Govt has hidden agenda in continuing war against Tamils
August 11th, 2006
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj
Aug 11, 2006 – If the current war in the Eastern Province was all about water then the cause for that did not exist from Aug 8th when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) opened the blocked sluice gates at the Anecut unilaterally in deference to a request by Norway.. The waters of Maavilaaru began flowing freely along the right and left bank canal .. In spite of this the Rajapakse regime in Colombo did not called “Mission Watershed” off. Instead the conflict has brutally intensified.
The very same Rajapakse regime which requested the LTTE to open the sluice gate unconditionally and asked Norway to negotiate on this matter changed its stance within a few days. Colombo started a vicious military campaign for the purported objective of opening the sluice gates. SLMM chief Ulf Henricsson had a big scare when an aerian bomb fell 350 metres away from the place he was in talking to the Trincomalee tiger political commissar Elilan.
Thereafter Government Defence spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella regaled the nation and world with his jocular observations. One day he said the army was within 500 metres of the dam. On another day he said they were within a distance of a 10 minute walk. Then again he implored the LTTE to open the gates and promised to call off “Mission Watershed” in ten minutes.
After intensive bombardment, shelling and a series of abortive ground operations the armed forces were nowhere near the actual sluice gate that was closed. The LTTE then shifted position and agreed to call off the water blockade unilaterally. When Elilan and Henricsson proceeded to the dam to open the sluice the Government reacted furiously by shelling the area continuously for more than 60 minutes. A thoroughly rattled Henricsson whose life was in danger sent urgent “SOS” messages to Colombo. The SLMM chief who came in to Maavilaaru via Mahindapura changed plan and returned via Verugal and Valaichenai due to fear of the Trinco forces.
Keheliya Rambukwella then went off at a tangent announcing that “terrorists” could not open the sluice gate. Only the armed forces and Govt engineers could do so he thundered. This was the same man who wanted the LTTE to open the gate a few days ago. Apparently the intensive shelling was aimed at preventing the LTTE and SLMM from opening the sluice. The very same Govt which shelled Maavilaaru region to get the sluice open was now shelling the area to prevent it being opened.
The LTTE however went ahead and opened the gate at 3. pm on Aug 8th. The Govt began acting comically and childishly. First it claimed that the LTTE did not open the sluice and that it was the security forces who did so. Then they said the sluice was opened at 8 pm on the same day by the armed forces. They also said that the waters were not flowing and accused the LTTE of not opening the sluice. Actually the Government had blocked the sluices further up where the waters divided along the right and left bank canals. These gates were in Govt controlled territory.
On the following morning a massive public relations hoax was staged. The President’s sibling Basil and the JVP’s Wimal weerawansa along with deputy military chief Maj. Gen Nanda Mallawaratchy went to the Kallaru region and got the canal gates opened with great fanfare. Water then began flowing along the canals. The idea was to demonstrate that it was the Govt which opened the sluice and not the tigers. It was also projected that Maavilaaru was under Govt control.
This was not so and the Govt began a fierce offensive. The gullible South was told through a pliant and uncritical media that the LTTE had launched a counter offensive to retake the stream and dam.About 8000 troops were deployed and there was ceaseless shelling and bombing. Finally the LTTE made what their spokesperson Ilanthiraiyan described as a “strategic withdrawal”.
If anyone thought the fighting would cease after the Govt took control of Maavilaaru Anecut they were sadly mistaken. The conflict only intensified further.Tamil civilians in LTTE controlled areas are suffering immensely due to the aerial bombartdment, multi – barrel rockets and artillery shelling. More than 50000 are displaced. There is an acute shortage of food, medicine etc. There is no infra-structure to accommodate most people. The Govt prevents food and aid from going into the affected areas. Unless “Apey Mahinda” is made to see sense a humanitarian tragedy seems inevitable.
This glaring contradiction between professed intention and actual practice in the case of “Maavilaaru” baffles quite a few who are unfamiliar with the history of modern Sri Lanka and the perfidious role played by successive Sinhala dominated Governments. Past decades have taught Tamils the painful lesson that Colombo governments do not honour their pledges. The Maavilaaru incident where Colombo wanted Oslo to negotiate a settlement and then went back on its word is just the latest episode in long trail of sordid betrayals.
If there is anyone who is genuinely perplexed about the Govt’s inconsistency over Maavilaaru and puzzled about the continuing war then he or she must realise that this war was never about water. There was always a hidden agenda. What is happening now is a full – fledged effort by “Malthattu” Mahinda and his cohorts in khaki, crimson and saffron garb to implement that agenda. This agenda is nothing new. It has been the dream of Sinhala supremacists to destroy or drive the Tamils out of the East and make it a “Sinhala” province. Once the Tamils are diminished the Muslims will be targetted.
Developing Agriculture through massive irrigation schemes and providing land in the dry zone to the landless is a fair and acceptable policy. In Sri Lanka this project assumed sinister and insidious motives. “Colonisation” became the means through which Tamils and Muslims were made a “minority” in their historic habitat. Altering demography in favour of the Sinhala majority was the name of the game.
This policy was heavily augmented with the use of violence. Various pogroms were unleashed against Tamils in general and Easterners in particular. Use of water in irrigation schemes was curtailed to Tamil farmers. There was very little economic development in Tamil areas. This political project continued and became war. The escalation of the conflict enabled the state to practice a blatant “scorched earth” policy towards Eastern Tamils. This resulted in death,destruction and displacement. Many moved out of the East. This was particularly so in Trincomalee.
Trincomalee was important for more reason than one. Blessed with a natural deep water harbour Trinco was of strategic importance. It was also the district bordering the Northern Province. The earlier “Pathavikulam”(Padaviya) scheme has interdicted North – East territorial contiguity. Later came the ethnic cleansing of the “Manal Aaru” region. A new entity “weli – Oya” was created. All this was aimed at breaking North – Eastern contiguity.
With the ethnic conflict intensifying the importance of Trincomalee began increasing. There was a deliberate effort to de- populate the district of Tamils and re – populate it with Sinhala people. This was particularly so in the case of Tamil majority Trinco town and strategically important coastal areas. In spite of all these attempts the LTTE continue to maintain a significant presence in the district.
During the United National Party Government period from 1977 to 1994 the strategy was to establish greater authority and control over the Eastern Province. The deliberate scorched earth policy saw the Eastern Tamils becoming increasingly diminished. The tigers too were restricted to Jungles and adjacent rural areas. The idea was to deflate the “Tamil Eelam” and merged North – Eastern province concepts in actual practice.
The advent of Chandrika Kumaratunga altered this approach. The focus became the North. Jaffna was re- taken.Thereafter the aim was the Wanni. For this additional security personnel from the East were re- deployed in the North. This created a vacuum in some places in the East. The LTTE utilised the opportunity and brought many areas in the hinterland under their control. Even some littoral areas came under tiger domination.
In Trincomalee there were some places under LTTE control that were described as liberated zones. These were mainly in the Muthur East and Eechilampattru divisions of the Trincomalee district. Among these were coastal areas such as Sampoor and Kadatkaraichenai. They were separated from Trincomalee town and its environs by the Kottiar bay. The Trinco Harbour was about 13 nautical miles away. The possession of long range artillery gave the LTTE the ability to strike at the harbour. Securing Muthur would have enhanced that capacity further.
The vulnerability of Trincomalee became a big issue during the tenure of Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. This was the prime excuse cited by Kumaratunga to dislodge him from power. Yet she did nothing in that direction after assuming power. After her inglorious departure “Apey Mahinda” has assumed presidential reins. Rajapakse is perhaps the first Sri Lankan head of state who subscribes fully to the Sinhala supremacist ideology. The khakied hawks, saffron clad chauvinists and crimsoninan national socialists were overjoyed..
The military project of subduing the LTTE in Trincomalee received top priority. It was first necessary to reduce the tiger threat facing Trinco harbour. For this the LTTE domination of the Muthur East division had to be eradicated.The first instance of this new policy became apparent when a suicide bomber exploded herself in Colombo. The LTTE was blamed. Reprisals were launched instantly. It was not Kilinochchi that was targetted but Muthur East division. Artillery fire from army camps, shelling from navaql gunboats and aerial bombardment continued for two days.
Sampoor, Kadatkaraichenai, Senaiyoor, Iraalkuli, Kattaiparichan, Ilakkanthai etc were bombed. Thereafter Muthur East was regularly shelled and bombed for the slightest reason. In recent times the area was shelled regularly for no ostensible reason at all. Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers and artillery fire was directed against Muthur East on July 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 18.This was long before the eruption of the Maavilaaru crisis.
[Map:TamilNet]
These attacks have resulted in over 15, 000 Tamil civilians being displaced. These people are not issued dry rations or relief allowances. The Government also appointed a retired Major – General Ranjith de Silva as Government Agent for Trincomalee district. This man authorised severe measures. An undeclared “economic embargo” came into force. Cement, steel, bricks and building materials were banned.
There were also restrictions on food and essential items. If not for INGO’s; charitable organizations and religious institutions the people living in the LTTE regions would have undergone starvation.The ADB project to provide water to Eechilampattru was also shelved.
It is against this backdrop that the Maavilaaru crisis erupted. This gave the Rajapakse regime a pretext to plan , prepare and launch a major war. The avowed purpose was for water. But the hidden agenda was different. Thanks to Norway’s persuasion the LTTE withdrew from Muthur and also opened the sluice gates. But Colombo has not ceased its war. It continues with a ferocity never seen before. There is absolutely no concern for Tamil civilians. There are even incidents where planes reportedly targetted civilians deliberately.
The short – term military objective was to capture the Maavilaaru anecut and the entirety of the stream and canals. The reason given was to prevent the LTTE from blocking water again. But the military logic cannot end with that. Another tributary Vellai Aaru and the Verugal Aaru rivers also need to be brought under Govt domination if the waters are to be fully controlled. This means that the greater part of the Eechilampattru division has to be “captured”.
The military logic cannot stop with that. If Verugal river is reached full control of it is possible only if the other bank is also taken. Since the river is the border between Trincomalee and Batticaloa the other side is in the latter district. So the next push would be to take the other side too. The next target would be the LTTE controlled areas of Kathiraveli, Vaaharai, Panichankerny etc in Batticaloa. If those areas are taken the LTTE in Batticaloa – Amparai would be confined to the Paduvaankarai hinterland and Kanchikudichaaru, Tharavai, Kudumbimalai, Vadamunai jungles alone.
[Fishermen in heavy rain, in Kattumurivu lagoon in Vaharai, Apr 2005]
The Rajapakse regime thereafter hopes to bring Batticaloa – Amparai under its full control through the services of the Karuna faction. Bringing the East under its full control is of great importance to Rajapakse. This would restrict tiger activity and curtail mobility to and from the North. More importantly it will facilitate Rajapakse’s long cherished dream of de- linking the North and East. The JVP litigation seeking such a de – merger fits into this scenario well.
If the Rajapakse regime does succeed in dominating the East and de- links it from the North that development could help Mahinda in going for a snap election. The JVP and JHU will be on board with him. Mahinda can attract a large slice of hawkish elements from the UNP. He can also overcome any threat from the Kumaratunga loyalists. For all this and more “Apey” Mahinda needs control of the East. First the waters of Maavilaarum Vellai and Verugal. Then the lands of Muthur East, Eechilampattru and Koralaipattru North. Finally the entire Eastern province.
This strategy could have phases in its implementation. There could be lulls in the fighting. This would be for logistical, diplomatic and political reasons. There would however be no let up in the project. This is why the war continues now. It is not for water but for something more. This is why Muthur East and eeccilampattru and Koralaipattru North divisions are getting shelled and bombed. This is why these areas have been systematically deprived in the past and are denied relief at present.
The civilian cost of this exercise could be tremendous but Mahinda and his cohorts are not bothered. After all is this not a “humanitarian” war and is not Mahendra Percy Rajapakse a pious and devout Buddhist?
The Government is on a militaristic roll. It hopes to subdue the will of a people through force. It hopes to lull the collective conscience of the International community. A war of genocidal proportions is on. The best laid plans of men and mice go awry at times.
There are reports now that the war is spreading and intensifying. Karadiyanaaru and Tharavaikulam bases of the LTTE in Batticaloa were bombed. Fighting has also broken out along Muhamaalai and Nagarkovil in the North. The Palaly base complex too has got embroiled.
In what may well be an event of historic importance the LTTE has reportedly activated its air wing for the first time. Unidentified tiger aircraft flew over Palaly and targetted an Mi 24 helicopter ginship and a Bell 212 helicopter. Thereafter shelling from Palaly ceased say reports. Other reports indicate LTTE is shelling Trincomalee harbour. These reports are yet to be confirmed officially by the LTTE.
The Government codenamed their military exercise as watershed. The hidden meaning was that the war will be a watershed in the sense that the LTTE will be vanquished as a result of it. It could still be a watershed but not in the sense that Mahinda wants. If the opposite of this regime’s desire happens “Mission Watershed” will prove to be a watershed indeed!
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Contact DBS Jeyaraj : djeyaraj2005@yahoo.com
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