SL Navy ready to foil Prabha’s escape plan

A confidential source revealed to this column that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has a major plan to smuggle its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran out of the country. International agencies too are watching closely what would become the fate of the world’s most ruthless terrorist leader. They are also closely monitoring International Intelligence agencies in South East Asia, Europe and the Far East which are themselves watching the moves of the LTTE.

During the ceasefire agreement period, the LTTE has been able to smuggle four 200 horse power Honda engines into Mullaitivu, this source revealed. Tiger Chief Prabhakaran had instructed that these four engines be stored safely and continuously maintained but not to be used on any of the boats. These engines had been smuggled via Thailand and together could provide a speed of 200X4, which will amount to 800 horse power. Now, the source revealed, a boat has been built with all four engines fixed on to it. It is a bit larger than an ordinary boat and is being kept at a secret location in Mullaitivu. The way the offensives are progressing, the Tigers may launch this boat into the seas, any moment now, with their leader Prabhakaran and maybe along with some of his leaders and trusted cadres on board. According to another foreign intelligence source, the boat would possibly be escorted by 10 or 15 suicide boats. After reaching the deep seas, the Tiger leader and accomplices may board a cargo vessel and head towards either Thailand or Indonesia. Once near land, they may disembark on to smaller vessels to reach land.

The question uppermost in most minds is whether Prabhakaran will flee or commit suicide. But the possibility of Prabhakaran committing suicide is remote because the LTTE is a decentralised organisation, with Prabhakaran being in over-all command. Most of the Tamil diaspora and others sympathetic to the organisation still believe that Prabhakaran should live to carry on the struggle for a separate Tamil homeland. And if the Tiger chief leaves for another country, he would find it difficult to keep a tight control on the organisation.

History shows that the LTTE has always made use of the sea route to smuggle weapons, transport cadre and even to evacuate casualties during battles. The Sri Lanka Navy has been put on alert to prevent any LTTE cadres or Prabhakaran from fleeing.

After the Sri Lanka Army launched “Operation Riviresa” and liberated the Jaffna Peninsula, the LTTE leadership including its theoretician Anton Balasingham and his Australian wife Adele Balasingham were living in Vavuniya. During the latter part of December 1998 Anton Balasingham suffered a severe kidney ailment and one of the LTTE doctors by the name of “Suri” who had treated him had told the Tiger leadership that he needed immediate medical attention. Thereafter the LTTE had approached the then Government headed by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to obtain safe passage. She had ordered the ICRC to provide safe air passage and in turn the ICRC had requested the assistance of the Norwegian government. But Chandrika Bandaranaike had put forward several demands before the LTTE in return for this safe passage. They were:

1.The LTTE should not disrupt or impede the government administration in the North-Eastern Province nor should it attack and destroy any government property in Tamil areas.

2.The LTTE should not threaten or attack any sea or air transport of supplies to the North-East.

3.The LTTE should not attack any public property anywhere in the country and 4 The LTTE should release all persons in its custody, not merely those known by the ICRC as being under detention but all others as well.
These demands of the former President were not agreed to by the Balasingham couple and the LTTE leadership. Thereafter the Balasinghams and the Tiger leaders decided to go on a sea journey and according to Prabhakaran’s Instructions Sea Tiger leader Soosai had arranged the journey from Mullaitivu. This was revealed by late Anton Balasingham’s wife Adela Balasingham in her book ‘The will to freedom’

From Mullaitivu, Balasingham’s boat had been escorted by a fleet of suicide boats up to the deep seas in the Indian Ocean. There Balasingham had boarded a ship, most probably a cargo vessel, and then proceeded towards a South Asian country, where again he had embarked on to a small boat to reach land. In similar way, will Velupillai Prabhakaran too flee the country?

Sri Lanka Navy spokesman Captain D.K.P. Dassanayaka told this column, “We have our fast attack craft, speed boats, radar and other equipment keeping a 24 hour watch. The Navy has been positioned in four rings up to 25 nautical miles off the Mullaitivu coast, the only remaining hideout of the Tamil Tigers”. If the Naval blockade is effective, will Prabhakaran commit suicide? Or will one of his senior cadres will kill him? The possibility is very high of his committing suicide rather than surrender.

Will Prabakaran surrender?
Since the inception of the LTTE, the philosophy Prabhakaran has imparted to his cadres has been simply, “Do not surrender or fall into the hands of the government security forces. Because if any cadre or leader falls into the hands of the forces, the organisation’s secrets may leak out to the government. That is why Prabhakaran introduced the cyanide capsule philosophy. So, if the Tiger chief cannot flee the island, will he, like Hitler, commit suicide with his cadres inside a well fortified bunker?

Displeasure with Tiger
leadership
The LTTE has already sent messages to Tamil Nadu in India to do whatever it can to stop the military onslaught on Mullaitivu. Right now Prabhakaran and his cadres are being restricted to some 30 to 45 square kilometers of land. There was speculation last week of a split among the top Tiger leadership. Reliable information revealed that that there are misunderstandings among the leaders. One of the reasons being, Jaffna commander Theepan, who took over the command of the Kilinochchi battle, having given an assurance to Prabhakaran that he would stop the military onslaught on Kilinochchi at any cost. But he could not halt the Army offensive on the LTTE’s self-proclaimed administrative capital, which is in government hands now. Also, he could not hold on to his position as Jaffna commander as well. The Sri Lankan armed forces are implementing totally different tactics in the current battles compared to the earlier Eelam Wars. They have almost perfect battle plans and ground and air intelligence now, much to the displeasure of the Tiger leadership. This column hopes to reveal details of the displeasures Tiger rebels have with their leaders.

If the LTTE’s chain of command is perfect as claimed, then what is the reason that it cannot still implement effective counter strikes at the security forces? After the fall of Kilinochchi, the political head of the Tigers, former policeman B. Nadesan had told the media that the LTTE will launch a counter attack and recapture Kilinochchi. But the counter attack is yet to come. For that kind of a mission does the LTTE have a reserve force? So, Nadesan’s statement is simply to boost the morale of the Tamil Diaspora and other Tiger sympathizers. He wants to convey the message that the Tiger outfit is still intact and strong. Even while Nadesan was making this statement to the media, the Army was getting closer and closer by the day to find and destroy the Tiger hideouts.

Jets target LTTE leadership hideout
On Monday, January 12 the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) received ground and air intelligence of Tiger movements. Information said Tiger leaders were grouping at a location in Puthukudyiruppu believed to be one of the safe houses of Tiger Leader Prabhakaran. Three SLAF fighter jets took off from Katunayake airbase at 5.30 p.m. and moved over the jungle canopy in the Vennavil area and targeted a building shown by UAVs images. As soon as the building was bombed and destroyed, images showed two vehicles, a pick-up and a van, speeding to the area and then leaving at great speed. This may mean they had evacuated the dead or injured at the location towards Mullaitivu.

Fourth runway
This column revealed nearly four months ago that the LTTE is in possession of an airstrip at Mulliyaweli in the Mullaitivu district. This runway is located at Keppapallaru, some 6.5 kms from the Mulliyaweli town centre in Mullaitivu. It was also mentioned clearly that the LTTE flights took off and landed from this particular airstrip. The same source, who revealed the existence of this runway, also stated that the Tigers disassembled some of these aircraft when not in use and stored them inside the concrete bunkers. This runway, some 2000 mtrs long and 20 mtrs wide too was captured by troops from 9 Sinha Regiment in the 593 Brigade of the 59 Division led by Lt. Col. Janaka Ariyaratne on Friday, January 9.

The LTTE had put up stiff resistance to thwart the Army attempt to capture this area. The airstrip was complete with two hangars which gives vital evidence of this runway being in almost constant use. There is another runway which the military will capture very soon.

Tigers haste to flee
The 59 Division commanded by Brig. Nandana Udawatte and Task Force 4 commanded by Col. Nishantha Wanniarachchi along with Task force 2 commanded by Brig. Rohana Bandara are marching towards Mullaitivu from a south to north direction.

Task Force 3 commanded by Brig. Satyapriya Liyanage and 57 Division commanded by Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias are advancing from the east towards Mullaitivu from the A9 road direction. The 58 Division comes under Brig. Shavendra Silva. Silva is advancing his troops along the A 35 road in a south to north direction. Meanwhile, significant achievements for the security forces were the capture of Murusumoddai junction and Vadakachchi area. The Tigers had offered stiff resistance which was overcome by government troops. Troops had recovered seven bodies of Tiger cadres. The Tigers never leave the dead and or wounded behind when retreating. In Mannar, Pooneryn and Elephant Pass areas too, there were evidence of fresh graves in which the dead were buried, sometimes in haste. This indicates their haste to flee from the advancing troops.

The way the 59 Division is advancing on to Mullaitivu, it is only some 5 to 6 kilometres from the city centre. After that, the LTTE will be driven into the jungles and jungle warfare is set to erupt. When this columnist contacted a senior officer from the battlefront, the officer said, “The Tigers are most welcome to jungle warfare. Our soldiers from the 59 Division excel in that type of warfare. They proved that in Andankulam, considered the thickest jungle area in Sri Lanka. They destroyed all the LTTE bases there.”

At the time of writing the battle was contining in Mulathiv and Troops were getting closer to their targets with LTTE going on the back foot.

After the capture of Elephant Pass and the opening up of the A 9 highway, two security forces commanders met at the location. They were Maj. Gen. Mendaka Samarasinghe from the Jaffna command and Vavuniya Security forces commander Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya. Interestingly both officers are from Intake 10 and are commanding the battles. Maj. Gen. Samarasinghe, then a Brigadier in 22 Division in Trincomalee, led the battle for Mavil Aru, where the current episode in the Eelam War began.

Jaffna former commander received an extension of Former Security Forces Commander Jaffna, Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri Rwp, Usp, Ndc & Psc, scheduled to retire on January 6, 2009, was recommended to the post in Jaffna by Army Commander Sarath Fonseka. The Army Commander identified Chandrasiri’s capabilities to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary people. The normal procedure in the Army is for the fifth in seniority to be appointed to such a position. But when the Army Commander appointed Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri to the post, the Major General was 45th in place. But for about three years he continued his work in Jaffna, eventually winning the hearts and minds of civilians. The Army Commander has recommended an extension to Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri and the Commander in Chief, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to approve an extension for another year.

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