Army Chief begins on positive note

By Hiranthi Fernando

The Army's new Commander Srilal Weerasooriya is taking a positive view, both at the achievements of the Army upto now and the prospects or challenges in the future.

Simple and unassuming , and deeply spiritual, Lt. Gen. Weerasooriya is an officer and a gentleman in the truest sense. During his unblemished 35 years in the Army, he has held several responsible posts, including Commandant, Army Training Centre, Director Operations, Army Headquarters, two spells as Overall Operations Commander as well as Chief of Staff. He is highly respected by his fellow officers and soldiers alike as an honest and capable man.

Professing to be shy of the media, he however agreed to speak to The Sunday Times in his office at Army Headquarters.

Excerpts:

Q: The elimination of terrorism in the North and East and the defeat of the LTTE's military wing has taken 15 years and there is no real sign of success in either of those now. Why?

A: Shall we look at it from a different perception. We are not talking of the LTTE being annihilated. It fought for a cause which it thought was correct. It had the backing of the people of the North as well as expatriates. It is common knowledge it had a big lobby in certain countries in the West.

In-between this period, there were also a number of attempts at peace talks and the involvement of peacekeeping forces, which the LTTE used to its own advantage to gain time. In other words, governments did not take the LTTE head-on due to various internal and external factors until 1995.

If we look at the situation just prior to the major operation in 1995, we see the LTTE was running a quasi-government in the North. Compare it with the situation today, after four years of operations. It has lost control of Jaffna and a large portion of the Wanni. Its leadership is disturbed. In its seat of government which was Jaffna, its infrastructural base has broken down. It has lost a large number of trained cadres.

So in short, it is a matter of time. The quality of the LTTE fighter is definitely lower. Its support base, the people of Jaffna, is by and large fed up of the war and are searching for peace. So, I do not agree with claims that there is no real sign of success.

The people of Jaffna are yearning for peace. During Riviresa 1, about 400,000 to 500,000 people were evacuated to Vadamarachchi by the LTTE. Five months later, when Riviresa 2 was launched, they came back to Army controlled areas.

Q: Are you saying that the people of Jaffna are not supporting the LTTE now?

A: They are not supporting the militancy of the LTTE. They want peace.

Q: Is the Army now able to get information from the people in Jaffna?

A: Yes. A number of detections, recoveries and arrests have been made on information given by the people.

Q: The inability of the Army to defeat the LTTE is apparently forcing the Government to accept or even consider third party involvement in talks with the LTTE. What are your views on this?

A: Shall I take the second part of the question first? It is only the LTTE that talks of third party involvement. The Government has always kept its doors open for talks, of course, under certain conditions. Today, the people of Jaffna want a negotiated settlement. It is up to the LTTE, if it is interested in negotiating, to be pragmatic and deal directly with the Government. I would like to mention the recent local government elections. The LTTE tried to prevent the people from voting and obstruct the democratic process. They assassinated two mayors. However, the people showed their wish for democracy by coming and casting their vote.

I do not agree with the first part of the question, referring to the inability of the Army to defeat the LTTE.

Q: What are the inherent problems the Army has to deal with in this war?

A: There are two aspects to this. One is the LTTE itself not being an isolated force but having the support of some foreign agencies through which they are able to raise funds to buy weapons.

From the Army's point of view, being a long drawn out war, manpower recruitment and training have to be a continuous process. Maintenance of a large army is expensive. On the other hand, we have improved on certain problem areas we had in the past. We have excellent welfare schemes for fighting soldiers', families - those killed in action, wounded in action and missing in action. Casualty evacuation and medical care are of a high order.

Q: What about recruitment to the Army? Are the youth reluctant to join?

A: There is reluctance. However, a number of deserters are coming back. In the last amnesty, 1017 deserters returned. They are asking for more amnesty periods.

Q: What do you know about LTTE recruitments?

A: The LTTE also has problems in recruitment. We have seen propaganda in areas they have some control, canvassing for recruits. The response is poor. School principals in these areas have come to the authorities pleading for protection for the children from forcible conscription by the LTTE.

It is by forcible conscription that they get their numbers. Families are compelled to give money or a child. They take the young for the purpose of brain washing them. In Jaffna and Army controlled areas, recruitment to the LTTE is poor. The parents flee to Colombo. Large numbers from the North are coming to Colombo and the suburbs mainly to prevent the children from getting caught into the movement.

From the Army-controlled areas, people can leave with permits. Although there are no flights, ships are still operating. However, we encourage the people of Jaffna to return to Jaffna. We prefer them to be in their area. If too many people leave the area, it would cause demographic problems.

Q: We understand that the Military has been restored with full authority to manage the war. The Military will now have no excuses that politicians are interfering. What are your comments?

A: In any country, the Armed Services are instruments of the legally instituted government. The war is managed by the Government. The Military cannot do it alone. It is so in Sri Lanka as well. It is our duty to advise the Government on the prevailing threats and measures needed to overcome them. The war is dealt with in the same context. Once decisions are made by the authorities, drawing up of plans and implementation have always been the role and task of the Army.

Q: How do you account for what happened at Kilinochchi recently?

A: The LTTE goes in for do-or-die operations. It was a suicidal effort.

In doing so, it suffered massive casualties. It lost 737 cadres in its force and more than 1000 were injured. Percentage wise, its loss was greater. It has gained a stretch of about three kilometers, a total area of about ten square kilometers.

For a guerilla force, it is the loss of its fighters and not ground that matters. For us, the loss of ground matters as well.

Q: Do you think the war will go on indefinitely?

A: The answer to this is an ultimate political solution which has to follow the defeat of the LTTE. The war is fought on a politico-military strategy and should culminate in a political solution. To achieve this, the LTTE has either to be brought under control or it must give up the call for Eelam and come up with a positive attitude towards negotiations and peace.

"I insist on blaming the UNP"

An angry Minister S. Thondaman has denied media reports quoting him as saying he would decide which party rules the country. "I am not a baby to talk such nonsense. I speak in Tamil and not a single Tamil paper reported such nonsense. Some sections of the media have planted two things. They said I approached the UNP to defeat Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake's votes. I never did that. Secondly, they portray me as an arrogant man who does not know his place, Mr. Thondaman told The Sunday Times in an interview. He said that in future elections he will fight as the United Front of People of Indian origin and not go into a coalition with the PA or the UNP.

By Roshan Peiris

Q: Do you still think that whoever wins the next elections you will have a role to play?

A: Your question is apparently a follow-up of what has wrongly been reported in the media other than the Tamil papers. They misquoted me as saying that I would decide on which party rules the country.

Am I a baby to speak such nonsense. This is all done to damage my image. What I will do will all depend on the political circumstances of the time. I cannot say more.

Q: Your ministry votes were defeated and you blame the communal elements in the UNP for it. But then have you taken into account that your own grandson and heir-apparent was not there at voting time. Also the Leader of the House and the Chief Whip — Ministers Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and Richard Pathirana — were not there. So why blame the UNP and communal elements?

A:I insist on blaming the UNP. They organised the whole thing.

Q: Why do you say this?

A: I know the UNP sponsored this as a last minute effort to take all by surprise. I am not blaming them. After all I should realise that they have been anti-Tamil, anti-minorities and use the name of democracy to inflict injustice on the minorities. After all it was the UNP which first declared Indian estate workers as stateless and took away their cherished civic rights.

Q: You throw charges against the UNP for defeating your ministry votes. Then why did your own CWC members plot to defeat the votes of Minister Wickremanayake?

A: They did no such thing. Newspaper reports were based on somebody's imagination.

Q: Should you not resign? Some people feel you are morally bound to because your ministry vote was defeated in Parliament.

A: This is all the work of the sections of the media which are unfair and unkind to me.

Q: But then some of your own members accuse you and your grandson of financial malpractice.

A: Nonsense. For the past four years on my birthday we collected money to build a medical camp for the estate workers. We are also getting a bank overdraft with a CWC surety.

Q: Many analysts say you swing one way and the other for personal or party benefits with no values or principles. First you were with J. R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa and then you go along with Chandrika Kumaratunga

A: I speak based on facts. I always have respected Mr. Jayewardene and Mr. Premadasa and acknowledge that they have done much for the estate workers. But President Kumaratunga did even more by setting up a separate ministry for the welfare of the estate workers and putting me in charged. That was why I praised her. Does that mean I am swaying from side to side? Certainly not.

Q: While admitting you have done much for the estate workers, your critics say you do not often act in the national interest and you strike when the iron is hot.

A: I do strike, it is a legitimate weapon for a trade union.

Q: But don't you do it when the country has problems such as the rising cost of living and strikes cripple the economy?

A: I do what I do when I want to do it in the interest of the workers and for all estate workers who are suffering.

Q: Do you still think the LTTE should be given temporary Eelam for a specified period?

A: I don't mean Eelam as such. What we want is peace in the country. So why not allow the LTTE to run the area for five years — the term of a Parliament. We can try that out. It is not a matter of giving Eelam. The merger under the Indo-Lanka Accord can continue so that they can run both provinces.

Q: In Jaffna, the LTTE made a hash of the Municipality experiments. How do you read that?

A: That was because the military was present. The TULF did not run the council on its own.

Q: Does the CWC want to run on its own like the SLMC in the next elections?

A: We have now formed a United Front of People of Indian Origin. So we will fight the elections on our own.

Q: Whom are you supporting in the current North Western Provincial Council election campaign?

A: We are supporting the PA. The UNP by defeating my ministry votes has shown its true colours. I mistakenly thought it had changed since 1988. But it is anti-Tamil and anti-minority as far as we see.

Q: There is a saying ''Vasi Peththata Hoiya'', meaning you will always be with the winning side.

A: It is not a matter of my doing it deliberately. We are a minority so naturally we can't rule the country. So we side with the majority to work with them to ensure the right of workers. See when statelessness was abolished even Indian Muslims gained by it. The motive is not selfish, that is what I want conveyed by the national newspapers.

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