Troops from the 57 Division that have surrounded Madhu via Periyapandivirichchan east and west are experiencing a severe harassing fire from Tigers using the cover of the 400 year-old Our Lady of Madhu Church.
Despite a strong warning by Maj. Gen Jagath Jayasuriya several weeks ago, the Mannar Bishop has not been able to prevent this blatant violation of the rules of engagement. Gen Jayasuriya has given strict instructios not to engage the Tigers taking cover behind the Church premises for the time being.
Civilians have been held hostage at Periyapandivirichchian until troops captured the village. LTTE is also holding civilians in Karampeikulam near the Madhu Sanctuary as a human shied.
Troops of the 57 Division are moving north from their original positions south of the Madhu Road Junction (not Madhu) on the A-14 (Mannar-Anuradhapura MSR). Advancing north from Parayanalankulam Junction in the Vavuniya District (A-30 from Vavuniya and A14 from Anuradhapura meet at Parayanalankulam Junction) into Madhu Junction through the jungles of the Madhu sanctuary, the troops were bogged down by a large 2km trench, which was finally overrun this week.
In Mannar, Avenues of Approaches (AAs) from the 58 Division advancing northeast from Thirukethiswaram Kovil is now ahead of Pallaikuli. Another unit captured Ilanthivan, north east of Pallaikuli. Fighting still continues north of Manthai west area. The same Division advancing northeast along A32 is now at Veppankulam. Parappakandal and Sirikkulam, situated off the A14 MSR and west of the Giant’s Tank is also in Army hands.
In the coming days, heavy fighting is expected in Puliyankulam North and Manthai North. The Special Forces are deployed in these areas to assist regular infantry. This week, a Special Forces team launched an attack at Vannakulam in Mannar killing four LTTE field commanders.
55 comments:
One point close to the topic. In recent times Tibetians are invovlving themselves in terrorism against the Chinese government.
China has been a great ally to Sri Lanka by supplying weapons like planes. Hence its Sri Lanka's duty to support China cracking down on these terrorist. Its said that the monestary have been raided with explosives and guns. This is similar to the LTTE holding the Madhu Church for their purposes.
Tibet under the lamas has always been a sorrid state of affairs. This is because the council rules on behalf on the choosen child lama and were incompetent. China has sucessfully pumped billions of dollars into Tibet like the world highest railway.
China has also found evidence that the Tibetians are planning suicide attacks against Olympic torch relay. The Tibetians should not make the same mistake made by the some tamils and support the terrorist.
In the 60s when these happened many monks were killed and monasteries and buddisht temples destroyed. I guess China is patiently waiting and will smash the terrorist once the olympics is over.
Likewise the NGO and other trouble makers will continue to pour horror stories out. However Sri Lanka as the articles below should stay the course.
India should hand the Dalai Lama over to China for crimes he is commiting against China. Much like Prabha fate to come.
http://www.srilankawatch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=421&Itemid=2
Following map would be little bit helpful.
http://www.ifsp-srilanka.org/html/administrative_map_mannar.html
Navindran,
Food for thought for the diplomats.
hemantha,
Thanks for the map. We do not own a digital map to mark these places. Our plans of using GIS became complicated. GIS maps of these areas are now out of bounds and ArcGIS v.11 costs a lot of money, which we cannot afford. We will try to get marked maps from the guys.
DW great update
interesting days ahead
Defencewire,
"We will try to get marked maps from the guys."
Would be great if you can do that.
lkdood,
Thanks and yes.
The eastern provincial council elections are to be contested by an LTTE front organization headed by LTTE cricket coach Yogaratnam Yogi. 4000 police brought in from outside. Army and STF to coordinate security. Many bridges and roads in the East renovated/rebuilt by present government. nominations end in a few hours at noon. Very interesting indeed.
hemantha,
It might expose us though. We'll see.
DefenceWire,
I am amazed that an LTTE front organization is allowed to contest in this election. LTTE and their upporters are just social cancers require high doses of radiation therapy. I am strongly for eliminating anybody, be it Sinhala, Tamil, or Moor who wants to divide my homeland. These bastards should be taken out by overt or covert means with no mercy. No LTTE should be allowed in the east.
TMVP is the rightful Sri Lankan party in the east. Other parties including SLFP and UNP shall side step for TMVP to establish a legitimate and stable provincial government. It is hard for me to see why major parties want to contest in this election than helping TMVP.
Godspeed Pillaiyan and TMVP!!!!
Sam,
It looks like an act of political desperation for LTTE. Anyway, if a Grama Niladhari signs, anyone can hand in nominations. This front organization was established way back in 1989. It is a registered party. So legally there aren't any restrictions.
Now there is going to be Eastern PC elections and there are 2 possibilities (based on who wins and the LTTE front cannot win).
1. if UNP-SLMC wins - a MUSLIM CHIEF MINISTER
2. if UPFA-TMVP wins - a MUSLIM CM for 2 years, an EASTERN TAMIL CM for two years.
Either way LTTE is screewed. The TAMIL HOMELAND bullshit will be rejected by the people by vote. the whole IC will know there is no Tamil homeland as the LTTE says.
The LTTE's crap tamilelam map will become a LUMP OF SHIT and LTTE toilet cleaners will try to wash the shit away as they regularly do!!!! But with no luck. The IC will be convinced beyond ALL DOUBT that,
1. there is no tamil homeland as LTTE says in SL.
2. the LTTE's TE map is wrong
3. east is a Muslim majority region and they have rejected LTTE
4. eastern tamils also reject LTTE and eastern tamils are different to northern tamils as upcountry tamils are different to northern tamils
MR is not the most intelligent (among all PMs, presidents we had probably he seems the most intelligent though) and does a LOT of crappy idiotic things , but he got this right.
British used to divide and rule us and now we do it better!!!
As long as there are many divisions in the MYTHICAL TE, they can't divide SL!!!!
We should further divide the North by helping EPDP, TELO, EPRLF, EROS and TMVP function there and should resettle the Muslims in their native homelands in the North.
Palali - 60k - mostly sinhala
Once muslims settled - 300k - Muslim
tamils - over 300k
jaffna will be really multicultural like east.
we ruined LTTE's east and we are coming to ruin LTTE's north as far as tamil elam is concerned.
it is not just military strength but also the desire of all sri lankans to live in a multicultural society that spelt disaster for the LTTE.
had it given up the mono-ethnic Hitler like demand, it may have ammassed more suuport. by appointing a muslim MP from the TNA, LTTE is trying to do it but its far tooooo late for that now. Now muslims don't need LTTE's permission to settledown in jaffna unlike in 1991.
i think making north and east as much multicultural as possible is THE BEST POLITICAL SOLUTION SRI LANKA NEEDS. Remember east was deliberately made to it's demography today by DSS and his successors. Same should be done to north.
DefenceWire,
I dont think showing our position map is not a good idea.
Terra allready has some,but it allways has a doubt for them so let's not verify their maps by showing our maps, let keep their doubt alive.
I got some operational maps, i got from some of my Buddy Brig's but i will never publish on net.
Anyway this is just my point of view only.
Suresh-
By now LTTE would be aware where about our positions are. Therefore map getting published wont caused any issues.
Only thing we should prevent in public forum would be the future plans.
It's good to know if/when we get extra area re-captured. However our current moto is "We wont die for our land.. let them die for theirs". Let's hope we will get some brained washed human waste.
DW
"The Special Forces are deployed in these areas to assist regular infantry. This week, a Special Forces team launched an attack at Vannakulam in Mannar killing four LTTE field commanders."
Is this the first time SFs were deployed in these areas?
The LTTE supporting cunning traitor Rayappu Joseph who made glorious speeches on behalf of LTTE in the past months and went to Europe to campaign on behalf of LTTE has now again going on pseudo campaign asking to keep the Madu Zone free of Army http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=25177
[you can see LTTE photographers and banners here http://www.tamilnet.com/pic.html?path=/img/publish/2008/04/mnr_02_04_08_09.jpg&width=600&height=500&caption=]
When P. W. P Ranil was the Prime Minister, the same Rayappy Joseph got the Army withdrawn from Madu area and made it a defacto LTTE den. Then also this same Rayappu talked about the same crappy abused word of 'peace'.
Now suddenly when the Army gaining control back again after many sacrifices, Rayappu gets his pants burnt and organize peace marches.
When LTTE was controlling Madu Area for the past 4 years, this Rayappu had no issue with it.
Then he was going around and making speeches in Vanni praising the butcher Prabhakaran.
Rayappu is occupying the 1000 year old Buddhist and Hindu place of worship Pattini Amma Devala. When Portuguese and Dutch invaded us, this Pattini Amma devale was cunningly converted to a Catholic Church. It has been done gradually, and now they are making it a place of terror den supporting LTTE.
http://www.lankalibrary.com/heritage/temples/batti.htm
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items02/190802-2.html
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.tamil/browse_thread/thread/afb6de6e39b91213
http://www.gopetition.com/msg.php?msgid=131692&isearch=
[Note the word Madu associated with Pattini Amma http://pattini.org/pattini.htm]
"Madhu statue to be removed
The statue of Our lady of Madhu is to be removed from the Church and taken to a safer location because of heavy shelling in the area, Mannar Bishop Ryapu Joseph told the Daily Mirror"
OMG!
Is he taking statue of Our lady of Madhu to Kilinocchi?
from DM.
"Thousands flee from Madhu - Military
Military said that thousands of refugees sheltered in Madhu 'no war zone' have fled their homes and entered government controlled areas leaving only six clergy and eight civilian employees at the church."
"This week, a Special Forces team launched an attack at Vannakulam in Mannar killing four LTTE field commanders."
An LRRP attack, or did another SF team just cross the lines and make an ambush? The LRRP seems to be keeping quiet these days (or maybe we don't get to know about what they are doing?) Any further news on this Defencewire?
Def. Wire,
"a Special Forces team launched an attack at Vannakulam in Mannar killing four LTTE field commanders"
What is the role of the field commanders? What is their value, are they hard to replace?
Def. Wire,
"Troops from the 57 Division that have surrounded Madhu via Periyapandivirichchan east and west are experiencing a severe harassing fire from Tigers using the cover of the 400 year-old Our Lady of Madhu Church."
Last year, during the Vakarei attack it was said that the place was surrounded by our troops, but later the Army said that most of the tigers managed to escape.
So what I want to know is, when you say surround, does it mean that the defense perimeter around the tigers is tight? Not porous at all? If it is not porous, it is obvious that the tigers that are left inside the Madhu area are on a suicide mission.
So if it is a suicide mission what objectives are they trying to achieve? Is it the destruction of the church to put the blame on the Army (once all the terrorists within the church are dead, naturally everyone will blame the army). Or is there another objective. Perhaps to establish and reinforce new defense line?
Thanks.
Fighting in Sri Lanka kills 32 Tamil rebels, 9 soldiers, military says
LINK
Nominations closed for eastern Sri Lanka elections
LINK
LTTE accuses Army of initiating clashes
LINK
Sri Lanka Tigers say resisting military onslaught
LINK
The SF do 'independent work' ahead of the FDL. This has been going on way before the current operations. However, each AA has a small team of either CR or SF that act as the tip of the spear. They get deep inside to recce, direct arti (arti correction), some LRRP (medium battlespace), logistics, call air raids (in the SF or CR, even a soldier can call for air/arti strikes). These attacks and LRRP attacks are not the same. LRRP is conducted by a selected few with MI networks. These teams are given specific targets like Prabha, Poddu upto the recently departed Charles. They get activated on intelligence and don't go wondering here and there planting claymores. Other teams (Beta teams) might infiltrate roads etc where Tiger leaders might travel on and will ambush them. These are random attacks.
When I meant surrounded, it was completely not true, in the sense, areas north of Madhu are still under LTTE control. What we are seeing, as of this morning is that Tigers are starting to abandon Madhu, which is good because we do not want to raze such a place to the ground. This is a delicate issue and must be approached with utmost care.
Field commanders are what the LTTE needs most now. Experienced ones die and cannot easily be replaced.
DW-
Thank you for ongoing contribution.
Related to your latest comment, sounds like there is a way out for Madu based LTTE with some passage?
What would be the value of leaving a passage if our moto is "Let them die for their land while We won's die for ours"
Thanks DefenceWire, so all is well then.
Perein, it would of course be good if the fleeing terrorists can be mopped u. but from what I understand, sometimes the military planners may have another objective, in this case, preventing the destruction of the church.
perein,
Army cannot change the nature of insurgents/terrorists. They run to fight another day. That day is being decided by the Army now, as it goes in and out of LTTE areas forcing the Tigers to defend their territory. So they may run but they can't hide.
DW / Rover-
Thank you.
From tamilnut:
"Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, told TamilNet Thursday that he had instructed the remaining four reverend priests, four reverend sisters and five civilian assistants to flee the premises of the Madu Church with the statue of Our Lady."
Any idea where they are taking it? Looks to me like LTTE can use the statue as a 'hostage' to counter major SLA assaults and advances, deliberately keeping it in areas where fighting is likely to take place.
"Any idea where they are taking it? Looks to me like LTTE can use the statue as a 'hostage' to counter major SLA assaults and advances, deliberately keeping it in areas where fighting is likely to take place."
According to Lanka dissent The Our Lady of Madhu statue has taken to Killinochchi.
"
The Our Lady of Madhu statue has been removed to safety following heavy exchange of shelling between the security forces and the LTTE, area residents said.
A team from the church, comprising seven clergy and eight laypersons, took the statute to Mulangavi in Kilinochchi, 35 kilometres away from Mannar this afternoon (Apr. 03rd).
"
With the help of statue of Our Lady of Madhu statue Dr. Rayppu Joseph has probably helped lots of LTTE cadres to escape.
Why does Dr. Rayppu Joseph believe killinochchi is safe?
"They run to fight another day. That day is being decided by the Army now"
That's a nice way to put it.
It is a matter of time before the the church falls to the Army. However, the Army must do everything in it's power to protect the church. Tamilnet editors have already bought their bread and butter to discredit the Army. Army must take every precaution to protect the troops as well as the church.
Haven't heard anything from Weli Oya since the rains havoc the Weli Oya theater of oeprations.
[
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk
Three LTTE carders surrend to the Army
3 Apr 2008 - 17:57
Today (03) in KATTAIADAMPAN area three LTTE terrorists were surrendered to the Army. All three of the surrenders revealed that they have no protection and they have faced lots of inhumanities with the LTTE terrorists. These are the reasons that they have decided to escape from the LTTE terrorist organisation.
]
MCNS is run by such an illuminated lot that they are able to bend grammar rules at their will !
The first Media Centre on earth which is not able to align five English words together .
Olu gedi walata hene gahalade maee pin padi karayinge ?
Senkadagala,
Don't fall in to the trap. Our home is on fire. Roof of the Tibet is just leaking. Let's put out our fire first before fixing the Tibet roof.
Will Sri LAnkan Buddists help Tibet?
mahavamsa.blogspot.com
Defencewire
Was Pakistani arms shipments directed to LTTE bases as claimed by Asian Tribune? Any truth to this story?
Peter,
Just like SL, we are vehemently against division of China. In addition, it is an internal problem of PROC in which we have no business. Buddhism is not a problem to us when it is about division of one of our friendly neighbors. Same goes to India also. Hope this will help you how Sri Lankans think.
Moshe Dyan
what news site are you talking about ?
The BBC LTTE Service,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2008/04/080403_madhushrine.shtml
has again started flushing out Tamilnet articles and pictures (even without any reference to the source), as they are their own.
Now they have truly come out of the shell, as with Rayappu Joseph who is a damn tiger in reverend clothes.
LKDOOD,
thepioneer (indian newspaper) the same one refer to by the asian tribune article that hinted about LTTE interception of SLA weapons.
navindran,
You have a vivid imagination to equate Mad Velu to Dalai Lama. We don't support cessation of Tibet from China by any means. At the same time, I see the complete LTTE stooge in you by trying to equate Dalai Lama to Mad Velu. All the way, we knew that you were another LTTE stooge.
Take this 2 cents and buy a few clues before you write next time.
Moving the statue from Madhu is a blatant declaration that this is a religious war. If we quit walking on egg shells and talk straight, the Catholic Church in Sri lanka has already been hijacked by the terrorists.
And they expect us to shiver in fright of the Holy See, knowing how vicious its reaction would be, if sides are chosen against us, as thousands of years of history has proven.
Rayappu needs to be treated as an enemy at this point and treated as such.
Most people who write about the Dalai Lama don't seem to realize that he is both a spiritual leader AND a leader of his people, and he has used both for the good of his people.
His spirituality has lead hinm to (i)so far control, with some measure of success, attempts by the young and impatient to follow a violent approach against China. (ii)The Dalai Lama has NOT supported separation from China, but supported remaining WITHIN china, as one of its states, and with the right to practice buddhism and Tibet's ancient culture. He has NOT gone around collecting money and buying arms. Instead he has preached nonviolence. His efforts to solve the problem peacefully should be accepted by China as it is to the benefit of China. But the Chinese leaders feel a bit insecure as they have little experience in dealing with dissenting opinions, or opinions other than those which come from the communist party.
The Dalai Lama has even stated that "non-violent sathyagrahas" are useless as they would be misused by the Chinese as an excuse to use force.
So those who attack the Dalai Lama, and even equate him to the Psycopathic Terrorist Prabakaran have really missed the boat or do so out of spite.
Sri Lanka's poltics of not getting involved in this battle is a sensible thing. You get involved in other people's fights only if you have the capacity to help. WE DONT HAVE THAT CAPACITY.
So let us be out of it.
Hi bloggers, please look at the map
http://www.geocities.com/place.names/
maps/mannarSLF.jpg
and you will see the battle area around Mannar with all the place names with their
original Sinhala names.
If you want more maps and more place names, more history, see
http://www.geocities.com/place.names/
The Madhu church is NOT 600 years old.
The write up on Madhu church, given at the above website is as follows:
(excluding various URL links)
------
Madhu Church (Mannarama [Mannar])
MADHU PALLIYA
This site had a Pattni temple till the 19th century. The
Catholic shrine to St. Mary was established in 1876.
However, the statue of St. Mary is supposed to be from Mantai,
where it had been since the mid 16th CE., and brought to the
more tolerant region controlled by the King of Kandy in the 17th CE.
The name Madhu could have come from "Marutha madu" near by
or from the Sanskrt. "Madhu" meaning mother, or 'Amman'.
See Controversy reg. the Madhu Church
(built over older Buddhist and Hindu shrines).
catholic perspective.
The LTTe, the Army and the Church
map of Marutha Madu area මදුපල්ලිය
TS
I can sort of understand why Rayappu feels sorry when people around him are falling dead... after all he's a tamil and tigers are tamils.
what's sad is that Rayappu not seeing the tigers for the terrorists they are. He goes the the extra mile to attack SLDF if he gets the chance but rarely speaks against the ltte when there have been enough opportunities to do so..
Catholic church should get involved and clear this Rayappu out cos the man is giving a bad name for catholics all over.
There already have been attacks against churches by certain moronic idiots of this land and it will only add another dimension to this conflict we don't need at this juncture. Rayappu and the catholic church are walking a fine line risking lives of many IMO.
This is exactly why Madhu battles will always be more surgical strikes...
And about moving the statue, i think that its for the best cos even if you are not a catholic...that statute is revered by many... i'm sure even the soldiers on the battlefield wouldn't want to be part of any action that will damage or destroy it by choice or by circumstances.
we are not terrorists to plan and strike sacred shrines and temples.
bodhi_dhana
i was also disgusted at the way Navindran was equating Piraba and Dalai Lama but decided to keep quiet since it was pretty obvious the man was not using his brains when he wrote what he did.
I've always had respect for Navindran for having balanced views most of the times. The most recent posts are just plain stupid...makes me wonder if somebody else is faking the original Navindran :)
Rayappu is a terrorist..if he wanted to protect the statue, he would have taken it to govt controlled area. Where it would have been much safer from Shells and gun fire and anything else that would destroy it.. But he took it deep into the LTTE area, i guess his true nature is coming out now. Now if something happens to the statue in the LTTE area, SLA is not responsible..they dont have to worry about shelling..
""The LTTE has moved into the church and the SLA is shelling them. The LTTE is saying that they are safuguarding their land and the SLA is about two kilometres from Madhu. However we could see that the army was careful in the shelling not to damage the shrine", added Bishop Rayappu Joseph."
Rayappu is not as bad as i thought he was :)
But i wonder why the catholic church can't request Rayappu to bring the statue to government controlled areas for safety instead of taking it further into ltte areas which will come under fire eventually. Was he forced to do it by the tigers?
It's a shame that he had to take the statue to safety with the world's most ruthless terror gang :(
Rayappu is NOT a terrorist mate.
show me where he has said anything to that affect on this issue. we don't know the exact ground situ and we don't know how exactly this moving of the statue took place. maybe he had no choice and without facts we shouldn't be name calling
we should also NOT shell the church even though the statue has been removed... we are much better than that mate...our forces are better than that.
that sorta shit we leave to the terrorists... they've always been good at it :)
Sam
I don't think Navindran meant to offend or diss anyone. I have read his posts and I honestly don't think he is a LTTE stooge as you claim.
I feel the plight of the Tibetians, but if Sri Lanka were to side with the Dalai Lama on this issue, it would cost us a lot of Chinese help. Best for Lanka to remain neutral on this isseue if possible.
China is pretty much the only country willing to sell us advanced weaponry at a decent price without raising much ruckus over the human rights crap. We need them for both military and economic development.
The reason why India is so friendly to us these days is also indirectly linked to China. They fear that China and Pakistan could get bases in Lanka and that would pretty much mean the end of the Indian dream of a real sphere of Influence even before they got started as a super power. China will become an immovable presence in the Indian Ocean if we give them a base in the south of Lanka. That is the ultimate nightmare for India and its future ambitions.
Sam, Thanks for calling me a LTTE Stooge. I am elated to think that when you have no way of arguing you resort to name calling.
bodhi_dhana, the Dalai lama is a choosen position and not something which someone rises too. Hence I usually dont see merit in such appointments like Chandrika comming to where she is due only to her background.
Ranil its the same old Navindran but I am writting in certain ways to provoke an arugement. Look at Prabha hiding in his 30Ft deep down bunker and the Dalai Lama hiding in India. If the Dalai Lama dares to stay in China, he knows he is finished. Likewise Prabha to appear in public.
The Dalai Lama is calling for peace when he has stirred all the trouble in Tibet. This is what the chinese authorities are saying. Same way Prabha preaches for peace treaty and being within a united Sri lanka is bullshit.
The same view on the Tibet issue is held by Janaka Perera or do you think he also loves terrorist. The Dalai Lama has done nothing for the betterment of the Tibetians just like Prabha has done nothing for the betterment of the tamils.
China has invested alot of money into Tibet. Literacy rates are the highest its ever been. Siding with Tibet on purely religious grounds is unacceptable. Its akin to saying tamilnadu tamils have a right into Sri Lankan affairs just because the problem is with Sri Lankan tamils or Hindus.
China has been very helpful to Sri Lanka. Yes it could be to force India to be more foccused in her region then get involved in Tibet etc. However its only to Sri Lankas benifit. Hence its an issue since the Madhu church issue is brought to attention.
Its important to take Madhu but not at a cost where it will be a gift to Mrs Mahindha Rajapaske who could not go there thanks to LTTE not allowing armed escorts for the President and his wife. Religion should come second and the country should come first.
"Religion should come second and the country should come first."
good to have you back Navindran :)
very well said sir :)
thanks for the long detailed reply. sadly i'm not very familiar with the situ in Tibet...but so far to my knowledge what Piraba has done to Sri Lanka can be matched by only very few others in the world...if there's any in the first place...
maybe you're right and maybe this is the start to a Sri lanka like problem in tibet...
And i do agree with you that it's a disgrace to agree with ones methods simply because you and them share the same religion...
like GE says... Sri Lanka has enough problems... we cant get into to these other issues and it's better left alone. we must use all our resources to the betterment of our country and it's people.
navindran,
It is a nice try equate Mad Velu and Dalai Lama in very crafty manner. I am very well aware of you modus operandi.
TTFN
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