Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka’s victory over the LTTE in May 2009 was not just a military success — it was the liberation of an entire nation from one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations in the world. After nearly 30 years of suicide bombings, assassinations, ethnic cleansing, and child soldier recruitment, the country was finally free from terror.

Yet, sixteen years later, those who led this historic victory are being treated as criminals, while LTTE operatives and their global networks enjoy freedom, political influence, and platforms to rewrite history.

This alarming reversal is no coincidence — it is the continuation of the LTTE’s war through political, legal, and propaganda channels, with the ultimate goal unchanged: a separate state.

Lest everyone has forgotten – the Armed Forces may have dismantled the LTTE’s military machinery, but the political project for separatism is still alive. This is precisely why the military must remain at full strength, with camps strategically positioned, never disbanded & never demoralized. The one’s playing poodle to terrorists will never defend the nation or its people – only our soldiers will.

Who has forgotten LTTE’s Atrocities?

The LTTE’s record of brutality is well documented:

• Assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and countless ministers, military leaders, and civilians.
• Use of human shields during the final battles, forcing civilians to remain in war zones and shooting to death those who attempted to flee.
• Ethnic cleansing of Muslims & Sinhalese from the North in 1990.
• Recruitment of thousands of child soldiers, documented by UNICEF and other agencies.
• Claiming to represent Tamils but killing all Tamils going against them.
• Over 300 attacks across 30 years.

Despite this, no LTTE leader or even accomplice has faced prosecution = internationally or even locally for these crimes. Instead, many have found safe haven abroad, rebranding themselves as activists” and human rights defenders” taking new names & identities while lobbying foreign governments to target Sri Lankan military personnel. Those living in Sri Lanka have found their way into Parliament openly claiming their hero is Prabakaran & no action taken against them.

From Victory to Vilification

Sri Lanka’s military achieved one of the most decisive counter-terrorism victories of the 21st century. No foreign military has matched despite their vast resources,  advanced weaponry & sophisticated training their governments provide.

Yet, instead of honouring those who led the fight, our war-winning officers are being hounded by politically driven accusations while LTTE operatives, financiers, and propagandists remain untouched and free to lobby foreign powers against the very men who ended their terror.

If cases that are over 15 years old are being plucked & being connected to the war heroes who played significant roles to end terror, why is this same standard not applied to the LTTE & their accomplices?

Many who actively supported or collaborated with the LTTE continue to operate openly and unashamedly promoting anti-national agendas both locally and internationally — yet they remain beyond the reach of justice.

The question must be asked: Why have the masterminds, funders, local and international operatives of the LTTE never been prosecuted, even in countries where they committed crimes? How have convicted LTTE members been released, rehabilitated, and in some cases rewarded with asylum and political refuge, while the very officers who defeated them are targeted?

Ironically, the very Western nations quick to cook up charges against Sri Lanka’s war heroes — relying on LTTE operatives as witnesses” — are the same Nations that shield and protect their own soldiers, even when there is undeniable evidence of atrocities against them.

Instead of being recognised as defenders of the nation, these naval heroes face relentless persecution and we cannot but question the motives of plucking out incidents that are over 1 ½ decades old when crimes are taking place on a daily basis presently!

This scenario should raise everyone’s eyebrows:

• Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne– Cleared by the Attorney General for lack of evidence, yet subjected to sustained smear campaigns both locally and abroad.
• Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne– Dragged into a suspicious identification parade orchestrated around a rehabilitated” LTTE intelligence operative, until even the Magistrate halted the farce.
• Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda– Navy Commander during the decisive final phase of the war; cleared when the AG dropped charges, yet now placed under foreign sanctions even though he had not even applied to travel, courtesy of LTTE diaspora lobbying networks.

Intelligence Operatives: Silent Defenders

Much of Sri Lanka’s victory depended on intelligence operatives working in complete secrecy. By the very nature of their work, they cannot be publicly praised or acknowledged without compromising their missions, methods, and networks.

The danger of exposure is not theoretical. In 2002, during the Millennium City debacle, over 50 intelligence operatives were gunned down after the then Ranil Wickremesinghe government disclosed their identities to the LTTE immediately after  the Ceasefire Accord.

Today, attempts by the LTTE diaspora and foreign lobbies to publicize how Sri Lanka’s intelligence operatives work, and even their identities, echo that tragic precedent.

Bringing intelligence operatives into public debates, courts, or media discussions not only endangers operational security but is the ultimate injustice—punishing those who safeguarded the nation while exposing it to future threats.

These operatives serve silently, expecting nothing, and can never reveal their identities. Their commitment to the nation is absolute and cannot be compromised. Even their spouses or families often do not know the nature of their work. Yet the impact of their actions is immeasurable: they have prevented attacks, dismantled terror networks, and safeguarded the country’s survival, all without awards, recognition, or public accolades. The nation owes its very security to their unseen sacrifices.

This systematic vilification is no accident. It is the continuation of the LTTE’s war by other means — using foreign courts, human rights lobbies, and politically influenced investigations to achieve on paper what they could not win on the battlefield. These well-funded campaigns often occur close to Geneva sessions and are timed to showcase as examples & to justify the lies the LTTE propagandists spread to diplomats ready to use any means to exert political pressure against Sri Lanka for geopolitical reasons.

The Foreign Pressure Playbook

The post-war period has seen a coordinated campaign to paint Sri Lanka’s military as war criminals,” driven by:

• Diaspora lobbying– Funded by former LTTE financiers now operating legally abroad.
• Foreign political agendas– Using human rights” as a pretext to exert geopolitical influence. Following the money trail to every glossy report/documentary, media expose and you will find the fingerprints of LTTE backers.
• Selective investigations– Sri Lankan military leaders are targeted while LTTE crimes are whitewashed or ignored. Even the UN and UNHRC are complicit, violating due process and bypassing their own procedural safeguards.

These tactics have been used elsewhere — from Iraq to Afghanistan — to weaken nations that resist external control. Sri Lanka is simply the latest target.

The Danger to National Security

When a nation allows its defenders to be targeted and humiliated, it sends a dangerous signal:

• To itsenemies — that terrorism can still win through propaganda and foreign intervention.
• To itsarmed forces — that loyalty and sacrifice will not be protected by the state triggering demoralizing sentiment. A dangerous scenario.
• To itscitizens — the fine line that exists when national sovereignty can be traded away for political gain with citizens losing trust in their government.

If the same individuals who protected the nation are discredited, prosecuted, or sanctioned, it will cripple the military’s morale and readiness for future threats.

Nation & National Security First

This is not about protecting individuals because they wore a uniform. It is about defending the very principle that those who safeguard the country must not be sacrificed to appease political lobbies or foreign interests especially terrorist lobbies.

What cannot be denied is the manner that the very entities that promoted or supported LTTE back in the day are the very entities carrying out a smear campaign against those who defeated the LTTE. This ground reality cannot be ignored especially when the so-called justice appears to be one-sided and the terrorists are never on trial but those that defeated the terrorists are.

Sri Lanka’s victory over the LTTE was hard-won — paid for in blood, sacrifice, and resilience. To let that victory be rewritten as a crime is to betray not only our armed forces but the sovereignty of the nation itself.

The unfinished war is not being fought in the jungles of Mullaitivu — it is being fought in courtrooms, in foreign parliaments, and in the media. Why are they siding with terrorists?

If we do not stand now for our defenders, the cost will be far greater than the loss of reputation — it will be the loss of our independence.

Shenali D Waduge