His Master's Voice
Iqbal Athas's War hysteria in the North and East
Manoharan Sunderalingam
from Colombo
The war hysteria is an essential strategy of the LTTE
terrorist for its own survival. The LTTE was born out of violence, it
grew up by resorting to violence and it survives by violence. Violence
to induce mortal fear is at the core of the strategy of the LTTE to
subjugate the Tamils and coerce them to obedience and obeisance to the
LTTE. In this respect Iqbal Athas publications are indispensable for
the LTTE for their survival and propagation of the terrorist machinery.
The so called defense analyst, Iqbal Athas, is working
for a major news paper group owned by a family member of the opposition
leader Ranil Wickremasinghe . At this moment , the primary objective
of the opposition is to discredit the government by creating war hysteria
not only in the North and the East, but in the Southern part of Sri
Lanka as well. This war hysteria will deceive the international community
and will inevitably have a negative impact on the tourist industry.
A list of Tamil Terrorist propaganda materials circulated by the same
new paper group are given below;
1. "A top defense analyst, Iqbal Athas, said the rebels have
asked the families to leave the Jaffna peninsula to "avoid attacks
or reprisal on them by the armed forces." (AP news 2 January
2006)
Truth: These families are leaving Jaffna under the rebels' orders
.LTTE sympathisers
flee Jaffna
from Dinasena Rathugamage Vavunia Correspondent
The Island 03-01-06
Nearly a thousand residents of Jaffna had fled to Kilinochchi as
a result of an alarm raised by an LTTE front, which calls itself the
Tamil National Army, to the effect that war is imminent, sources in
the North said yesterday (3).
The group had informed residents of Point Pedro and a number of
other localities in the Jaffna peninsula that war would break out at
any moment. Only about a thousand persons had collected their belongings
and left their homes yesterday.
The military said this was a sequel to the search operations being
conducted by the Armed Forces and Police. They have searched a number
of houses, belonging to those who are believed to be covertly supporting
the LTTE and have found arms, ammunition and explosive devices hidden
in them.
The military said those who had left their homes for Kilinochchi
were those who had hidden arms and ammunition for the LTTE.
The Tigers had given such families a title and they were known as
‘Mahavira Families’ as they were LTTE sympathizers or undercover
operatives, military sources said.
The search operation for hidden arms and explosives continues in
the Jaffna District.
Suspicion raised over disappearance
of LTTE martyrs' families
by Chamikara Weerasinghe Daily
News 040106 Full
Story
2. "…. Hence senior security officials are worried
whether the guerrillas had smuggled surface-to-air missiles into the
peninsula…" Siege of Jaffna on the cards Situation
Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times 01-01-2006
Truth; Highly speculative suggestion created by the news group
to support War hysteria in the North and East
3." Even if the reality has not dawned sufficiently well
in Colombo's defense establishment, the fact that the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is embarking on plans to lay siege on the northern
capital of Jaffna is slowly but surely unfolding. From last Tuesday,
they had ensured the closure of all Government institutions. If the
Kachcheri or the District Secretariat remained open, hardly anyone had
reported to work with the exception of Government Agent K. Ganesh. Banks
have also remained closed since Tuesday, bringing business and economic
activity in the bustling northern capital to a new low. The flow of
goods to the peninsula has slowed down. Jaffna traders complained that
their counterparts in Colombo were no longer accepting their cheques
as payment due to closure of banks. Hence, there was a reduction in
the goods that arrive in Jaffna. Consequently, there have been increases
in prices of some goods and fears of shortages due to stockpiling."
Siege of Jaffna on the cards Situation Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday
Times 01-01-2006
Truth; There is nothing strange about closing down of government
offices as It is a world wide phenomena that most of the businesses
are closed down between Christmas and New Year
Govt offices in Jaffna re-open
from Dinasena Rathugamage - Vavunia Correspondent
The Island -03-01-06
Government Offices in the Jaffna district, which remained closed for
a week in December last year, were reopened on Monday (2) Government
Agent Jaffna K.Ganesh said yesterday.
He said schools in the district also reopened for the first term of
2006 on Janurary 02.
An LTTE front group, calling itself Tamil Labour Organization, had asked
all government offices in the Jaffna District to put up shutters causing
serious inconvenience to the public during the last week of 2005..
Ganesh also said there were several development and reconstruction programmes
to be implemented in the district following the allocations made in
the Budget for the district.
4. "Some senior guerrilla cadres from the East have been
assigned tasks and ordered to move into the peninsula".
Siege of Jaffna on the cards Situation Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday
Times 01-01-2006
Truth; According to the news reports, this move was initiated
to protect their senior cadres from rival Karun's group, long before
the recent terrorist attacks in Jaffna and Mannar
5. "There are reports of moves to force the civilians, who
are in most instances being controlled by front organizations of the
LTTE, not to pay taxes and disregard all Government directives or activity.
It is in this backdrop that a build up towards escalation of violence
is taking place." Siege of Jaffna on the cards Situation
Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times 01-01-2006
Truth; This is nothing new and the LTTE front organizations
were openly collecting taxes, demanding ransom money from the business
community and recruiting children disregard all Government directives
since signing of the treacherous CFA signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe
6 "Three other similar mines were discovered by the Army
along the Mannar-Medawachchiya Road. But the LTTE denied it had placed
such mines and declared the claims were a deception. But that claim
was unusual since the guerrillas had denied responsibility for the recent
wave of incidents and blamed it on civilian groups". Siege
of Jaffna on the cards Situation Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times
01-01-2006
Truth; This is a clear cut case where Iqbal Athas is forced
to believe every statement what LTTE issue.
7 "If supplies are interrupted by the highway closure, troops
in the peninsula have to guard their fuel installations that will have
limited stockpiles." Siege of Jaffna on the cards Situation
Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times 01-01-2006
Truth;- So called defense correspondent still believes that
fuel can be transported through the enemy occupied territory even when
war breaks out.
8 "Replenishment of fuel stocks in a hurry in such an eventuality
could be possible only from the port of Trincomalee. Thus not only fuel
movements, but also reinforcements and supplies by sea would face a
serious threat. Thus the closure of the A-9 highway and immobilising
the Trincomalee harbour can be potential threats that can trap some
45,000 troops and policemen in the Jaffna peninsula." Siege
of Jaffna on the cards Situation Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times
01-01-2006
Truth; In order to create War hysteria in the North and East,
Iqbal Athas comfortably and deliberately ignored the other options available
for fuel and troop transport to Jaffna
9. "Amidst these developments, the defence establishment
was shocked to receive a report from a state intelligence agency. A
reliable foreign counterpart had brought to their attention the activities
of a high ranking security official. According to the foreign agency's
report now being studied by the Defence Ministry, this official is said
to be closely associating with a female who has close LTTE connections"Siege
of Jaffna on the cards Situation Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times
01-01-2006
Truth; Nothing new, Top Politicians and army officials
are always in the LTTE's hit list
10. "Within minutes of this official government announcement
came another from the Joint Operations Headquarters (JOH). It began
by saying "Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament (MP)
for Batticaloa district Mr Joseph Pararajasingham was brutally gunned
down by LTTE pistol men ……" It seemed there were two
governments. But, if it is not true, such statements within minutes
after an incident only raise a question of credibility for the Rajapakse
administration." Siege of Jaffna on the cards Situation
Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times 01-01-2006
Truth; It is perfectly ok to issue two statement from two different
institutions based upon individual information received by them. This
type of prompt information is always better to clarify the situation.
In this instance, this information was widely circulated and successfully
counteracted the terrorist propaganda.These types of situation reporting
were successfully used by US and UK during the Iraq war, when counteracting
terrorist propaganda.. Therefore the government should not wait for
the final judiciary report to issue press releases and briefings on
situation updates whenever possible.
11. "The late Mr. Pararajasingham was conferred LTTE's highest
honour - Mamanithar or Great Man. His body was first taken to guerrilla-held
Karadiyanaru in the Batticaloa district. Thereafter, it was taken to
the centre of guerrilla power - the Wanni. There, LTTE leader Velupillai
Prabhakaran paid homage personally.
An eyewitness said he was choking with heavy emotion and anger when
he shook the hands of late Mr. Pararajasingham's two sons - Subakant
(36), who flew in from Canada and Subageet (35), who arrived from the
UK. LTTE intelligence wing leader, Pottu Amman and a host of others
had turned up before Mr. Prabhakaran visited." Siege of
Jaffna on the cards Situation Report / Iqbal Athas The Sunday Times
01-01-2006
Truth;, Eqbal Atlas comfortably and deliberately ignored similar
deceiving behavior of LTTE when LTTE was responsible for similar political
assassinations. On that day Mr. Pararajasingham had no plans to attend
the mass but a telephone caller at about 10.00 p.m. had insisted on
his presence at late night service. This call must have come from a
person known to him, a trustworthy person and it is quite obvious that
he wouldn't have listened to a stranger's request taking into account
the death threats he had received before. The defense analyst Iqbal
Athas has carefully ignored this vital clue and pursued the LTTE's version
of event and pointing finer at other anti-LTTE groups.
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