EVERYTIME LTTE IS ON THE VERGE OF MILITARY DEFEAT THEY GET OVER THAT BY USING OTHER METHODS SAYS GOTABHAYA

( By Walter Jayawardhana)

In a rare interview granted to the media Sri Lanka's Secretary of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapksa said every time the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was on the verge of military defeat it sought a way to get out of it by using ways other than military means and avoid an annihilation and today its leader Prabhakaran is cunningly trying to use the shield of 'human rights' to avoid the onslaught of the security forces.
A well decorated military officer with 21 years service in the anti-LTTE war Gotabhaya, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother told Derana Sinhala TV interviewer what happened when he was commanding Gajaba regiment fighting together with Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Wijaya Wimalaratne in the legendary onslaught on Vadamarachchi when India intervened and saved Prabhakaran by applying tremendous pressure on the then President Junius Jayewardena.
Avoiding to blame India Rajapaksa said the fault was ours since we have not educated India about the real nature of the terrorist group. Rajapaksa said after sending the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), India by themselves realized who Prabhakaran was when he broke the promise of handing over the weapons. He said , then India had to sacrifice thousands of their soldiers because of LTTE treachery.
When asked the question whether if not for India LTTE would have been finished Rajapaksa said it would have been so but different things happen at different times for different reasons. But he said from this brief history Sri Lanka should learn how to deal with the LTTE and realize that every time they were on the verge of defeat they would use something to get over it like they used India and now they were trying to use the international community over bogus human rights issues. Rajapaksa said, together with that, LTTE is also trying to create political instability in the country by buying over Members of Parliament and create a change of government by hook or by crook.
He said in obvious reference to the UNP criticism that some say the country's security situation had deteriorated. But Rajapaksa pointed out in 2005 , large areas in the Eastern Province were out of bounds for the armed forces and police of this sovereign nation. He said today our forces could enter any area in the Eastern Province without any fear. In 2005 large contingents of LTTE terrorists were coming and infiltrating the Colombo city. It has been curtailed. Today , the majority of Jaffna people are able to go about doing things without being harassed by the LTTE. In Jaffna schools and a university function and public examinations are being held without interruption. Rajapaksa asked 'Isn't this an improvement of the security situation in the country.
He said under the peace accord before 2005 ,although government troops could not enter demarcated areas named as LTTE areas the LTTE could come to government areas and open political offices. What the LTTE did was to open up these offices to conduct military activities, Rajapaksa pointed out.
One could argue not a single soldier died during that time. But using the so called peace accord what they really did was prepare for a terrible war, Rajapaksa pointed out. Using the peace accord they came to the door step of of army bunkers and literally spat at our soldiers; once they cut the hand of a soldier traveling on a tractor and on another occasion they put a noose around the neck of a soldier and pulled him to their side and we could not do anything about it under the so called peace accord.
Rajapaksa said today we have well disciplined professional armed forces who have been well educated and trained about human rights. He said the elected leader of the country only gives the policy of the government and the thereafter there is absolutely no political interference in the forces. He said it was really wrong to interfere in them. For instance, to rise up as a commander of the army one spends 35 long years. Why should some body interfere in his activities and teach him how to manage his men and run the military Rajapaksa queried.
Queried about the allegation that the government had paid money to the LTTE to withdraw from Thoppigala with their weapons , he said the man who devalues the ability of our soldiers cannot be a son of this soil. The LTTE had abandoned thousands of their long range guns and other weapons including multi barrel rockets and even missiles , sacrificed more than thousands of their soldiers. He said without any hesitation he would call the man who uttered those words as a traitor.
Asked about the allegation that he had bought a property in the United States Gotabhaya said he was a man working and living in the United States.
He said he was not an extremely rich guy in the United States but had a reasonable job to live a comfortable life. So, it is true he bought a house in 1997 in San Dimas, California where he lived with his wife and only son. He left his son in California and came with his wife back to Sri Lanka and no longer could manage the house. Rajapaksa said, because of that he had to sell the house in 2005 and that's all what happened. He has not bought a new house thereafter. He said no one could buy a piece of real estate in secrecy in the United States as everything goes into public records.
He said during governments in which Ranil Wickremesinghe held powerful portfolios, due to attacks by the LTTE on villages facing LTTE controlled areas due to civilian massacres by the LTTE Sinhala civilians were constantly on the run. He said the three races, Sinhala Tamil and Muslims had a population percentage of 33 percent each. Due to the attacks the Sinhala population decreased by 10 percent he said. He said that showed how important was the Eastern Province to Velupillai Prabhakaran. While all that happened Ranil was telling to the world the Sri lankan armed forces were the violators of human rights, he charged. Now adding insult to injury, Ranil was telling it was only a jungle the armed forces had captured, Rajapaksa pointed out.
Answering the allegations raised on the purchase of Mig 27 fighter jets from the state of Ukraine, by what he said was an orchestrated campaign by recycling the same allegations over and over again hiding the replies given to them by the Sri Lanka Air Force and various others Rajapaksa said that was the nature of the campaign ever since the allegations were originally published in the Sunday Times newspaper.
When he was told that Ranil Wickremesinghe had told a Matara meeting that the Pacific Commander of the US had told him that what Sri Lanka should buy are Kfirs and not Migs, he said the Migs were bought as it was the request of the Air Force and it was not he or Ranil who would use them but the pilots of the Air Force. He said these allegations are brought forward to demoralize those who are engaged in combat and sling mud at the government. He said the Mig deal had gone through the whole legal procurement process like evaluation by the technical committee, national procurement committee and the cabinet tender board. He said since day one he took over the job as defense secretary he wanted to have full transparency in deals under his ministry. He said the selection of what kind they wanted for what purpose under the most economical conditions affordable to the country was decided by the Air Force and not by him. They took that decision due many reasons . He said there were four Mig 27's grounded and wanted to add another four in a deal that would overhaul all eight aircraft. At the same time the kind of Kfir the air force were having were no longer being manufactured and the new advanced versions were not affordable to the country. He said the main concern of the Air Force was the work load of bombs the aircraft could carry and the Migs could carry many time more bombs than the kfirs. He said if we had bought another kind of aircraft our pilots had to be trained and technical assistance teams for a long time and we already had pilots and others trained for Mig 27 in India. He said India is having five squadrons of Mig 27 in service still.
Asked why the government paid USD 2.5 million each when they were bought only for 1.7 million in 2000 Rajapaksa said in 2000 they bought those aircraft for a life span of 2 years and this time they were bought with a life span of eight years and that made the difference in price. Oranges cannot be copared with apples he said. It had been done by overhauling the whole aircraft part by part and examining and replacing defective or worn out parts. He said this is something the critics never say and deliberately hide. He said the overhauling took 16 weeks in Ukraine under the observation of our air force technicians. The Defense Secretary said the Air Force had informed him that the serviceability of our Kfirs had increased to 75% from 50% due to the arrival of the Migs. Asked why a third party had been used in the deal the Rajapaksa said it was not true. He said the aircraft company wanted them to be paid through their financial agents since we were not paying the full price on hand and only paying them in four installments. Gotabhaya said the choice was theirs. He said contrary to stories published, Air Force officers trained in flying Migs had told him that they were feeling extremely safe to pilot those aircraft.
The Defense Secretary said in this conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE it could be shown with evidence that it was the government who has acted honestly and genuinely to resolve the conflict. He has always told various parties that by making statements putting the honest party into difficulties the conflict would get automatically prolonged. And he said it was not fair by making statements after spending few hours in the country.
The Defense Secretary said at the last Presidential election the government had received a mandate from the people to eradicate terrorism from the country and his duty was to assist the President to implement that policy. He said that was not a rejection of a political solution. The greatest hindrance to a political solution is Velupillai Prabhakaran , he said. Without destroying the terrorist machine no solution is possible. He said the country's armed forces are now engaged in that sacred task.