Tigers bait Sri Lankan
government By Sudha
Ramachandran
BANGALORE - With both the
government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) pushing into territory under the
other's control, the conflict in Sri Lanka has
taken a giant leap toward the resumption of civil
war.
Although neither side has formally
withdrawn from the current Norwegian-brokered
ceasefire, the truce exists only on paper. The
ferocity of the fighting is intensifying by the
day, even as a severely depleted truce-monitoring
mission looks on helplessly.
Fighting has
raged for almost a fortnight now around the towns
of Trincomalee and Mutur in the island's Eastern
Province. On July 20, the LTTE shut down a
reservoir sluice gate near Trincomalee, in an area
under its control. This cut off water supply to
tens of thousands of people, largely Sinhalese, in
government-controlled
areas. The government then
conducted air raids on Tiger positions and last
Sunday began a ground offensive to take over the
reservoir's control point. The Tigers say their
blockade of the reservoir was prompted by the
government's reneging on a promise to build a
water tower to supply water to areas under LTTE
control. Both sides claim that their military
operations are in "self-defense".
This is
the first time since 2002, when the ceasefire
agreement was signed, that the Sri Lankan
government has ordered a ground offensive. And
this is the first time the LTTE and the government
are advancing to take control of territory held by
the other. While the armed forces are trying to
take control of the reservoir, the Tigers are
making gains in Mutur.
Neither side has
pulled out of the ceasefire. The agreement
provides for termination of the truce by either
party, but obliges them to give two weeks' notice
in writing. Both sides have been guilty of
violating the ceasefire over the past four years,
but these violations have mounted dramatically
since November. Mine blasts, ambushes and bombs
have killed more than 800 people this year, and
while most of the violence and counter-violence
have occurred in the Tamil areas in the island's
north and east, suicide bombings also have
occurred in the capital, Colombo. The Sri Lankan
air force has resorted to aerial bombing of LTTE
positions in recent months. Peace talks have been
called off.
The current confrontation is
being described as a dispute over water, and both
sides claim their military operations are
humanitarian.
"It is purely a humanitarian
issue as we want to supply the civilians with
water," said Keheliya Rambukwella, minister of
policy planning and government defense spokesman.
He described the LTTE blockade of the canal as "a
crime against humanity".
But LTTE defense
spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said, "There was an
urgent humanitarian need to neutralize the Sri
Lankan military's attacks on civilian targets."
But this is not just a battle over water.
"Underlying the humanitarian issue are
politico-military objectives of far greater
import," Hindustan Times' Colombo correspondent P
K Balachandran said. "Both sides are jockeying for
more advantageous political and military positions
in the eastern districts of Sri Lanka. Both want
to strengthen themselves there."
The
LTTE's position in the east is said to have been
considerably weakened after the exit in 2004 of
its eastern commander, Colonel Karuna. His
departure, unlike that of other Tiger leaders
earlier, led to a vertical split in the LTTE.
Karuna took with him a chunk of the Tiger cadres,
its intelligence apparatus in the east and, most
important, support of a sizable proportion of the
Tamil population. Karuna's exit also dealt a body
blow to the LTTE's claim to speak for eastern
Tamils. Over the past two years, Karuna with the
support of sections in the Sri Lankan armed forces
has managed to eliminate several Tiger leaders in
the east. Balachandran argues that the LTTE is
trying to regain support of the eastern Tamils.
The LTTE's shutting down of the reservoir needs to
be seen in that context.
"The issue of
water is an emotive one, and the LTTE stands to
gain local support, and support from the eastern
Tamils as a whole, if it is able to secure water
for them and deny water to Sinhala settlers, who
are seen as intruders in a traditionally Tamil
area," Balachandran said.
As for the
government and the security forces, they "have
been itching to capitalize on the depletion of the
LTTE's politico-military strength in the east and
drive it out of the east altogether, if possible
by a quick military campaign".
Eastern
Province, especially Trincomalee, is important to
both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. The
LTTE's "Tamil Eelam" consists of Northern and
Eastern provinces. Tamils insist that the east was
part of the old Tamil kingdom and that it was a
Tamil-majority area until successive Sinhalese
governments changed its demographic profile by
encouraging Sinhalese settlements there.
Trincomalee is often described as the
strategic prize the two sides are battling for. It
is one of the finest natural harbors in the world.
Trincomalee is also the northernmost district of
Eastern Province. It is this geographic location
and its strategic significance that prompted the
government to settle Sinhalese there. In doing so,
the government not only made Trincomalee a
Sinhalese-dominated district, but also managed to
break the contiguity of Tamil-dominated areas,
thereby diluting the LTTE claim for a Tamil
homeland.
A government official admitted
that the ongoing ground and air offensive was "a
bit of an excessive response" to the LTTE
blockade, but could have been planned with the aim
of "completely cleansing Trincomalee district of
the LTTE". This, he said, would break the bridge
between the two Tiger-controlled districts -
Mullaitivu in the north and Batticaloa in the
east. He pointed out that the armed forces "were
perhaps testing the waters" through the current
offensive to see whether the LTTE would stand and
defend its territory in the east in the event of a
future all-out war, or withdraw to focus on the
Jaffna Peninsula in the north.
Both sides
are seeking to "change the balance of forces on
the ground" through the current fighting, said P
Saravanamuttu, executive director of the
Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives. He
told Asia Times Online they are looking for "quick
victories that would enable them to negotiate from
a position of strength". The government is hoping
such a position of strength would enable it to
"concede little or nothing at the negotiation
table".
Vidhyadharan, editor of the Tamil
dailies Sudar Oli and Uthayan, alleges that the
government's ground and air assault of LTTE
positions in the east is aimed at impressing the
Sinhalese-Buddhist hardliners. He points out that
the Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP, a radical
Sinhalese party) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya
(JHU, a party of Buddhist monks) have support
among the Sinhalese villagers who have been
affected by the LTTE blockade of the reservoir.
"By bombing the LTTE positions, the
government is signaling its hardline
Sinhalese-Buddhist friends [the JVP and JHU] that
it is being tough with the Tigers, especially when
it comes to defending Sinhalese interests," he
told Asia Times Online.
The government is
justifying its disproportionate response to the
LTTE blockade of the reservoir. Officials are
citing Israel's bombing of Lebanon to justify the
aerial bombing and ground operations when a truce
was on.
"Denying civilians water is a war
crime," said Palitha Kohona, head of the
government's peace secretariat. "Wars have started
over less. Look at Lebanon."
But the
government seems to have miscalculated in its
estimation of the LTTE's military capacity in the
east. Karuna's exit might have weakened the LTTE,
but it seems to have recovered considerably from
the loss.
The gains the LTTE has made - it
is reported to have captured large parts of Mutur
and several army camps - have taken the armed
forces by surprise.
By taking on the LTTE
in the east, the armed forces might have walked
into the Tigers' trap. The LTTE is keen to attack
army camps in the east. This is where its nemesis
Karuna and his fighters are being provided
protection. Under the ceasefire, the LTTE cannot
attack army camps. A Tamil journalist said in June
that the capture of army camps where Karuna's
fighters are staying and the elimination of the
Karuna threat are the LTTE's immediate objectives,
and this will be the focus of the LTTE when war
breaks out.
The government might have
scored points with the Sinhalese hardliners with
its muscular response to the water problem in the
east. But by escalating the conflict, it has
provided the LTTE with the opening it was looking
for. The government has bitten off more than it
can chew.
Sudha Ramachandran is
an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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