21st July 1996

The Jungle Telegraph

By Alia


Report on Mullaitivu not acted upon ?

Details of Thursday's at tack on the Mullaitivu Army Camp are still sketchy.

Radio communications directly between Army Headquarters and Mullaitivu remain cut off.

Hence, news of how the brave soldiers and policemen there laid down their lives or were wounded when they put on a brave fight with Tiger guerrillas is not yet known.

But a bit of disturbing news that is doing the rounds is the advance information the intelligence community reportedly had about the LTTE attack.

The deputy head of the intelligence arm of a coveted service sent in a written report to his boss (the head) that Tigers were planning to attack the Mullaitivu Army Camp.

Insiders say the deputy's report, unlike the usual intelligence warnings, was not mere guess work based on general information.

The deputy said in his report dated July 5, 1996 that the LTTE plans were to launch a "Pooneryn style' attack on the Mullaitivu Army Camp.

Like many others in the intelligence community, the boss also heard the story of his deputy's report doing the rounds in the defence establishment. The boss now reportedly claims that he waited on the report until it was checked out.

But Defence Ministry officials are infuriated. "Common sense and not expert intelligence acumen warrants that he should have reported this immediately," said one of them.

Whether this omission or commission, like many other actions, would go unnoticed is the billion dollar question. After all, it's not the job that counts. It's the man who holds it.

UNP boycotting Uncle Sam

The United States Government has been much in the news these days for various forms of assistance it is giving the Government of Sri Lanka to crack down on terrorism or more pointedly the LTTE which is perpetrating it.

The opposition United National Party's top runners have not been too happy about this move. During their 17 years in power, they were close to the United States but no such assistance was forthcoming, complained one of them.

But State Department officials in Washington and those in the US Embassy in Colombo are taking great pains to explain that there is no "quantum leap" in Clinton administrations' attitude towards the PA Government in Colombo. It was just that the US Government was stepping up its crackdown on terrorism worldwide and Sri Lanka was one of the beneficiaries.

It seems that the UNP leaders are not quite happy with this explanation. No one represented the United National Party at the vin d'honneur US Ambassador held on July 4 to mark the American national day.

Unlike his predecessor, Ms. Teresita Schaffer, who hosted crowded annual receptions, Ambassador Peter Burleigh, was left to play host at the vin d'honneur and had to hand pick the invitees. It was not his choice. The scourge of terrorism had pushed the State Department into asking missions to make public events low key.

Needless to say a creme a la creme of the UNP leadership were invited to the American national day.

None of them turned up.

Is this a UNP boycott or did the invitees all have prior engagements? Your guess is as good as mine.

Startling revelation about LTTE

It was undoubtedly a source of encouragement when Inspector General W.B. Rajaguru, rewarded handsomely the group of policemen who arrested 21-year-old Neil Moses at a check point.

The hardcore LTTE terrorist and six others are in custody. Their rounding up led to the discovery of a large haul of explosives and weapons in Wellawatte. Thus a major terrorist attack like the Central Bank or the Kolonnawa Oil Installation attack was prevented.

But the tale of one of the hardcore LTTErs who is among the seven in custody has raised many an eye brow.

The man was one among three arrested by the Mirihana Police on November 13, 1995. Police higher ups there asked the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Crime Detective Bureau (CDB) and the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) whether the man whom they had arrested on suspicion was in any of their records. The reply was in the negative.

The suspect, Sivanathan Suhumar, was then released.

It now transpires that the youth, who was released by the Mirihana Police disappeared to noth the north. He turned up in Colombo again a few weeks ago, this time to fall into police hands for good. Insiders say the man has made some startling revelations about LTTE operations in Colombo.

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