How will Bala come to the Wanni?
A top-secret security operation around the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), planned to go into effect from Wednesday afternoon, was called off at the eleventh hour.

That was after news reached Colombo that the man for whom high security measures were planned for will not come after all.

Dr Anton Balasingham, Chief Negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was to have left London on last Wednesday to arrive in Colombo on Thursday afternoon. Soon after his flight touched down at the BIA, he was to be whisked away to Wanni in a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter.

Norway's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Jon Westborg, The Sunday Times learnt, conveyed to United National Front Government leaders of plans by Dr Balasingham to fly to Colombo and later to Wanni. Last Tuesday night, UNF leaders led by Defence Minister, Tilak Marapana, hurriedly set in motion plans to ensure tightest security measures were in place. However, Norwegian facilitators made it known hours later that he will not come.

The official reason attributed for Dr. Balasingham and his wife Adele Anne's non arrival, The Sunday Times learnt, was due to confusion over airline tickets. The Norwegian Government is said to have arranged for the tickets from Oslo but instead of reaching London, it had by mistake, gone to Frankfurt.

However, Dr. Balasingham's refusal to take a subsequent flight has raised doubts on whether there were other reasons. Whether it had any relevance to Wednesday's mob attack on the Police Special Task Force (STF) camp at Kanjirankudah, near Pottuvil, had any bearing is not clear.

Intelligence sources believe LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was all along opposed to Dr. Balasinghams arriving in the Wanni through Colombo due to security considerations. They say it was Mr Prabhakaran's objections that made Dr. Balasingham arrive in Wanni, in April, this year, from the neighbouring Maldivian capital of Male, in a seaplane operated for tourist purposes in the archipelago by a Scandinavian company. He took the same route during the return journey but the seaplane was the subject of a controversy after its pilot reportedly swooped low, at least twice, over a Naval cordon that had surrounded a Sea Tiger flotilla in Trincomalee. The flotilla was headed towards a Sea Tiger base near Batticaloa (Situation Report - May 12) Worries of any incident involving a seaplane affecting the Maldivian tourist industry had prompted its owners to refuse to hire their fleet.

Since the first round of peace talks, Norwegian facilitators have been using their good offices to persuade the Government of India to allow Dr. Balasingham to fly to the Wanni from the Southern Indian state of Kerala. This is whilst the LTTE leaders used their own channels to win the support of Indian Defence Minister, George Fernandez, with whom they had cultivated a long standing relationship, years before he became a Cabinet Minister.

The Sunday Times learnt plans had been afoot for Dr. Balasingham and an entourage to fly from Trivandrum to Kilinochchi in a helicopter hired from a private company. However, news of the reluctance of the Government of India to allow Dr Balasingham had come only late last week. According to diplomatic sources in Colombo, Indian authorities are learnt to have explained to Norwegian facilitators the reasons for their inability to allow the request.

The political fall out of such a move is said to worry the Indian Government particularly since the LTTE remains banned in India. This is more so in view of the prevailing anti-LTTE feeling not only in Kerala but also in the adjoining state of Tamil Nadu. The state of Kerala is under the control of the opposition Congress Party. In the state of Tamil Nadu, where the AIDMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam) is in power, its Chief Minister, Jeyaram Jeyalalitha, recently ordered the arrest of an opposition leader, Vaiko Gopalaswamy, head of the MDMK (Marumalartchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam), for a supporting the LTTE, a banned organisation. He is still being held in custody.

For both Dr. Balasingham and the LTTE, winning the Indian Government's approval for a stop over in Trivandrum, en route to the Wanni, would have meant a significant political victory. That too, in the backdrop of the Government of Sri Lanka lifting the four year proscription on the LTTE, ahead of the Sattahip peace talks in September. Such a move would have strengthened their case for a plea to other countries that have banned them to withdraw such measures.

Now that the proposed passages via Maldives, India and Colombo have been ruled out, how will Dr Balasingham arrive in the Wanni remains the biggest question. Even the possibility of Colombo being re-considered is not ruled out. This is because Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgesson, is due in London anytime now from Oslo for talks with Dr. Balasingham about his visit to Wanni and related matters.

Dr Balasingham was expected in Wanni for the October 10 Tamil Women's Day which commemorates the death of the first LTTE female cadre, Malathie. She died in a confrontation with Indian troops on October 10, 1987.

Dr Balasingham's presence in the Wanni for meetings with his leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has become imperative in view of the upcoming second round of peace talks. These talks have been extended for a fourth day, from October 31 to November 4, in view of the participation of the LTTE Political Wing leader, S.P. Tamilselvan and others. They are to make speeches in Tamil. The services of qualified professionals are to be obtained to translate their speeches into English. A day's extension is because of the time taken by such a process and the responses it will receive from the Government side.

Besides discussing issues that will come up during the second round of talks, Dr Balasingham, according to sources in Wanni, is also to discuss with Mr Prabhakaran current developments in the east triggered off by Wednesday night's mob attack on the STF camp at Kanjirankudah. Although the LTTE has officially stayed clear of the string of incidents, including those in Trincomalee, the sources say, the LTTE wants to raise issue over what it calls severe hardships to Tamil civilians in the East.

Such a move may lead to calls for further de-escalation of security measures through various means - a growing nightmare for Security Forces top brass who privately complain of the already increasing "security vacuum" in the North and East. Their apprehensions have heightened further in the backdrop of the proposed Joint Task Force comprising personnel of the Security Forces and Tiger guerrillas, to be appointed shortly, to examine the question of re-settling residents who were rendered homeless after a sprawling High Security Zone was created around the Security Forces Headquarters in Palaly at the height of the separatist war.

According to Dr. Balasingham, more than 70,000 persons from over 20 villages are waiting to return to their homesteads. Since re-settlement and rehabilitation have become subjects of high priority, a programme for their return would have to be formulated by the Joint Task Force and executed immediately. Troops have already vacated schools, places of worship and public buildings. The re-settlement programme will naturally lead to further re-location of troop positions and thus a restriction of areas coming under their control.

Despite assertions to the contrary by UNF leaders, who are eager to ensure the peace process is on track at any cost, the widening security vacuum, not to mention other security concerns, have not been fully examined with Security Forces top brass. A cross section of senior officers The Sunday Times spoke to not only reflected this view but also emphasised that the focus now was on fully downsizing the military. A common complaint was that none of the issues have been discussed with them or examined in detail.

They were quick to assert that their concerns were in no way an opposition to the peace process but only underscored the scant, and often cynical attention paid by those responsible for the security establishment in the UNF hierarchy to national security issues. That is both during a peace scenario or when national security threats arise from developing situations, like for example, the current developments in the east.

The UNF has already embarked on a priority programme to find assignments for troops, particularly the Army, in United Nations Peace Keeping missions. A retired British Army officer, Sir Gen. Michael Rose, has been commissioned to prepare a report on how to train the troops for this purpose and how to find placements. Sir Gen. Rose, who was in Colombo, last month is due here again in the coming weeks.

Some irritants in the Government-LTTE relationship, caused by the guerrillas taking hostage of seven soldiers, (one was released on humanitarian grounds), in retaliation over a separate incident where two armed guerrillas were arrested and remanded for felling trees in a forest reserve, was resolved on Wednesday. A Magistrate in Trincomalee granted bail for the two guerrillas following an order from the Appeal Court. The same evening, six soldiers were released to the ICRC in Kumburupiddy, north of Trincomalee.

As the men returned to their camp at Monkey Bridge for a debrief, another incident, with potentially dangerous implications, was unfolding in the Amparai district. On Wednesday night, a mob attacked the Police Special Task Force base in Kanjirankudah, near Pottuvil. Seven persons were killed and more than 25 have been injured.

The sequel was protest campaigns in other towns in the east which later spread to the north. On Friday, life in Trincomalee came to a standstill. The deaths of four civilians in two separate incidents prompted a curfew in the district. These events came hard on the heels of a hartal just days earlier that paralysed life. It was held to demand the release of the six soldiers the LTTE was holding hostage. Needless to say these incidents upset tour operators in Colombo. Some found their clients, who were held up when they were travelling to Trincomalee, board the first available flight out of Sri Lanka to return home. The flow of domestic tourists, who thronged this northeastern City, also slowed down.

Nowhere was the concern over developments in Trincomalee more reflected than at Janadipathi Mandiraya. Disappointed that President Kumaratunga, the Commander-in-Chief was not receiving Incident Reports, aides kept calling senior military and intelligence officials to ascertain what was going on. The fact that no proper feedback was being received was underscored by an official announcement from the Presidential Secretariat on Friday night. It said:

"The President is deeply concerned at the deteriorating security situation in Trincomalee. The President has set up a special monitoring unit at the President's House manned by Army and Police personnel.

"This unit began operations at 1700 hours (5pm) today (11th October) and will function round the clock and keep the President updated of the security situation in Trincomalee and its environs.

"The public may contact this unit with information on the following telephone numbers 433215 and 321201."

This announcement, surprisingly enough, is just a day after the UNF leaders renewed their efforts at co-habitation. Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe accompanied by Ministers Milinda Moragoda and Tilak Marapana met President Kumaratunga on Thursday to talk of what was termed "a process of discussion on the issues involved in the ongoing negotiations between the Government and the LTTE." Associated with President Kumaratunga was former Foreign Minister and now International Affairs Advisor to the President, Lakshman Kadirgamar.

An official announcement said "it was agreed that joint meetings would be held at regular intervals…" It is no secret that Thursday's round of talks to renew efforts at co-habitation came amidst reports that the UNF, after all, will not be able to muster required numbers for the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Consequently the implementation of the hurriedly formulated defence reforms, which also require Constitutional amendments, will remain on hold.

However, the Committee tasked for formulating these reforms continues its work despite complaints from many in the security establishment that it lacked transparency.

General (retd.) Hamilton Wanasinghe, a former Army Commander, who has personally seen action during the separatist war and conducted many an offensive operation, told The Sunday Times he refused to testify before the Committee since only one member, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Denis Perera wanted to hear his representations.

Gen. (retd.) Wanasinghe, who also served as Defence Secretary under a United National Party Government said the Secretary to the Committee had telephoned him and asked him to appear. "They were in a mighty hurry. I was told that the two civilian members were away and only one member would sit. I explained there was no point in my making representations to one person when the Committee was made up of three," he said.

Gen. (retd.) Wanasinghe said he had later explained to one of the Committee members, Treasury Secretary, Charitha Ratwatte, the reasons why he could not testify. Interesting enough, Gen. (retd) Wanasinghe was not given an opportunity to appear before the Committee (with the three members sitting) even at a later date.

Last Thursday, a crowd of nearly 40,000 thronged a venue in Wanni where the LTTE put up a show of strength by parading its armed female cadres to mark the Tamil Women's Day. The Sea Tiger "Commander" Soosai was the Chief Guest.

What he told the gathering is reported in the Tamilnet, the website that reports accurately on LTTE matters. This is what he said:

"Our armed forces have fought for achieving our homeland, respect for our nationality and self-rule. It is important that we continue to modernise and strengthen our armed forces until we achieve our goals.

"You may ask us why we should hold military parades like what you saw today in this atmosphere of peace. It is the strength of our armed forces that have helped to achieve the peace that all are enjoying now.

"Sinhala people must understand that our armed forces are only for protecting our own people. They are not meant to conquer other or take other people's territories. Our armed forces are not a threat to anyone."

That speaks of the LTTE's priorities. Soosai makes no secret that the Tiger guerrillas have to "modernise and strengthen our armed forces until we achieve our goals."

What of the UNF Government ? It has embarked on programmes to train troops for peace-keeping operations in other parts of the world. Like the defence reforms, the priorities seem to be misplaced. Or, are there any priorities at all?

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