National

Peace mission sees violence escalating

— Photo: Reuters

HOMAGE: LTTE leader V. Prabakaran pays respects to the slain Tamil Tiger political wing leader S.P Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka, on Friday.

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), mandated under the 2002 Norwegian-brokered Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) to watch the ground situation, has said that the death of the LTTE’s political wing chief, S.P. Thamilchelvan, in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing could only further escalate the conflict, even as the Mahinda Rajapaksa government justified the killing.

In a brief statement on the death of Thamilchelvan, the SLMM noted that the extensive military operations in the northern region, conducted by both parties to the CFA, comprising land, sea and air forces had over the recent weeks reached “unprecedented proportions.”

“SLMM is deeply concerned with this alarming development, which can only contribute to further escalation of the conflict, unless the parties cease the hostilities and return to talks,” the statement said.

Even prior to the November 2 aerial strike, in its latest weekly report, the SLMM observed that the extensive military operations in the northern region made “credible monitoring by the SLMM exceedingly difficult.”

After the escalation of hostilities in the eastern theatre earlier in the year, the SLMM has suspended rulings on ceasefire violations since March.

The SLMM concern and appeal to both parties came even as the military vehemently defended the killing of Thamilchelvan. Mr. Rajapaksa praised the armed forces as “the most disciplined” in the world.

“I respect them profoundly and consider them the most disciplined forces in the world. They have not killed or raped anybody,” he told a function organised to gift housing plots to soldiers disabled in fighting. He asserted that the “war heroes were fighting for a cause, with a vision and a mission.”

Mr. Rajapaksa said the forces were fighting with the “optimum commitment and dedication to salvage their motherland from grave and imminent fragmentation” and were dedicated to achieve a definite victory.

“It is in this backdrop that certain unscrupulous elements are despising us and the gallant armed forces. They are making baseless and unfounded allegations for petty and narrow political gains,” he said.

Mr. Rajapaksa maintained that his government was consistently talking and seeking peace and was committed to an “honourable peace,” but the LTTE could not impose “conditions” as it did in the past, “where agreements were signed with closed eyes, resulting in the betrayal of our country.”

Separately, the Army’s media spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the death of Thamilchelvan was a “great loss to the LTTE as he was one of the ‘top’ members involved in many of the recent operations conducted by the organisation.”

The spokesman argued that Thamilchelvan was one who always attempted to “justify the military thinking” of Prabhakaran [LTTE leader] to the international community. The death of Thamilchelvan and five other LTTE high “rankers” was welcome “ news” for the security forces. A report posted on the Defence Ministry web site under the charge of Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa said, “This is a message to all those who use violence, killings, suicide bombing and devastation to disrupt the life of the Tamils and other Sri Lankans to rethink within themselves before it is too late. They should stop now. They should renounce violence immediately while there is still time.”

The National Peace Council, an NGO, in a statement, said that the killing Thamilchelvan was likely to lead to further escalation of the present phase of war.

“It deepens the crisis of violence that confronts the country and serves to remind us of the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost, including a large number of democratically elected leaders of the government and other political actors. Although some of those killings seemed very significant at the time they took place, none of them led to a solution to the conflict, but only served to generate more hatred and determination to retaliate and fight back,” it said.

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