by T. Sabaratnam; Colombo, April 13, 2004
Weekly Review
Revolt Strengthens Pirapaharan
Fled in a Hurry
Karuna’s revolt is now history. It collapsed abruptly. Karuna fled Sunday night in a hurry with a group of about 15 of his confidantes and bodyguards. They escaped in two vehicles.
They fled towards the Tharavai-Kudumbimalai region in the Thoppigala forest. Villagers in Pondukalchenai saw the two vehicles speeding, towards the ‘Naalaam Muchchanthi’ Junction on the Valaichenai-Polannaruwa Road, a junction 34 kilometres northwest of Batticoloa town, LTTE sources said.
The sources said that special LTTE reconnaissance teams, which combed the forests and remote hamlets of the area, did not find Karuna or anyone closely connected with him. The sources quoted the LTTE Special Commander for Tharavai as saying, “We have checked every nook and cranny in that area. There is no trace of him.”
The LTTE and the Defence Ministry did not attach much importance to the report which said villagers had seen three military helicopters flying towards Meenaham, the LTTE headquarters from where Karuna operated. A section of the Colombo media said that the helicopters had picked Karuna and his men up and brought them to Colombo.
Defence secretary Cyril Herath denied that report. He also denied that Karuna and his men had surrendered to the army.
“We have not heard about his whereabouts. He had not contacted us. He is very much on his own,” he said and added if Karuna requests refuge the government is willing to consider it.
“We have not got any request for refuge. If there is a request, we are willing to consider it on humanitarian grounds,” Herath said.
Military officials in Batticoloa said Karuna had informed them that he was “calling it quits” as he was unable to meet the offensive by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Military sources in Batticoloa said that Karuna had told them that he was quitting because he was unable to withstand the Tiger attack without assistance from the army. LTTE sources said the army was behind Karuna’s revolt. They said the army’s conduct at every situation proved their information correct.
Karuna fled, political analysts said, because of three reasons. Firstly, his military planning went wrong. Secondly, his cry of regionalism failed to arouse the public support he expected. Thirdly, his cadres were not willing to fight for him.
Karuna’s defence against the LTTE’s onslaught was built on two premises. The first was that the LTTE would cross the Verugal Aru, which forms the border between Trincomalee and Batticoloa districts and push through the narrow coastal strip of land towards Vakarai and then march to Valaichchenai. The second premise was that the LTTE fighters would cross the Colombo- Batticoloa Road and march towards the Meenaham Camp.
Pirapaharan, a military genius as President Jayewardene once said (You can read that hitherto unreported incident in my ‘Pirapaharan’ series in a few weeks), beat Karuna hands down. He simply deceived Karuna. He first built a strong presence of his forces on the Trincomalee side of the Verugal River. Karuna fell for that clever deception and dug in his cadres on the Batticoloa side of the river. The Sri Lankan army and the Sinhalese media anticipated a heavy and costly battle inflicting a debilitating impact on the LTTE’s fighting strength.
They dismissed lightly Pirapaharan’s promises not to have such a battle and not to harm Karuna’s cadres, the sons and daughters of the Tamil nation.
Karuna installed his artillery and other heavy weapons on the southern bank of the Verugal River and placed his elder brother, Reggie, in charge of the area.
Pirapaharan’s plan was different. His operation was swift and devastating. It took Karuna and the army by surprise.
Attacking from Behind
Fifty Sea Tiger boats carrying a specially cadres and its leader Ramesh landed at Palchchnai, a fishing village between Kathiraveli and Kandaveli. It dug itself in on the coast and bidded its time for the appointed hour.
At 1 a.m. Friday the elite fighting formation divided itself into a three units force and advanced in three directions. One unit marched northwards and surrounded Karuna’s cadres in a box-shaped siege. The second unit advanced towards Vakarai to cut off Karuna’s supply line and take over that important coastal town. The third unit marched to Kandaladi, where Reggie had stationed reinforcements.
The attack was swift and speedy. The artillery pieces positioned north of the Verugal Aru heralded the attack with a severe pounding. Now, read the story as told by young cadre Ramanan:
“We were all fast asleep. We were awakened by the thunder of the bursting artillery shells. Our group leader urged us, “Fire. Fire. They have come.” The command over the communication set said, “Fire. Fire. They have come.” We reacted. We fired. We fired towards the Verugal Aru. Then we realized that ‘they’ were not in front but were on all sides. We were in the middle of a box. We were trapped. We hid ourselves. We gave up the fight. We waited till the firing ceased.
“Then someone said, Reggie Annan has run away. Then we heard a loud hailer calling us to join their ranks. A senior, known to us, came from the other side. He called us not to waste our lives by fighting for Karuna Amman. We went with him and joined the meedppu padai.”
Karuna’s defence crumbled. The base passed into the hands of the LTTE in just two hours. Three pieces of artillery, half a dozen heavy mortars and a variety of heavy weapons went back to the LTTE. Casualties wer minimal; less than ten died and a similar number were wounded.
“Our leader told us to minimize deaths and to recapture all weapons,” said Special Commander Ramesh who led the forces. “We achieved both.”
In just two hours, by 3 a.m. on Friday, from Verugal to Vakarai had been brought under LTTE control. By evening, the area up to Mankerni, 42 kilometers from Batticoloa, was retaken. By Saturday evening, the entire northern portion of the Batticoloa district which was once under Karuna’s control had been wrested. A section of Karuna’s cadres surrendered and the rest fled to the southern portion.
On Saturday evening, Karuna’s interpreter and media spokesman, Varathan, boasted to the Sinhala journalists that they would defend Meenaham to the last cadre. And the army announced that it would prevent the Tiger forces from crossing the Colombo-Batticoloa road. The army inducted reinforcements and strengthened its presence.
The Defence Ministry announced that any attempt by the LTTE to cross the army-controlled highway, the A-11, would be treated as a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Sinhala journalists started talking of the army being drawn into the battle and of renewed war with the LTTE. Varathan announced that their cadres were guarding all the possible points the LTTE forces would sneak through.
They were not aware that the second phase of Pirapaharan’s plan had been put into action. Another special commando unit of the LTTE under Special Commander Janarthan commenced its advance from the south, from Ampara district. Starting from Thirukovil, the commando unit went from Tamil village to Tamil village and met with the LTTE cadres who were working with the Karuna faction. They told these cadres the reasons for Karuna’s revolt and how he had played into the army’s hand. They won the dissidents through arguments instead of bullets. By Sunday morning, the entire Ampara district had been retaken.
Parental Pressure
The message that an elite group under Janarthan was moving towards Meenaham was spread and it worked like magic. Parents of the cadres under Karuna invaded Meenaham by Sunday evening. They demanded that their children be sent back.
A group of parents surrounded the office of Nilavini, the Commander of the Women’s Unit of the Karuna’s forces, and demanded that their children be released. She refused. She said she had not got orders from Karuna Amman. That led to an argument. “We don’t want our children to fight for a traitor,” some shouted. “We sent the children to fight against the Sinhala army and not to fight for the Sinhala army,” another parent threatened.
Nilavini was adamant. She said that she could not take a decision. Enraged parents assaulted her. Similar pressure had built in other units also. Parental pressure swelled. The cadres themselves were in revolt. Hundred of cadres walked out of their camp, flung their weapons in front of one of Karuna’s offices, and walked away.
Karuna had no option but to disband his cadres. He told the commanders to announce his decision to disband the units. Nilavini announced that decision to her unit, which had shrunk to about 300 by Sunday night. She told her cadres that they are free to return to their parents if they wished to or to rejoin the LTTE. On Monday morning many returned to their homes. A few opted to join the LTTE.
The southern portion of Karuna’s empire fell by Monday morning without the LTTE firing even a single shot. The few shots fired were from Karuna’s side, the LTTE said. It said Karuna had shot dead Neelan and three other LTTE operatives who were in his custody. He had released the others in his custody, including Karikalan’s brother.
The LTTE said Thaaththa (Jim Kelly) and Robert, commanders of the Karuna Group’s armed units, Varathan, his spokesman, Kuhanes, the head of the finance unit, Jeevendran, leader of the Visaalahan Unit, Nilavini, leader of the female fighting units in Batticoloa, Thurai, the cadre overseeing NGOs in the eastern district, Nizam, the head of TEEDOR, the LTTE’s development organisation in Batticaloa, Ilankes, a close associate and five body guards accompanied Karuna.
Reporters who went to Meenaham said they saw a huge fire. LTTE sources confirmed it. They said the Karuna group had set fire to some vehicles. They were half burnt when the LTTE fighters reached Meenaham.
“It appears they fled in a great hurry. We found vehicles half loaded with various items,” they said.
Apart from parental pressure and mutiny of the cadres LTTE sources gave two more reasons for Karuna’s hurried flight. They said a strike by the LTTE’s Special Forces in the deep interior must have put Karuna off balance and made him panic. They also added that he might have come to know that the units that were refusing to obey his orders were establishing contact with the LTTE. “He had clearly lost control of his troops”, the LTTE said.
The LTTE said that it has recovered the Batticaloa-Amparai district armoury fully, except for a heavy mortar and some rifles. The ammunition stores are intact.
The Tigers moved into the entire area southwest of Batticaloa town Monday. Several military units of the LTTE, which moved from different directions, took control of Kokkadichcholai around Monday noon.
Karuna Group’s propaganda organ, the Tamil Alai office and the Press were taken over by members of the LTTE’s political division, who also moved into the area.
Hundreds of male and female cadres from Meenaham returned to their villages from Monday morning. Tigers are releasing the child soldiers of the Karuna faction who join the LTTE. So far they have released 269 child soldiers to the UNCIEF.
The residents of the Batticaloa-Amparai district have expressed happiness over the swift end of the tensions caused by the Karuna group in the region. They thanked Pirapaharan for limiting the operation to four days and for minimizing the deaths to only 10, which included two civilians. The people are getting ready to celebrate the Tamil New Year with relief, reporters who visited the Batticoloa- Ampara region said.
Civilians in the northern portion of the Batticoloa district who fled their home on Friday and Saturday have returned to their homes.
“We visited the area and found the situation returning to normal and that there is no conflict at all. People were found gradually returning to their homes,” said Sukumar Rockwood, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Kausalyan, the LTTE’s political chief, has returned to Batticoloa and has recommenced the political work. He has invited all those who were sent away from Batticoloa to return. Some of the doctors who were sent away have returned to the Batticoloa hospital and a few traders have also returned.
Monitors who oversee the island’s two-year truce said the Tigers had installed Karuna’s replacement, Ramesh, in the area, adding that they had met him late on Monday.
“Ramesh met our monitors to re-establish communication with the LTTE in the area. The meeting was good. We are back on track again,” said Hagrup Haukland, the deputy head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
“It is quite clear the LTTE has regained control over the area,” he said.
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Kausalyan explains retrieval with minimal bloodshed
[TamilNet, April 13, 2004 16:36 GMT]
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid;=11743
The political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, Mr. Kausalyan, speaking to press persons in Vakarai Tuesday, said that the retrieval of the region from the renegade Karuna group was made according to the plans of the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, and executed with care and humanitarian concern by commanders led by the Special Commander for the region, Mr. T. Ramesh.
The region was under the control of the Karuna group for 42 days. The following is the text of his interview to the Press.
Press: At a time when the Karuna group was considered a powerful military group, how was it possible for you to gain control of nearly 1700 square km area with only minimal bloodshed? Can you elaborate?
Kausalyan: This was made possible by the plans of our national leader. It is more apt to say that we were engaged in a retrieving duty, rather than ‘gaining control.’ The redemption was well-planned by the leader, and executed by Special commander, Mr. T. Ramesh, with keenness and humanitarian concern. Our fighters encircled the Karuna group’s forces in Vakarai, Kathiraveli and Verugal in a three-pronged attack. When we informed them that they could join us without fear, the Karuna group cadres came over to join our side. There were some minor incidents during this phase, but there were no major losses for us.
Similarly, Commander Janarthan went to Amparai to explain the true situation to the cadres there and even there, the Karuna group cadres joined us. When our fighters, led by Ramanan, went to the Paduvankarai region, including Kokkadicholai and Karadiyanaru, the Karuna group cadres joined us without any fighting.
We have released 269 cadres who rejoined us in Vakarai to their parents. The underage cadres were released through the UNICEF. Last Friday, 1500 cadres of the Karuna group rejoined us in Vakarai. Out of those, who want to go back to their families or are underage are being handed over to their parents. Our leader has instructed us to hand over the cadres to their parents if the parents request to do so.
Press: What is the reason for handing over the cadres who joined the LTTE for the purpose of “liberation struggle” back to their parents?
Kausalyan: Our national leader wanted to honor the parents’ wishes to get back their sons and daughters.
Press: Will you accept them again for the struggle? Kausalyan: We have no plans for doing so. But if the youths wanted to contribute to the national liberation struggle, they could come back to us.
Press: In the last one and a half months, the political activities of the LTTE in the Batticaloa-Amparai district were disrupted. When do you plan to restart the activities?
Kausalyan: We have already started our political activities as soon as the retrieval was complete.
Press: What do you want to tell the people who were expelled from the Batticaloa district?
Kausalyan: We want to express our sympathies to them and want them to return to normal life in the region. Should they have any problems, they could contact our political offices to solve their problems.
Press: Where are Karuna and his associates now?
Kausalyan: We have no idea, but they are not in the Batticaloa-Amparai district. The entire region, including Kudumbimalai (Thoppigala), are under our control now. Only Karuna himself was expelled from the LTTE. All others can return to their homes without any fear.
Press: What do you want to tell the people of Batticaloa-Amparai ?
Kausalyan: The people in this region have stood shoulder to shoulder with us in the national liberation struggle. They have had to go through a lot of hardships. They can continue to lead their normal lives and trust the national leadership. Several media organizations have worked with integrity during the time of crisis to work for the Tamil people’s rights and Tamil nationalism. We thank them and congratulate them for their service.
Originally posted April 14, 2004