Sri Lanka deserves the World’s Kudos for Wiping Out Tamil Tiger Terrorism
7 min read
It is just one year after Sri Lanka’s victorious forces cornered the ruthless Tamil Tiger Terrorists (LTTE) and eliminated the megalomaniacal leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, his coterie of murderous deputies and his fighting apparatus made up of brainwashed armed cadres on the banks of the Nanthikadal Lagoon, thereby bringing to an end 32 plus years of mayhem, murder and destruction which cost the nation the loss of nearly 80,000 lives and an inestimable amount of valuable property. The end result has been a new dawn of peace which ushered in an era free of threats to life and limb to the twenty million citizens who were constantly targeted by the armed LTTE, and a new lease of life for the 288,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians who were rescued from under the jackboot of the Tamil Tiger Slave Masters. These Tamil IDPs had been herded by the LTTE and forced to withdraw from their villages and move along with the retreating Tigers from the Mannar district in the west coast, Vavunia district in central Vanni, Killinochchi district in the north to the eastern part of the Vanni in the Mullaitivu district, and finally to the narrow strip in Puthumattalan on the northeast coast, to form a human shield for the vanquished Tiger, from mid-2007 to mid-May 2009, till the surrounding Sri Lankan forces breached the numerous earthen bunds enabling the trapped Tamil civilians to ultimately break free from the Tiger hellhole to which they had been confined.
During the course of the military action taken against the Tamil Tiger Terrorists, Sri Lanka declared several ceasefires and provided safe corridors for the Tamil civilians to seek care and safety away from the battleground, but only a few managed to trickle through as their exit was blocked by the armed Tigers who were gambling with the civilian lives to save their own skins. The international community, human rights watch groups, and other INGO/NGO supposedly engaged in humanitarian relief efforts were AWOL, and none of their voices were heard demanding that the LTTE release all civilians forcibly held by the terror group. In fact, some of the INGO such as Norwegians People’s Aid had allowed the Tigers to use their heavy equipment to fortify their defences by digging 12 foot deep ditches and build 20 foot high earthen bunds to impede the advance of Sri Lanka’s security forces, whilst the Danish Refugee Forum and yet others had provided material assistance to the LTTE to enhance their military capabilities whereas little or nothing had been done to assist the civilian population which was supposedly their primary goal.
The Sri Lankan authorities also offered opportunities to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), aka the Tamil Tigers, to lay down their weapons and surrender, but believing in the false notion of their invincibility as earlier portrayed by some leading members of the international community, the Tigers rejected such overtures with contempt hoping to reverse their military rout. When the Tigers had no way to escape certain defeat and elimination, they called on the pro-Tiger Diaspora in western countries to demonstrate and seek the intervention of those countries in bringing international pressure on Sri Lanka and mounting an evacuation of the Tiger leadership including asylum in perhaps Eritrea, Norway or other country willing to accommodate the ruthless gang of internationally designated terrorists. Enter the misguided white knight David Milliband of UK and Bernard Kouchner of France, to twist Sri Lanka’s arm, only to be reminded that Sri Lanka was a sovereign nation and that she could decide on internal matters in the best interests of the country, thus making these two foreign ministers of key EU countries realize the folly of their mission and leave with empty hands. There were angry words from Hillary Clinton, unethical moves by UN agencies against a member nation, and an emergency debate in the Canadian Parliament threatening various measures against Sri Lanka where the politicians were greedily eyeing campaign funds and votes from the Tamil Diaspora. The international media, especially the UK Times and Channel 4 News which were apparently benefiting from the ill-gotten funds of Tamil Tiger Inc. were shamelessly carrying Tiger propaganda drawn from the Tamilnet and other discredited sources to berate Sri Lanka displaying the lowliest depths of journalism.
Having failed to change the course of history in Sri Lanka, the same international forces, human rights bodies, INGO including the ICG, are doing a new dance with the rump of the LTTE which has today metamorphosed as the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and the Trans-National Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) with access to the extorted and illicit loot of the Tamil Tigers, in moves to frame charges of war crimes and misdeeds against Sri Lanka based on unverified and unsubstantiated guesstimates. The reality is that the Sri Lankan forces abandoned the use of heavy weapons in the latter stages of the military action to reduce likely harm to the trapped Tamil civilians held as a human shield, and as a result suffered nearly 60 percent of their three year total of 6000 fatal casualties during the last month of action alone, as they advanced against heavy weapons fire by the LTTE forces who were entrenched behind high earthen bunds and deep ditches midst the civilians forcibly held by them. No doubt, some Tamil civilians would have become victims of the crossfire, but certainly would not exceed a 1000-1500, which is well below the deliberately exaggerated guesstimates of 20,000-50,000 civilian deaths bandied by the Tiger Diaspora and echoed by some elements of the international community which failed to implement their two state solution in Sri Lanka. A large contingent of untrained youth and adults pressed into battle to replace fallen LTTE cadres in the later stages too perished in combat, adding to the casualty figures.
There is also talk of Tamil Tiger leaders carrying white flags with intent to surrender being gunned down by the Sri Lankan forces in the final battle which took place within the narrow one square kilometre strip of land in Puthumattalan. It probably was part of the LTTE’s plan to have some evacuated overseas with international help and some surrendered in order revive the whole game of terrorism to once more pursue their goal of a separate state to be carved out of Sri Lanka’s sovereign territory.
As all hell broke loose in the final hours with Prabhakaran attempting to break through the Sri Lankan lines west of the Nanthikadal Lagoon with 200 of his special body guards from the Charles Anthony Brigade, the LTTE detonating the various bombs placed on trucks, burning and destroying whatever they could not take with them, causing a huge wall of smoke which lasted several days, certainly would make it hazy and extremely difficult to identify any with white flags even if such an attempt was made that night to draw the attention of the opposing forces. Who could blame the Sri Lankan forces in failing to spot the small group with white flags if any, as they had to take measures to prevent any of the Tiger Terrorists from breaking through and getting inside the surrounding jungle. Furthermore, it is not possible to trust the Tigers who could be attempting to deceive the security forces by advancing on them with a squad of suicide bombers, as the LTTE unleashed suicide bombers and fired weapons on their own people who fled the diminishing terrain held by the Tigers. It all happened so fast, the resistance put up the Tigers came to an end and before daylight on May 18th, 2009, the battle was over.
Today, the people of Sri Lanka are living free of fear, and are taking steps to not only remove the nearly two million mines laid over 450 square kilometres by the LTTE and re-settle the displaced Tamil civilians in their villages, but also undertaking major infrastructure and livelihood programs in the north and east. As the roofing sheets of the homes had been removed by the Tigers as they withdrew for use in their bunkers, etc., the homes of the civilians became overrun by vegetation due to the wet and dry conditions prevailing in the tropics, requiring most homes to be re-built. Within the space of an year of the end of the military action, Sri Lanka has succeeded in re-settling almost 245,000 of the IDPs leaving a balance of just about 43,000 in the temporary welfare camps still to be re-settled. Even the latter are allowed to move freely in and out of the welfare camps till their homes are made ready after de-mining the surroundings and infrastructure put in place. The 11,000 LTTE cadres who surrendered are being re-habilitated and provided with new life skills to enable them to resume normal lives.
The Sinhalese majority has come to the aid of their Tamil brothers and sisters who had undergone much suffering under the two decade long illegal regime run by the Tamil Tiger terrorists in the Vanni and few other places in the north and east of the island. Reconciliation is taking place despite the divisive and corrosive campaigns being carried on by the Global Tamil Forum and the illegitimate Trans-National Government of Tamil Eelam. Sri Lanka deserves the kudos of the international community for defeating terrorism and ushering in an era of peace for all her citizens, and not the lynch mob attitude of some of the international players referred to in this release.
Sincerely,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
Photo Credit: AP / Eranga Jayawardena
