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| Angry
JVP will only talk to CBK Born on 25 March, 1972, Kaushalyan, a native of Bandarvila in the Batticaloa area, was a virtual child-soldier when he joined the LTTE at the age of 17. His baptism of fire came when encountering the IPKF in 1989 fighting under the command of Mano Master. His fighting experience, much of it in Jaffna, seems to collaborate what the erstwhile LTTE Batticaloa leader Karuna said when he left the movement last April citing discrimination within the LTTE. He said that much of the LTTE's fighting capabilities came from their cadres in Batticaloa. Kaushalyan was reportedly a good administrator within the rebel ranks, the man responsible for probing much of LTTE's corruption in the eastern command of the LTTE, and passing the information to the leadership based in the Wanni. As a result, many heavyweights of the time from the LTTE's eastern command, including Karikalan and even Karuna fell foul with the Jaffna dominated LTTE leadership. His assassination has sent a clear signal to the LTTE leadership. That it's going to be very dangerous doing overt political work, and that their leadership must remain covert. exposing themselves as rarely as possible. Arguably, Kaushalyan's assassination is not the most significant strike on an LTTE cadre in the 20-year old insurgency. Kittu, their Jaffna commander was killed on board a ship in international waters off the east coast bringing arms to Sri Lanka; Pulendran committed suicide on the Palaly tarmac whilst being brought to Colombo; Mahattaya was believed to have been eliminated by the LTTE for cosying up to the Indian intelligence agency; Shanker was assassinated by the army's deep-penetration unit, the 'long rangers'. These killings took place outside the battlefield, but Kaushalyan's murder was the one that took place during a ceasefire. That's its significance. And that's what the LTTE is going to capitalise upon. All the speakers at the funeral of Kaushalyan were full of scorn for the UPFA government, and the security forces. They accused paramilitary forces (a reference to both the EPDP which is part of the government, and the breakaway Karuna faction) colluding with the armed forces in planning out, and executing the murder. It was the sweet irony of it all, and not for the first time in this unique rebellion, that the government's Air Force provides a helicopter to bring down rebel leaders from their headquarters in the Wanni to pay homage to their fallen comrade-in-arms, and then accuse the very government and its forces of killing him. And then hop a ride back to their headquarters on the same government helicopter. This is the new theme of the LTTE. That the UPFA government in Colombo, hemmed as they are with the JVP's anti-LTTE pressure tactics, is acting in bad faith vis-à-vis the rebel group. They took up this new theme in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami disaster. The UPFA government was caught flat-footed, the President appointed some misfits, including some questionable businessmen and interior decorators into task forces, and it was not only the LTTE, but even the UNP and the JVP, and the non-government press that said that the government made a hash of things. A golden opportunity to mend fences, on all sides, went abegging. Pressed to the wall as they were for insisting on an ISGA (an interim authority for self-rule) before they came back to the peace process, the LTTE successfully overcame the international pressure on them by saying that the areas under their control, especially the Mullaitivu district, were neglected in government's relief efforts. Unfortunately for all, what the LTTE said this time, had an element of truth in it. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's visit to the country made matters worse for the government. Without making it clear to Dr. Annan why he should not visit Mullaitivu, under the circumstances, the government only succeeded in fuelling speculation that they were indeed discriminatory towards the people of Mullaitivu, even if they were captives of the rebels. So much so, that inside the UN headquarters in New York, when pictures of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka were displayed, a disproportionate number of pictures were of the Mullaitivu district clearly displaying the UN's own discriminatory perspective of the disaster in Sri Lanka. The people of government-controlled Ampara could have made the same complaint, but when the LTTE says it, even organisations like the UN take it to mean something else. And so we saw this week an almost unprecedented statement from the UNSG's office, condoling with the death of a rebel leader, and expressing concern for the peace process as a result of it. Mind you, two members of the UN Security Council (Britain and the USA), and one aspiring to be one (India) have banned the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. The Patriotic National Front, of which the JVP plays a prominent part, has condemned this UN statement quoting from the UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 referring to the UN's opposition to 'any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country", and written a separate letter to Miguel Bernmeo, the UNDP representative in Sri Lanka accusing his office of giving 'diplomatic recognition to the internationally proscribed LTTE', and listing out a string of heinous crimes committed by the rebels. They gave gingerly tread, though, on condemning the killing of Kaushalyan, which the Sri Lanka government has gone on to do, by saying that "as human beings" they too condemn any killing, but say that the rebel leader was killed by the breakaway faction of his own armed cadres. There is some discomfiture among many that war might break out because of the assassination of Kaushalyan. That seems remote. The greater possibility is that the LTTE will add to their complaint about the manner in which the government is meting out unfair treatment to 'their people' in Mullaitivu, by a second complaint that it is killing its senior cadres in the midst of a truce. This is the point they drove home when Japan's special envoy Yasushi Akashi met Kaushalyan's boss S.P. Thamilselvan in LTTE-held Kokkadicholai last morning. LTTE's peace secretariat chief Pulidevan joined in the government bashing. They were not going to miss out on this opportunity to pile it on. Already, a move spearheaded by Norwegian ambassador Hans Bratskaar to get the UPFA government to work out 'some mechanism' by which the government and the LTTE can come to terms in tsunami relief work was putting added pressure on the government. The JVP sees this as a precursor to an ISGA which they vehemently disapprove. The international donor community, in the meantime, is also bent on such a step. That is why UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent visit to Europe where he had discussions with the international community gave rise to government wrath that he was only adding fuel to the fire. Under this intense pressure, on Friday, government's chief tsunami reconstruction manager Mano Tittawella indicated government's withering and wilting, to announce (to a foreign news agency) of a plan that will give as much as 60 per cent of the US $ 1.8 Billion foreign aid for tsunami reconstruction to mostly LTTE controlled areas. He went on to say that 90 per cent of the work would be executed by the donors, and the UPFA government will mere "play the role facilitator", conceding as he has, the government's total surrender to the tsunami-like pressure from the donor community, ably engineered by the LTTE. Tittawela also said that a joint mechanism between the government and the LTTE was on the cards. The "substance" of such a mechanism is clear, only the "cosmetics"as he called it, i.e. in the wording, (which is not cosmetics by any means,) is to be done, he said. These new developments were the concern of the government at the very apex. President Chandrika Kumaratunga who flew to Islamabad to thank the Pakistan government for its help in the post-tsunami relief efforts, and to talk of matters, including defence, was also expected to complain about the LTTE's own conduct during the ceasefire. One issue she was to raise was the construction of an airfield in the LTTE-held jungles, and the existence of two fixed-wing aircrafts of a new Air Tigers wing of the LTTE. But Pakistan apart, the LTTE had the upper-hand from the death of Kaushalyan. The government security forces asked several questions to which no answers were forthcoming from the LTTE, among which was why he travelled without a military escort (which was available to him). Added to the newfound sympathy they have won from the otherwise fickle 'international donor community' following disastrous relief operations of the tsunami disaster, the LTTE is sitting quite pretty. Not so, the UPFA government. Bending to appease the international community has resulted in a crack in their own ranks. The JVP, without whose support the Kumaratunga government will collapse overnight, has taken cudgels. At a meeting in the parliamentary complex this week, SLFP leaders Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, cabinet ministers Maithripala Sirisena (SLFP general secretary), Susil Premajayanth (joint secretary of the UPFA Alliance) and Mangala Samaraweera discussed the sharp differences between the coalition partners. Among the issues discussed were the non-participation of the JVP in the tsunami debate, and what action was deemed necessary to patch up the differences. Premajanth was assigned the task of taking the issues up with the JVP. So he met Wimal Weerawansa, the JVP spokesman. He told the JVP propaganda secretary that the SLFP, and much of the PA were concerned that the JVP was kind of peeing on the government from the inside. He suggested that the two sides meet before they met jointly with the President (who earlier quit her role as President of the UPFA). Weerawansa reported the request to his politburo, which came to a very swift conclusion. There was no purpose in all this pre-trial discussion, because it is her word that prevails. So, they said to themselves, if there is to be a dialogue, they must have it with President Kumaratunga, and none others. Thus, the stalemate within the UPFA continues, and media minister Mangala Samaraweera has deftly announced in the meantime that the Presidential elections will be held by November, 2006. Whatever constitutional validity that statement may have, or not have, as the eventual Supreme Court case may be, there might have been some relief all around, not less in some quarters of even the opposition UNP, that the country could do without an election this year. The statement however comes in the wake of our report last week in this very column, that the President was now thinking of stepping down gracefully (as opposed to disgracefully), passing the presidency to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse for the period of the presidential elections, and hoping to defeat the UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe from that pedestal. Now, an informal probe is on how this information leaked, with the 'usual suspects'. In the meantime, life goes on in its own meandering way in this isle, with its usual lighter moments. In parliament's lobby, Urban Development and Water Supply Minister Dinesh Gunawardene was discussing current affairs with deputy minister Mahinda Aluthgamage and former deputy minister Mervyn 'Dutugemunu' de Silva. Minister Gunawardene told de Silva that the beleaguered education secretary Tara de Mel had closed the gates of the Education Ministry to ward off protesting parents up-in-arms with their kids not being admitted to national schools citing corruption. "Api Yamuda gettu kadagena" Gunawardene said suggesting, in lighter vein no doubt, that they force open the gates and scale the walls at Isurupaya, the ministry building. By the way, Gunawardene is also a deputy minister of education. Ever willing for such pranks, Mervyn de Silva responded eagerly "hari sir, mama okkama set-karannan" meaning, ok sir, I will organise everything. No further action was, however, taken, as everyone laughed and went their way. Lo and behold, within ten minutes, Minister Gunawardene gets a call. It's from the President of the Republic - and the Minister of Education. He was asked what he was planning to do storming into her (and his) ministry. Taken aback, the MEP leader said that the ministry secretary was making a hash of things, and that as the people's representatives who helped bring the UPFA government to office, they were concerned about such bureaucratic bungling, or words to that effect. The President said she would check this out, and that she would call back in ten minutes. She did keep to time - this time - and assured the minister that the gates will remain open to the public. Spare a thought for this President. The amount of fire-fighting she has to do. Cannons to the right of her (international community), cannons to the left (JVP), in front (LTTE), behind (her own) reminds one of the Shakespearean irony of being King (Or President in this case), so that the humble citizenry can sleep in peace;" What watch the King keeps to maintain the peace Whose hours the Peasant best advantages " Tonight, the President hosts a dinner for those who helped in the task force CNO (Centre for National Operations), which came under a hail of heavy artillery fire from the ranks of Tuscany within the government itself. The very same Tara de Mel referred to above, was the chairperson of this CNO, but was un-ceremoniously sent packing with some uncharitable remarks from her own colleagues, saying that the CNO had only completed 30 per cent of the tsunami relief work in the one month they were in office. Tara de Mel may not have set the Thames on fire, but she did her best. The price she paid was probably was her close proximity, and her unflagging loyalty to the President, and tonight's dinner at President's House must surely be not just to thank these volunteers, but also to smoothen the ruffled feathers. And to think, that the President wants to have another year of all this intrigue, is indeed, intriguing. |
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