{"id":96892,"date":"2019-12-25T16:27:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T23:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96892"},"modified":"2019-12-25T16:27:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-25T23:27:34","slug":"eelam-war-series-2-who-planned-the-eelam-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/25\/eelam-war-series-2-who-planned-the-eelam-war\/","title":{"rendered":"EELAM WAR SERIES 2: WHO PLANNED THE EELAM WAR?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

After World War II ended in 1949, several\ncountries got together to debate the issue of war. This gave them the\nopportunity to outlaw war and create agencies to settle future conflicts peacefully\nthrough negotiation. Instead of doing this, they \u2018legalized\u2019 warfare through\nthe \u2018Geneva\nconventions.\u2019 Armies could shoot and kill each other These countries then enlarged\nthe scope of lawful war to include wars within states (civil wars). They announced\nthat \u2018national-liberation-movements-fighting-against-alien-occupation-and-racist-regimes-in-the-exercise-of-their-right-of-self-determination\u2019\nwere entitled to take arms and use force. This gave the green light to both\ngenuine and bogus liberation movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The western powers saw civil war as a useful political tool for\nintervening in sovereign states, partitioning them and controlling the segment\nuseful to them, such as the   east of Sri Lanka with access to the Bay\n of Bengal. These internal wars were therefore labeled \u2018conflicts\nbetween sovereign states\u2019, making the existing government an aggressor instead\nof the legitimate ruler. The \u2018liberation movement\u2019 was permitted to engage in\nterrorism.  Terrorists were \u2018lawful\ncombatants\u2019. International law said terrorism was outside its scope and wriggled\nout of the issue.  Thanks to all this, rogue\nsecessionist groups could now seize territory by force and get it recognized as\na separate state in the UN, using \u2018friendly countries\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is now suspected that the Eelam war was not a home grown war. It\nwas masterminded by outside forces. A group of Jaffna\nboys who had never left Jaffna\nand who did not know English styled themselves \u2018Liberation Tigers\u2019 and said\nthey were seeking \u2018self determination\u2019 for their \u2018nation\u2019. They went to war\nwith little training but somehow managed to get territory and hold it. How did\nthey do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LTTE did receive some sporadic training. India trained\nthem in the 1980s. Norway\nhad provided training at the Special Forces training camp in Rena on weapons\ntactics and military strategy (2003). \nNorwegian ex -Special Forces had trained Sea tigers in underwater\ndemolition in Thailand.\nInstruction on conducting the war could have come from abroad. The VSAT high\nfrequency equipment acquired by the LTTE in 2002   could transmit voice, pictures, video\nwithout any interception from anybody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the main reason\nLTTE was able to defeat the army was because they had superior weapons and\nexplosives. They had a continuous\nsupply . of highly sophisticated\nweapons sent by a weapons procurement\nnetwork operating from a foreign country.  They were able to procure armaments from all\nover the world and transfer them across borders without any difficulty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE had a formidable array of weapons, far superior\nto those owned by the Sri Lanka\narmy. They had at least 30   pieces of\nheavy artillery. Also assault rifles, self\nloading rifles, light machine guns, sub- machine guns  rocket propelled grenades,  anti aircraft weapons, such as surface to air\nmissiles and peddle guns. A four barreled air defense gun with a range of 2000\nmeters was found by the Sri\n Lanka army. This was a formidable\nacquisition and the army wanted to know where it came from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE was not a lawful army, therefore they\nsmuggled in the weapons, including heavy items, by carrying out mid sea\ntransfers, 200 nautical miles off Sri Lanka. They used special semi\nsubmersible submarines, capable of carrying 10 tons of equipment. Other items\nsuch as power generators also came in.  LTTE\nhad a fleet of 50 ships, and was managing two dozen ships at any given time. Sri Lanka\nwanted the International Maritime Organization to investigate how the LTTE\nmanaged to operate this fleet when it was a proscribed organization.  They also wanted the countries which provided\nflags of convenience investigated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large hauls of arms\nwas   recovered from Mullaitivu, Vakarai, Vishvamadu, Wellamulliwaikal\nbeach, Panichchankerni jungle and Alanchipotha.\nArms were\nalso found in Kumana\n National Park. Troops\nfound six boats laden with 996 kilos of explosives at\nPuthukkudiyiruppu,  1004\nkilograms of C4 plastic explosives   at\nMollikulam,  over 80 varieties of bombs at\nIranamadu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and two other stocks of explosives, elsewhere, weighing 2500 kilos and   3900 kilos. \u2018The\namount of weapons found is unbelievable,\u2019 said the army \u2018and much still remains to\nbe recovered.  These\ncould not have been only for Sri\n Lanka.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a \u2018navy\u2019 containing fast attack craft   fitted\nwith powerful outboard motors, radar and communication equipment. These had\nbeen smuggled in.  \u2018Indumathi\u2019, a 16\nmetre long wave rider class boat, had a mounted twin-barrel anti-aircraft\nweapon and multi purpose machine guns. LTTEalso had pedal type suicide boats  and stealth craft laden with explosives. They had\nalso tried to mine the sea,  using limpet\nmines,  pressure mines  and closed circuit diving equipment    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certain findings indicate that LTTE was preparing\nfor a massive sea battle. Two huge torpedoes with launchers were recovered from\nPuthukudiyiruppu, ready to attack a ship. The navy wanted to know who purchased\nthese and how were they brought into Sri Lanka? Under international law\nonly governments can purchase torpedoes. Four\nsubmarines\nwere found in an ultra secret factory there. Interpol was asked\nto find out how advanced equipment from Switzerland\nand Norway\ncame to be fitted into these submarines. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE\nstarted an \u2018air force\u2019 of small, fixed wing aircraft.  \u2018Air Tigers\u2019 were added to \u2018Sea Tigers \u2018and\n\u2018Sea Pigeons\u2019. Three Czech built Zlin 143 planes came secretly from South Africa  These arrived by ship in knocked down\ncondition and were brought ashore in  \nlarge trawlers. Of the seven airstrips built by the LTTE, Mullativu   could accommodate\nlarge aircraft. The military wanted to\nknow where the heavy machinery needed for its construction had come from .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army Commander was\nasked on \u2018Thulawa\u2019 how did the LTTE acquire the knowledge to run this war? Were\nthey helped by foreign countries and NGOs? This was a frequently asked\nquestion. His answer was \u2018yes.\u2019 Sri Lanka army\nsaid fforeign military experts had come in and\nprovided training and advice on weapons. The heavily fortified\ndefenses of deep ditches and strong bunds behind which the LTTE hid in Eelam\nwar IV, could never have been constructed without external help. Ukrainian\nspecialists came and trained LTTE in sea warfare. Japanese experts came,\ndeveloped submersibles   and built a\ncamouflaged tunnel for launching these in a high security zone in\nPuthukkudiyiruppu area. Sri Lanka Air force\nstated that foreigners\ncame and trained the LTTE in using planes.  South African pilots are expert in night air\nraids  and its mercenaries could be easily hired as\ntrainers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is suspected that NGOs, who had worked with LTTE,\nhad helped in the war. Equipment belonged to Oxfam and Save the Children were found\nin a high tech satellite communication facility at Puthumathalan.  Troops found 20,000 litres of\npetrol in Iranamadu and Puthumathalan area   also\na massive stock of diesel and kerosene oil in Dharmapuram, in plastic barrels\nwhich could hold 225 liters of fuel each. Only NGOs had the authority to\ntransport fuel to LTTE areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western countries had\nrefused to help the government win the war. Britain had    refused to provide spare parts for army\u2019s\naging Saladin and Daimler armoured cars. US and NATO also refused. Army then\nbought Cadillac armored cars from USA. But USA did not provide the number\nagreed and only gave six, without the turret and gun,  \u2018though\nwe had paid for them.\u2019  Britain provided ten 30 mm guns\nwith 6000 rounds of ammunition but refused to deliver 2000 more rounds which\nhad been agreed. Certain countries had not allowed aircraft carrying war items to fly\nover their airspace. The government had to search for a country which would\nship the Bushmaster guns bought from Russia. Finally Poland agreed\nto allow the use of its port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it became clear that the government was\ngoing to win the war and the LTTE was going to lose, President Rajapakse came\nunder heavy pressure from western powers, to suspend the offensive and resume\n\u2018peace talks\u2019 with the LTTE. When Kilinochchi was taken, (January, 2009) US, Norway, UK and France exerted pressure. India, UK,\nFrance\nwanted the war stopped in April 2009. There was also an appeal from Japan. These countries were trying to save the\nbadly cornered LTTE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA has also worked\nbehind the scenes to get the LTTE leadership to surrender to a third party. About\ntwo months before the final battle US had offered to evacuate the top LTTE\nleaders and their families. There were secret negotiations to take away\nPrabhakaran, Sea Tiger wing leader, Soosai, intelligence wing leader Pottu\nAmman and their families, numbering over 100. The\nUS Pacific command sent a team of experts to look into this.  USA feared that if Prabhakaran was\narrested by the government he would tell them how the west helped him in the\nwar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE committed serious war crimes throughout out the Eelam wars. USA, UK,\nEuropean Union, Japan   India and the UN did nothing to\nstop them and never censured their actions. However, according to a report\nfiled by Times Online, the US\nmilitary has used satellites to spy on Sri Lanka during the final stages\nof its battle against the LTTE. India\ntoo deployed air craft fitted with sophisticated equipment to monitor the war.\nUS sought to justify its action on the ground that it was looking for evidence\nof war crimes.   ( CONTINUED)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS After World War II ended in 1949, several countries got together to debate the issue of war. This gave them the opportunity to outlaw war and create agencies to settle future conflicts peacefully through negotiation. Instead of doing this, they \u2018legalized\u2019 warfare through the \u2018Geneva conventions.\u2019 Armies could shoot and kill each other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96892","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\/96892","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=96892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}