramesh.
When efforts were made by intelligence chief Pottu Amman to “penalise” Ramesh for alleged collaboration with Karuna it was Soosai who prevented it as Ramesh was married to his cousin sister.
Balraj threw in his weight behind Soosai and Prabakharan had to listen.Ramesh was let off lightly.
Balraj also incurred the wrath of other senior LTTE leaders when he voiced the concerns of ordinary people.
When the LTTE began interfering with the agriculturists of the Wanni by demanding that they sell their produce to the tigers at rock - bottom prices it was to Balraj that the farmers turned.
When the LTTE took over all sea produce and began exerting a monopoly the affected fisherfolk turned to Soosai and Balraj.
When Balraj took up these issues with Prabakharan on behalf of the people the LTTE seniors in charge of finance, trade etc were offended.
The Wanni is now a blend of four types of society.
There are the original inhabitants of the Wanni; then there are the Jaffna people who came in some deades ago; there are also the Tamils who relocated to the Wanni after 1995 - 96 when the LTTE was sent out of Jaffna.
Fourthly there is the LTTE, their families and the families of close LTTE supporters.
There are tensions among these four different segments. When such problems occur the ordinary people prefer to seek the help of “understanding” people like Balraj. He was like a pacifier and bridge builder.
In one glarig instance two members of Pottu Amman’s intelligence division drove their vehicle recklessly and killed a young man.
The LTTE police force led by Nadesan (who is now political commissar) refused to take action. This led to enraged relatives storming the cop shop. It was Balraj who managed to douse passions.
Balraj was not an orator. But in recent times he had developed his public - speaking skills. Balraj spoke directly without fanciful flourishes and touched the hearts of his listeners.
[At homage paying in Mallaawi, May 21, 2008-pic TamilNet]
One reason that endeared Balraj to the ordinary people was his easy accessibility and simplicity.
While most LTTE leaders move about in pajeiro vehicles with many bodyguards Balraj moved about on foot or bicycle.
He used motor vehicles only for long trips and travelled about with few bodyguards.
People could easily approach him and talk. He did not keep himself aloof.
Even Tamil journalists who have met him were full of praise for the man’s opennness and inter - personal skills.
Likewise cadre under his command loved him because of his concern for them and his friendliness.
Apparently many of the current LTTE leaders are cut off from the people whose cause they claim to serve. They also adopt a superior attitude towards low - rung cadre.
Balraj and Soosai are but a few exceptions.
Against this backdrop the death of Balraj will be an irreparable loss for the LTTE.
Even though ill - health had diminished his military ability , Balraj was still a force to be reckoned with.
His military experience and knowledge was a tremendous resource for the LTTE.
Above all he was an inspirational icon for young tiger fighters.
Brigadier Balraj’s demise would be keenly felt by the LTTE and its leader.
DBS Jeyaraj can be reached on djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com
May 24th, 2008
Statement by National Peace Council of Sri Lanka:
The abduction of senior journalist, Keith Noyahr, Associate Editor of the Nation newspaper just outside his home in a residential suburb of Colombo is a shocking incident that highlights the vulnerability of human rights and the media in Sri Lanka. Mr Noyahr wrote the defence column for his newspaper in addition to editing it. The National Peace Council condemns this abduction which adds to the dismal toll of victims of serious human rights violations. Ironically, this incident occurred on the day after Sri Lanka failed to obtain re-election to the UN Human Rights Council which demands that member countries demonstrate the highest adherence to human rights norms.
The bruised face of Keith Noyahr-pic AFP via Yahoo! News
A notable feature of these abductions is that they take place even in areas where there is a high level of security and checkpoints at regular intervals. It appears that the abductors are able to take their victims through these security checkpoints with impunity. In addition there have been a number of attacks on journalists, leading in some cases to their death, in which the perpetrators have been able to get away with impunity.
While we are happy to note that Keith Noyahr has been released following appeals to the highest government authorities we are appalled that this incident took place. He had been physically assaulted and we join his family and loved ones in wishing him a speedy recovery. The sooner those who ordered the abduction and those who carried it out are identified and brought to justice, the sooner will it be possible for us to move forward as a society that respects the rights of individuals, even those holding opposing views, and truly re-emerge as a united nation respecting
democratic norms.
Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council
National Peace Council of Sri lanka
May 23rd, 2008
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