{"id":46149,"date":"2015-07-25T10:26:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-25T17:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=46149"},"modified":"2015-07-25T10:26:10","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T17:26:10","slug":"targeting-lanka-by-playing-ball-with-tamil-extremism-2008-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/07\/25\/targeting-lanka-by-playing-ball-with-tamil-extremism-2008-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Targeting Lanka by Playing Ball with Tamil Extremism:\u00a02008-14"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Michael Roberts<\/strong>, courtesy of Groundviews, where the title is slightly different<\/em><\/span>.<\/h2>\n

The original essay was presented at the 9th<\/sup> International Convention of Asian Scholars held in Adelaide from 5-9th<\/sup> July 2015 and was therefore designed as a 15-minute presentation. Hyperlinks, maps, citations and bibliographical references have been inserted in this version, while pictorial illustrations, <\/strong>with the exception of Fig 1, \u00a0are\u00a0in a\u00a0supplementary appendix. Footnotes have been kept to a minimum.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/em>The emergence and sharpening of Tamil nationalism from the 1940s to the 1980s is a complex tale which cannot be easily summarized in a few strokes. It is a tale of Sinhala extremism at one pole and Tamil extremism at the other pole feeding off each other. At the same time, the divisions within each extreme (that is, the existence of several competing parties with chauvinist positions) disabled steps towards moderation. Moreover, this major strand of political contestation \u2013 the Sinhala\/Tamil divide \u2014 was complicated by strands of Leftist and Naxalite thinking that encouraged both Sinhalese and Tamil youth to move towards revolutionary struggle.<\/p>\n

The growth of a number of Tamil militant groups in the 1970s and 1980s was facilitated by (a) the proximity of India, (b) the support of Tamil politicians, smugglers and fishermen in Tamilnadu and (c) the support of the central government in Delhi from July 1983 \u2013 so that most of the militant groups were able to sustain military training camps in India from late 1983 to 1987<\/p>\n

\"03=<\/a>Fig. 1. LTTE commanders at their training camp in Sirimalai, northern India \u2014Pic from Rohan Gunaratna, 1997<\/em><\/p>\n

By the early 1980s there was increasing disenchantment among the Tamil youth with the Tamil parliamentarians of the TULF. The pogrom against Tamils in the south activated in July 1983 by Sinhala extremists and government functionaries not only hardened Tamil opinion in favour of insurgent struggle, but also spelt the death-knell of the TULF parliamentarians. They became persona non grata<\/em>in the north (and several were gradually eliminated by the LTTE).<\/p>\n

The initial existence of several militant groups competing with each other sustained Tamil liberation fervour. Between 1985 and 1990 the most ruthless of these groups, the LTTE or Tamil Tigers, established a monopoly of violence in the northern reaches by eliminating the leaders of the other groups. Their dedication, as embodied in the induction oath of self-sacrifice and a readiness to swallow a cyanide capsule in defensive acts of suicide (Fig. 2), garnered admiration because of the quality of arppaNnippu<\/em> (dedication, sacrifice) it signified (Roberts 2005 & Induction Oath,\u201d 2014) .<\/p>\n

There were four periods of warfare where Tamil militants and\/or the LTTE engaged the SL state, with short periods of ceasefire in between. By mid-1990 a de facto Tamil state, the state of Thamil\u012blam<\/em>, existed under Tamil Tiger authority, with Pirap\u0101haran as its President. Every one of three ceasefires was deployed strategically by the LTTE to strengthen their capacity to extract independence by force.<\/p>\n

So, Eelam Wars II, III and IV were between two states, Thamil\u012blam<\/em> and GSL. The focus today is on the failure of the LTTE enterprise in the course of Eelam War IV (2006-09) and the strategy adopted by the Tigers and its agencies abroad as they were sliding towards military defeat in 2008\/09.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These overlapping processes cannot be comprehended without attending to the cartographical picture as it developed over time (Maps I, II and III) and without attention to the specific battle theatre and the character of the warfare that prevailed. In the course of 2006\/07 the LTTE lost control of the several pockets in the Eastern Province where it had held sway; while the SL Navy hunted down and sank the LTTE\u2019s seven warehouse ships in the Indian Ocean at various moments in 2006\/07.<\/p>\n

\"07=Thamililam<\/a>MAP I \u2014 Thamil\u012blam<\/em> in late 2007 and early 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though it was on a declining slope, the LTTE determined the contours of military struggle on land in the northern Vanni and the political propaganda linked to this desperate bid for survival at a moment when the population of Thamil\u012blam <\/em>was about 320-350,000 (with numbers of civilians having already been recruited into the peoples\u2019 militia or makkal padai<\/em> \u2013 see Figs. 3 and 4).<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. As they suffered reversals on the western front, the Tiger leadership encouraged the local population to move eastwards<\/a> ahead of the slowly advancing GSL forces (Figs. 5 & 6), while deploying bunds, ditches and mines to defend their territory and\/or slow down the SL Army which outmanned and outgunned them (Fig. 7 & 8). The Tamil people, I stress, had no reason to trust the GSL and moved willingly at the outset[1]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> \u2014 but from January 2009 dissenting sentiments developed and multiplied so that increasing numbers tried to vote with their feet (or escape by boat).<\/li>\n
  2. The SL Army advance from west to east, as well as north to south, was slow but steady. They secured the whole of the western coast by 20th<\/sup> November 2008.<\/li>\n
  3. This was about the time when the LTTE, assisted by its many networks abroad, developed a grand propaganda strategy: they presented a picture of an impending humanitarian catastrophe\u201d \u2013 namely, mass civilian deaths. As the Tiger political leader Pulidevan told European friends just as in Kosovo if enough civilians died in Sri Lanka the world would be forced to step in\u201d (Harrison 2012: 63). In other words, the Tamil citizens encased within their declining battle theatre served as a raison d\u2019etre<\/em> and bargaining tool for Western interventions<\/a> that would keep the LTTE state afloat Roberts, Blackmail,\u201d 2012).<\/li>\n
  4. This spectre of a calamity\u201d was not a fiction. But it was a situation, a context, which the LTTE had engineered. Thus, from mid-2008 the geo-political parametres of the war were of Tamil Tiger making. The people, in fact, were more than human shields\u201d or sandbags set up by the LTTE. In the context of declining terrain in their hands, the mass of people were a central defensive formation<\/a>. From December 2008 the LTTE began moving people from the Mullaitivu locality (where their command centre was sited) to the relatively deserted shores east of Nandhikadal Lagoon<\/a> (hereafter NKL or Last Redoubt\u201d). A mass of people on the coast (see Figs. 9 & 10) would hinder the GSL forces from exercising an amphibious assault that would have boxed in the Tamil Tiger forces and forced them to fight on four fronts rather than three.\u00a0\u00a0\"10=<\/a>MAP II \u2014 The reduced area of Thamil\u012blam<\/em> on 23 Dec. 2008 \u2013further reduced when they lost control of the A9 and Kilinochchi by 31 December 2008<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. This strategy of impending calamity\u201d was revved up to strident pitch from January 2009 after the LTTE lost control of the A9 arterial road and was forced to abandon the administrative capital of Kilinochchi. Central to this strategy was the series of reports sent by the medical doctors serving the state of Thamil\u012blam<\/em> and those from Tamil functionaries working for INGOs and NGOs within Thamil\u012blam. <\/em>Crafted under Tiger orders, such reports invariably highlighted tales of death and injury, shellfire hits on hospitals and\/or increasing malnutrition \u2013 in brief provided grist for the mill of calamity.\u201d<\/li>\n
  6. This picture of disaster was also retailed in strident manner by Tiger and Tamil networks in the West. By late 2008 the Tamilness of many migrant families \u2013 even those with reservations about the LTTE \u2013 had been stirred to fever pitch. Second and third generation Tamil migrants joined the street demonstrations and airwave agitations. From late 2008, and especially in early 2009, Sri Lankan Tamil patriotism moved into crescendo levels in many Western cities (see Figs. 11 & 12).<\/li>\n
  7. \u00a0The Western media networks swallowed this line<\/a> of propaganda hook, line and sinker. Reports from the medics in Tigerland were presented as definitive fact. Western reporters based in Colombo were equally gullible (and remarkably ill-informed[2]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a>).<\/li>\n
  8. Though some Western human rights agencies did stress that the LTTE was using its own people as human shields,\u201d[3]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> many took up this crescendo of concern and pressed for a ceasefire or some UN\/US intervention. The English reporter Simon Jenkins<\/a> was quite exceptional in contending that a ceasefire would materially assist the retreating Tigers \u2013 in effect implicitly opposing the thrust of Western demands (Jenkins 2011).<\/li>\n
  9. USA\u2019s embassy in Colombo under Robert Blake, various UN agencies and other Western ambassadors worked hand-in-hand with the GSL to provide relief supplies for the citizens of Thamililam<\/em> via food convoys (till end-January) or relief ships. But, at the same time, this consortium relentlessly pressed the GSL<\/a> to resort to a ceasefire.<\/li>\n
  10. Only limited pressure seems to have been directed towards the Tiger leadership[4]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> to (a) release the civilians held as defensive shield-and-escape platform[5]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> or (b) to initiate a ceasefire or respect those proclaimed by the GSL.<\/li>\n
  11. The problem here was that US policy was guided by the guidelines set up by their embassy staff in the 1970s and 1980s<\/a> without attention to the character of the LTTE in its state-form under Pirapah\u0101ran (Gamage 2014). In the 1980s USA believed (with good reason) that the Tamil people tout court had been badly treated and that the answer was a devolved federal set-up. But, in the years 2006\/09 this meant devolution to the fascist state of Thamil\u012blam<\/em> under the LTTE and its supremo Pirapah\u0101ran.[6]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a>Pirapah\u0101ran had one goal and one goal only: an independent state, nothing less. In such circumstances when Michael Owens, Political Attach\u00e9 at the US Embassy in Colombo, told the media on 6th<\/sup> May 2009 that USA wished to sustain the LTTE as an organisation,[7]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> he was revealing not only (A<\/strong>) a fundamental flaw in their reading of the Tamil situation from the moment the LTTE assumed dominating power among the Tamil people by 1990, but also (B<\/strong>) a gross layman\u2019s misreading of the war theatre THEN in early May 2009 \u2014 for at that point the LTTE as military force was in its death throes.[8]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> \"23=-Analytic<\/a>Map III.A \u2013 Analytic Graphic Map of Military Penetration the Last Redoubt & Subsequent Exodus of Trapped Civilian & Deserting Tigers \u2013 <\/strong>Daily Mirror, 24 April 2009<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"22=WAR<\/a>Map III.B\u2013being the ICG map illustrating the same operation<\/strong><\/p>\n

    12. Eelam War IV in its last phase did not, therefore, involve only two actors. There were three other parties to the struggle. USA, the UN and other Western governments in tandem on the one hand and human rights\/civil liberty agencies in Colombo and abroad on the other were active players in the unfolding scenario \u2013 with the Western media from BBC to ABC to Guardian<\/em>, Times<\/em><\/a> and NY Times<\/em>, as supporting actors in the background.[9]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

    It is an irony of history and a reflection upon the play of POWER that those who were players in a conflict have become prosecutors and judges of that very same conflict. I stress here that they all those identified in the previous paragraph were influential players in an unfolding scenario from mid-2008 onwards. The agitation in 2008 centred upon the catch cry catastrophe.\u201d After the war ended with the military defeat of the LTTE, this evocative slogan has been transformed into a picture of genocide.\u201d Tamil people in Sri Lanka and abroad, whether Tiger sympathisers or other nationalists, have repeated the term incessantly \u2014 thereby providing support for that contention set in stone by Joseph Goebbels about the effectiveness of the Big Lie\u201d repeated ad nauseam<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    In this work they have been assisted by the main plank in USA\u2019s policy since 2007\/08: namely, seeking to wean Sri Lanka away from its increasing comradeship with China.[10]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> Both the report on the war<\/a> gerrymandered by the so-called Panel of Experts\u201d set up by the UNHCHR and the Internal Review Panel Report<\/a> for the UN chaired by Charles Petrie have been instruments in this design.<\/p>\n

    What is even more alarming is the manner in which moral crusaders in the human rights industry have run with this particular picture of the war (Harshula 2011a; Roberts, Tamil Person & State. Pictorial<\/em>, 2014: 3-37 & 209-29). Take Gordon Weiss\u2019 book The Cage<\/em> and his public presentations. Or better still, take the document entitled Island of Impunity<\/em> presented in February 2014 as the Report of the International Crimes Evidence Project that had been set up by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Sydney (with Weiss as one of the five assessors). Island of Impunity<\/em> ha no bibliography, but there are extensive footnote citations. In the first 153 pages of this 234 page document the UN Panel of Experts is cited 162 times. There is no indication that the ICEP even glanced at the considered and scathing review of the UNoP document<\/a> by a Marga think-tank which highlighted its slipshod methodology. Again, the ICEP seems to have studiously avoided attention to the exhaustive study of the war by Citizen Silva in his Numbers Game<\/em> (IDAG 2013; Noble 2013) and the several essays by Sarvananthan, Noel Nadesan, Rajasingham Narendran, de Silva-Ranasinghe and Roberts.[11]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> In other words, they have not taken note of research work that severely undermines aspects of the evidence that are part of the Tamil accusatory arsenal. When moral crusaders parading their ethics are that wilfully blind, their ethics and morality are in question.<\/p>\n

    This does not mean that we should discard all their data and findings. They have revealed some definite cases of extra-judicial killings of Tiger commanders<\/a>\/functionaries in mid-May 2009 at the tail-end of the war (Weiss 2012). However, little weight has been attached to the outstanding fact that the LTTE set up the immediate circumstances that placed the non-belligerent civilians in the field of fire. More predictably, the moral crusaders, USA and the UN have not taken note of their role as players \u2013 both as a conglomerate and individually \u2014 in the warring context. The overall LTTE strategy was predicated on drawing their intervention on humanitarian grounds and\/or their strategic foreign policy interests.<\/p>\n

    Throughout the period 2008\/08 Gordon Weiss happened to be located centrally in Colombo as UN Media Officer.[12]<\/strong><\/strong><\/a> He has since become an author and prosecuting witness and, then again, evaluating-judge as one voice in the ICEP\u2019s committee.<\/p>\n

    What has transpired in Sri Lanka, therefore, has only deepened my cynicism in the reading of international politics and all politics.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0 ****\u00a0\u00a0 *****<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    \"05=oath<\/a>\u00a0Fig. 2\u2013a Cyanide capsule as thaali marks ones commitment to Tamil liberation struggle via the LTTE \u2013BBC film<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"06=makkal<\/a> \"06=armed<\/a>\u00a0Figs.\u00a03 &\u00a04 = peoples\u2019 militia in training \u2014Tamil sources on web<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"12=-UNITED-NATIONS-SRI-LANKA-81\"<\/a> \"11=multi-dispaaced+\"<\/a>\u00a0Figs\u00a05 & 6\u2013Tamil citizens of Thamililam on the move amnd undergoing multiple displacements<\/p>\n

    \"09=EMBANKMENT<\/a> \"09=EMBANKMENT<\/a>\u00a0Figs 7 & 8\u2013Booby-trapped Berms and ditches to slow SL Army down \u2014Ministry of Defence Pics<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

    \"16=_vanni_04--01_05_09\"<\/a>\u00a0Fig 10\u2013Pokkanai in Last Redoubt on 29 March 2009\u2013Pic from Tamiilnet<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"15=Tent<\/a>\u00a0Fig 11\u2013A Tent City in one locality\u2013Pic no date from UNoP<\/em> report<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"16=Pokkanai_area_seaside_01--29<\/a>\u00a0Fig 11b \u2013<\/p>\n

    \"20=Toronto<\/a> \"18=Uniavenue<\/a>\u00a0Fig 12a & b\u2013Demonstrations in Toronto<\/p>\n

    \"19=TAMIL<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 and in London<\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>BIBLIOGRAPHY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Bavinck, Ben <\/strong>2014 Of Tamils and Tigers. A Journey through Sri Lanka\u2019s War Years<\/em>, Part II. 1990s-2004. Jaffna Man, The Diaries of Ben Bavinck<\/em>, Colombo: Vijtiha Yapa Publications for the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee.<\/p>\n

    BBC 1991 Suicide Killers,\u201d Inside Story Documentary series.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei<\/strong>\u00a02009b The Battle for the Vanni Pocket,\u201d\u00a0Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter<\/em>, March 2009, Vol. 35\/2, pp. 17-19. \u2026 andhttp:\/\/www.dtic.mil\/dtic\/aulimp\/citations\/gsa\/ 2009157395\/156554.html<\/a><\/p>\n

    De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei<\/strong>\u00a02009d Sri Lanka\u2019s Experience in Counter-Insurgency Warfare,\u201d\u00a0Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter<\/em>, Oct. 2009, Vol. 35\/8, pp. 40-46.<\/p>\n

    De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei<\/strong>\u00a02009e Good Education. Sri Lankan Military learns Counter Insurgency Lessons,\u201d\u00a0Jane\u2019s Intelligence Review<\/em>\u00a0Dec. 2009, pp. 3-7.<\/p>\n

    De Silva-Ranasinghe, Sergei<\/strong>\u00a02010b Information Warfare and the Endgame of the Civil War,\u201d\u00a0Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter<\/em>, May 2010 30\/4: 35-37. \u2026. andhttp:\/\/www.asiapacificdefencereporter.com\/ articles\/40\/Sri-Lanka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Gamage, Daya 2014 <\/strong>The American Agenda for Sri Lanka\u2019s National Issues,\u00a01970s-2014<\/a>,\u201d 5 July 2014.<\/u>https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/07\/05\/the-american-agenda-for-sri-lankas-national-issues-1970s-2014\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Gunaratna, Rohan<\/strong> 1997 International and Regional Security Implications of the Sri Lankan Tamil Insurgency<\/em>, Colombo: Unie Arts Pvt Ltd.<\/u><\/p>\n

    Harshula<\/strong>\u00a02011a When allegations becomes evidence,\u201d 6 June 2011,http:\/\/groundviews.org\/<\/a>2011\/06\/06\/when-allegations-become-evidence\/<\/p>\n

    Harrison, Frances<\/strong>\u00a02012\u00a0Still Counting the Dead<\/em>, London: Portobello.<\/p>\n

    ICEP<\/strong> 2014 Island of Impunity?<\/em> Investigation into International Crimes committed during the Final Stage ages of the Sri Lankan Civil War<\/em>, Sydney: Public Interest Advocacy Centre Ltd,http:\/\/www.piac.asn.au\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/extras\/island_of_impunity.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

    Jenkins, Simon <\/strong>2011 Simon Jenkins pulverized Miliband\u2019s assinine foreign interventions in 2009,\u201d http:\/\/www.aspensrental.com\/simon-jenkins-pulverized-milibands-assinine-foreign-interventions-in-2009\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Jeyaraj, DBS<\/strong>\u00a02009 Wretched of the Wanni Earth break Free of Bondage,\u201dDaily Mirror<\/em>, 25 April 2009.<\/p>\n

    IDAG [i.e. Citizen Silva]<\/strong>\u00a02013 The Numbers Game: Politics of Retributive Justice,\u201d http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/132499266\/The-Numbers-Game-Politics-of-Retributive-Justice<\/a>\u00a0OR<\/strong>http:\/\/<\/a>www.satp.org\/satporgtp\/countries\/shrilanka\/document\/TheNG.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Iyer, Ganeshan <\/strong>2012 Military Training in the German Nazi Mould amidst Internal Dissension in the Early LTTE, late 1970s,\u201d trans by Parames Blacker, inhttps:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2012\/01\/30\/<\/a>military236training-in-the-german-nazi-mould-amidst-internal-dissension-in-theearly-ltte-late-1970s\/.<\/p>\n

    Jeyaraj, DBS<\/strong>\u00a02011\u00a0KP\u201d Speaks Out<\/em>, Vavuniya: NERDO.<\/p>\n

    Mango<\/strong>\u00a02014 Sri Lanka\u2019s War In Its Last Phase: Where WIA Figures Defeat The Gross KIA Estimates,\u201d 14 February 2014,https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankas-war-in-its-last-phase-where-wia-figures-defeat-the-gross-kia-estimates\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Marga<\/strong>\u00a02011\u00a0<\/em>An Analysis and Evaluation of The Report of the Advisory Panel to the UNSG nn the Final Stages of the War in Sri Lanka,<\/em>https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/0eybj1ynej6spaa\/The%20Darusman%20Report-%20Final%20doc-2.doc<\/a><\/p>\n

    Marga<\/strong>\u00a02014\u00a0Issues of Truth and Accountability. The Last Stages of the War in Sri Lanka<\/em>,https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/tdxwntf7wu5andq\/The%20Last%20Stages%20of%20the%20war%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.pdf?n=66191473<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Minnick, Wendell<\/strong> 2015 China\u2019s One Belt One Road Policy,\u201d 12 April 2015,http:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/story\/defense\/2015\/04\/11\/taiwan-china-one-belt-one-road-strategy\/25353561\/<\/a>.<\/u><\/p>\n

    Nadesan, Noel <\/strong>2011 Media and the Suffering of the Tamil People,\u201d 14 July 2011, http:\/\/noelnadesan.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/14\/media-and-thesuffering-of-the-tamil-people\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Narendran, Rajasingham<\/strong>\u00a02014\u00a0<\/strong>Harsh Ground Realities in War: Decomposing Bodies and Missing Persons and Soldiers,\u201d 28 January 2014,https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/01\/28\/11702\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Nessman, Ravi <\/strong>2009b Satellite shows Sri Lanka shelling says rights group,\u201d 13 May 2009, http:\/\/mg.co.za\/article\/2009-05-13-satellite-shows-srilanka-shelling-says-rights-group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Noble, Kath<\/strong>\u00a02013b Numbers Game reviewed by Kath Noble: The Full Monty,\u201d 14 July 2013,\u00a0https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/14\/numbers-game-reviewed-by-kath-noble-the-full-monty\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Reddy, B. Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a02009a Cornered Tigers.<\/a>\u00a0The Sri Lanka Army takes control of the administrative and political capital of the LTTE,<\/a>\u201d\u00a0Frontline,<\/em>\u00a026\/2, 17-30 Jan 2009.Reddy, . Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a0 2009b Final Act<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Frontline<\/em>, 26\/4, 14-27 February 2009<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Reddy, B. Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a02009c End Game<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Frontline<\/em>\u00a026\/10, 9-22May 2009<\/p>\n

    Reddy, B. Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a02009d An Escape from Hellhole,\u201dhttp:\/\/www.hindu.com\/ 2009\/04\/25\/<\/a>stories\/2009042558390100.html.<\/p>\n

    Reddy, Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a02009g Multiple Displacements, Total Loss of Identity.\u201dThe Hindu<\/em>, 27 May 2009,http:\/\/www.hindu.com\/2009\/05\/27\/stories\/2009052755811500.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

    Reddy, Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a02009e Final Assault. A first-hand account of the war and the civilians\u2019 plight as Eelam War almost comes to a close,\u201d\u00a0Frontline<\/em>, 26\/11, May 23-June 5, 2009,\u00a0http:\/\/www.frontline.in\/navigation\/?type=static&page=archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Reddy, Muralidhar<\/strong>\u00a02009f Final Hours. An eye-witness account of the last 70 hours of Eelam War IV,\u201d\u00a0Frontline<\/em>, 26\/12, 6-19 June 2009,http:\/\/www.frontline.in\/static\/html\/fl2612\/stories\/20090619261200900.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M. <\/strong>2005a Saivite Symbolism, Sacrifice and Tamil Tiger Rites,\u201d Social Analysis, <\/em>49: 67-93.<\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02012 Blackmail during the Endgame in Eelam War\u00a0IV<\/a>,\u201d 12 April 2012,\u00a0https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2012\/04\/12\/blackmail-during-the-endgame-in-eelam-war-iv\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02012 Inspirations: Hero Figures and Hitler in Young Pirapaharnan\u2019s Thinking,\u201d Colombo Telegraph<\/em>, 12 February 2012, rep. in TPS. Essays,<\/em> 2014,: 69-89.<\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02013 BBC-Blind: Misreading the Tamil Tiger Strategy of International Blackmail, 2008-13,\u201dhttps:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2013\/12\/08\/bbc-blind-misreading-the-tamil-tiger-strategy-of-international-blackmail-2008-13\/#more-11221<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02013 Congestion in the Vanni Pocket\u201d January-May 2009: Appendix IV for BBC Blind,\u201dhttps:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2013\/12\/09\/congestion-in-the-vanni-pocket-january-may-2009- appendix-iv-for-bbc-blind\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02014 The War in Sri Lanka: Ravi Nessman\u2019s Slanted Story for USA on the Tavis Smiley Show, 18 February\u00a02009,\u201d 31 January 2014,\u00a0\u00a0<\/u>https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/01\/31\/the-war-in-sri-lanka-ravi-nessmans-slanted-story-for-usa-on-the-tavis-smiley-show-18-february-200\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02014 Generating Calamity, 2008-2014: An Overview of Tamil Nationalist Operations and Their Marvels,\u201d 10 April 2014,http:\/\/groundviews.org\/2014\/04\/10\/generating-calamity-2008-2014-an-overview-of-tamil-nationalist-operations-and-their-marvels\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong> 2014 The Induction Oath of Tamil Tiger Fighters at their Passing Out Ceremony,\u201d 23 June 1014,https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/06\/23\/the-induction-oath-of-tamil-tiger-fighters-at-their-passing-out-ceremony\/<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M. 2014 <\/strong>Truth Journalism? Marie Colvin hoist on her own\u00a0Petard<\/a>,\u201d5 November 2014, <\/u>https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/11\/05\/triuth-journalism-marie-colvin-hoist-on-her-own-petard\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02014\u00a0Tamil Person and State. Essays<\/em>, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publishers.<\/p>\n

    Roberts, M.<\/strong>\u00a02014\u00a0Tamil Person and State. Pictorial<\/em>, Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publishers.<\/p>\n

    Tammita-Delgoda, S.<\/strong>\u00a02009 Sri Lanka: The Last Phase in Eelam War IV. From Chundikulam to Pudukulam,\u201d New Delhi: Centre for Land Warfare, Manekshaw Paper No. 13,http:\/\/www.claws.in\/administrator\/uploaded_files\/1274263403MP%2022.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

    Tammita-Delgoda, S.<\/strong>\u00a02014a Reading Between the Lines in April 2009: Tammita-Delgoda takes apart Marie Colvin\u2019s jaundiced propaganda article in British\u00a0newspaper<\/a>,\u201d 26 September 2014,https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/2014\/09\/26\/rading-between-the-lines-in-april-2009-tammita-delgoda-takes-apart-marie-colvins-jaundiced-propanda-article-in-british-newspaper\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    Tammita-Delgoda, S.<\/strong>\u00a02014b Crossing the Lines: Tamils Escapees from the Last Redoubt meet the\u00a0Army<\/a>,\u201d 21 September 2014,https:\/\/thuppahi.wordpress.com\/wpadmin\/post. php?post=13751&action\u00a0 =edit&message=6&postpost=v2<\/a><\/p>\n

    UN PoE<\/strong>\u00a02011\u00a0Report of the Secretary General\u2019s Panel of Experts report on Accountability in Sri Lanka,<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>March 2011\u2026.http:\/\/www.un.org\/News\/dh\/infocus\/Sri_Lanka\/ POE_Report_Full.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    UTHR<\/strong>\u00a02009\u00a0<\/em>A Marred Victory and a Defeat Pregnant with Meaning,<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Special Report No. 32.\u00a0http:\/\/www.uthr.org\/SpecialReports\/spreport32.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

    UTHR<\/strong>\u00a02009\u00a0Let Them Speak: Truth about Sri Lanka\u2019s Victims of War<\/em>. Special Report No. 34,\u00a0http:\/\/www.uthr.org\/SpecialReports\/Special%20rep34\/Uthr-sp.rp34.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Weiss, Gordon<\/strong>\u00a02011a\u00a0The Cage<\/em>, Sydney: Picador.<\/p>\n

    Weiss, Gordon <\/strong>2011b Sri Lanka faces its \u2018Srebrenica moment\u2019,\u201d The Australian<\/em>, 23 April 2011, http:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/news\/world\/sri-lanka-faces-its-srebrenica-moment\/story-e6frg6ux-1226043466322<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Weiss, Gordon<\/strong>\u00a02012\u00a0<\/strong>New Evidence \u2014 The Death of Colonel Ramesh,\u201d 21 March 2012,\u00a0https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/newevidencethe-death-of-colonel-ramesh-warning-disturbing-images\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>CITATIONS & FOOTNOTES<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    [1] This contention was presented to me quite forcibly by the Indian correspondent for The Hindu<\/em>, Muralidhar Reddy in April 2009 and I accept it wholly on the basis of my brief visit to Thamil\u012blam <\/em>in November 2004 and the information conveyed by Anoma Rajakaruna who visited the LTTE areas regularly in the ceasefire period.<\/p>\n

    [2] AP correspondent Ravi Nessman\u2019s admissions of ignorance to Travis Smiley on CNN on 18 Feb. 2009 are a revealing example (Roberts 2014), further heightened by comparisons with the reportage on the war THEN by Serge de Silva-Ranasinghe in Perth and Muralidhar Reddy in Colombo. Reddy has told me recently that Nessman had unbounded conceit and was convinced that the Sri Lankan regime was the epitome of evil (email, July 2015).<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> When Human Rights Watch approached the LTTE on this issue in 2008, they were told in no uncertain terms: We are fighting for the people [so] the people must stay with us,\u201d (HRW quoted in de Silva-Ranasinghe Mullaitivu,\u201d 2009b: 11).<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> By mid-February 2009 Ambassador Blake was prepared to challenge the LTTE\u2019s claim that the civilians did not want to leave and asserted several civilians have been shot trying to escape,[while] many others have escaped.\u201d He added that we need to call the LTTE\u2019s bluff\u201d (see quotation in Roberts, TPS. Pictorial<\/em>, 2014: 18). However, he does not seem to have had any method of pursuing the latter aim. The consistent demand was for the Government of Sri Lanka to cease military action so that the United Nations could send an emissary to the rump Tiger territory so as to persuade the LTTE leaders to release the people. Such a move was precisely what the LTTE was angling for. In brief, USA and its handmaiden, the UN, became a tool of the Tigers.<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> The organization said we were going to die anyway if we crossed to the army-controlled area and told us to die with them\u201d \u2013 Rasamalar, a Tamil lady aged 48 (quoted in de Silva-Ranasinghe 2010b: 14).<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> For profound insights into the character of this society and LTTE domination, absorb the details in Bavinck\u2019s daily life in the Jaffna Peninsula (Bavinck 2014). Also see Roberts, Inspirations,\u201d 2012 and Ganeshan Iyer 2012.<\/p>\n

    [7]<\/a> See Gamage 2014 for the relevant quotations.<\/p>\n

    [8]<\/a> Note that in the period 19-23 April a remarkable SL Army operation penetrated the LTTE\u2019s Last Redoubt east of Nandhikadal Lagoon and released some 103,00-120,000 trapped civilians and Tiger personnel at a cost of perhaps 3000 lives from crossfire and deliberate LTTE killings (see iDAG, Numbers Game<\/em>, 2013; Roberts, TPS. Pictorial<\/em>, 2014: pp. 146-49 and Tammita-Delgoda 2014b). Video footage of the exodus from NKL was widely screened in Sri Lanka and on the 24th April the Daily Mirror<\/em> presented a revealing graphic map of the battle arena with bar graphs showing the numbers that had walked out. Even the US embassy took note of this event: between 100,000 and 110,000 appear to have escaped the NFZ since early April 20,\u201d wrote the US Ambassador Blake in despatch No. 456 of 23 April 2009 (Wikileaks).<\/p>\n

    [9]<\/a> I add here that the Indian government also joined the array of forces seeking a ceasefire. On 24th<\/sup> April 2009 Pranab Mukherjee, the Foreign Minister, sent a high-profile delegation demanding a stop to the military actions \u2013 backing up a strong press statement on the 23rd<\/sup> April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [10]<\/a> This is my distinct impression from media reports in that period \u2013 a view supported by Charudaththa Ekanayake and Gerald Peiris. Also see Minnick 2015.<\/p>\n

    [11]<\/a> See, for example, Rajasingham 2014 and Nadesan 2011<\/p>\n

    [12]<\/a> Elsewhere, in birching Marie Colvin for false reportage, I have presented this indictment: clever misinformation and disinformation [had been] planted in the minds of liberal radical journalists (both foreign and local) located in Colombo \u2014 with Ravi Nessman<\/a> of Associated Press<\/a>[<\/strong><\/a> and Gordon Weiss, Media Officer for the UN agencies in Colombo, being among their most effective cat\u2019s-paws [for the LTTE machinery of propaganda] \u2013 see Roberts, Truth Journalism,\u201d 2014. A further illustration is seen in Nessman\u2019s media report of 13th<\/sup> May 2009 which regurgitated claims about severe shelling and deaths by human rights agencies in England on the basis of TamilNet reports a few days earlier. Note that Nessman was located in Colombo throughout. So one wonders how and why he totally discounted local sources of information. It is on this type of evidence that I explicitly castigated him for a combination of blindness and duplicity (TPS. Pictorial<\/em>, 2014: 18). Note that Weiss referred to a bloodbath\u201d in an interview provided to Associated Press (Nessman\u2019s employer) in early April and was reprimanded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (US Embassy despatch no. 514 of 11 May 2009). We need to ascertain his exact words before reaching further conclusions.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Michael Roberts, courtesy of Groundviews, where the title is slightly different. The original essay was presented at the 9th International Convention of Asian Scholars held in Adelaide from 5-9th July 2015 and was therefore designed as a 15-minute presentation. Hyperlinks, maps, citations and bibliographical references have been inserted in this version, while pictorial illustrations, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-michael-roberts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}