Sri
Lankan Military Captures Strategic Eastern Town From LTTE
By Sarath Kumara
26 January 2007
World
Socialist Web
After imposing a siege lasting
months, the Sri Lankan security forces finally took the key eastern
coastal town of Vaharai last Friday in what is a significant blow to
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Vaharai is the latest in
a series of LTTE strongholds that have fallen to government troops since
July.
The army entered the town
without much resistance. Faced with the prospect of being trapped between
government troops to the north and south, the LTTE withdrew. By Sunday,
the security forces had extended their control to the adjoining areas
of Verugal and Kathirvelu. An LTTE spokesman acknowledged the loss saying
that its fighters had “readjusted” their positions.
Fighting appears to have
been sporadic. The military claimed on Sunday to have killed 18 LTTE
fighters fleeing from the area. Four soldiers were killed in an LTTE
attack on the Kajuwatta military camp and another two soldiers died
in a clash at Vavunathivu. According to the defence ministry, government
forces have lost 35 soldiers since October and killed 331 LTTE fighters.
The protracted military offensive
to seize Vaharai makes a mockery of government claims to be adhering
to the 2002 ceasefire agreement. President Mahinda Rajapakse has repeatedly
claimed that the army has only engaged in “defensive” actions.
Since July, however, the military has seized the eastern areas of Mavilaru,
Sampur and now Vaharai. Earlier this month, army commander Lieutenant
General Sarath Fonseka dropped the pretence and bluntly declared that
his aim was to drive the LTTE from the East, then launch an offensive
to take control of the north.
The LTTE captured Vaharai
eleven years ago and have used it as the landing site for fighters and
supplies from the northern coastal base of Mullaitivu. Vaharai lies
on the major road running between the port of Trincomalee and Batticaloa
to the south. Its loss effectively cuts the LTTE’s forces in the
East in two, leaving them vulnerable to the military’s continuing
offensives.
Far from reacting “defensively”,
the Sri Lankan army is following the advice of the US military, which
sent a team from US Pacific Command (PACOM) in 2002 to make a strategic
assessment. PACOM described Trincomalee harbour as “without question”
the most important base for the Sri Lankan navy and pointed to its vulnerability
to attack from LTTE bases in the Sampur area to the south of the port.
It bluntly advised the army to secure the area.
Sunday Times defence correspondent
Iqbal Athas, who cited the PACOM report in his column last weekend,
commented: “Now that Vaharai and adjoining areas have been re-captured,
it provides greater depth in protecting Trincomalee harbour. More importantly,
it denies to the guerrillas the opportunity of directing artillery and
mortar fire at the neighbouring Kajuwatte and Mankerni detachments.
The army regaining control of Vaharai denies to the guerrillas a contiguous
land-based route from the Trincomalee to the Batticaloa district.”
In a statement on Sunday
reeking of hypocrisy, Rajapakse hailed the capture of Vaharai as “a
victory for all peace loving people”. He boasted that “the
security forces have been able to liberate 95 percent of the East from
the grip of the LTTE with valour and determination”.
The “liberation”
of Vaharai has been at a terrible human cost. The military sealed the
main access roads, prohibiting local and international aid agencies
and denying access to journalists. Even the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
(SLMM), which is responsible for overseeing the 2002 ceasefire, was
barred from the area. The security forces strictly controlled the entry
of basic supplies—the last dispatch being on November 29.
The siege was coupled with
indiscriminate air raids and artillery attacks, inflicting heavy casualties.
At least 90 civilians were killed, according to the estimates of the
SLMM and other agencies. Several hundred have been injured. The government
and military justified the attacks on civilian locations, including
refugee camps, claiming that the LTTE was using civilians as “human
shields.” An artillery attack on the Vaharai hospital on January
17 injured 11 people, seven seriously.
Civilians fled the area last
week by any means available. UN spokeswoman Orla Clinton described the
scene: “Thousands of people are streaming out... food has been
very short... these people are obviously weak and afraid and we are
looking for assurances their protection will be assured.” On Saturday,
after the army had seized the town, another 7,000 people left the area.
Long queues of people waited
at army checkpoints to be allowed out of the area. Heavily armed soldiers
hunting for LTTE members arbitrarily detained a number of young people.
According to the UNCHR, about 60,000 people have been displaced from
the coastal belt between Sampur and Vaharai since the latest round of
fighting began. In all, about 205,000 people throughout the island have
been displaced since April.
The capture of Vaharai has
intensified chauvinist exaltations in Colombo. The right-wing Island
proclaimed that the war has now entered “a decisive phase.”
The Sinhala daily Lakbima proudly pointed to the “Lion [national]
flag glittering in the [Vaharai] hospital premises.”
In fact, for all his talk
of “peace”, Rajapakse has made clear that the military offensive
will continue. On Saturday, army commander Fonseka outlined his plans
to “clear the Thoppigala and Kokkadicholai areas of the LTTE.”
They “will soon be chased out of the Eastern Province,”
he boasted.
On Monday, defence spokesman
Keheliya Rambukwella declared: “If tomorrow the LTTE says we are
ready to stop hostilities and get back to the negotiating table we will
stop immediately. If they do not, then we we’ll have to liberate
the Tamil civilians in the East and call for negotiations.” Given
that the army has initiated every major act of aggression since July,
the statement was not an offer, but an ultimatum to the LTTE to return
to the negotiating table on the government’s terms.
The mood of elation in ruling
circles in Colombo is palpable. Buoyed by its recent successes, the
military clearly feels that it is just a matter of time before it defeats
the LTTE militarily—something that it has failed to do in more
than two decades. The government, which enjoys the tacit support of
the US and other major powers, obviously thinks that it can proceed
with its reckless war of aggression without provoking political opposition
at home or internationally
Even Sunday Times correspondent
Athas, who has close ties to military circles, sounded a note of caution.
In last weekend’s column, he warned against “overt euphoria
or jubilance”, noting that the LTTE forces had withdrawn largely
intact. Athas recalled the government’s triumphal reaction to
the recapture of the Jaffna peninsula in 1995 and pointed out that barely
seven months later the armed forces had suffered one of their worst-ever
defeats when the LTTE launched a major attack on the Mullaitivu military
base.
Athas also noted that the
military was relying on the support of the so-called Karuna group—an
armed militia based in the East that broke from the LTTE in 2004. In
return for supporting the war against the LTTE, V. Muralitharan, also
known as Karuna, was permitted to build up his armed forces and extend
the influence of his political wing—the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai
Pulihal (TVMP). According to Athas, sections of the military hierarchy
were “deeply concerned” that the government “was encouraging
and even building another monster”.
It is highly unlikely that
Athas’s warnings will cause the government to pull back from its
reactionary course. Since narrowly winning office in November 2005,
Rajapakse has relaunched the communal civil war as a means of dividing
working people and distracting public attention from his failure to
resolve the island’s deepening economic and social crisis. Increasingly
his government has resorted to open repression to suppress opposition
to the war and to the government’s economic policies. In doing
so, however, he is laying the basis for social and political upheavals
in the not too distant future.
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