Civilians are returning to government-controlled areas on a mass scale and are fleeing LTTE territory, while the main goal of the government is to wipe out LTTE from the eastern area. This is because the east was a stronghold of the LTTE and V. Prabhakaran’s dream was to make Trincomalee the capital of Eelam.
Artillery fire power has now been divided into three sectors to target the LTTE in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara. Artillery fire is being accurately positioned using mathematical systems to target LTTE camps.
This is being done by commandoes and special forces who have infiltrated LTTE areas and are communicating with gunnery points to give accurate targets of LTTE camp locations.
Despite LTTE artillery retaliation, LTTE cadres are fleeing camps and going further interior into the jungle.
Specialized jungle warfare special commandoes and infantry troops are hunting them down one by one. Tigers fled the Trinco Peraru Camps and LTTE cadres are fleeing to the Welioya region.
At the same time, Special Task Force Commandoes have entered the Karadianaru, Kockadicholai, Tharavikulum and Vavunathivu LTTE-controlled areas after the recent attack on the diplomats.
In 1952 the first guerrilla leader in the world Che Guera told Fidel Castro that if they want to have a revolution the guerrilla should never get married and they have to be committed to their cause.
V Prabhakaran had the same intention and did not allowed his cadres to marry. But later he got married and subsequently allowed senior cadres to get married. After the ceasefire he gave permission for junior cadres to get married as well. So now, for face-to-face confrontation these cadres have to think twice about their loved ones. In Welioya the LTTE have evacuated some of their bunkers due to this reason.
But soldiers are professional and they know that is their job and they are compelled to go ahead with the battle.
They also face serious setbacks after the departure of Karuna Amman.
In Jaffna the Army is getting information day-by-day about mass-scale weapon hideouts, and the army is launching a massive campaign to win the hearts and minds of the people in the Jaffna peninsula.
The Army is implementing medical clinics in rural villages and providing exercise books for Tamil students. The Jaffna security forces commander has given clear instructions that soldiers must talk politely to Tamil people and they have put up a separate Tamil language training school at the Army camp to have a clear dialogue with the Tamil civilians.
The result of this campaign is that the Army is receiving tremendous information from the civilians about weapsons and arms hideouts. Recently 698 kg of C4 explosives and TNT explosives, the biggest haul ever found in Sri Lanka, was discovered due to a civilian tip off. This week RPGs, 2 suicide bomb kits and a motorcycle tank packed with explosives were found.
When any Jaffna civilians wants to travel to Colombo by air, there are separate Tamil speaking soldiers who make background checks so as to give clearance as soon as possible.
As to whether the government should push for peace talks, whenever the LTTE is weakened by the military they always go ahead for peace talks to strengthen their manpower and logistics. Still, the president has reiterated that if the LTTE lay down arms then the govt is ready for peace talks.
As for the recent two-faced protesting about disappearances and abductions, why are there those that would choose to not stand behind the security forces and talk about abductions only when it suits them? Yet they stay silent about LTTE atrocities? An article by Bandula Jayasekera raises the same question.
“We ask the people who are trying to demoralise the Forces, WHY? WHY? Or do you like to see more of them demoralised and killed for you to earn a bit more dollars? Those who love Mother Lanka are no fools.
They can see clearly the ones who are hurting this land. They don’t need a microscope to see them. They question why they are silent in the face of LTTE atrocities?”
Regarding NGOs, the Sri Lanka government has decided to do a comprehensive investigation into INGOS and NGOS who have access to LTTE-controlled areas. Recently security forces found two identity cards possessed by two LTTE cadres in Vavuniya belonging to an INGOs.
In Ampara and Vakarai when the military operations overran LTTE camps, they found goods belonging to the INGOs but INGOs says they were either stolen or misplaced.
INGOs and NGOs have appealed that until the investigations are over that they are not accused of being LTTE supporters. So the government has agreed to this and are conducting investigations.