Sri Lanka news columns

by Shamindra Ferdinando The SLAF struck at a Black Tiger training facility north-west of Puthukkudirippu shortly before JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said the government had suspended air strikes due to growing Indian pressure. SLAF headquarters said that jets launched from Katunayake had zeroed-in-on the target at 10 a.m. Dismissing Amarasinghe’s claim, an authoritative military official told The Island that the SLAF took a range of targets over the past several days. Wednesday evening, the 57 Division had called close air support to thwart an LTTE counter attack on the Akkarayankulam tank bund. Responding to The Island queries, the official said that a blackout on air operations or any other military activity for that matter shouldn’t be perceived as suspension of operations. Addressing a press conference at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI), Amarasinghe, flanked by JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said India had forced President Mahinda Raj...

Ranil WIJAYAPALA Nachchikuda: The troops of Task Force I or the famously known 58 Division now in the western edge of the Kilinochchi district yesterday passed yet another milestone in their march towards Pooneryn completely capturing Nachchikuda the last stronghold of the LTTE on the Western coast before Pooneryn by last evening, Military sources announced yesterday. “With the capture of Nachchikuda the LTTE is left with only Pooneryn on the Western coast as the rest of the area between Nachchikuda and Pooneryn is covered with jungle patches,” commander of the Task Force I or the 58 Division, Brigadier Shavendra Silva told the Daily News. The LTTE faced two consecutive blows within 24 hours on the western edge of the Kilinochchi district as they lost two strategically important villages Jeyapuram and Nachchikuda, he said. The troops of the Task Force I or the 58 Division completely captured the 15 Km long LTTE defence line in the form of a massive earth bund surrounding the Nachchikud...

TN falls silent after MP Basil Rajapaksa’s visit Troops capture Tiger earth bunds Tiger air raid causes no major damage Task Force III to assail Tigers from another direction If there were any barriers for the troops, whether it was political pressure, international pressure or ground obstacles the situation has now been created for them to reach their objective- the defeat of the LTTE in their strongholds in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, after a long time has come out to express his views to the media, at least through his Political Chief Nadesan to tell the world about his existence and to praise Tamil Nadu politicians who were engaged in a futile exercise to exert pressure on the Central Government of India, to halt the military thrust on the LTTE in Sri Lanka. The significant fact that emerged this week was that all cries by the Tamil Nadu politicians went silent soon after the visit of Senior P...

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Franz Fanon’s famous phrase “wretched of the earth” is quite applicable in the Sri Lanka of today to the civilian population inhabiting the northern mainland known as the “Wanni”. More than 200,000 internally displaced persons trapped in territory that was/is controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are in existential terms the wretched of the Sri Lankan “Wanni” earth. Legally, constitutionally and geographically they are people of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka entitled to full, inalienable rights. Yet these “De – Jure” citizens have for nearly two decades been denizens of a “De – Facto” administration of the “shadow” state of Tamil Eelam run by the LTTE. What is happening now is that the Sri Lankan state is re-asserting its dominance and writ over all parts of its legitimate territory and people. The armed forces are engaged in a ferocious military campaign for the avowed objective of “liberating” the people from the clutches of the LTTE. The tragic irony is that...

The military yesterday overran the strategically important Nachchikudah - another LTTE’s major Sea Tiger base in the northwestern coast, following fierce fighting with the rebels, the Defence Ministry said. “The LTTE which failed to secure its stronghold withdrew from the area as the security forces intensified their thrust, hours after they captured LTTE forward defences in the area,” the ministry said. Nachchikudah lies about 1.5 kilometres to the west of the strategic A-32 Mannar-Pooneryn highway which runs parallel to the northwestern coastal belt. A senior military official in the area said intense fighting between security forces personnel and rebels were reported from the area since October 17 and the LTTE suffered heavy casualties during these gun battles. “We have been fighting since two weeks and the LTTE tried to prevent the military entering Nachchikuda with its maximum fire power,” the official said. He said troops launched their onslaught on Nachchikudah from three direct...