At a time when the head of state, head of government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was briefly away, the Army has suffered its biggest debacle on the military front.
In the LTTE's massive midnight attack on the Mullaitivu army camp last Thursday, more troops were lost than in all the Riviresa operations to recapture the Jaffna peninsula. The censors are not allowing the publication of real figures but it is common knowledge that the toll is high, though due to the censorship rumour has put the statistics higher than the real figures. It is clear that while the Army can win conventional battles, the LTTE has the upperhand in guerilla warfare. The LTTE morale had been shattered after it was driven out of the Jaffna peninsula. International support for it was withering and the LTTE had to bounce back in some way. Velupillai Prabhakaran's personal leadership was at stake with the edifice of the Eelam dream collapsing. Thus the LTTE apparently has thrown everyone and everything it had into the Mullaitivu attack. The Mullaitivu attack has shown that the LTTE is not dead - yet.
Prolonged and excessive censorship has thrown all the bad news under the carpet. Both the top brass of the Armed Forces and the government leadership prefer to live in a world of their own going on the basis that what is not published is not happening. Mullaitivu shows that the government can talk to the LTTE only from a position of strength. It is clear that kind of position has still not been achieved despite all the hosannas, boasts and the bouquets. When we report the bad news or give early warning signals, the government thinks we are its enemies.
It is also sad that the Opposition is not giving its full support to the battle against the LTTE. Meanwhile government leaders are politicking in the South and the LTTE must be tickled pink by the antics of the political leaders of Sri Lanka.
The futility of talking to a ruthless terrorist group like the LTTE is clear. Mullaitivu reinforces that belief. As long as the LTTE is not defeated militarily, it might even be an exercise in futility to talk of devolution packages. The first question is to whom are you going to devolve power?
In the coming week we will be remembering some of the darkest dates in Sri Lanka's history, the week of July 1983 when judgement fled to brutish beasts and men lost their reason. Thirteen years later with more than 60,000 lives lost in a horrible conflict, society seems to have become hard hearted and immune to suffering. We have been going round in circles and appear to have lost our way.
On the eve of the spectacular centenary Olympics in Atlanta, the United States has been plunged into shock and mourning over the shattering TWA crash in which 230 people perished. Flight 800 from New York to Paris, suddenly turned into a fire ball and rescue workers on the scene said the plane had been blasted into hundreds of pieces. Most experts are of the view now, that it was not an accident, but a terrorist bomb, though the US Government is officially underplaying the bomb angle, so as not to cause too much concern at the Olympics.
While extending our deepest sympathies to the families of the victims, we wish to also state here that terrorism is a worldwide danger, not confined to any particular country like Sri Lanka. We say that in the context of a recent unfortunate development where the UN resident representative in Colombo advised a UN agency that it would be unsafe to hold a conference in Colombo. On his advice, UN Headquarters in New York brought pressure on the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) not to have its conference in Colombo. Now that New York itself is not safe, we wonder what those UN pundits will say.
While they cringe, it was indeed, heartening have seen the courage of Miss World Jacqueline Aguilera who, despite the bombs, came to Sri Lanka and spent four beautiful days here.
Ole! Senorita! You are not only the most beautiful girl in the world, you are more manly than the Aussie and Windies cricketers and the UN diplomats.
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