Two Senior LTTE Officials Surrender
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
23 April, 2009
The Hindu
COLOMBO: Amid a declaration by the Sri Lanka military that the number of civilians who have fled the no-fire zone (NFZ) since Monday morning has crossed the 1-lakh mark, two senior LTTE officials have surrendered to the security forces.
They are Daya Master, head of the Tigers’ Media and Publicity Division, and George Master, who served as interpreter to Thamilchelvam, political head of the LTTE who was killed in an air raid by the Sri Lanka Air Force in 2007.
In view of the fast-paced developments and their implications, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is believed to be despatching his Senior Advisor and brother, Basil Rajapaksa, to New Delhi.
The fight between the forces and the Tigers is now confined to approximately 8 sq. km. still under the control of the LTTE in the NFZ.
The two LTTE officials crossed over to the government-controlled territory along with a group of fleeing civilians and disclosed their identities to military officials at the check-point. The defection is a big blow to a battered LTTE and shatters the myth of discipline among the Tiger cadres and leaders.
It is rare for senior Tiger cadres to surrender. Leaders and cadres are supposed to wear a chain round their neck with a cyanide capsule and are expected to consume it if they sense the danger of being captured alive.
With the influx of refugees arriving from the NFZ turning into a tide, the Army is convinced that time is running out for the remaining LTTE cadres holed up, among the civilians, in the safe zone. The question uppermost in the minds of everyone is whether the military could succeed in getting LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran dead or alive.
Based on intelligence inputs and information garnered from the newly arrived civilians, the military is convinced that Prabakaran and other top-rung LTTE leaders are in the NFZ. Yet speculation persists that the LTTE chief could be elsewhere.
Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa said Prabakaran had spurned the possibility of the government pardoning him by his refusal to give up arms and surrender, and must now face the consequences of his acts.
Killing of Tamil civilians should end: India
By Press Trust Of India
New Delhi: India on Wednesday night voiced its unhappiness over the continued killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka and asked the LTTE to stop its “barbaric” attempt to hold civilians hostage, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the situation in the island nation.
A special meeting, attended also by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon was convened amid mounting pressure from Tamil Nadu parties on the Centre to stop the war in Sri Lanka.
“We are very unhappy at the continued killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. These killings must stop,” Mr. Mukherjee told journalists after the hour-long meeting called to discuss the situation in the light of Sri Lankan Army’s final push against the LTTE and the options available to India.
Mr. Mukherjee said the Sri Lankan government had a responsibility to protect its own citizens. At the same time, he said, “the LTTE must stop its barbaric attempt to hold civilians hostage.”
The Minister underlined that there was “no military solution to this ongoing humanitarian crisis and all concerned should recognise this fact.”
Mr. Mukherjee said: “The only lasting solution will come from political efforts to address the real concerns of the Tamil people, giving them a life of dignity within the Sri Lankan mainstream.”
India, he said, would work to achieve this goal and do all it could to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict.
Copyright © 2009
