The war that Army Commander Lt. Gen, Sarath Fonseka is waging is a war of attrition in trying to wipe out as many enemy combatants and, their leaders as possible through small group special operations and frontal assaults; but Tigers too, it appears, have stepped up infiltrating fighters behind now expanded government lines to deal similar blows.
The suicide cadre who took the life of retired Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera and about 30 others in Anuradhapura on Monday, it is believed had actually infiltrated the sacred city to strike the crème of the army’s top brass, including its Commander who was there two days earlier for the annual blessing of regimental flags at the Sri Mahabodhi. Fortunately for them, the extremely tight security put in place had thwarted the attackers. Among the top brass present at the ceremony were Wanni Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen Jagath Jayasuriya and at least 15 other Generals.
Had the suicide cadres been able to target the ceremony, it would have been the single biggest tragedy to hit the hierarchy of the army. Also present at the ceremony were front line commanders like Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias, the commander of the 57 Division spearheading operations to capture Kilinochchi, Brig. Shavendra Silva commander of the 58 Division, that led the operations to clear the entire Mannar coastal belt and now waging battles from Nachchikudah area to Akkarayankulam, Brig. Nandana Udawatte leading the men of the 59 Division in the East at Aandankulam/Nayaru and Brig. Prasanna de Silva leading the 55 Division in Nagarkovil..
It has now been established that the LTTE had infiltrated Anuradhapura with two suicide bombers operating under Ratnam Master last September. It had also attempted to infiltrate teams through Wilpattu to disrupt the annual ceremony. Though one of the suicide cadres struck, the other still remains at large.
Meanwhile, the army’s Special Forces deep operation units too made a major strike when they blew up a jeep used by Tiger leaders deep inside Wanni early this week, reducing the vehicle to small bits and pieces. It is suspected that one of their top line commanders would have been blown up with the vehicle, but up to yesterday this could not be confirmed.
Tiger infiltrators too struck behind our lines last Sunday, targeting the jeep taking Commander of the Fifth Armoured Corps Lt. Col. Nihal Samarakoon on the Vellankulam Road killing one of his guards. The blast also injured Lt. Col. Samarakoon and Maj. Wijeratne, a unit commander of the Armoured Corps. Though one of his legs was injured in the blast, the Fifth Armoured Corps Commander returned to the battle field after a field dressing. The Fifth Armoured Corps has been giving tank fire support to the 58 Division, throughout its operations in the Mannar front.
There were infiltrations in other areas as well. At Dakathipothana in Horowpathana, four persons who went hunting in Serunawa forest were found hacked to death by suspected Tiger infiltrators. The party had comprised two civilians, a soldier home on leave and a home guard. A joint search operation recovered the bodies from a hut in the forest on Tuesday. The killers had escaped with the T-56 fire arm carried by the home guard.
Last Sunday night, LTTE infiltrators blew up a lorry carrying fish at Siyambalagaswewa, Padaviya mistaking it for a military vehicle, killing two civilians and injuring a third. The vehicle had taken a by-road to avoid check points.
On Wednesday morning, troops acting on intelligence, found a complete explosive jacket meant to be used by a suicide cadre, two claymore mines and three anti-personnel mines from a jungle area at Nilappanikkanmalal, Kuchchaweli. On Tuesday, Police recovered a claymore mine weighing 7.7 kg. hidden in Swiss Village, Thirayamadu, Batticaloa.
Three Tiger infiltrators were fired on by troops in the Sangupiddi area of Jaffna at around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Troops later recovered the body of a fully armed infiltrator along with a T-56 weapon, three magazines, 90 bullets, six hand grenades, and two claymore mines among other items. It is believed that at least one more infiltrator was hit, but he had been dragged away by the third. They are said to have made a sea landing coming from the Pooneryn side.
At Illuppaikulam, Vavuniya forces recovered a stash kept for infiltrators, comprising two masks, one suicide belt, three olive green uniforms, eight packets of cream cracker biscuits and field dressings, among other items.
Meanwhile, intelligence services have estimated that up to 15 lorries operated by the LTTE Finance Division have been involved in smuggling contraband both ways. So far, at least ten such lorries have been taken into custody in recent days, with contraband hidden in secret compartments due to intensified checks by security forces. In the latest detection made last Sunday, five lorries and two bowsers were taken into custody at Illppaikulam and Thirunawakkulam.
With war entering a decisive phase, with some units being 1.2 kilometres off the outskirts of Kilinochchi town, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has gone shopping for new weapon requirements. He is accompanied by army’s Director Planning and Director Operations.
The onset of rainy weather too was found to be a great hindrance this week with even tractors finding it difficult to transport food for soldiers and evacuate the injured. But 57-2 brigade of the 57 Division that is spearheading the drive to Kilinochchi along with Fourth Sinha regiment, kept up their thrust. Col. Senarath Bandara who has been leading the 57-2 brigade from the inception of the offensive launched from Western Vavuniya, has handed the command of the brigade to Col. Dhammika Jayasundera. Col. Bandara is expected to go on a training programme abroad.
To prove the well known adage that the first casualty in a war is truth, some highly questionable casualty figures were given by the two sides, following some heavy exchanges on Tuesday. While not giving its own casualty toll, Tigers announced that it had killed 66 soldiers at Akkarayankulam on that day, but SLA insists that on that day in the area only three soldiers went missing and their bodies were later returned to the army by the LTTE through the ICRC. But the army insists that they suffered 44 injured and six killed at Andankulam in the Weli Oya front Tuesday, while killing 16 Tigers and wounding 26 other enemy cadres.
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Late Major General Janaka Perera (Retired)
‘He cut off his right hand with his left’
By Lalin Fernando
Over six-foot, craggy faced Major General Janaka Perera (retired), who with his wife Vajira and 27 others, was felled by an LTTE suicide bomber last Monday, looked every inch the popular image of a military leader.
He had proved himself a very successful battle field commander with several successes in the post IPKF period, beginning with the clearing of the East under Maj Gen Algama, the runaway victory over the terrorists at Weli Oya in 1995 and spearheading the 3 pronged epic divisional attack to liberate Jaffna in 1995/6 with one of his brigades (Air Mobile) led by Col (later Brig) Hiran Halangode storming the Jaffna fort.
In 2000, when Jaffna was under threat of a LTTE attack, he, as OOC with his deputy Major General Sarath Fonseka, were credited with turning the tide, no doubt spurred on by the immediate and unflinching presence of Deputy Defence Minister Anurudha Ratwatte. He was also credited in 1989 with the capture of the local Pol Pot, Wijeweera, the leader of the JVP, by a SF snatch team led by its visionary indomitable founder commander, Lt Col (later Major General) Gamini Hettiarachchi, whose troop’s actions against the LTTE were soon to become legendary. His part, together with that of all the others, in these epic battles will be gratefully recorded in history.
Gen Perera was commissioned into the Engineers as a second lieutenant from the 250-year-old Royal Military Academy Sandhurst along with later Maj Gen Devinda Kalupahana, (Armour), Lt Col Udena Gunewardene (Light Infantry) and Maj Gen Neil Dias (Artillery) in 1966.
’71 Insurgency
As a Lieutenant in the 1971 insurgency, he refused to follow illegal orders from a Major of his own Engineer regiment to dispose of captured JVP youth at Hanwella Police Station, apparently on AHQ orders, despite being humiliated and berated. Thus, when Wijeweera was captured in the 1988/9 insurgency and handed over to ‘AHQ’ (as he diplomatically put it) and, as he has often said, he had no hand in the cold blooded murder that followed.
The religious guidance he received from his schooldays at St Joseph’s College, Colombo, no doubt influenced him through out his life. At regimental rugby, he showed brawn which was the forte of the nearly standard 6 foot pack of Engineers but also shared their lack of playing skills. He, however, found military training courses uncomfortable attending amongst others, the Defence Services Staff College in India and finally the Royal College of Defence Studies UK. Yet, he proved the adage that what took 3 years in training took just three minutes to learn in battle.
He went on to command his Plant (Bull dozers, tractors and heavy machinery etc) Engineer Regiment and in time, took over command of the Weli Oya brigade and the Special Forces Division, the spearhead division of the Army. Not having served in any of its specialised Regiments before, he at the age of 40+, in order to identify himself with his troops and wear the red beret, volunteered and qualified as a paratrooper for which normally only 18-22 year soldier’s volunteer. Those he led into battle remember how hard and often bitterly, he fought with higher command to get them, always on a priority basis, whatever resources were necessary to do their job; be it fire support, ammo, defence stores or boots, in an Army which was then often woefully under equipped.
He did not take kindly to any senior who gave no for an answer, but as a skillful commander he knew how to get a job done, with whatever resources he had, as at Welioya. He was bold, blunt, determined and fearless, making up for any lacuna in his operational staff work. One of his characteristics was that whatever strain he was under in operations, he never showed it, appearing fresh and clean shaven in the morning even after fighting throughout the night. Uplifting morale came easily to him.
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His troops fought with great heart knowing he would always look after them well. Whereas other commanders may have felt that a soldier’s duty was not done for reward, he thought otherwise. Military residents of Manning Town apartment housing and those who obtained state land in Kurunegalla, extracted from his many political contacts, will always be thankful to him.
He was, however, appointed as High Commissioner to Australia (2001-5) and later to Indonesia, (2005-7), which must have given him the prestige he desired, before he was recalled; probably because of his apparent penchant for political affiliation which he chose to deny. He had also been the preferred choice of a patriotic group for the Presidential election of 2005, but gave up on them. He refused alternative state appointments including an Army advisory role, in which he could have contributed much. Instead, he over played his hand by asking for the most prestigious of all diplomatic postings – England.
From this moment, he appeared to have turned his back on the illustrious Army career from which he had retired with honour. His war hero image, charisma and personality were traded for political gain. His speeches were a mix of bravado (‘fire with fire’) conflicting with religious piety smoothly delivered in fluent Sinhala.
It made people uncomfortably believe that politics, not soldiering, must have been his true calling. It was obvious he was trying hard to accommodate political thoughts contrary to his military experiences and beliefs, to please unseen and different gods. He made many a strange observation at interviews such as “Tamils (soldiers) should be in the forefront of troops in the north” when he knew that was the last thing that any Army would do in an ethnically charged insurgency, unless they were to be canon fodder.
His thinking as a politician appeared to be addled and warped, but Gen Perera did not deny any of it. This was politics, which Field Marshal Montgomery said, was far more horrible than war.
But, not only did he appear mesmerised by the euphoria that was created which led to him sweeping the preferential vote count. It made him colour blind to the reality of the lurking threat of the LTTE, which he rekindled by heating up repeated claims of ‘503’ kills in Welioya and the liberation (1995/6) and the defence of Jaffna in 2000, to win votes.
Being too optimistic
Ironically, he warned the Forces about being too optimistic about defeating the LTTE in a hurry and reminded them of all the dangers of the suicide bombers, the ultimate weapon of the terrorist. Yet, he made light of this very danger other than demanding additional security, repeatedly challenging his ‘encircling enemies’ who he dared, as if he was waging war on all fronts.
When his security was apparently not improved though increased, he failed to do what a good commander should do with his available resources, as at Welioya. He appeared long before October 6, 2008 to have ignored what happened 8 years ago to retired Major General Algama.
General Janaka Perera was a national hero as a military man. He served his men and the country well. He was respected, admired and will be missed by many. By taking up politics, which in his last speech he condemned without reserve, he appeared enigmatic, contradictory and confused. He dropped his guard.
With his left hand he had cut off his right! The tragedy of his ghastly death along with that of his beloved wife Vajira and nearly 27 others will be felt not only by his 4 young children, but by all in SL who knew and admired him and those who despaired at his change of direction. It was inconceivable that a man who had faced the LTTE in battle for nearly 18 years, deluded himself as to their potency and paid a terrible price with 27 others, adding to the grief and sorrow that the people of SL have endured for over 25 miserable years.
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