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Peace
process bogged down in more questions He ensured the mobility of cadres loyal to the renegade leader. One of his last major tasks was to see the movement of troops to the banks of the Verugal River, north of Batticaloa, for what then appeared to be a major standoff with guerrillas from Wanni loyal to Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. That ended in an ignominious defeat for Karuna and his cadres. The renegade eastern military leader fled to the safety of the south accompanied by his close aides. That included his over zealous spokesman Banu Avaliyan alias Varadan. From the secrecy and safety of his southern hideout, he began a new war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leadership in Wanni with his cell phone. There was still much bravado in the interviews he gave to media "friendly" to his group. The first was to a website espousing Karuna's cause. He was forced to eat his words after that led to embarrassment all round. The fallout is not yet over. Hard on the heels of that retreat from Karuna came an exodus of troops loyal to him. Many fled to the South, most to the Colombo City. Others found safety in Sinhala dominated areas like Polonnaruwa, Dambulla and Kurunegala among other towns. Kalidas and a few friends were not as lucky as their leader Karuna. They found shelter in a lodge in Maradana and were pondering over their future. With a little money in their hands, they wanted to go abroad and find employment. Last Monday night Kalidas and Manikadasan Maduruban alias Madan, a driver who worked for him, walked into the house of a job agent at Bodiraja Mawatha in Maligawatte. Within minutes three men arrived at the scene. One of them pulled out a Chinese built T-56 assault rifle and poured 24 rounds into Kalidas' chest. Another fired a Browning pistol. He fell dead. His friend Madan was wounded. Another fighter for the Karuna faction in the war against LTTE Wanni leadership, Nandakumar and his wife, who were at the job agent's house fled through a back door. The assailants escaped in a three wheeler. That was how an LTTE killer group, operating with impunity in the Colombo City, took their first victim after the North versus East feud in the LTTE had ended. Just before dawn that Monday, the mangled remains suspected to be the body of Kanagasabai Thuraisingham alias Thurai was found in a drain at Polwathupitiya near Kurunegala. This is on the Dambulla-Kurunegala Road. A passport, said to be Thurai's, obtained just ten days before, lay close by. It was in an "N" series fool proof passport issued by the Department of Immigration and Emigration. It bore No 1267034. There was also his National Identity Card (NIC) No: 611043716 V. Some distance away lay a fully loaded, blood splattered 9 mm automatic pistol. If the victim was the person whose photograph was in the passport, well informed sections of the security establishment believe, he is Keerthi’s close associate. Keerthi is LTTE intelligence wing leader for Batticaloa district. He was Tiger guerrilla intelligence leader Pottu Amman's man. Was he targeting someone in Karuna's faction known to have been hiding in the Polwathupitiya area. The latter are known to have frequented the premises of an ice cream vendor from Eravur (Batticaloa district) who lived in the area? Did a grenade he was carrying go off prematurely? Or did an improvised explosive device he was carrying detonate accidentally? However, intelligence operatives in the Police believe believe Thurai was Karuna's man. They found he spent April 14 in a Colombo lodge before obtaining his passport and travelled towards Kurunegala. They say he was targeting members of the LTTE loyal to the Wanni leadership. Whatever faction Thurai may have belonged to, one thing became clear this week. Sporadic clashes between groups loyal to the LTTE leadership in Wanni and those backing Karuna have erupted in the South. They were no more in the Batticaloa district. The fact that the two incidents at Maligawatte and near Kurunegala seemed only a curtain raiser is clear. This is judging by the frenzy with which LTTE intelligence cadres and pistol groups are moving in the Colombo City.contrary to the ceasefire agreement. After reports that some 400 cadres loyal to Karuna (a Police intelligence estimate which is yet to be established) had fled the country, the area around the Department of Immigration and Emigration has become a covert spying ground for local intelligence sleuths and guerrilla intelligence cadres. Early this week, a local intelligence operative spotted what he thought would be a prize catch - the LTTE assassin of Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, the pro Karuna Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate for Batticaloa district. His name is being withheld. Sixty one year old Sathyamoorthy was gunned down at his residence in Batticaloa on March 30. Within minutes of being spotted, the man had disappeared. The defeat of Karuna in the East and the influx of his cadres to the South, particularly Colombo City, have not only led to a campaign of search and kill by men assigned by the LTTE leadership in Wanni. It has also led to other worrying developments. Some of Karuna's cadres have arrived in the City with their weapons. They are mostly automatic pistols though there have been instances of assault rifles being brought in. Equally worrying are reports that substantial quantities of small arms have been sold by those in the Karuna faction to unidentified Muslim groups in the Batticaloa district. The latter is learnt to have also purchased very large quantities of ammunition. If these are some of the consequences from the Prabhakaran-Karuna feud and its aftermath, like during the fighting between both sides, top bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defence seemed helpless. The lack of any Government response to the latest small arms proliferation in Colombo City, the unimpeded movement of killer groups and resultant uncertainties it has posed to the civilian public by cadres seeking refuge in their areas are some of the new problems. If a top bureaucrat in the Ministry were to remark to armed forces chiefs that "we missed a golden opportunity" during LTTE's North-East clashes, he had done very little to cope with the new threats posed to national security interests and public life. It is in this backdrop that the LTTE leadership is now preparing to raise another issue with the UPFA Government - the killing of seven guerrilla cadres and accusations that the Army aided in the attack. This is what the official website of the Peace Secretariat of the LTTE had to say: "Today, 27th April Mr. Tamilselvan, head of the political wing, has sent a letter to the SLMM Head Major General Trond Furuhovde, regarding the murder of LTTE cadres in the Batticaloa district. "Following
is the extract from the letter "We are afraid that putting aside this incident as one carried out by elements closer to Karuna may be too simplistic. Making use of the Karuna factor, any Para-military groups working alongside the SLA, whether with the blessing of the SLA or other wise, may continue to act in this manner and create havoc and confusion. "We request of you therefore to take this matter for an in-depth discussion and ensure that no such violation takes place in the future. This gains more significance in view of our commitment to the peace process and the necessity to uphold the integrity of the CFA in the present political context." Only an extract of the strongly worded letter has been posted in the official website. But the matter did not end there. Mr Tamilselvan raised issue with SLMM Chief, retired Norwegian Major General Trond Furuhovde during a meeting on April 29 in Kilinochchi. This is what the LTTE Peace Secretariat official website had to say on this meeting: "Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of the SLMM met with Mr. S.P. Tamilselvaln, Head of the Political Wing at the LTTE Peace Secretariat today 29th April 2004. In the meeting that lasted for an hour Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of the SLMM discussed with the Head of the LTTE Political Wing Mr. S.P. Tamilselvan matters relating to the murders of LTTE cadres in Vavunativu, Batticaloa. "Reiterating his feelings on the atrocity committed General Furuhovde said that it was a barbaric act and he is making inquiries into the matter and will be submitting a report very soon. The Head of the SLMM also briefed Mr. Tamilselvan on his team's commitment to uphold the CFA and continue in the same way that SLMM was operating up until now. The Head of the LTTE Political Wing assured the HoM that the LTTE remains committed to the CFA and the peace process and would continue to extend its fullest support to their mission. Mr. Tamilselvan also conveyed to the SLMM his appreciation of the services SLMM offers to uphold the CFA. "The Head of SLMM accompanied by Mr. Hagrup Haukland, COS, Ms. Agnes Bragadottir, PIO, Mr. Erik Vollen, ADC to HoM, Mr. Knut Gundersen, LO." The Sunday Times learnt that the LTTE is to raise this issue during talks tomorrow with Norwegian peace facilitators. Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgesson arrived in Colombo yesterday. Special advisor Eric Solheim is due today. They will meet President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in Nuwara Eliya today for extensive talks. They are to ascertain from her details of the UPFA Government’s policy towards the peace process and how they proposed to set about with peace talks. Thereafter Mr. Helgesson is due to leave for Indonesia on a previously scheduled trip. However, he is scheduled to return and travel to Wanni on May 10 or thereafter. Mr. Solheim and Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, will fly to Wanni tomorrow for a lengthy meeting with Mr. Tamilselvan. The latter has already declared he would state LTTE's stand on the peace process only after the Norwegian team apprises him of the UPFA Government's position regarding their basis for future negotiations. The Sunday Times has learnt from LTTE sources in Wanni that their leadership will urge the Government, via Norway, to investigate the incident over the killing of seven guerrilla cadres in Vavunativu. This is besides awaiting the findings of the SLMM over the same matter. The fact that the LTTE leadership is affording priority to this issue is significant. Their leadership is taking up the position that upholding provisions of the Ceasefire Agreement is essential if the peace process is to move forward. Hence, they are to insist that a probe into the Vavunativu incident is carried out and follow up action is taken. Intriguing enough Defence Secretary Cyril Herath has chosen to remain silent on the incident. Neither the UPFA Government nor the Ministry of Defence has thought it fit to deny any Army involvement in the Vavunativu incident. It has fallen on the Army to defend themselves. It was spokesman Col. Sumedha Perera who told the media that the incident occurred in an area not controlled by the Security Forces. Hence, he said, the Army was not in any way involved in the attacks. If in fact the Army's assertions are correct, why is the Ministry of Defence maintaining a stoic silence knowing very well that such matters mar the climate for the resumption of peace talks? Must anything more be said about the pathetic state of affairs at the Ministry of Defence? The Sunday Times learnt that matters relating to the Vavunativu incident as well as issues connected with it were discussed by President Kumaratunga on Wednesday night with Defence Secretary Herath and Chief of Defence Staff (and Army Commander) Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle. However, decisions made remain a closely guarded secret. Although the UPFA Government expects the peace talks to resume by June, this year, it is highly unlikely. This is not only because of the pre-conditions the LTTE is expected to lay down before the Norwegian facilitators tomorrow but also because of the lack of a proper approach by the UPFA Government causing more difficulties. They have not only contributed to further apprehensions on the part of the LTTE but also prompted them to seek clarification and guarantees. One such case is the Vavunativu incident. Another matter on which the LTTE now wants to seek clarification, The Sunday Times learns is last Wednesday's surprise visit to New Delhi by Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar. I erred last week when I said Mr. Kadirgamar would visit India after the parliamentary general elections there conclude in mid-may and a new Government is installed. Instead, after taking part in an ESCAP Ministerial meeting in Shanghai, China, he flew from there to New Delhi last Wednesday. The visit came in the wake of Mr. Kadirgamar's remarks that he saw an active role for India in the ongoing peace process. And in New Delhi, he held talks with External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and National Security Advisor, Brijesh Mishra. According to the Indian High Commission in Colombo, Mr. Kadirgamar and his Indian counterpart "agreed to resume discussions soon on agreements being negotiated between the two countries in the areas of comprehensive economic partnership and defence co-operation and to strengthen co-operation in areas of energy, transport and IT sectors." Equally significant were references in the High Commission statement which said "The Government of India expressed the hope for an early resumption of the peace process and for a negotiated settlement acceptable to all sections of Sri Lankan society within the framework of a united Sri Lanka and consistent with democracy, pluralism and respect for individual rights. India believes that an enduring solution has to emerge purely through internal political processes." It is no secret that any active role for India in the ongoing peace process and an impending Defence Co-operation Agreement with them have been cause for concern for the LTTE. Hence Mr. Kadirgamar's hurried visit to India, just when the rule of one Government is to end and another is about to begin, is puzzling enough. Perhaps, the only logical explanation is that the first pilgrimage has been made faithfully to India before all other countries. Why then is the hurried need to talk of resuming negotiations to conclude a Defence Co-operation Agreement even before a new Government has come to power in India? Why is the need to emphasise the oft repeated Government of India's policy stance of a solution emerging through an internal political process. In other words, such a stance makes clear no external players can come up with any solution. Hence, quite clearly Mr. Kadirgamar, despite the hurried visit to New Delhi, has won no new assurances from India. He has only returned with a message from India, often repeated, that the Sri Lanka Government would have to sit with its adversaries and work out a solution to the ethnic issue. Although Mr.Kadirgamar, in an apparent volte face from his previously pronounced statements, declared that the UPFA Government by implication recognises the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil people, he will still find it difficult to please the Tigers over some of the issues he has generated consequent to the sudden India visit. They will no doubt raise them with the Norwegian facilitators tomorrow. Whilst a number of behind-the-scene moves continue to shore up their majority in parliament, the UPFA Government seems to be engaged in a campaign to win international support. Soon after the India visit, Mr. Kadirgamar is now due in Washington D.C. on May 12 for talks with Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Three days later, Asistant Secretary of State in the State Department, Christina Rocca, is due in Colombo. A meeting of the four member donor community chaired by the United States scheduled for May 18 has now been put off for June in view of these developments. The LTTE's list of pre conditions for resumption of talks will go beyond the demand for their recognition as the sole representatives of Tamil people. They also insist that their proposals for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) should form the sole basis for discussion. Without a doubt, some of the recent actions of the newly elected UPFA Government would add to the list of pre conditions. Hence the crucial question would be when all the pre conditions or requirements for talks will be made public. Not the question of the resumption of talks. |
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