{"id":55226,"date":"2016-06-01T22:34:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T04:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=55226"},"modified":"2016-06-01T15:30:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T22:30:38","slug":"the-humanitarian-operation-of-eelam-war-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/06\/01\/the-humanitarian-operation-of-eelam-war-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"THE \u201cHUMANITARIAN OPERATION\u201d OF EELAM WAR IV"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The LTTE delayed its defeat for four months, In Eelam War IV, by hiding behind 200,000 Tamils as hostages. These hostages were taken by the LTTE first to Mulangavil, then Kilinochchi, Dharmapuram, Vishvamadu and finally Puthumathalan, from where they were rescued by the army. The hostages said that they were forced to leave their homes and proceed to Nanthikadal area, where the LTTE instructed them to abandon their vehicles and join the LTTE. The LTTE were using them as human shields. They were probably instructed to do so. The buses, lorries, tractors, motorcycles and push cycles in which they came were left abandoned in large numbers at Nanthikadal. Exposing\u00a0 civilians deliberately to\u00a0 army fire in order to increase the scale of civilian casualties could \u00a0\u00a0be considered a war crime.<\/p>\n

The Humanitarian operation of the Sri Lanka army was well planned. The army infiltrated LTTE held area and then fought their way out to clear a path for the civilians to escape. The army prepared carefully for the rescue operation. One unit was to cross the lagoon, while other units captured a three kilometer long earth bund on the banks of the lagoon. They were to launch their operations from three directions, then link up. The divisions rehearsed about 30 times,\u00a0 including at night, with emphasis on crossing the lagoon.<\/p>\n

Commando and Special Forces carried out several deception drills and targeted the weakest section of the earth bund. The Infantry\u00a0\u00a0 dug trenches in the No fire Zone, crawled in and waited for orders.\u00a0\u00a0 The army crossed the lagoon at midnight of April 20, 2009 using rafts built of local material. They suffered casualties but still crossed the lagoon. Thereafter, the Commandos attacked from one side, Special Forces from another side and the rest of the army infiltrated in between. The intention was to confuse the LTTE, so that a safe route could be opened for civilians to cross the lagoon.<\/p>\n

When the heavily mined LTTE embankments were opened up, the hostages came streaming out. \u2018It was like hitting a \u2018meevadaya\u2019. Before the day was over, army had rescued around 80,000 civilians including the parents of Prabhakaran and Daya Master. By following morning 174,564 more had come in. Hundreds of LTTE cadres had dropped their weapons and joined the large crowd fleeing across the lagoon.\u00a0 The LTTE had fired heavy machine guns at the fleeing civilians. When the civilians stepped into the lagoon to avoid the gunfire, three LTTE cadres ran to them and exploded themselves”.<\/p>\n

The navy had launched a cordon off the Mullaitivu coast to stop the LTTE from escaping.\u00a0 Some \u2018hostages\u2019 started escaping in fishing craft. The LTTE could also have decided to come with them, in suicide craft. Despite this, the navy, at the risk of their lives, helped transfer escaping civilians to government held areas.<\/p>\n

Around 300,000 civilians were rescued. On our television screens, we saw them running eagerly towards the armed forces. We also saw how the soldiers compassionately carried across the hostages who could not walk and helped others who could.\u00a0 The civilians were then counted, registered and taken to the shelters prepared for them. They were not abandoned. The army looked after them. These Tamil refugees had deposited a total of 390 million rupees in the banks. They had carried across millions of rupees in cash and gold securely wrapped in pottanis.<\/p>\n

This magnificent rescue has not been given the recognition it deserves. The Defence Ministry called this operation the world’s largest hostage rescue mission. Foreign military officers who attended the international seminar \u2018Defeating terrorism, Sri Lanka experience\u2019 in 2012, said that Sri Lanka armed forces were among the best in the world specially considering the way they handled the humanitarian operation.\u00a0 Concerned observers ask, \u2018why is Sri Lanka army\u2019s epic hostage rescue ignored. Can any other country boast of a comparable rescue?\u2019<\/p>\n

Sarath Amunugama commented that more publicity should have been given to this heroic rescue operation, particularly the operation at Puthumathalan at the final stage. At Puthumathalan,\u00a0 He said,\u00a0 our forces were able to cross the Nanthikadal lagoon, take the opposite bank, go past the man groves, reach the bund and allow the people forcibly held by the LTTE to cross over to freedom.\u00a0 This was done at the sacrifice of armed forces who died in the process. The army could have finished the war much earlier if not for the hostages.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka army\u2019s epic hostage rescue is a feat of heroism and dedication. Military authorities repeatedly stated that the operation was done at the sacrifice of soldiers who died in the process. This hostage rescue was achieved at tremendous cost to the army, they said, soldiers lost their lives, limbs and eyesight. The army went to the extent of taking losses in a bid to minimize loss of Tamil civilian life. The earth bund behind which the hostages were held was breached at great sacrifice by the army. Many died in the process. Troops assigned to clear civilians rushing to the government held areas had also done so at the risk of their lives. Army officers pointed out that the Tamil civilians owed their lives to the bravery of our soldiers.<\/p>\n

The government took note of the International Humanitarian Laws, particularly the Geneva Convention of 1949, (which Sri Lanka had signed) and Protocol II (which it had not signed). The international conventions on war say war must be won without harming civilians caught in the war. Civilians must be protected even when they are in the middle of the fighting. If anything happens to them then it is a \u2018war crime\u2019. War, however, is not\u00a0\u00a0 a crime. UNP MP Palitha Ranga Bandara declared in Parliament, that the government should go all out to finish the battle, with no restriction on artillery, mortars, air and naval assets. He pointed out that withholding these would mean casualties in the frontline fighting units.<\/p>\n

The government\u00a0\u00a0 however,\u00a0\u00a0 imposed stringent conditions on the army in order to avoid civilian casualties and be charged with \u2018war crimes\u2019.\u00a0 President Rajapakse ordered a halt to air and artillery strikes against the LTTE, despite heavy LTTE resistance.\u00a0 This made the frontline troops very vulnerable, without air and artillery support. Government also banned the use of heavy weapons.\u00a0 For the Puthumathalan raid even small arms were restricted.\u00a0 The army was ordered to cross the lagoon without the necessary weapons, regardless of consequences.\u00a0\u00a0 The soldiers were risking their lives, but could only to carry small arms.\u00a0 Sarath Fonseka stated that the army had to pay a very heavy price for not having the liberty to use heavy weapons against the LTTE for about \u00a0four and a half months because of eternal pressure, relating\u00a0 to Tamil civilians. This confirms that the \u2018human shield\u2019 was a pre-planned maneuver. The result was unprecedented losses when fighting under extremely difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n

These Tamil \u2018hostages\u2019, in their turn, were clearly supportive of the war.\u00a0 They could have resisted and helped the Sri Lanka army, throughout the long period of war, but they never did. \u00a0They must be treated as part of the separatist war. The Penal Code of Sri Lanka says that \u2018whoever abets the waging of war\u2019, for instance, by joining an insurrection against the state, has committed an offence against the state and is liable for punishment (section 144). After the war, these hostages promptly voted against President Rajapakse in the presidential elections of 2010 and thereafter in 2015. They were obeying orders once again. As a reward, they are now getting fully detached brick houses with gardens. \u00a0The roofs carry the names of the donors, such as Red Cross, Caritas \u00a0and Australia aid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA\u00a0 PIERIS The LTTE delayed its defeat for four months, In Eelam War IV, by hiding behind 200,000 Tamils as hostages. These hostages were taken by the LTTE first to Mulangavil, then Kilinochchi, Dharmapuram, Vishvamadu and finally Puthumathalan, from where they were rescued by the army. The hostages said that they were forced to leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55226","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=55226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}