Why the ‘war’ continues

For over fifteen years Sri Lanka’s armed forces have been battling, without much success, terrorist groups that want to establish a separate state in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Even though there were the backing of India for these groups during the first few years and the continuous financial resources of the expatriate Tamil community to the terrorist groups, the Sri Lankan government forces have had at their disposal vastly greater resources in terms of armaments, manpower and other facilities. Apologists for the terrorists will claim that this is a struggle for national liberation and despite the superior fire power and greater financial resources of the government, the will of those who want a separate state will prevail. This is to ignore facts such as child conscription and the double standards of Tamil political parties which despite their leaders being assassinated by the terrorists shamelessly want to use the terrorists as a trump card in negotiations with government.

The main Tamil party, the TULF, not cooperating with the government to eradicate terrorism is one reason why terrorism has continued for so long a period. But there are other reasons as well. It is well known that in a military conflict, fire power and manpower are not the only decisive factors. And this is how the terrorists have been scoring heavily and are able to keep this conflict going.

What both the UNP and the PA governments have failed to do in this war against terrorism is to establish an effective national intelligence agency. Today on this page we publish an article by an officer in the armed forces where he argues for the establishment of an effective national intelligence agency.

Even to laymen it is clear that in this terrorist conflict, the severe losses suffered by the government forces have been mainly due to lack of intelligence. Pooneryn, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi are the most recent and most disastrous defeats suffered due to lack of intelligence. An Indian general who had served in the Indian Peace Keeping Force went on record in the wake of the recent Killinochi battle saying that it would have taken more than a month for the LTTE to have moved their forces from Mankulam to launch that devastating attack on Kilinochchi. Apparently the armed forces had been clueless about this plan of the LTTE which would have involved moving over thousands of their cadres and heavy artillery. Even the debacles of Pooneryn and Mullaitivu were result of the total lack of intelligence on the part of the armed forces.

Military censorship prevents us from publishing what experienced service officers are predicting on matters related to the war such as what the next target of the LTTE would be. We do hope that generals, military and political, have some kind of notion of the next move of the terrorists.

We have in previous editorials stressed the need for the armed forces to mobilise human resources from outside their ranks. The government must be aware of the resources available to the LTTE such as world renowned investment bankers, lawyers and international criminals. The government is certainly not aware of the moles within the establishment providing LTTE with intelligence.

If this conflict is to end soon, the government must rethink its military strategies. If operation Jayasikuru is not working – it has not worked for nearly one and a half years, we believe – then alternatives must be thought of. What has to be there on the part of the government if it is to prosecute the war effectively is flexibility in thinking and not pig headedness that makes it blind to ground reality.

While we pay a tribute to the men and women of the armed forces at the battlefront we also must admit that by tradition it has been more of brawn than brains that constitute the officer cadre and even their political mentors. We need expertise in gathering intelligence both in terms of human resources and technology. In this age of hi- tech, with the aid of satellites, identification of LTTE hideouts including that of Prabhakaran in the Wanni is a distinct possibility. Sri Lanka has to seek cooperation from developed countries in this field of high - tech intelligence. It will be far more beneficial than purchasing second hand armaments which only result in arms dealers putting up ‘towers’ in Colombo with the blessings of politicians. President Jayewardene was prudent enough to bring in the Israelis to assist us in the creation of the Special Task Force and hiring renowned British specialists in gathering intelligence. Minister Mr. M. H. M. Ashraff and his fellow brothers saw the Israelis out and India saw both the Israelis and the British out much to the detriment of Sri Lanka’s interests.

President Kumaratunga should in national interest ignore parochial prejudices and seek the assistance of foreign powers who profess their commitment to eradicate international terrorism to set up an effective national intelligence bureau.