Overtly eager State officials, who ignore acknowledged channels to please Tiger guerrillas are causing as much embarrassment to the United National Front (UNF) Government as those who oppose the yearlong peace process.

Examples of such action, where scant regard has been paid to procedures, the laws of the land, national security interests and the UNF's openly professed commitment to transparency may be as high as the number of daily complaints the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) receives on ceasefire violations. But most do not come into public focus.

However, some glaring instances already known deliver a strong signal to the UNF on the need for urgent measures to protect the peace process from being derailed by over enthusiastic State officials, all political appointees. That is in view of the increasing threats the actions of the Government’s own men pose.

An example that received much public exposure is the import of radio broadcasting equipment for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). If a Government licence permitted them to beam within a radius of 20 kilometres from Kilinochchi, the radio station that became operational from January 16, this year can be heard beyond that in Jaffna (70 kilometres away), Mannar (160 kilometres away), Mullaitivu (75 kilometres away) and deep south of Vavuniya (over 160 kilometres away). Although these distances are by road, it is still far beyond the radius allowed.

The Sunday Times can now reveal more details of how the broadcasting equipment was delivered to the LTTE. A senior official in the Prime Minister's office asked the Protocol Division of Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a Clearance Certificate to the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo. This came soon after he made a personal appeal to this Embassy to act as consignee for the equipment - a request which they readily obliged since that was tantamount to a formal Government request.

The Foreign Ministry issued this Clearance Certificate on October 31, last year. Diplomatic missions in Colombo to clear cargo, both official and personal, require this document. That is for goods consigned to their office or personnel without payment of duty.

The Clearance Certificate in this instance (see facsimile on this page) was issued by the Foreign Ministry in the name of Oddvar Halgrund, Minister Counsellor of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo. According to a column in this certificate, the "Detailed Description of articles imported/purchased ex bond" is stated as "communications equipment and parts." The answer to a question in another column which asks "Whether for official or personal use?" states "official." An entry in "Remarks" column says, "letter from PM's office is received."

After ensuring that Foreign Ministry clearance was issued, the high official in the PM's office, The Sunday Times learnt, asked Defence Secretary Austin Fernando to arrange for the inspection of the equipment by a technical team. Here again, intriguing enough, Mr. Fernando appointed a team to examine "communications equipment consigned to the Royal Norwegian Embassy." The Committee members, it is learnt, had been told only verbally that the equipment was bound to the Wanni for the LTTE.

The team comprised R.D. Somasiri, a former Telecommunications Department official now Advisor to the Ministry of Mass Communications, Brigadier Y.S.A. de Silva, Director, Signals, Sri Lanka Army, Group Captain A. Gunawardena, Director Electronics and Telecommunications, Sri Lanka Air Force and Upali Arambewela, an engineer now Additional Director General of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.

In their report to Secretary, Ministry of Defence, dated November 26, last year, the four members said in the very first paragraph "As instructed by the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, the following committee was appointed to inspect the consignment of communication equipment received by the Royal Norwegian Embassy…." There was no mention that the broadcasting equipment was for the LTTE.

Customs Appraiser H.G.C.K. Wijesekera took an inventory of the broadcast equipment on November 26, last year, in the presence of Brigadier Silva, Mr. Arambewela, Group Captain Gunawardena and Lasantha Prabath of Arrow Freight, the local agents for the freight-forwarding firm. It was only thereafter that the container with the cargo was sealed. It was again on the basis that the equipment was consigned to the Royal Norwegian Embassy. There was no mention whatsoever in any official documents of the cargo being cleared for or by the LTTE.

Little wonder when The Sunday Times front page lead story of December 8 last year headlined "New Voice of Tigers with govt. approval" drew a prompt and angry denial from Defence Secretary Fernando. The report said he had issued a letter to a Police Inspector who accompanied the container load of equipment up to the Army Checkpoint at Omanthai from where it was moved to Wanni.

"…I wish to state categorically and with full responsibility that I, as the Defence Secretary, have not issued any such letter to anyone and accordingly the news item is entirely false as regards the said letter." He was right. There is no documentation involving the LTTE. Even the instructions to the Police to escort the cargo to Omanthai, ostensibly to prevent any outsider introducing any other material, was done verbally.

The equipment came as a consignment to the Royal Norwegian Embassy. A technical team was called upon to examine this consignment. It reported the verification to the Ministry of Defence. The Customs gave clearance to the cargo for collection by the Norwegian Embassy who was the consignee. And at the end of it all, when the story broke out, official accounts had to concede that the consignment was for the LTTE. That was with the assertion that the LTTE had written two letters on October 1, last year, requesting permission to import the broadcasting equipment. It was said that one was directed to the Secretary to the Prime Minister and another to the Minister of Mass Communications.

The fact that the entire exercise was surreptitiously carried out caused acute embarrassment not only to the UNF leadership but also to the Norwegian Government and their Embassy in Colombo. Norwegian officials insist to date they are unaware who paid the money or who procured the radio equipment. They say they "willingly agreed" to act as consignee for the cargo, heeding the request of the high official, as a "measure of goodwill" and to "assist the Government of Sri Lanka." The position is clearly underscored by the role of the high official in the PM's office. It is he who asked the Foreign Ministry to issue a Clearance Certificate in the name of the Royal Norwegian Embassy. If the equipment was imported by the Embassy in question, the request should have originated from them.

Whether playing good Samaritan was wise is another matter. But having done so, the Royal Norwegian Embassy learnt it the hard way. A prolonged silence on the part of the Government did cause further damage to Norway's credibility as a facilitator. The first statement by the Government spokesman on December 26 last year - a cool three months after an LTTE request was reportedly received - did very little to clear the imbroglio. It raised more questions than it answered.

It therefore took Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, in a letter to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga on January 3 to defend Norway. In doing so he stressed that their Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jon Westborg "has an unrivalled experience of the ground realities in Sri Lanka."

The position that the Norwegian Government and their Embassy in Colombo was put into could have been very easily avoided had the proper regulations and protocol been complied with. This is an instance where the high official concerned had ignored fundamental governmental procedures and also the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP). The latter could have been called upon to go through with the formalities. Why was this not done?

After all the events, the fact that the LTTE is now operating a radio station, with a range far in excess of the radius approved, is common knowledge. It is also common knowledge that the Government cannot enforce any punitive action for violating a stipulation in the licence issued to them. That is despite public claims that such action would be taken if there were any violations. Why then did the high official in question resort to improper means and thus embarrass both Sri Lankan and Norwegian governments? If that was lesson number one from a glaring instance, there was more.

Another is the "self inflicted" crisis over the High Security Zones (HSZ) in the Jaffna peninsula. A "De-escalation Plan," a secret document, formulated by Security Forces Commander, Jaffna, Major General Sarath Fonseka for study by the Government was sent directly to the LTTE by Defence Secretary, Austin Fernando. A demand in that plan for guerrilla cadres to disarm and decommission long-range weapons angered the LTTE. Later Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe himself conceded that the document should not have gone to the LTTE in that format.

He explained it should have been "sanitized" or in other words a fresh document formulated in acceptable jargon to be forwarded for LTTE consideration. As a result, the LTTE made use of this fiasco to render defunct the Sub Committee on De-escalation and Normalisation (SDN) thus shutting off direct contacts or consultations with the Army. Lesson number two from another glaring instance one would say. But that is not the end of it.

A third glaring instance has raised more questions on national security and whether Tiger guerrillas enjoy "duty free" cum "security free" status when they use the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). This time again, it is the result of the role played by a BIA director appointed by the UNF to a key position at the airport. He is said to use his close Ministerial connections to by-pass all border control channels.

On January 11 (Saturday), the six member Tiger guerrilla delegation taking part at the fourth round of peace talks in Nakorn Pathom (Thailand) arrived in Colombo by Srilankan Airlines flight UL 423 at 11.40 p.m. They were S.P. Tamilselvan, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna), S. Prabakharan (Pulithevan), M. Sharvananda Krishnan, M. Sivapalan and P. Sivaparan. The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo had made arrangements for their overnight accommodation at the Airport Gardens hotel in Seeduwa.

Twelve crack commandos of the Sri Lanka Army led by an officer escorted the LTTE team to the hotel and stood guard there. For these commandos, it was a strange twist of fate. It was only on July 24 2001; these men together with their colleagues had braved the fierce Tiger guerrilla attack on the Sri Lanka Air Force Base at Katunayake and the adjoining Bandaranaike International Airport - an incident that had a devastating effect on the country's economy. In a reversed role, it has become their task now to protect the guerrilla leaders every time they passed through BIA.

It is the responsibility of the SCOPP to arrange Air Force flights in consultation with the Royal Norwegian Embassy to bring to Colombo the LTTE delegation for the outward flight from Sri Lanka and later to return them to their own locations. Usually, a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter would drop the main group in Kilinochchi, return to Colombo and fly to Batticaloa to drop Mr Muralitharan alias Karuna.

However, the BIA director had by passed the SCOPP and used his political clout to ensure there were two SLAF helicopters to take back the LTTE delegation. It was on the grounds that Political Wing leader, S.P. Tamilselvan, had a morning conference in Kilinochchi. He could still have been dropped for this conference and Mr. Muralitharan taken on the second trip. There were two SLAF Bell 212 helicopters on the BIA tarmac when the LTTE delegation, escorted by the Army commandos, arrived from their hotel on the morning of January 12 (Sunday).

A white coloured lorry from the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. drove in with the luggage of the LTTE delegation. It turned out that the passenger baggage of the four-member team flying to Kilinochchi was too big a load to carry. There were too many packages and boxes, all of them sealed and secured. The SLAF pilot had to ask they be left behind as that could impede take off. It was re-loaded to the lorry.

Just then, driving to the apron (where the choppers were parked) was the official vehicle of the BIA director followed by a Mitsubishi Montero. The time was 6.50 a.m. An occupant alighted from the Montero and handed over a packed box, (about a foot long and eight inches wide) to Mr. Prabakharan alias Pulithevan. What was in the box? While the Montero has been registered in the name of a private distillery's office in Colombo, security authorities are unaware what the box contained and who came in the Montero.

They had entered a very high security zone escorted by the BIA director's vehicle with an unchecked parcel. The checkpoints had been cleared without any hindrance because the director's vehicle was ahead. Senior airport officials suspect the box may have contained foreign currency but this could not be verified. In any case, they point out that the parcel could have been easily handed over outside the airport high security area if there was a requirement.

Later, the four-member team took off to Kilinochchi accompanied by the BIA director and another holding a managerial position at the airport. At the same time, the second Bell 212 took off for Batticaloa (Palugamam) with Mr. Muralitharan (Karuna), Mr Sivapalan and an official from the SCOPP. This helicopter carried three pieces of personal luggage.

The Sunday Times learnt that the packages left behind were much heavier than the personal luggage of 375 kilos that five members of the LTTE delegation brought along to Colombo when they returned from Oslo, Norway, after the third round of peace talks. According to authoritative sources, the packages had not been subjected to Customs examination although it is not clear whether a description of them were given if they did make declarations. One source said that one of the larger packages contained a mini refrigerator. However, this could not be confirmed. Nor were details of what the other packages or boxes held are known. How did these packages later arrive in Wanni?

The Sunday Times learnt that the BIA director had already made arrangements. Instead of sending them by road, he was to airlift them though the SCOPP, which was responsible for such arrangements, was unaware of the move. Two SLAF Bell 412 helicopters were to land at the Thurstan College football grounds in Colombo at 7 a.m. on January 15 (Thai Pongal Day) to take the Government delegation and Norwegian officials for the meeting of the Sub Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) in Kilinochchi.

Ahead of the scheduled time, (around 6.45 am) an SLAF Mi-17 troop transport helicopter had arrived there. The packages left behind were all loaded into this. One SLAF source said BIA director had objected to security checks on the packages by Air Force personnel - a routine security procedure when SLAF aircraft carried cargo or baggage. If the packages were allowed duty free and without Customs examination, here was a case of the security checks also being done away with.

This is in marked contrast to accepted procedures. All soldiers boarding Air Force flights from Ratmalana for their bases in the North or returning are subject to security checks. Air Force personnel use explosive detectors for checks on baggage. The baggage is not loaded to aircraft or helicopters until this is completed. But for baggage that was going to the LTTE in the Wanni, the BIA director had sought an exception. One Air Force source said he used names of senior UNF leaders to caution those who attempted to carry out checks. Eight passengers flew together later with the packages in the Mi-17. Eight others took the Bell 412.

That was the course of events that occurred when the LTTE delegation returned from Bangkok. Their visit to Colombo from Wanni en- route to Thailand was also marked by some disturbing events.

The six-member LTTE delegation arrived in Colombo on January 3 and was accommodated at the Airport Garden Hotel (Seeduwa) protected by the Army commando team. The next day (January 4), they were driven to the airport to board Srilankan airlines flight UL 422 for Bangkok that was scheduled to leave at 7.55 am.

It transpired that two other persons, described as close associates of a member of the LTTE delegation had joined them at the airport. They are learnt to have stayed at the official residence of the BIA director, located in the high security area though they were not members of the delegation and thus had no official status. The director is learnt to have obtained confirmation of seats in the same flight for the two outsiders. They later flew in the same flight. So did the BIA director. He was on hand in the Rose Garden Resort in Nakorn Pathom where the LTTE delegation and the Government team were holding peace talks.

The member of the LTTE delegation, who was close to the two outsiders, The Sunday Times learnt, had (before arriving in Colombo) contacted an official in the SCOPP and inquired whether the delegation also could stay at the BIA director's official residence. That was together with the duo. Since Royal Norwegian Embassy officials had already made arrangements for accommodation, the SCOPP official had regretted his inability to help.

One of the two outsiders who boarded the flight, intelligence sources at the airport told The Sunday Times had powerful connections and lived in Kelaniya. According to these sources, he received regular visitors from the City including airport officials to his residence and was known for his lavish spending.

According to these sources, the delegation member in question had once visited the Kelaniya residence when he was in Colombo to travel abroad. This visit had taken place in a vehicle belonging to the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo. However, this could not be independently verified though the same intelligence sources said DPL vehicles often arrived at this Kelaniya residence.

The Sunday Times learns that the Royal Norwegian Embassy officials had expressed concern to local counterparts over some of the alleged violation of procedures and protocol at the airport. Their concerns had been heightened because of their keenness to avoid any criticism against them like in the case of the issue involving the import of broadcasting equipment.

All these glaring incidents manifest the supine accommodation of the LTTE by the Government. Making matters worse is the fact that there is hardly any reciprocity from the Tiger guerrillas.

It was only last Thursday that an LTTE "Court" in Kilinochchi took the case once again of Army soldier Nihal Kumara, arrested by their "Police" for straying into guerrilla dominated areas in the Weli Oya sector. LTTE "prosecutors" argued that the soldier was a spy who had infiltrated into guerrilla areas to collect information. A "counsel" assigned to the soldier by the LTTE argued that he had ventured out on a game hunt with his service weapon, a Chinese built T-56 assault rifle.

How the two different versions arose is indeed comical.

According to the soldier's own testimony to guerrilla "Police," he had gone looking for wood apple before beginning his morning ablutions. He fell into guerrilla hands. The LTTE "Judge" has now put off the case for February 13 and the soldier continues to languish in an LTTE jail. The Army is unable to obtain help since procuring counsel to appear in an LTTE "court" would amount to accepting their "jurisdiction." The Government has remained helpless since the soldier was arrested on December 24.

The LTTE arrest is also a warning to all other members of the Security Forces not to stray into guerrilla dominated areas. Unlike what prevailed before the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22 2002, they will face arrest by the LTTE "Police" and face prosecution in their "Court of law." If found "guilty" they will be "jailed." So the Alpha Nine highway from Vavuniya to Jaffna is not for them to travel. They will still have to fly out of Jaffna and return there by air.

Is this not in marked contrast to the treatment Tiger guerrillas have received at the hands of the Government? Kandasamy Ramasamy (of Tellipalai, Jaffna) and Madhavan Vasanthan (of Sampur, Trincomalee), both hard core guerrillas were arrested with weapons whilst felling trees in a forest reserve in the jungles of Kantalai in the Trincomalee District late last year. They were charged under the Offensive Weapons Act.

An application for their release came up before the Court of Appeal on October 8, last year. Bail was granted on that day with Rs 25,000 each as surety.

The duo were released and ordered to report to the Kantalai Police on the second Saturday of each month. The Police have not set eyes on the duo from the day of their release. The case comes up for hearing in the new Magistrate's Court in Kantalai on February 28. This court was set up only on January 1 this year.

The LTTE has refused to accept the jurisdiction of the Courts of Sri Lanka. Its men have disobeyed a Court order. That is not all. The LTTE now wants the Government and the Army to accept the "jurisdiction" of its own "law courts." Who acknowledged that these LTTE "courts" have been in existence for long years when in reality they were not? Now, will those who did so, accept they would also heed to the "jurisdiction" of such courts? Their silence is deafening.

It is in this backdrop that one has to view the violation of regulations and protocol that applies to the normal citizens of Sri Lanka in order to appease the LTTE. That leaves open several doubts and raises several more questions, the foremost of which is whether in that process the nation's security and integrity has been compromised? The peace process is one aspect and undoubtedly a highly desirable national objective but it should not be at the jeopardy of the country's security and political dignity. It remains the UNF Government's priority to secure the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and all its citizens since a ceasefire is not a total peace and a final end to war. At the end of it all, it is the public that has to endorse a political solution through a peace dialogue.

The actions of the Government should give the public, those of all communities, the confidence that their political integrity and security are being safeguarded. Without this assurance it is doubtful whether everlasting peace can be achieved. This means the Government should act. There should be accountability.

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