August Madhu feast may offer window for visits

Black Tigers overshadow
peace moves

At 7.05 pm, July 5, 1987, a bloody legend was born at the government school in Nelliaddy, a town north east of Jaffna.

Tiger lore has it that Wasanthan Wallipuram alias Captain Miller, drove an explosive laden truck into the school where government troops engaged in 'Operation Liberation' were housed. Miller drove the bowser truck that supplied water. He triggered the explosion that blew him to bits and killed scores more. The military says a maximum of 15 soldiers would have died - the Tigers say it is more, perhaps 40. Nonetheless a bloody legacy was born.

Tigers say LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan had come up with the suicide truck ploy to thwart the momentum of troops driving out Tigers from Jaffna. 

Soon after the ceasefire, the Nelliaddy school became the main commemoration point on July 5, a statue of Miller was erected and his mother was in attendance during the events that marked 'Black Tiger day.' The statue is long  gone and now no ceremonies are even thought of.

Even government areas had been decked with the yellow and red flags in the run up to the commemoration till 2005. The last two years with confrontations increasing, pro-Tiger events have gone underground.

The flame

LTTE Leader Pirapaharan invariably lights the flame at 7.05 on July 5, at an undisclosed location in the Wanni. This year also he did so and in a practice that first took off two years back was surrounded by suicide cadres, their faces digitally altered in pictures released.

The Tigers said that since Miller took the fateful ride, 322 others have followed him - they include 90 women. Women suicide cadres have carried out some of the more infamous attacks like the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and the failed attempt on President Chandrika Kumaratunga. They appear to be taking up suicide operations more often than their male counterparts in recent times. In 2003, out of 243 attacks, 53 were by women. In the ensuing four years of the 89 attacks, 37 have been by women.

The biggest addition in the last four years came within the last 12 months -  49 new attacks have been listed, an indication of the intensity of the fighting and the increasing use of the suicide cadres since fighting went through the roof since December 5.

"There have been different incidents on  land and in sea; there have been conventional fighting as well. Most of the additions are from last year, there could be some official adjustments as well," Tiger military spokesperson Rasiah Ilanthirayan said.

In 2002 Kandasamy Lingeswaran who was released in a prisoner exchange told The Sunday Leader that suicide cadres would become even more important if war breaks out. "If war breaks out, I will fight. And in war you make sacrifices," Lingeswaran said during an interview in September 2002 soon after he was released. He never admitted that he was a suicide cadre but said that he was ready to give up his life in any manner his leader wished.

Suicide bombers

His leader too has realised the potency of the human bomb - "No weapon and no technology on earth, can stop the determination of the LTTE's suicide bombers. The suicide squad came into being at a critical juncture in the history of the Tamil liberation movement and has taken it to the next stage," he was once quoted in the Surdar Oli.

Ilanthirayan said that suicide cadre boot camp was different from the usual training. In fact single children are never taken into the force, even after training, they are again sent back to the regular cadres to see if they are really up for it. Once selected, life changes, not even the room mates would know the true nature of a selected cadre's assignment.

As the suicide cadres came back into the headlines, peace hopes receded almost as soon as they had been rekindled last week.

Despite reports last week of a possible Norwegian led initiative to thaw icy relations between the Tigers and the Government,  the fighting continued.

On July 6, clashes broke out in  Periyathampanai, north west of Vavuniya, just north of the Mannar Vavuniya main road.

"Defence sources from Wanni said that a fierce battle erupted this morning when the terrorists had attempted to launch a surprise attack at the troops. Two army soldiers died in the battle and eight others suffered injuries. The injured were rushed to the General Hospital Anuradhapura," the Defence Ministry said.

Infiltration attempts

The Ministry said that the Tigers had tried to infiltrate government areas and troops repulsed the attack killing 10 of them.

As usual the Tigers had a different version. They said that only one Tiger has been injured and that the military had once again tried to enter areas under their control.

"It was the usual ploy, but the line of control remains the same," Ilanthirayan said.

Fighting was also continuing in the Thoppigala area, with the military  announcing that it had reached the famous Mennham base. Troops had now advanced beyond the Narakamulla area, but the advance had been slow due to landmines.

Late Friday reports said that the Tigers had started firing multi-barrels and seven soldiers had been killed.

Air raids were also kept up over areas west of Madhu and Thoppigala. "It is a complex situation but there is no slowing down in the fighting," Ilanthirayan said.

Earlier in the week he had been much more emphatic in blowing up reports on possible talks. "There is no environment for talks," he deadpanned.

It was an even more emotionless Norwegian Embassy official who put an  end to stories that Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was to fly in within the next two weeks.

No plans for visit

"There are no plans for visits, it is all speculation," Embassy Spokesperson Erik Nurenberg said. Twenty four hours after he spoke, Government Spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella also told the press that the government had not sent any communication to Norway to revive talks.

Press reports a week back had spoken of Special Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapakse communicating with Erik Solheim and informing him that the government was ready to facilitate a trip by the Norwegians to Kilinochchi. Two earlier trips by Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar had been cancelled due to the absence of government security clearance.

Nurenberg did not comment on the invitation by the government, but that too was laid to rest the day after by Rambukwella.

The SLMM  nevertheless held discussions with the Tiger Peace Secretariat last week. Head of the SLMM Lars Solvberg and Spokesperson Thoffinur Omarsson were in Kilinochchi between July 5 and 6.

But both parties described the meeting as routine. "It was routine, the SLMM top level has not held discussions with the Tigers, this was our follow up meeting after having met with the Government Peace Secretariat officials," Omarsson said.

Just routine

"Nothing exciting just routine," Ilanthirayan who was part of the Tiger delegation headed by  Peace Secretariat Head S. Puleedevan said.

During discussions with the SLMM the government had indicated that it wanted the monitors to explore the possibility of getting the ICRC to accompany supply ships to Jaffna. The ICRC had suspended the role last August following the Tiger refusal to give security guarantees.

"That was not discussed," Omarsson said. Both him and Ilanthirayan said that the possibility of new peace moves was never discussed at the meeting. "That was not on the agenda, we leave that to the facilitators," the SLMM spokesperson said

However,  there could be a window of opportunity in the coming weeks, ironically in an area where there has been so much of fighting, west of Madhu.

The most famous Madhu feast falls on August 15 and the Tigers have indicated that they might cease fighting in the area to allow pilgrims to attend the feast.

If that becomes a reality, some Western diplomats in Colombo may also use the window to visit Wanni.

Even last week, while the supposed Norwegian visit was debunked, European diplomats did say that there was a possibility of a visit in the coming  months once the diplomats return from summer break.

Investigate missing bullet - ICJ

The continuing controversy over the investigation into the murders of the 17 aid workers in Muttur last year took another turn last week, with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) calling for an investigation into a controversial bullet and a journalist receiving death threats after reporting on the last ICJ report.

"There is an urgent need to investigate and clarify if a 5.56 mm bullet was recovered from the skull of one of the victims. Dr. (Malcolm) Dodd, an independent, Australian pathologist who was invited by the government to observe a re-examination of the bodies in October 2006, concluded that one 5.56 mm projectile was removed from the skull of one of the victims. The Government Analyst was provided with the ballistic exhibits removed from the bodies during the re-examination and prepared his report dated February 19, 2007 which was submitted to the Kantale Court on  March 7, 2007. In his report he identifies only 7.62 mm bullets or parts of bullets," the ICJ said last week.

A week before the government led by Peace Secretariat Head Rajiva Wijesinha had called for the ICJ to withdraw the statement that it had made, that a 5.56mm bullet may have been switched.

The ICJ did not go that far, to rescind the findings of its observer Michael Brinbaum, QC but repeated earlier worries over the investigation.

"There are serious concerns about significant flaws in the police investigation, reflecting a lack of impartiality, transparency and effectiveness, as well as about the ballistics evidence," it said.

ICJ said that it felt that the police had assumed the crime was committed by the Tigers even before the investigation proper took off.

"The collection of evidence has been incomplete and inadequate. In particular, as of March 2007, eight months after the killings took place, the ICJ was informed by the CID that no member of the Sri Lankan security forces had been interviewed nor any Tamil, apart from the family members of those killed. The ICJ has sought an update from the government on the investigation.

The Sri Lankan security forces will need to be extensively questioned about their knowledge of the killings and surrounding circumstances, especially those present in Muttur around the time of the killings. The local Tamil community should also be interviewed, as well as further interviews with other members of the community. This will require extensive questioning of people who were in Muttur at the time and the establishment of an effective witness protection programme."

ICJ welcomes moved by the government to allow the Australian forensic experts access to evidence and a pledge by President Mahinda Rajapakse to widen the investigation.

However reporting on the incident landed a seasoned journalist, Sadaruwan Senadeera in trouble. "We had reported on the ICJ release on our website, and that night I got an email, threatening me with death," Senadeera told The Sunday Leader.

He runs the popular Sinhala news site lankanews and said that following the email, a caller using a private number had made the same threat.

"It was not a prank call, that is why I alerted the authorities."

Amnesty International sent out an alert on the threat to its members that said - "He also received a death threat as an email which said, "When Journalists change the truth and keep country and nation in danger, me and all innocent people have one wish. You all get either 5.52 mm or 7.62 mm bullet one day and sooner is better."