{"id":97661,"date":"2020-01-12T15:10:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T22:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97661"},"modified":"2020-01-12T15:10:31","modified_gmt":"2020-01-12T22:10:31","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-11-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/12\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-11-a\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 11 A"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Tamil Separatist\nMovement complained that the military did not leave the North after the Eelam\nwar ended in 2009. In the whole country there are only 20 army divisions. Of\nthis 10 are in the north and east, the Tamil Separatist Movement complained.\nThe security forces continue to remain in the north and east in large numbers,\nobserved Jehan Perera in 2016.  Wigneswaran said he saw no reason why\nthere should be a 150,000 strong military still stationed in the north 7 years\nafter the war ended.  He said that the\nSri Lanka army was an overbearing presence in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The army will not be withdrawn from Northern\nProvince. The Northern Province is a part of Sri Lanka, nobody can question the\nmilitary presence there, said the government firmly.  The government has\nevery right to set up military establishments in any part of its territory. It\nhas a legitimate right to decide where it keeps its forces. A sovereign state\nhas the right to station its army in any place it chooses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forces must be\npositioned in strategic locations said Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence secretary.  In Sri Lanka army camps are situated in all\nparts of the country. If all the Provincial Councils ask me to remove the army\nthen where am I to keep the army, asked President Mahinda Rajapaksa. US forces are stationed in Japan, Korea, and\nall over the world and nobody questions that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated in 2012 that\nSri Lanka is still under threat. The LTTE rump and pro LTTE organizations are\ntrying to achieve separatism. They want to create another armed struggle here.\nThere is ample evidence that they are constantly trying to contact groups in\nSri Lanka and urge them to regroup militarily. There are 2400 once captured terrorists living\nin the north. The government has to be vigilant. There was the possibility of\nthe war returning, the government said in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was\nevidence to support this claim. In April 2014, the army killed three wanted\npersons, Sundaralingam Kajeepan alias Thevihan, Selvanayagam Kajeepan alias\nGopi, and probably Navaratnam Navaneethan alias Appan. They were killed\nfollowing a confrontation at Vedivachchikallu, south of Nedunkerni.  Thevihan had been involved in the LTTE air\nattacks on the Anuradhapura air base in October 2007 and the Kolonnawa\nPetroleum Storage facility also in 2007. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the largest man hunt for LTTE cadres,\nlaunched in the Northern Province since the conclusion of the conflict in May\n2009.  It has been launched in the wake\nof Gopi shooting at a police officer on Match 13 at Dharmapuram, a one-time\nLTTE stronghold.  Government saw this as\nan attempt to revive the LTTE. Gopi and Thevian had lived abroad. They seem to\nhave been funded by the Europe-based LTTE\u2008groups. They were working under\ninstruction form Nediyawan and Vinayagam. They were preparing the ground for\nanother armed campaign.  The people in\nthe area had helped the army with information. Authorities detained 60 persons, including 10\nwomen in connection with their alleged involvement in the new terrorism\nproject. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The military did not retreat from\nthe north after winning the Eelam war in 2009. Instead, permanent military\nbases, were set up, to protect strategically\nimportant areas of the north and east. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment started redeploying its naval and air assets to thwart any future\nattempt to open up illegal sea routes. The navy and air force will reposition\ntheir assets in support of ground deployment in coastal areas, the government\nannounced in 2010. In Jaffna we have\ntaken over some lands close to Port and airports, they said in 2013. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Navy\nhas shifted its north western HQ from Puttalam to Mullikulam to exercise naval\ncommand and control of Udappuwa to Arippu. The purpose was to ensure that north\neastern seas couldn\u2019t be use for illegal activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cantonments were planned for key locations in\nthe north, east and north western coast. Sri Lanka Navy established a\ncantonment camp at Mollikulam in the coastal areas. This would be the first of\na series of satellite camps along the coastal belt form Karuwalakuda to\nPukkulam with a 29 km extension into the Wilpattu national park.A road will be\nconstructed to run parallel to this. LTTE had used their bases along the north\nwestern coast to bring in supplies from India across the Gulf of Manner. These\ncamps will prevent this, said the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 However,\ncivil society\u201d opposed the reopening of the old Mannar road (Puttalam-\nMarichchikaddi.  The media observed that\nthe Civil society\u201d opposed decisions of the government that would deny the\nLTTE an opportunity to make a comeback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government\nwould not demobilize the army or reduce military presence in the Northern\nProvince under any circumstances, though the west was pushing for this, the\ngovernment said in 2014. Army camps in the north will not be removed under any\ncircumstances. Military bases which could hold the strategically important\nareas of the north and east needed to be carefully maintained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no\nwar one now, but war preparedness is necessary and the armed forces must remain\nas they are. There\nis a need for continued military vigilance and the majority of the citizens are\nmore than happy about the continued existence of a strong military,   said Defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tamil\nSeparatist Movement thought otherwise. TULF had wanted the military camps\nremoved in toto. As early as 2010 TULF objected to the opening of an army camp\nat Mullaitivu.  Also building permanent\nhouses for the army. The government should forthwith stop opening any more new\ncamps in Vanni, close down the one already opened and also abandon the idea of\nconstructing permanent houses in the North and the East for the use of the\nArmy, said TULF <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a peaceful\nsituation, so much of Army Camps are not at all necessary and all Camps other\nthan those that were in existence before the war, should be closed down\nimmediately, without causing humiliation to the people who think that they are\nfighting a holy war\u201d concluded the TULF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamini\nKeerawella in 2013 made a plea for ht ere removal of the army from the north. A heavy and\nvisible military       presence in every\nnook and corner of the north is counter productive for peace, he said. Sri\nLanka cannot afford to consider a section of its own citizenry a security\nthreat  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having won the war,  the government seems to be doing its best to\nmake the people in the north feel newly oppressed. That is not the way to win\nreconciliation. It is  a prescription for\nrenewed rebellion, continued Keerawella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The heavy militarization of the province,\nostensibly designed to protect against the renewal of militancy is in fact\ndeepening the alienation and anger of the northern Tamils, said Keerawella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The continued presence of the army in Jaffna\nhas created a serious concern internally and internationally. The claim of the\ngovernment  that it is not possible  to reduce the military presence because of\nthe threat of a re emergent LTTE reflects that is has not moved  from the earlier conflict mind frame,\nconcluded Keerawella. Any emergence  of\nthe LTTE has  to be checked in the\npolitical sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in 2015\nthe Yahapalana government came into power. The Tamil Separatist Movement wanted\nthe military camps removed completely. But even under Yahapalana the armed\nforces did not agree to give up all military bases. The government   refused to remove the High security Zone\naround the Palaly camp.   Lands that came\nunder Jaffna and Palaly high security zone could not be released either. Sri\nLanka should not succumb to western pressure meant to weaken military strength.\nThey want to reduce the strength of the armed force there to make it\nineffective,   said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the\npromotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo\nde Greiff  who visited in 2017  also wanted the military presence reduced. He\nsuggested that there should be a comprehensive mapping of land occupied by the\nmilitary and the  land recently released.\nThe government   should devisee strategy\nwith deadlines for release  of land and\nplans for compensation of those areas that will not be returned. The Armed\nForces should only retain land that is strictly necessary for security purposes\n.Decisions to retain land should not be made only by the military, it should\nnot be within the sole purview of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there was one very successful removal of a\nvital army camp. The entire Sampur naval base was removed by  President Sirisena. The 400 plus sailors who\nwere there were sent to Boossa navy camp in Galle.    818 acres in Sampur   given to internally displaced persons   on the\nargument that 825 displaced families were living in Sampur in temporary\nshelters.  Tamil leaders attended the\nceremony in verti and wearing garlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Mahinda\nRajapaksa had declared Sampur to be an industrial zone.  Lands in Sampur were given to the BOI for\ninvestments projects. The Sampur navy camp areas had been given to Sri Lanka\nGateway Industries President Sirisena revoked this agreement. Gateway appealed.\nThey stated that there was a master plan of the project included the development\nof the deepwater jetty bulk commodities terminal, power generation plants,\nsugar industries, fertilizer industries, \ntransshipping coal and thermal coal, iron ore industries, oil and\npetrochemical industry car manufacturing assembling plant and a host of other\nindustries which would generate much employment. It was a cabinet approved\nproject with the highest FDI ever in Sri Lanka history.    T<\/em>hey were granted interim relief. The decision\ncould be not over turned. A presidential order by gazette cannot be challenged\nas per article 35 of the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017 TNA\ndemanded   that the Navy base at\nSilawathura be removed and land released to civilians.   Also that navy vacate its camp at Mullikulam\nand give the land back to civilians there. The\nmilitary said \u2018no\u2019. It would not remove the Navy camps at Silawathura and\nMullikulam as they were needed for curbing arms, drug and human smuggling\noperations.  Mullikulam  army camp is on state land and need not be\nmoved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 TNA also wanted Navy base at Musali in Mannar\nremoved. The military said no, again. The location of this Navy base was\nstrategically important for the national security.  “It is an important location in terms of\npreventing illegal migration and illegal transportation of goods therefore the\nbase will remain. However of the 34 acres, 6 would be released to owners.  So far 66 persons have claimed ownership of\nthe land. Out of this number, 38 persons are dead. Government has given\nalternative lands of 20 perches each to 12 persons and four houses have been\nconstructed. In Valikamam North too\nthere were some lands that the military needed for national security reasons. In\n2019, the navy was trying to acquire 163 acres of land belonging to KKS Cement\nFactory  and TNA was trying to\nprevent  this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTamil Separatist Movement did  not like\nthis. Since Yahapalana was   in\npower,  the  Tamil Separatist Movement became bold.\nIn  February 2016,  probably encouraged by the regime change of\n2015, residents of Parevipachchan in Kilinochchi forcibly entered the   Kilinochchi army camp in their area\ndemanding that it vacate \u2018forcibly occupied lands\u2019. A tense situation arose as\na result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2016, \nR. Sampanthan with several TNA MPs and a group of NGO representatives\nhad forcibly entered an army camp of Gajaba regiment in Kilinochchi .He had\nstated that the army camp should be removed and lands given back to the people.\nTNA defended Sampanthan\u2019s action. He had only been there to inspect the houses\nin an area which was ‘unlawfully ‘occupied by the army, TNA said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then In August\n2016 when officials\nof the Mullaitivu Survey department went to mark the boundaries of a plot to be\nacquired by the navy they were turned back by residents. The Navy responded. Navy\n had taken over the   670\nacres in 2009 and were finalizing the transfer. Half was private owned, half was state  owned, with land given out on permits to\npeople for settlement.\nNavy\nplanned to pay compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2019,Tamil  civilians engaged in protest opposite an army\nbase in Mullaitivu asking troops to leave the area. Photograph showed them\nholding up placards in all three languages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2019\nSurveyors tasked with surveying the Mandaitivu navy camp, Jaffna, had to return\nas a group of protestors led by former Northern Provincial Councilor M.K.\nSivajilingam obstructed their work. The government has decided to expand the\ncamp and the surveyors had  arrived there\nto do their work. .The protesters blocked the vehicle in which the surveyors\narrived and turned them back. .Sivajilingam vowed that the people would not\nallow the expansion of the navy camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the\nchange of President, from Sirisena to Gotabaya Rajapaksa , the military  once again stood firm. The government is not\ngoing to remove or relocate any military camp according to anybody\u2019s whims,\nDefence Secretary Major General Kamal Gunaratne said in December 2019. Military\ncamps are necessary to ensure the security of the general public. They do not harm  citizens living near it,  but provide service to its surrounding\ncommunities. Those who oppose Eelam agreed. The military should remain in\nstrength in the North they said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is\nstill a need for vigilance in the North, said the military. There was\nevidence  for this. In June 2018 police\nin Nedunkerni stopped a three-wheeler scooter headed from Oddusuddan to\nPuthukudiyiruppu. A check on\nthe three-wheeler revealed a locally manufactured bomb with 15 kilos of C-4\nexplosives. Police said the quantity was enough to destroy a car or van loaded\nwith passengers. Among the other 24 items discovered were 31 detonators, 21 of\nthem prepared for use, 52 other detonators, 120 rounds of T-56 assault rifle\nammunition, a Grenade (Tamil Gundu), two pairs of binoculars, six remote\ncontrol devices, LTTE camouflage trousers, shirts, caps, General Purpose\nMachine Gun ammunition, pages of July 9 2017 the Sunday Times with which the\ndetonators were wrapped, different credit cards, mobile phones, insurance\ncertificates, rubber stamps and writing pads. There were also SIM cards from\ntwo different mobile phone operators and envelopes containing cash. A list of\narms and ammunition had been written in the back page of a calendar. The\nfindings have become the subject of a Terrorism Investigation Division (TID)\ninquiry. Whether an\nattempt is being made to unearth buried or hidden military and related items\nfor new operational purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they could not get the camps removed completely,\nthen the Tamil Separatist Movement wanted the lands used by the camps to be\nreduced. The denial of land will  make\nthem remove troops from north and east, observed Shamindra Ferdinando <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  In 2018 Minister Swaminathan sought Cabinet\napproval to instruct the Army Commander, the Surveyor General and the Jaffna\nDistrict Secretary, to take necessary steps to identify lands which can be\nreleased to their owners from Palaly Cantonment area in order to resettle,\nthose in welfare centres and close down all welfare camps.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the insistence\nof the  Tamil separatist movement   the military \nhad already handed over lands during the Mahinda Rajapaksa government\n.400 acres out of the high security 1000 acres in Palali had been distributed. Military\ncamps in Kayts were to be moved in 2015 \nto acquire land to distribute among owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, Sri Lanka   Air Force returned more than 240 acres of\npaddy land to 37 families in Keppapilavu, a village in Mullaitivu district. These\nlands are part of the 1200 acres of land used by the military in the area. There\nwere conditions attached  to the\ntransfer. The recipients  had to sign\nthat in a future civil war, the lands would be willingly given back to the Air Force.\nIf not they would be taken back anyway. Also owners cannot put up permanent\nfences or plant big trees such as coconut. One at least of the owners had\nrefused to sign such a document saying that this was her dowry..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During\nYahapalana rule more military occupied lands were handed over. In2016  it was reported that  President Sirisena has handed back 700 acres\nfrom HSZ to original owners. Earlier over 2000 acres were released with the\ngovernment promising to release more land without compromising security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January\n2019 the army  released1201.88 acres,\nincluding state and private land. They included 972 acres of state land in\nKilinochchi and 120 acres of state land in Mullaitivu, where the Army had been\nrunning farms. Lands belonging to the Nachchikuda, Vellankulam and Udayarkattu\nArmy farms were also released.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also\nreleased 46.11 acres of state land in Jaffna and the Vanni and 63.77 acres of\nprivate land in Jaffna and the Vanni. 139.56\nacres of state land and 10.59 acres of private land, used by 57 Division and 3\nGajaba Regiment troops were released  in \nOddusuddan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President  Sirisena stated that 88% of land held by the\narmy when his Government assumed office had been released but this was not\nenough for those supporting Eelam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact remains\neven 9 years after the conclusion of the war both agricultural land and\nresidential lands yet continue to be in the possession of the armed forces. One\nglaring instance was Keppapilavu in Mullaitivu district. Where 75 acres of\nprivate land owned and possessed by local people for generations and centuries was\nyet held by the army. This matter has been discussed with both the President\nand army high-ups several times. For there to be reconciliation and national\nintegration all land belonging to the people which are now in the possession of\nthe armed forces should be released without any further delay, said the Tamil\nSeparatist Movement  in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngovernment has released most of the land that was taken over by the military to\nbe high security zones during the war. But there still remain significant\nparcels of land that have not been returned as they are considered to be of\nlong term strategic value, observed Jehan Perera in 2019.  ( Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement complained that the military did not leave the North after the Eelam war ended in 2009. In the whole country there are only 20 army divisions. Of this 10 are in the north and east, the Tamil Separatist Movement complained. The security forces continue to remain in the north […]<\/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-97661","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\/97661","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=97661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}