23rd April 2000

Censor batters battle report

The Sinhala and Hindu New Year, marked by nationwide holidays on April 13 and 14 saw an uneasy lull in the decisive battles raging in the past many weeks at Elephant Pass.

Weary soldiers found time to take their fingers off the trigger of their rifles to savour seasonal sweetmeats whilst some of their officers including Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Srilal Weerasooriya, flew out of the battle zones of the north for various reasons.

For Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya, it was to chip in on some fun and frolic connected with the local New Year festivities. This time it was the Army sponsored Motor Cross at Diyatalawa – part of regular activities for the festive season in the salubrious hills. He was the chief guest.

Major General Sisira Wijesuriya, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army's 53 Division, fell sick and needed urgent treatment. Brigadier Sivali Wanigasekera (GOC 55 Division) immediately took over from Gen. Wijesuriya. Succeeding him as officiating GOC of the 55 Division was Col. Hiran Halangoda, a one time commando officer with long standing experience in combat.

But the holiday respite was short lived. Beginning April 15, just 24 hours after the two day lull, Tiger guerrillas unleashed what is undoubtedly the frightening, penultimate phase of "Operation Oyatha Alaikal Three (Ceaseless Waves Three)

It began with what has now turned out to be a deceptive move.

There were also fears it would extend from there towards Chavakachcheri, Eluthumaduval across the narrow lagoon to Nagarkovil . These fears also prompted worries of an LTTE thrust from Chavakachcheri towards Navatkuli, Kodikamam and Mirusuvil.

But the real thrust of the LTTE was elsewhere. Using the Vathirayan area, which they re-captured earlier (Situation Report – April 2, 2000) the Tigers launched a three pronged attack on the re-constituted security forces defence lines in the area.

Re-inforcements that rushed in fought their way and formed a second line of defence for the troops to fall back. A Special Forces group from the Division that moved into the area bolstered the defensive positions in this area. Although they fired several rounds of artillery they soon came under heavy artillery bombardment from Tiger positions in a location south of Elephant Pass. This forced the security forces to readjust their defences further by ceding a large extent

The attacks, reportedly by a group of not more than 600 Tiger cadres, led to the security forces fighting pitched gun battles for five days since April 15. On April 19, at night, the Tigers attacked two T-55 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs)

damaging them badly. Military sources said the surprise attack led to

The heavy fighting forced the security forces to further back out of their defence lines. From the abandoned rail track area, they retreated to just ahead of the road that ran hugging the coast via Kilali, Kachchai, Chavakach-cheri towards Elephant Pass –

Several attempts by the security forces to re-capture (Censored) On one occasion, LTTE's "Task Force Commander" Balraj was trapped after security forces surrounded an area encompassing the MSR (Situation Report – April 9)

In the fighting this week, the

Alarm bells rang in the defence establishment in Colombo. Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Srilal Weerasooriya, flew down to personally give a briefing to the National Security Council on the security situation at Elephant Pass and adjoining Jaffna peninsula. For obvious reasons, what he spelt out has to remain a secret.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Commander-in-Chief, currently undergoing medical checks in the United Kingdom was immediately contacted. She gave her approval to some of the recommendations made by the NSC.

Immediate among them was the appointment of Major General Janaka Perera as Overall Operations Commander (OOC), a position where he is solely in charge of the conduct of all counter terrorist operations. Major General Sarath Fonseka, another veteran in counter terrorist operations, was named as Security Forces Commander, Jaffna. He was replacing Major General Chula Seneviratne, who has been transferred to Colombo to take over Maj. Gen. Fonseka's post at Army Headquarters as Director General General Staff (DGGS).

Significantly these changes came just 20 days after President Kumaratunga ordered the three security forces commanders – Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya (Army), Vice Admiral Cecil Tissera (Navy) and Air Marshal Jayalath Weerakoddy (Air Force) to – to fly to Jaffna and remain there until the situation was brought under control. Despite the presence of the three service commanders, heavy fighting saw a gradual deterioration of the security situation.

Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya, who has blamed the media and given various other reasons including lack of additional strength for the Army's inability to defeat the LTTE,

If he declared that the war would be over by the Sinhala-Hindu New Year three years ago, that 96 per cent of the war was now over and he hoped to shake hands with LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, once that remaining meagre four per cent was concluded, Minister Ratwatte has not even taken his oaths as acting Minister of Defence since President Kumaratunga left for the United Kingdom. One is reminded of the well known adage that victory has many fathers but defeat is an orphan. There were no visits to the battle areas with TV cameras on the ready. Nor were any conducted media tours arranged at his behest. The ongoing censorship, made at his request, continues with Sri Lankans being denied most of the truth in the battlefields.

It is in this backdrop that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga directed from London that General Rohan de S. Daluwatte, be appointed Chief of Defence Staff with effect from Friday. He has been given full powers with the security force commanders and the Inspector General of Police being brought under his direct control for operational purposes. (See box story on this page)

It was only on May 27, last year, that Gen. Daluwatte was named Chief of Defence Staff. However, on June 9, last year, he was relieved of this title and the powers vested in him were withdrawn.

The fact that the powers of Gen. Daluwatte has been restored barely an year later is not only a clear indication that Minister Ratwatte's contentions do not hold good but is also acknowledgment that a unified command structure to maximise the use of resources is an imperative need, more so (Censored)

Even as two gazette notifications – one appointing General Daluwatte and the other constituting a National Security Council with full powers – were being printed at the Government Printer's Office on Friday night, heavy fighting was raging at Elephant Pass.

This move came as security forces were in the process of formulating some urgent contingency plans. High level security sources said troops were fighting bitter battles

Other military sources, however, argued (Censored) movement was still possible towards Jaffna. This, they claimed, was in view of the LTTE not dominating the area ahead. However, there was no confirmation of this view.

These new developments, The Sunday Times has learnt, may prompt President Kumaratunga to cut short her UK visit and return to Sri Lanka.

General Daluwatte in the meanwhile flew to Jaffna and Elephant Pass yesterday to make an on the spot assessment. He is to brief President Kumaratunga. Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries) who has been called upon to overlook the working of the Presidential Secretariat, was in touch with Army Commander Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya yesterday. This was a prelude to briefing President Kumaratunga on the latest situation.

Unlike the previous military debacles, the current fighting in the north has laid bare to the political leadership of the People's Alliance a series of serious deficiencies in the military machine against Tiger guerrillas. One main aspect has been the often delayed and inaccurate information from the battle areas reaching PA leaders.

In one instance, PA leaders had been made to believe by

One high ranking and angry PA source declared "numerous other instances have come to light during recent battles. We have seen through some of the bluff for which remedial measures have become imperative.

This is because billions of rupees of public money have been poured into the war effort and we owe it to the people of this country."

This malaise has prevailed from the very inception of the stepped up Eelam War since 1983.(Censored)

Neither has there been a consensus between the major political parties on military and political aspects of the problem.

The Fifth Column

Editorial/ Opinion Contents