Tuesday, February 24, 2009

SLA enters Puthukudirippu built-up area

Earth bunds constructed by the Tigers to guard Puthukudirippu have fallen thanks to the newly formed TF-8, 58 Division and the 53 Division. The first bund erected across Perawil in Puthukudirippu West was completely overrun by yesterday, the second bund erected to the south of Puthukudirippu was also breached. TF-8, backed by the 53 Division, are now inside the trench and pitched battles have erupted there.


LTTE has deployed two Battle Tanks, one clearly identified by soldiers as a T-55 to counter the armoured onslaught from the SLA. Army fears the Tigers might use the tanks for a suicide mission towards the end. The forward advance is again hampered by the trapped civilians. The flow of civilians into government controlled areas had now ground to a complete halt.

Following the breach of the two earth bunds, the SLA is now in the Puthukudirippu built-up area west and south of Puthukudirippu Town Center. Puthukudirippu jungles are now behind them. Special teams trained at Maduru Oya in FIBUA or Fighting In Built-Up Areas have been deployed to capture Puthukudiirippu Town.

The LTTE, who once claimed very proudly that it doesn't fight for 'real estate', is now fighting for every inch of that same 'real estate'. Once famous LTTE leaders like Theepan, Sornam, Bhanu et al. have been relegated to defending the remaining real estate one square kilometer at a time.

The 57, which performed a herculean task in the fighting upto Kilinochchi and Task Forces 3 and 4 in Oddusudan etc. have received a well deserved break and are now placed in the reserve. Many of the high performing officers and men of these Divisions have been approved leave and a well earned rest.

Another Unit that's enjoyed relative peace during the Vanni Operation has been the Special Forces whose powerful attack teams were called in only on a handful of occasions as the other Divisions took the fight effectively to the enemy. The 59 Division, which was somewhat unsuccessful in the last battle has been placed on a defensive role to guard particularly the entry-exist routes to and from Mulaitivu by the Commander.

519 comments:

1 – 200 of 519   Newer›   Newest»
Ra said...

Thanks for the update!

velluprabhakaran said...

good show. may the siva lingam help vesapillai. ha ha ha!

Saul said...

Interesting. Is the 48 hour timetable for the capture of the town still on?

When this is ended, I wish someone in the SLA writes a personal account (s) of these battles.

Saul said...

Quick question for DW; is there a resource online where I can understand better the nature of the terrain and the fighting?

SRAF said...

දෙවනි කොමෙන්ට් එක මගෙන්....අපේ කොල්ලන්ට ජය වේවා!ඉතින් අර 55 ටෑ0කි 2කට මොකද උනේ? අපේ "රතු ඊතල" පාවිචි කරයි කියල මම හිතනවා

Kirigalpoththa said...

Thanks DW for the update!

Defencewire said...

saul,

I saw once a website with maps that included the various layers (built-up, vegetation, physical geography, road networks etc). Try to find a layered map and you will see the Villu, the waterways the Army has crossed and open terrains to get to where it has got so far. Compare that information with the interactive map on defence.lk. This unfortunately is the only way civilians could get a better understanding of the terrain. If you want to know specific descriptions about the terrain, we can help.

ak47 said...

Thanks DW
Should 58 get a break they have been fighting from Mannar to Pooneryrn to Parthan, surely they deserve abreak more than others ?

Where are the civilans in the non saftey areas located ?
As Saul queries could you explain 'Built Up area' a bit better please.

Corey said...

gon peter and booru cj:

Wanting a "cease fire" now????

Aiyo!!! Don't you peelamists have any shame? I thought the peelam fighters were.....

Haaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

HaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhH!

Unknown said...

58 ? . I thought the 57 is in PTK .

AAA ABS CDO said...

DW,
Thanks for the update.

Any word on a possible offensive by the 55 to capture the areas south of Chalai?

Defencewire said...

ak47,

There were 5 main Divisions who were deployed in the wanni operation. 53, 55, 57, 58 and 59. The 57 was the balancing force that tackled the belly of the beast while the 58 and 59 advanced northwards on a fast pace. the latter divisions were never flanked by the enemy thanks to the 57. A case and point was Pooneryn, when 58 was able to cross the villus and go through open terrain to reach Pooneryn virtually unchallenged. This was all thanks to the 57 and that's why the Commander appointed Jagath "Chula" Dias as its leader, whose as steady, committed and capable as it gets. the 57 has done more work than the 58 or the 59. it kept the enemy busy all the time, probing and probing and aiming directly at its belly, then its heart-- Kilinochchi. ground commanders know this and acknowledge this. but the popular image is that of the 58 and its commander.

another man that did a quiet service was Prasanna Silva. He took the lead in advancing two divisions (53 followed his lead) down the narrowest part of our counter-- muhamalai and nagarkovil. he's also a combat diver and is extremely good at amphibious warfare and hence took on the sea coast upto chalai. expect more from him and the 55 in the coming days.

civilians in the no-fire zone are primarily in the general area mathalang (sinna and periya mathalang or puthu mathalang/pala mathalang) along the coastline north east of Mulaitivu town (nanthi kadal).

built-up areas mean civilization/civilian houses, small towns, junctions, public buildings etc)

Saul said...

DW thanks. I'll try and find that website, although a few casual searches on google have not revealed much so far.

My questions are (I am not a military guys, so some of these questions are probably stupid):

1. 'Bund' is a somewhat common word in India as well. From an SL battlefield perspective, is it basically a built up trench?

2. In the SL context, bunds seem to be playing the same role as trenches in WWI. Would it be right to say that they are key lines of defence?

3. I am assuming that head on charges against bunds do not work? Well, they did not in WWI (!), but here the context may be different.

4. What is the terrain like from here on? Jungles? Countryside? Towns? Waterways?

Thanks!

Defencewire said...

ali,
57 (Jagath D) was asked to coordinate the counter attack on the enemy after the breach starting from 31st upto 4th February 2009. Now the 57 is no longer fighting but observing, demining, protecting the rear, recouping, 'excavating' etc.

DENT said...

Defencewire, I think its unfair to say 59 was unsuccessful.
59 wasnt unsuccessful.. they were bit unlucky. But lucky or not.. I dont think they can be called "unsuccessful".

Mahen said...

DW,
Why not we admit that the 59th was the weak link? Granted they had to trek through think jungles to get to the built up areas, but don't you think they took far too long at Chilawatte and hence the other divisions had to do their work for them and capture Mulla?

Defencewire said...

saul,

bund is a lay word we use to describe, originally, the area surrounding man-made tanks. it has a steep climb and protects something from something else.

in the present military context, these are excavated earth mounds concealing elaborate trench lines, fortified with bunkers mounted with canons or simple the earth mound formed like a fort followed immediately by a trench-line. the area in front and behind are heavily mind. the fortification and its elevation and its obstacle-like-nature improves detection, reduces surprise element of attack, facilitates target location/identification/engagement, conceals own troops, reinforcements etc. if i am not mistaken, WW-I soldiers built trenches with barbed wire fences and stared at each other for years with occasional charge resulting in massive casualties. in our case, LTTE never charges the army from the bund.

Daily Economist said...

Thanks for the update

Daily Economist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
NOLTTE=Peace said...

Who else in this blog suspect that HRW is a key instrument of an "Economic Hitman"?

ak47 said...

DW

Great Analysis , never thought of it that way! You should work for the govenment as a defence analyst!

NOLTTE=Peace said...

Posting on behalf of Hareen!

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Please email me at hareen_m@yahoo.com for the application form and a detailed description of the process.

gamed1956 said...

DW

Thanks for the update,
very informative and just what we wanted.

Where can one access a layered map ?
What exactly is a " built up area " ?
Sorry about my ignorance

Thanks once again...

Long live our heroes .....

Saul said...

...if i am not mistaken, WW-I soldiers built trenches with barbed wire fences and stared at each other for years with occasional charge resulting in massive casualties.

DW, that is indeed the case with WWI ( I am an avid reader of that war). Except that the charges- which were almost all massacres for the attacking force (and often the defenders as well) were preceded by massive artillery bombardment.

in our case, LTTE never charges the army from the bund.

That is understandable - they have no reason to.

Which means the SLA has to take the initiative. Again, interesting. When this is over and can be discussed, one would like to read about how the SLA does it.

Possibly air strikes, artillery, flanking (where possible), and then the inevitable charge.

Saul said...

Oh, BTW, DW thanks for the backgrounder on bunds. It was most informative and helped me understand the challenge a little better.

Sam Perera said...

DefenceWire,

I am very glad that 57 is taking a rest these days. Either way, it is one hell of a reserve force. Now on 59, I believe that it is the most successful division we have since it fought all the way alone to Mulathivu with little support from any other division. Either way, all for one and one for all.

Bless the men and women of our forces!

Adrenaline_Grin said...

DW,

Given the highly dangerous and difficult nature of these bunds, would it be possible for you to shed some light on how our troops have been successfully over-running them, so to speak?

Also, where did the 59 Division go wrong in the campaign? Or what was its shortcomings in relation to the terrain and other factors it faced?

Would be great if you could answer these questions if they are not too sensitive. Thanks!

Sam Perera said...

DefenceWire,

On the side, every time I read your posts, I get the feeling that you are not a typical SLA officer. Most of the time you leave many tell tale signs of what you are, if somebody read you between and above lines.

Anyway, we are proud that we have people of your caliber enlisted in the forces.

Sujeewa Kokawala said...

Interesting comment by Army Commander:

---------------

LTTE might carry out air strikes on India - SL Army Chief

After being battered by Sri Lanka, a desperate LTTE may target India, the island nation’s Army Chief has warned. In an interview given to an Indian daily, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka on Monday said that the Tigers could attack southern India’s economic and civilian targets in aerial strikes.

According to the Sri Lankan Army Chief, the LTTE’s air wing – though its strength has now got depleted following the downing of two of its planes during the recent air attack on Colombo – still has the capability to attack targets in India.

“The LTTE and their sympathisers in South India are angry that the Indian government is no longer toeing the LTTE line; it is now only talking about the plight of the civilians,” Fonseka was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

“They are capable of flying all the way from the north-east of Sri Lanka, attack targets in Colombo (more than 250 km one way) and fly back. They can do the same in India,” he added.

The threat to India seems credible as the Tigers were able to launch an air attack on Colombo even though all their seven airfields have been captured by the Sri Lankan Army in the ongoing offensive.

The Army Chief stated that the rebels’ low-flying aircraft, which are difficult to detect, could easily carry out attacks more than 150-170 km inside India.

“And if they are on a suicide mission, the aircraft could fly deeper and not come back at all,” he warned.

Asked whether targeting India would be of any use to the LTTE, especially in the wake of heightened criticism for allegedly not letting thousands of displaced Tamil civilians escape the warzone, Fonseka said: “The LTTE had the audacity or were stupid enough to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil. They do not believe in peace or talks. Now they are just confined to around 35 sq km on the main land and some 20 sq km of beach area in Mullaitivu. They are desperate.”

With regard to the whereabouts of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran, the Sri Lankan Army Chief believes he is still hiding in Mullaitivu.

Thusitha said...

Sujeewa Kokawala said...
Interesting comment by Army Commander:

LTTE might carry out air strikes on India - SL Army Chief

---------
Excellent move army commander. This kind of propaganda is excellent to minimize the critics from India. Should have said, LTTE is a direct threat to the Gandhi family and VP might try to finish the job by killing the rest of the family members before he died. Excellent work.
Few more statement like these we would be able to get west to tow our line instead of dictating us terms.

Sam Perera said...

Thusitha and Sujeewa,

I think that SF said it well. He can also say that LTTE air capabilities are a threat to national security of India as well.

Thusitha said...

First, a highly unsuccessful suicide mission.

Secon kill a French Police officer.

Man, LTTP is unravelling big time.

Any signs of WMDs in LTTP's arsenals?

Thusitha said...

Here is an article that debunks the myth that there aren't any Tamil defence personel in the country.

http://www.peaceinsrilanka.org/peace2005/Insidepage/SCOPPDaily_Report/SCOPP_report240209.asp

Sam Perera said...

Thusitha,

The Editor Monkeynath of Puligal.blogspot.com threatens that they will use a nuclear device some day. we should never underestimate such threats since LTTE will have no hesitation to use such a weapon against us if they had it.

Unknown said...

Guys dont be so happy.

DW and SL media just report about SLA's advance. SLA's casualities is in 4 digits in the last three days fightings. The battle for PTK is not over yet. Heavy battle is continuing. Wait and see the final result!!

Ra said...

minnel, tell us something new...

LRRU said...

Guys;

Pls let me know what would be the worst outcome possible of an international intervention?

Bcos I think now the Battle is not on Land but on Geo Politics

Sam Perera said...

Minnal,

Ape kollo Keeyak thuwalada? Ohe kohenda oya pravurthiya gaththe?

SL said...

"Wait and see the final result!!"

You guys have been telling this from Mavil Aru.

LTTE has lost it! Tee SLA only has to finish it off. As Brig: Silva said it will be days not weeks. Not much of a wait.

Sri Lankikaya said...

DW

wasn't it 58 which overran the sea tiger bases. Agree 57 defended them from being flanked but they did fight for and capture the entire coast and still continues the hardwork. It surely isn't only 'show'

58 has cetainly fought much more than 55.

you give a lot of credit to things to be expected from 55 than for what 58 has done.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ra said...

LRRU,

වෙන්න පුලුවන් න‍රකම දෙය තමය් අවිත් වේලු පිස්සාගෙ ප්ලැන් එකට වැඩ ක‍රන එක.

Anonymous said...

/Wait and see the final result!!/

Ha Ha wait and see (TM).. waiting since Mavil Aru...

/YOU WILL NEVER SEIZE OUR CAPITAL PTK!!!/

Your capital..? Its your whole peelaam!! Ha Ha

Anonymous said...

LTTE-heroes fiercely defend PTK-Town,so far the whole town still under LTTE-control,all army-attacks beaten back under heavy SLA-losses!!!So far 400 SLA-soldiers killed and 900 wounded,according to LTTE-sources! YOU WILL NEVER SEIZE OUR CAPITAL PTK!!!

ape lanka said...

Tx for the update.
I think 59 did played a major role similar to 57. may be the last battle they might not did best that they can..still it was also driven by Good leader right. Bridg nanda udawatte
They were doing well from welioya to mulative right.
All division and everyone played best that they can. Good that SF is recognising the good performers/divisions/brigds.. and he always did from the inception.

Ra said...

cj,

400 killed and 900 injured? really?

Thusitha said...

CJ
Seems like you guys are bit screwed in France
-------
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a television programme Sunday that the killing was “a very serious incident” and that authorities would take stern action against the culprits.

Anonymous said...

59 going on defensive is bad in the sense it gives chance LTTE to go on offensive against them (already happened.)

Anonymous said...

MULLAITTIVU: ONE more LTTE camp was captured by the Task Force IV troops following heavy clashes with terrorists in PUTHUKUDIYIRIPPU area Tuesday (24) around 4.30 p.m..

Forceful gunfire by the valiant soldiers of the Task Force IV made terrorists abandon the camp and flee the area.

Later, troops found forty-five 80mm mortar barrels, fifteen 81 mm bipods, thirty two base plates, fourteen complete 60 mm mortars, forty-three 60 mm mortar barrels, twenty-five 2’’ commando mortar barrels, three 120 mm artillery barrels, three .50 weapons without buts, one carlgustave (RL) weapon and a large stock of T-56, T-81 and 303 riffles during further search in the captured LTTE camp.

# A lot of things found but SLA still couldn't find CJ's lost balls.

Unknown said...

DW,
No casualities figure in your report. Recent army reports said that there were only 700 tigers. Now how many left after this heavy PTK fighting. If we project, it must be less than 200 tigers. Then why Govt planned to put all tamil civilians in barbed wire camps in Vavuniya for 3 years as Govt Agent said.

Sam Perera said...

Patriots,

What is up with the latest wave of LTTE blog terrorists mushrooming these days. Are they the reincarnated old monkeys or a new breed? They are all unanimous in wait and see at the end approach. Nevertheless, I admire their optimism.

Sam Perera said...

Fun,

Can you please provide a credible reference to your barbwire claims? A web link will be sufficient.

Thusitha said...

Sam Perera said...
Fun,

Can you please provide a credible reference to your barbwire claims? A web link will be sufficient.

--------
Sam,
Give him few mintues. He just started writing the barb wire story in Tamilnut

Unknown said...

Sam Perera...
Here it is. It is not from Tamilnet. It is from AP. But used the nice term,'welfare villages'

http://www.blnz.com/news/2009/02/11/Lanka_plans_house_refugees_years_9286.html

Unknown said...

http://www.blnz.com/news/2009/02/11

/Lanka_plans_house_refugees_years_9286.html

Sam Perera said...

Ok Fun,

Here I copy a few lines from the article for your reading.

"The plan is for a "worst-case scenario," said Wijesinha. The

government does not believe the number of displaced will be as large as stated in the proposal and hopes to resettle the civilians far faster than two to three years, he said.

However, the population would have to stay out of the Vanni for some time so troops could clear mines and finish fighting the rebels, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, he said."


However, I don't see any word from the Government Agent there.

Unknown said...

Stop Killing civilians
Stop the war



Children vulnerable to SLA shelling in new 'safe zone'
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 February 2009, 06:14 GMT]
Every shell being fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) into the 'safe zone' inflicts civilian casualties as the entire area is tightly populated, reported TamilNet correspondent on Tuesday. A single artillery shell fired around 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday claimed the lives of 6 civilians, including two teenage boys. The attack has taken place near the makeshift hospital at Puthumaaththa'lan. Many of the wounded were children among the 98 injured civilians admitted Sunday and Monday, according to medical authorities.



Children who lost their sibling weeping. Mother holding the dead child. Photographed in front of the hospital 2 days ago.


Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired an artillery shell Tuesday morning around 5:00 a.m. in the vicinity of the only functioning makeshift hospital inside the 'safety zone', killing 6 Tamils who had displaced from Ira'naippaalai and settled there Monday night.

Four of the six victims killed Tuesday morning, identified as relatives, were N. Iyalavan, 12, Sreetharan Kirithas, 17, Jeyabalasingam Parthipan, 20 and V. Kamalesvary, 40. They had moved into Puthumaaththa'lan only Monday night from Ira'naippaalai. The other two killed were yet to be identified and their dead bodies were taken to Puthumaaththa'lan hospital, situated nearby.

On Monday, 3 dead bodies of civilians were brought to the hospital with 11 wounded, including many children. 10 more civilians were feared killed Monday, according to medical authorities. But, according to local media reports 32 civilians were killed on Monday.

Unknown said...

50 Tamil civilians killed, 130 wounded within 48 hours
[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2009, 15:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery barrage has killed 33 civilians on Saturday and 73 were brought to the makeshift hospital at Maaththa'lan with injuries. 14 deaths were registered by the hospital. On Sunday, around 20 civilians were killed in the SLA barrage and 60 wounded were brought to hospital, according to medical sources.

Medical staff were struggling to cope with high number of patients admitted to the hospital.

Following the air attack by the Tigers on Colombo, the SLA stepped up shelling during the night killing 14 persons within the Safety Zone at Valaignarmadam, Mu'l'livaaykkaal, and Pokka'ani. 19 more were killed during the day time on Saturday.

Intense shelling targeted Ira'naippaalai, Aananthapuram and Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district on Sunday, killing more than 20 civilians.

Peter said...

Moda Bandas took full control of PTK at 17:00 GMT.

Peter said...

So, what else?

Anonymous said...

Sam

@ monkeys; Many of them are not new comers. Some are too busy to create a new account and change the handle and come already collapsed. Some create new accounts and come with new handles. Some monkeys disappeared and new handles may be some of them. Only Peter and Upul still stay while Peter is doing a different monkey show and Upul is doing the same old show.

According to them; xxx SLA KIA, xxx WIA, XXX SLA MIA, XXX SLA deserted in any battle while LTTE is 'almost intact'. Whoever dies in wanni (PTK) is a civilian and LTTE never kills civilians (in wanni or south). SLA hardly capture LTTE weapons and videos, GSL news reports of capturing areas are all lies at least until few days. Whatever written in tamilnut or any other pro-LTTE media is a 'proof'.

I don't think any one can fix their mental problem.

merandy said...

Minnal,
Umbata sure the dahasak withara jeevithakshayata path wuna kiyla thedinata. Ethakota dinkata thun seeyakata wada.

Minnal please update.

Sam Perera said...

Ninja,

"I don't think any one can fix their mental problem."

That is why these monkeys are fun.

SL said...

Hay Civilian,

Isn't children vulnarable by using them as "child soldiers' by lttp. Stop re-posting bullshit from tamilnut.

Anonymous said...

Minnal means 'akunu' in tamil... as I know.. FYI.

Infinity said...

Tamilnut:

"Children vulnerable to SLA shelling in new 'safe zone"

=

LTTE is now deploying child soldiers in large numbers.

Amazing that the SLA never manages to hit a single cadre according to TN! SLA must be using advanced technology so that only civilians are hit.

Unknown said...

Fat pig + crew are in TN eating doosa and talking about the "counterattack" and diasspora now promissong to send their kids for Final Eelam War 2.

Unknown said...

!! Stop the Genocide of Tamils !!
!! Stop the WAR !!



STATEMENT OF BRUCE FEIN, ATTORNEY, TAMILS AGAINST
GENOCIDE*
BEFORE THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON
MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA
RE: RECENT VIOLENCE IN SRI LANKA
FEBRUARY 24, 2009
*www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org
Dear Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
I welcome the opportunity to share my views on the recent violence in
Sri Lanka; and, to make recommendations as to how the United States
should respond to diminish or end the daily horrors inflicted on innocent
civilians outside any conceivable war zone.
I. The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has compounded the
difficulty of knowing what is happening by an impenetrable
media blackout and eviction of all outside observers. Best
estimates from neutral persons in Sri Lanka place the death toll
of innocent Tamil civilians in the predominantly Tamil
northeast over the past two months at more than 2,000. The
number of injured probably exceeds 10,000. The number of
displaced persons most likely approximates 350,000. None of
these figures, however, can be confirmed at present with direct
testimony. The Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL is the reason we are
reduced to conjecture. It has imposed a media blackout. It has
evicted all NGOs. It has evicted all humanitarian aid workers.
It has evicted the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. It has evicted
the International Committee of the Red Cross. No independent
news reporter or neutral witness may observe the conflict
between the all Sinhalese “Tamil free” armed forces and security
services of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers. Neither are there
outside eyewitnesses to the; nor the indiscriminate violence that
rains down daily on innocent Tamil civilians whether in
hospitals, temples, churches, schools, or “safe zones” - an
Orwellian term to describe the forced concentration of Tamil
civilians into a tiny area to increase the efficiency of their
physical destruction in whole or in substantial part by the
Sinhalese majority.
The GOSL accuses the Tamil Tigers of responsibility for
the atrocities and worse against Tamil civilians. The LTTE and
Tamil civilians maintain the opposite. Who is telling the truth?
There can be no conclusive answer based on direct eyewitness
testimony because the GOSL has compounded the fog of war
with the fog of censorship—making the Tamil northeast a
virtual black hole. If the GOSL’s assertions were true about
LTTE culpability in the killings of Tamil civilians, it would have
all the incentive in the world to lift both the censorship and the
media blackout and place the northeast under a public spotlight.
It has hundreds of military camps in the north and northeast.
Its roadblocks are omnipresent. It controls population
movements more tightly through National Identity Cards and
otherwise than South Africa did during apartheid. It could
easily create safe passage for foreign reporters and NGOs to
testify about responsibility for the grim Tamil civilian casualties
and conditions of life.
From the circumstance that the Sinhalese Buddhist
GOSL has drawn a figurative iron curtain around the northeast
and the so-called “safety zone”, a persuasive inference can be
drawn that it is hiding something terrible: its primary or
complete responsibility for the recent ongoing murders and
sister atrocities against Tamil civilians.
II. A Page of History is Worth Volumes of Logic. Accordingly, to
understand Sri Lanka’s contemporary ethnic conflict, the history
of Sinhalese Buddhist persecution of Tamil Hindu/Christians
must be briefly recounted.
Sri Lanka’s Tamils in the Jaffna peninsula and in the
North-East have been victims of Sinhalese Buddhist persecution
and genocide since independence sixty-one years ago. Sri Lanka
uniquely sports a culture of genocide. But for a few quislings and
Tamils willing to accept vassalage or serfdom, every living Tamil
in the Jaffna peninsula and the North-East has been displaced,
physically injured, or persecuted by the Sinhalese Buddhist
majority—an unprecedented victimization rate approaching
100%.
A genocidal culture seeks to destroy a minority racial,
ethnic, or religious group not only by extrajudicial killings, but
also by disintegrating their political and social institutions,
language, national identity, religion, and economic existence;
undermining their personal security, liberty, health, education,
communications, mobility and dignity; and, creating a
permanent state of psychological or emotional trauma or anxiety
through never-ending displacements or otherwise.
Sri Lanka’s culture of genocide was born in part from a
paranoid imagination that more than fifty million Tamils from
Tamil Nadu state in India would be perpetually plotting to
overrun Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese Buddhists by sheer numbers.
Building on that fear, three elements combined. The first was
the Mahavamsa, the Sinhalese Buddhist equivalent of the
Christian New Testament or the Muslim Holy Koran. The
Mahavamsa myths teach that Sinhalese Buddhists are the sole
rightful occupiers of Sri Lanka; and, that Tamils and all others
are inferior interlopers who must be destroyed to honor Buddha.
The second was the Buddhist monk dogma that religion
and state were indivisible; and, that Sinhalese Buddhism and
politics on the island should merge.
The third was the Sinhalese Buddhist racial supremacist
doctrines of the venerated Sinhalese Buddhist monk
Dharmapala. They exalted a pure Sinhalese Buddhist race in
Sri Lanka to the exclusion of all others. The race purity creed
surfaced contemporaneously with Hitler’s goal of making Nazi
Germany pure Aryan.
Reminiscent of white racist politicians in the South
during Jim Crow in the United States, Sri Lankan prime
ministerial or presidential candidates routinely pledge to be
more genocidal towards Tamils than their campaign rivals to
win Sinhalese Buddhist votes. Each political contest culminates
in higher plateaus of Tamil genocide than had been set by its
predecessor.
At independence, Sri Lanka’s population was then
generally divided into two ethnic-religious groups. The
commanding majority were Sinhalese Buddhists with a
smattering of Sinhalese Christians. They constituted an
approximately 77% voting majority, and resided predominately
in the west and south. Tamil Hindus with a small percentage of
Tamil Christians comprised approximately 18% of the
population. They resided primarily in the north and east. The
remainder consisted of Tamil-speaking Muslims who largely
resided in the east.
Like Jews in Nazi Germany, Tamils are excluded from
service in the Sri Lankan armed forces, security services, or law
enforcement agencies. In the Jaffna peninsula and the North-
East, Tamils are exposed to conditions of life intended to lead to
their physical destruction in whole or in substantial part. Those
conditions include, but are not limited to, starvation;
malnutrition; disease; chronic displacements; lack of housing,
medical care, education, and communications; abject poverty,
and permanent physical and economic insecurity.
Since Sri Lanka’s birth, only one non-trivial crime
perpetrated by a Sinhalese Buddhist against a Tamil has ever
been prosecuted and seriously punished; and, no Tamil has ever
been compensated for injuries inflicted by the GOSL for its
orchestrated riots or crimes.
Long before the LTTE came into being, Tamils had been
viciously persecuted and slaughtered by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese
Buddhist majority with impunity. Mahatma Gandhi-like
peaceful protests by Tamils against subjugation were answered
with brutality.
In 1956, the Sinhalese-Buddhist majority enacted the
“Sinhala Only Act.” It made Sinhalese the exclusive official
language of Sri Lanka and stripped the Tamil language of equal
dignity or respect. The exaltation of Sinhalese severely
compromised the ability of Tamils to compete professionally,
academically, and politically, and handicapped their legal
protection because all complaints or testimonies must be in
Sinhalese.
Two-hundred Tamils peacefully assembled on Galle Face
Green, which faces the Sri Lankan parliament, to protest the
Sinhala Only Act on June 5, 1956. Led by junior minister
Rajaratna, Sinhalese mobsters attacked the Tamils and pelted
the protestors with stones while the Sinhala police gazed on in
amusement. Rioting against Tamils soon spread nationwide,
including the major cities of Colombo, Batticaloa, Trincomalee,
and Gal Oya. When the rioting ended, approximately 150
Tamils were dead. The GOSL neither attempted to prosecute
the Sinhalese attackers nor compensated the Tamil victims. No
apology for the rioting was offered.
After the conflict with the LTTE commenced, the
Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL routinely responded to military
attacks by massacring the Tamil civilian population, like
Hitler’s destruction of Lidice in World War II. “Black July” of
1983 was emblematic.
In response to an LTTE attack in the Jaffna Peninsula on
Sri Lanka’s Army that killed 13 soldiers, the GOSL orchestrated
the mass murder of Tamil civilians and destruction of their
properties. They were removed from buses and cars to be
hacked and burned alive. In Colombo alone, more than 2,000
were slaughtered and 70,000 displaced. Elsewhere, more than
1,000 were slain and 150,000 were displaced and driven into
refugee camps. When the rioting concluded, 18,000 homes had
been damaged, 20,000 Tamil shops had been ravaged, and more
than 100 Tamil industrial plants had been destroyed. In Jaffna
alone, 175 homes had been set ablaze by policemen. Thirty-nine
Hindu and Tamil places of worship were destroyed. No
Sinhalese Buddhist culprit was prosecuted, and, no Tamil victim
was compensated. Then GOSL President Jaywardene sneered
to a British reporter in an interview republished in the
government-run Sunday Observer on July 17: “I am not worried
about the opinion of the Jaffna [Tamil] people now…Now we
can’t think of them. Not about their lives or their opinion about
us.”
III. Violence perpetrated by the incumbent Sinhalese Buddhist
Government of Sri Lanka against Tamil civilians has crossed
the line into genocide, which justified a criminal investigation
under United States laws. The crime of genocide under the
United States Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 (GAA) is
defined as physically destroying or attempting to destroy in
whole or in substantial part a racial, ethnic, religious or national
group, as such, through extrajudicial killings, serious bodily
injury, or the creation of conditions of life intended to cause the
physical destruction of the targeted group.
In spearheading the enactment of the GAA, Senator
Richard Durbin (D. Ill.), had in mind the cases of U.S. dual
citizen Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary, and
U. S. permanent resident Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s Army
Commander. The Senator elaborated: “What we are saying to
those around the world who are engaged in uncivilized and
barbaric conduct is do not even consider coming to the United
States as your retirement home…There is no place for you to
hide.” Then Senators Barack Obama (D. Ill.), Joseph Biden (D.
Del.), and Hillary Clinton (D. N.Y.) supported Senator Durbin
and the GAA.
On February 5, 2009, I had delivered to U.S. Attorney
General Eric H. Holder a three-volume, 1000 page model 12-
count genocide indictment against Rajapaksa and Fonseka
charging violations of the GAA. (An executive summary is
attached as Exhibit 1). Derived from affidavits, court
documents, and contemporaneous media reporting, the
indictment chronicles a tale of Sinhalese Buddhists attempting
to make Sri Lanka “Tamil free.” Rajapaksa and Fonseka
assumed their current offices in December 2005. They exercise
command responsibility over Sri Lanka’s mono-ethnic Sinhalese
security forces. On their watch, they have attempted to
physically destroy Tamils in whole or in substantial part
through more than 3,800 extrajudicial killings or
disappearances; the infliction of serious bodily injury on tens of
thousands; and, the creation of conditions of life intended to lead
to the physical destruction of Tamil civilians, including
starvation, withholding medicines and hospital care,
humanitarian aid embargoes, bombing and artillery shelling of
schools, hospitals, churches, temples; and, the displacements of
more than 1.3 million civilians into camps, which were then
bombed and shelled. This degree of mayhem inflicted on the
Tamil civilian population because of ethnicity or religion ranks
with the atrocities in Bosnia and Kosovo that occasioned
genocide indictments against Serbs by the International
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
During the past two months, a virtual reenactment of the
Bosnian Srebrenica genocide of more than 7,000 Muslims has
unfolded. Sri Lanka’s armed forces employed indiscriminate
bombing and shelling to herd 350,000 Tamil civilians into a
government-prescribed “safe zone,” a euphemism for Tamil
killing fields. There, more than 2,000 have been slaughtered and
a greater number have been injured by continued bombing and
shelling. As a preliminary to the horror, roads and medical aid
were blocked and humanitarian workers and all media were
expelled. During a BBC radio interview on February 2, 2009,
Rajapaksa declared that outside the “safe zone” nothing should
“exist.” A hospital was repeatedly bombed killing scores of
patients. Rajapaksa further proclaimed that in Sri Lanka any
person not involved in fighting on behalf of the Government of
Sri Lanka was a terrorist, and that any person who criticized
the GOSL should anticipate a death squad. General Fonseka is
no less definitive that Sri Lanka is Sinhalese Buddhist (not a
multi-ethnic) nation. In a September 23, 2008, interview with
Stewart Bell of the Canadian National Post, Fonseka conceded:
“I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese….”
Under Article 5 of the Genocide Convention of 1948,
ratified by the United States Senate in 1986, the United States
is obligated to provide “effective penalties” for genocide. That
imposes an obligation on signatory parties to investigate and to
prosecute credible charges.
The predictable GOSL defense of counter-terrorism will
not wash. Not a single Tamil victim identified in the genocide
indictment was involved in the longstanding ethnic civil war
between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE—including
the victims who were attacked in hospitals, schools, temples,
churches, and displaced person camps.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former
Secretary of Defense William Cohen recently published a report
placing genocide on the national security agenda. The State
Department lists Sri Lanka as an investigatory target in its
Office of War Crimes. The New York based Genocide Prevention
Project last December labeled Sri Lanka as a country of “highest
concern.” President Barack Obama has made the case for
military intervention in Sudan or elsewhere to stop atrocities.
The justification for opening a genocide investigation of citizen
Rajapaksa and permanent resident Fonseka is thus compelling.
In addition, an investigation or indictment, despite little current
prospect of extradition from Sri Lanka for trial in the United
States, would probably deter the GOSL from some of its most
gruesome killing tactics.
IV. Recommendations for stopping the genocide or slaughter of
Tamil civilians by the Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL.
I would suggest the United States consider the following
measures:
• Seek an international arms embargo on Sri Lanka in the
United Nations Security Council under Chapter 7 of the
United Nations Charter;
• List Sri Lanka (along with Sudan, Iran, Syria, and Cuba)
as a state sponsor of terrorism under United States laws,
which would trigger various sanctions;
• Freeze the United States assets of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
and Sarath Fonseka;
• Deny visas to the GOSL leadership, including President
Mahinda Rajapaksa;
• Vote against economic aid to the GOSL at the World Bank
and IMF;
• Deny Sri Lankan goods favorable tariff treatment;
• List Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and
Sarath Fonseka as specially designated terrorists under
Executive Order 13224.
• Support a “One country, two systems” political solution to
the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
• Withdraw the United State Ambassador from Colombo
until the genocide and indiscriminate killing of Tamil
civilians by the Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL ceases.
Conclusion
For decades, the primary horrors in Sri Lanka have been
inflicted on Tamil civilians by the GOSL. Like triage, their
plight should be addressed first though genocide prosecutions or
otherwise.
Exhibit1
Executive Summary
Model Indictment Charging U.S. Citizen and Sri Lankan Defense
Secretary and U.S. Permanent Resident and Commander of Armed
Forces
Bruce Fein1, attorney for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), has
gathered evidence that the crime of genocide under United States law has
been committed against the indigenous civilian Tamil population of Sri
Lanka outside of any conceivable war or conflict zone, for example, temples,
churches, schools, or hospitals. The evidence is collected in a three-volume,
1,000 page prod model indictment which charges U.S. citizen and Sri
Lankan Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and U.S. permanent
resident and Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Lt. General Saratha
Fonseka, with 12 counts of genocide, and 106 counts of war crimes and
torture, in violation of U.S. domestic statutes 18 USC § 1091, 18 USC § 2441,
and 18 USC § 2340A.
TAG submitted the model indictment to the U.S. Department of
Justice on February 5, 2009 for the US Attorney General to initiate a grand
1 Bruce Fein is former associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald
Reagan and author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for our
Constitution and Democracy.
jury investigation aimed at filing a federal criminal case in the U.S. District
Court for the Central District of California.
A recent US statute now makes it a crime for US citizens and
permanent residents to be responsible for the crime of genocide committed
even outside US borders. If filed, this case would be the first test of the
United States Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 sponsored by Senator
Richard Durbin (D. Ill.), and supported by then Senators Barack Obama (D.
Ill.), Joseph Biden (D. Del.) and Hillary Clinton (D. N.Y.)
The Sinhala-dominated government has discriminated against and
persecuted the civilian Tamils of Sri Lanka since independence in 1948.
Since the ethnic conflict erupted between the Sri Lankan armed forces and
Tamil rebels in 1983, the Tamil areas of the North-East have been subjected
to harrowing destruction. The Tamil people there have been indiscriminately
killed, disappeared, kidnapped, raped, and otherwise persecuted with the
intent to destroy Tamil groups in whole or in substantial part because they
are not Sinhalese Buddhists.
Command Responsibility for Genocide, War Crimes and Torture
The model indictment organizes all relevant crimes committed against
Tamils in Sri Lanka between December 5, 2005 and January 29, 2009. By
compiling legal evidence, this document intends to prove that the defendants
are individually criminally responsible for genocide, war crimes, and torture
as recognized and punishable under U.S. domestic law. Genocide is the
deliberate and systematic destruction or attempted destruction, in whole or
in substantial part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group, as such.
War crimes are the violation of the laws and customs of war and include the
murder, ill-treatment or deportation of civilians, the wanton destruction of
cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military
necessity.
As detailed in the model indictment, the specific crimes of genocide,
war crimes, and torture committed against Tamils during the period from
December 5, 2005 to January 29, 2009 (Eelam War IV), from the gang-rape of
Tharshini Illayathamby to the Sencholai school bombing, were committed
under the military command responsibility of the defendants through the
following non-exhaustive list of methods which were systematically employed
in Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan armed forces and government-sponsored
paramilitaries:
Murder, massacre, torture, mutilation and maiming, disappearance,
abduction, rape, gang-rape, sexual abuse and assault, arbitrary or indefinite
detention, indiscriminate aerial bombardment, indiscriminate artillery
shelling, a permanent cycle of displacement and re-displacement, starvation,
deprivation of essential goods, medicine, education and public services,
harassment, intimidation, and other stark conditions of life intended to cause
the physical destruction of Tamil groups in whole or in substantial part.
These crimes have brought the Sri Lankan Tamil community to
substantial physical destruction, as the model indictment details:
• “Every living Tamil in the Jaffna peninsula and the North-East
has been displaced, physically injured, and/or persecuted by the
Sinhalese Buddhist majority—an unprecedented victimization
rate approaching 100%.”
• “During more than two decades of war, including Eelam War IV,
in predominantly Northeastern provincial territories, all
Hindu/Christian North-East Sri Lankan Tamil villages have
been fully depopulated at least once.” “The economic blockade
and military attacks worked in tandem with a media blackout,
and confinement of Tamil civilians in the North-East intensified.
The GOSL continued their genocidal strategy of killing Tamils
in concentrated locations and imposing stringent conditions of
life with shortages of food, medicine, energy, or housing to
destroy Tamils physically through starvation, malnutrition,
disease, and exposure to the elements.”
• In one four-year period alone “Sri Lankan forces destroyed
150,000 homes, created six thousand widows, orphaned 4,000
children in the North-East, damaged 700 temples through
bombings, and removed various icons or holy Hindu images from
sixty-three temples.”
• “Poverty, displacement, and garrisoning of entire towns and
villages by Sri Lanka’s armed forces caused Jaffna's student
population to plunge by 100,000 since 1995, the Government
Agent for the northern district reported. Before Eelam III, the
student population in Jaffna was 240,000. By 2004, it had
dropped to 140,000.”
• “Genocide [was also accomplished] in Jaffna and the North-
East, respectively, in part through colonization, militarization,
and Sinhalization.” A population which had some of the best
indicators of civilian well-being in South Asia, including literacy
and infant mortality rates has now become one of the poorest
areas. For instance, “In 1991, of the total 148,080 tons of
essential foods needed in Jaffna, only 43,080 tons were supplied
– a 71% shortfall. Paddy production plunged 83%.” “Before
Eelam War II and the blockade, 700-1000 tons of food was
unloaded annually at Point Pedro Port in Jaffna; during Eelam
War II, that quantify fell to 100 tons.” “The fishing sector
provided subsistence and livelihoods for 200,000 Tamils. Annual
fish production in this sector fell from 104,300 tons to 1,094
tons, a drop of 98.95%, occasioned by national security
restrictions. Local consumption before the blockade annually
required 6,605 tons of fish. Only 16.6% of that tonnage was
caught after 1990.” In 2002, “[t]he SLA destroyed 50,000
palmyra trees on the route joining Thalaimannar to Mannar.
Approximately forty thousand Tamil families depend on
palmyra plantations while another twenty-five thousand
families’ livelihood depends on toddy production, handicrafts, as
well as other tree products.” “In the 10-months from June 1990
to April 1991, North-Eastern hospitals required 220 million
rupees to operate, but the GOSL only supplied 7% – 15 million –
of the required amount, and did so irregularly.” During the same
period, “Amparai, whose Sinhala population had risen since
independence due to state-sponsored colonization, received
funding and treatment for 90% of their needs.” “In the Jaffna
peninsula, for example, the SLA’s Operation Whirlwind in May
1992 bombed 8 hospitals and surrounding infrastructure.”
• “The Mannar Bishop and human rights activists lamented [in
1998] that the CSU [Counter Subversive Unit] habitually
arrests women such as Sivamani and Wijikala from various
parts of the Mannar district to rape and exploit brutally under
the pretext of interrogation and extended detention pursuant to
the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency
Regulations.”
• Colonization of Sinhalese into Tamil areas has continued apace.
For instance, “The GOSL began construction of a Buddhist
shrine in Vilankulam, a traditional Tamil village in 2002… In a
companion act of religious bigotry, [nearby, two weeks later] the
GOSL banned renovation of the historic Hindu temple at
Kanniya, in Trincomalee.” In 2007, “[w]hile a majority of the
222 Tamil families from the traditionally all Tamil Raalkuli
village in Muthur division in Trincomalee District had been
displaced due to SLA and SLAF attacks, by this date, a
Colombo-based Buddhist organization laid the foundation stone
for 138 houses intended for the settlement of Sinhala-Buddhist
civilians in the village.”
• “The fact is that not a single member of the security forces had,
at the date of the Mission, been convicted of murder… A culture
of impunity has developed, with perpetrators of grave violations
being convicted of minor offenses or, in most cases, not at all.” --
Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers in Geneva,
1997. “Torture has been facilitated by widespread impunity of
the perpetrators. To date, no member of the security forces has
been brought to justice for committing torture." -- Amnesty
International, 1998
The Eelam War IV genocidal motivation can be understood only when
juxtaposed with the post-independence pattern of facts and historical events
which show the persistent intent of successive democratically elected
Sinhala-Buddhist regimes to commit deliberate acts of genocide with the
intent to destroy in whole or in substantial part the Hindu/Christian North-
East Sri Lankan Tamil national, ethnic, racial, religious group, as such, in
the North-East provincial territories of Sri Lanka, which includes the heavily
populated Jaffna peninsula.
Genocide and War Crimes
Proof of genocidal motivation is occasionally direct, as with Defendant
Fonseka’s assertion that Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese nation—not a multi-ethnic
nation. Other evidence of motivation is circumstantial, for example, no
Tamils serve in the security forces; and, no Sinhalese Buddhist perpetrator of
extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and other atrocities has ever been both
prosecuted and punished in more than 60 years, with one minor exception.
12 counts of genocide are charged in the model indictment, followed by
106 counts of war crimes and torture. These introduce the option of legal
action which charges the defendants for acts of war crimes and acts of torture
where, unlike the counts of genocide, the proof of intent to physically destroy
on whole or in substantial part a Tamil group is not required.
The indictment charges violations of U.S. criminal laws, not
international law. The institutions entrusted with enforcing international
criminal prohibitions, for instance, the International Criminal Court or the
International Court of Justice, are routinely hijacked by big-power politics.
China would frustrate any effort to call the Defendants to account before
international bodies, just as it has for its own crimes against Tibetans or
Uighurs.
Recourse is being made to prosecuting these crimes in US courts
because the government of Sri Lanka, controlled by the island’s Sinhala-
Buddhist majority, has been an impediment to delivering any justice for
crimes against Tamils in Sri Lanka. Further, the defendants are a U.S.
citizen and U.S. permanent resident, whom the United States has a special
responsibility for prosecuting under the Genocide Convention of 1948, which
was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1986. United States courts are fiercely
independent, and will not be distracted in a genocide prosecution about
arguments over the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization or other
irrelevancies to the crime that the defendants would attempt to interject.
The Counts
Genocide Counts
The charges of genocide in the model indictment are separated into 12
counts as discernable by the differing methods of genocide in different
territorial areas of North-East Sri Lanka. The 12 counts of genocide are
comprised of 5 region-level counts and 6 village-cluster levels of genocide.
The 5 regions are listed below:
Region-level Genocide
1. Non-Government-Controlled Northern Territory (NGNT)
Vanni Region, which includes Mullaithivu and
Kilinochchi districts (as of January, 2008)
2. Government-Controlled Northern Territory 1 (GNT-1)
Jaffna peninsula that includes the Jaffna district and the Jaffna islets
3. Government-Controlled Northern Territory 2 (GNT-2)
Vavuniya District, Mullaithivu District and Mannar
District
4. Eastern Territory (ET)
Trincomalee District, Batticaloa District, Amparai
District
5. Southern Territory (ST)
Western Province, Central Province, Sabaragumuwa
Province, and the Southern Province
Village Cluster-level Genocide
The 6 village clusters of the village-cluster level genocide counts 6-11,
whose villages where acts of genocide occurred are listed in the charging
section of the model indictment are
a. Sampoor village cluster
b. Mannar/Manthai village cluster
c. Vavuniya North village cluster
d. Mullaithivu South village cluster
e. Poonakari village cluster
f. Pallai-Vadamaradchi East village cluster
War Crimes and Torture
The war crimes under the War Crimes Act of 1996 and the U.S.
criminal prohibition of torture in fulfillment of the Convention Against
Torture listed in this model indictment are not comprehensive. They will be
supplemented with new evidence that TAG expects to be generated by the
model indictment example. In U.S law, the new charges would be contained
in what is called a “superseding indictment.”
In this model indictment, there are 106 counts of war crimes and
torture. Each act of torture, murder, rape, mutilation or maiming, sexual
abuse or abuse, is charged separately by individual.
The 106 counts include, in no particular order, all Tamil civilian
victims of the following:
• Separate acts of torture in the areas of Jaffna, Batticaloa, and
Colombo carried out through a non-exhaustive list of torture
methods used by the Sri Lankan armed forces and governmentsponsored
paramilitaries;
• Murder of Tamil civilian male Joseph Pararajasingam;
• Trinco-5 massacre;
• Allaipitti massacre;
• ACF-17 massacre;
• Sencholai bombing;
• Rape of Tharshini Illayathamby;
• Murder, decapitation, and body mutilation by dismemberment of
Tamil civilian male Fr. Jim Brown;
• Murder and decapitation of a 5-month old Tamil male infant by
an indiscriminate aerial bombardment of a Tamil civilian area;
and,
• Sexual assault of 51 Tamils in Boosa Detention Camp.
Explaining Tamil Genocide
All previous well-known genocides which have occurred since the end
of World War II have been characterized by a massive number of murders in
a small defined locality occurring in a short time period and carried out by an
actor seeking the total physical extermination of a particular ethnic group.
The post-1945 genocide cases often cited are: the Holocaust, , the Kurds in
Iraq, the Srebrenica massacre, and Rwanda.
By contrast, Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils has taken place over
a number of years and is more characterized by widespread, prolonged
displacement and destruction of the community’s physical and cultural base
than murder. For this and also wider geopolitical reasons, the destruction of
the Sri Lankan Tamils is less well-understood in the world at large as a case
of genocide.
The 2007 US Genocide Accountability Act defines genocide as an
attempt to physically destroy a group in whole or in substantial part because
of race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality, as such, by employing the following
tactics: extrajudicial killings or disappearances; the infliction of serious
bodily harm; or, the creation of conditions of life intended to cause the
physical destruction of a racial, religious, ethnical, or national group in whole
or in substantial part. The evidence collected and organized in the model
indictment establishes a prima facie case that Eelam War IV is genocide
masquerading as counter-insurgency. Every incident of genocide chronicled
in the indictment was inflicted on Tamil civilians outside any conceivable war
zone and uninvolved in the ethnic conflict between the LTTE and the
government.
The central difference between the Tamil genocide and other post-1945
genocides is that in Sri Lanka the culture of genocide seeks to physically
destroy Tamils in substantial part, not in whole, if the Tamil survivors are
willing to accept vassalage or serfdom to Sinhalese Buddhists.
Eelam War IV, and the Tamil genocide between December 6, 2005 and
January 29, 2009 as detailed and alleged in the model indictment, inherits
and continues a post-1948 Sinhala-Buddhist culture of genocide against Sri
Lankan Tamils which fundamentally seeks to create a racially pure Sinhala-
Buddhist state as prophesied in the 13th century pseudo-historical text of Sri
Lankan Sinhala-Buddhism, the “Mahavamsa.” It is widely taught, read, and
revered today among Sinhalese Buddhists as incontrovertible truth..
From the first to the last page of the model indictment, the evidence is
mountainous that the ascendant Sinhalese Buddhist power structure has
invariably acted on the conviction that Sri Lanka is a mono-ethnic-religious
nation and that all other groups are aliens or interlopers whose physical
existence (when it is tolerated) is at the grace of the government.

Unknown said...

http://specials.rediff.com/news/

2009/feb/23slid5-interview-sunanda-

deshapriya-lanka-war-not-the-

solution.htm

'But you know what is happening in Nigeria, Gaza, etc. More civilians might have died in the north than in Gaza, but how many people know about that? The human tragedy there has been much more severe than in Gaza. It is a silent war.'

dsk said...

saul,
have you tried cyberlk.com and defence.lk? i think defence.lk shows more terrain

Infinity said...

Blogger Civilian said...

"!! Stop the WAR !!"

Do not worry, the conventional war will be over in a few days.

Anonymous said...

/Infinity said...

Blogger Civilian said...

"!! Stop the WAR !!"/

Ha Ha. He says that only and no need to bother reading his collapsed comment.

Unknown said...

'The 57, which performed a herculean task in the fighting upto Kilinochchi and Task Forces 3 and 4 in Oddusudan etc. have received a well deserved break and are now placed in the reserve.'

DW,
In all your reports, you write about 'reserve'. Does this mean that 'long way to go'?

Sujeewa Kokawala said...

DW,

I am guessing that this TF8 is an extension of 593 brigade. How accurate am I?

I am not very much supportive to your classification of divisions and task forces. True that they all didn't fight in equal capacity, but they all did their best. 57, 58, 59 especially took on most of the challenge. Although they marched with the cover of 57th, 58th has kept the national record for the longest march by a division.

Sam Perera said...

sujeewa,

TF8 will eventually become 68th division. As for 59, I believe that they are our premier jungle warfare division through experience.

Brave1 said...

For all the MFs who wnts to stop the war....

1. If you really want to do something go meet VP and tell him

2. Any ways in few days it will be over as the day the last LTTEer going to bite the dust is quite close. That will spare your effort.

So,,,it is you who got to do the work and don;t expect us to do the work....

Lazy bones...no wonder you guys are getting raped....lol

Infinity said...

As a guess, the army during the last few months may have had something from many hundred to at most a few thousand casualties of varying severity per month. The LTTE at least so many.

When the conventional phase is over then the LTTE will no longer have artillery, arms factories, and a population to conscript. There is no longer a need to cross earth bunds and minefields under enemy fire. Sure some hardcore LTTE fighers may continue with hit-and-run attacks from the jungle for a while. I suspect army casualties will then dramatically drop to maybe a few tens each months. Eventually, if the LTTE does not disappear completely, it will be a group like the ETA and many other failed terrorist groups who are not really serious threats to their nations.

LTTE overseas may morph into something like the maffia or the triads or some other ethnic organized crime group. Most likely having overseas tamils as their primary victims for extortions and such.

Unknown said...

Our LTTE heros are fighting with mininal soldiers, limited weapons, no food, no medicine, no hospitals, no boots on leg, ....Within these they are fighting 50000 well-armed, air suported soldiers of a government helped by many countries.. THEY ARE THE REAL BRAVE FIGHTERS in the world.

sinhale said...

Excellent article to distribute.

"Statement from the Mackenzie Institute in Canada"
"Enough Already with the Genocide Talk"

Link

Infinity said...

Another good article:

Sri Lankan Makes Submission To Senate Foreign Relations Committee

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/15748

Sam Perera said...

shan,

I totally agree. They fight with nothing against a huge army. They got to be your heroes since they protect Thalaivar. What I meant by "they" are the civilian shields in front of LTTE.

Brave1 said...

Shan said...

"Our LTTE heros are fighting with mininal soldiers, limited weapons, no food, no medicine, no hospitals, no boots on leg, ....Within these they are fighting 50000 well-armed, air suported soldiers of a government helped by many countries.. THEY ARE THE REAL BRAVE FIGHTERS in the world."

Stage is your...and say fast...you may not get another chance to talk of these extraordinary brave one...who had done nothing but "withdrawals".

So...keep going...

Lol.

Arsath said...

Hi DW

whats the truth about this news? The pictures cannot be falsified is there anyway that SLA can minimize civilian casualties, the more the casualties the easier it would be for the tigers to recruit civilians. Please check the below link.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28515

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

MASS SURRENDER OF SLA IN PTK!!

ACCORDING TO LTTE-SOURCES 300 SOLDIERS SURRENDERED TODAY TO THE TIGERS IN PTK,AFTER THEY WERE HOPELESSLY SURROUNDED IN THE TOWN-CENTER!!! THEY WERE HANDCUFFED AND BLINDFOLDED AND BROUGHT TO A POW-CAMP ON THE COAST

Anonymous said...

CJ is not a tiger, an attention seeker.

Peter said...

CJ,

What say Lanka TV and Lankan radio?

Lalith Kuruwita said...

HUTHU KUDU !!!


HUTHU KUDU !!!!!!



HUTHU KUDU !!!!!!!!!!

Saul said...

dsk said

saul,
have you tried cyberlk.com and defence.lk? i think defence.lk shows more terrain


dsk thanks for the info. I often go to defence.lk to see the order of battle map. It's pretty cool, but does not (as far as I know) give details about terrain.

I just saw the cyberlk.com map based on your advice. It's also quite detailed and informative, but does not have terrain info.

I think google earth will be the best answer.

ConspiracyTheory said...

We can hear US Senate Foreign Relations Committe hearing live

Live Broadcast of Today's Hearing:
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SRI LANKA

Lalith Kuruwita said...

{{{
# A lot of things found but SLA still couldn't find CJ's lost balls.}}}

It is in Mahathir's (VP's Wife) c*nt.

He put all 3 in when he got the opportunity after Pottu's vanish.

But two got stuck inside.

If SLA can get Mahathir, we can find CJ's Balls.

Gringo said...

[300 SOLDIERS SURRENDERED TODAY TO THE TIGERS....]

Only 300?

Buddy... The revenge for 70,000 proud Sri Lankans killed by the Tamil terrorists
is still 'past due'... and it's we are processing the applications of the Tamil terrorists on ‘case by case’ basis...

We shall definitely give appropriate 'attention' to additional numbers as we go on.... whatever they are. We guarantee your seat to watch 'Return of the Chenna Boys'...

Have patience.

Unknown said...

SL won't worry how many poor sinhalese youths are killed. Even if SLA doesn't have enough man power, India will pour its troops because its INDIA's WAR: Soniya Ghandi's personal revenge against Praba for her husband. We know already more than 5000 indian troops in Vanni.

Sam Perera said...

Shan,

You have a vivid imagination to think of Indian presence in Vanni as well as false superiority complex to believe that SL forces are not capable of defeating LTTE. I guess that is because years of punakku you were fed by LTTE terrorists.

SL said...

Hi CJ, remember the sibernews article @ http://www.sibernews.com/200901241350/

"[500 SLA dead bodies recorved and 5000 SLA has been arrested by Tamil Eelam army, Unconfirmed Reports says. WAITING FOR THE OFFICIAL REPORT FROM WANNI, TAMIL EELAM FOR MORE NEWS.

Ferociously heavy battles ensued between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan Security Forces (SF) in Mulaitivu causing heavy casualties among the combatants. SF troopers` number of Sri Lankan heavy tanks and artilleries were bog down in the ensuing fighting, according to the sources in Vanni.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting was also reported between SF troops and LTTE in many areas, Northeast of Kalmadu and Nethiliaru, South of the A-35 Paranthan-Pooneryn main road since Friday.

Mlitary sources says, that Iranaimadu Tank was destryoyed and thus cuased heavy flodding in the area.

Military sources says that two of the villages SF troopers advanced recently fully submerged in the water.]"

You should have inflate the numbers higher to beat that wet dream.

Fxxk off you lttp coolies, your days are numbered!

SL LION said...

Guys,i have close sources to the army -staff and minutes ago one officer told me,that PTK-Town is not yet fallen. The LTTE is offering fierce resistance,much more resistance than in Killinochchi,Mullaittivu or elsewhere. Army-staff believes,that this is connected with the fact,that PTK is the last town under LTTE-clutches. Fierce house-and street fighting is raging all over the town,army hopes to seize PTK within next 30 hours. Let´s pray for few SLA-losses and a soon victory,Lion-brothers

Unknown said...

Sam Perera,

Fundemental thing is: SL cannot afford economically to allocate $3 billion to defence. A small poor nation cannot afford this much of firepower usage. SL firepower increased 100 times from Chandrika government. Chandrika already spent maximum possible to war. Then how come Mahinda afford this much? Is there any industrial growth or any sudden economical revolution in SL? Then how come? Even mighty US struggling economically due to war in Afgan and Iraq.

If they are not supported financially by India and other IC, SL will go to banktrupcy within few days.

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

Thanks DW,

Guys,

LTTE is fighting hard to keep Puthukudi to protect and save their valuable military assets which cannot be moved easily.

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

Shan the terrorist said,

5000 Indian troops Fighting in Wanni.

Oh yes, it is not 5000 we got 50,000 Indians to fight LTTE.

So What?

Sam Perera said...

shan,

I suggest you to spend little more time to learn about Sri Lankan economy to come up with facts to support your claims. Anything short of that is your wild imagination.

4C said...

Hey Civilian,

It’s your name only “Civilian”. Why don’t u read the latest news in South “Karametiya”? Aren’t they civilians?

And it’s not like a story made by Tnut. any Pro LTTE media can go there and confirm what has happen.
Shut up you Barbarians. We know how to end ur day dreams. It’s very close. That’s why you writing so long bull shit things. (not like previous posts) Sorry for ur money which spend to LTTE for killing innocent civilians in north & south.

Why don’t u come & fight against SLA ha…. MF’n cowards. Organize some more rally’s, protests against SLA advance. That’s the only thing you can do. Even God will not hear to U barbarians. Coz he knows what u have done exactly.

Change ur name BARBARIAN.

Gringo said...

After all these reversals for the Tamil terrorists... some of their sponsors still try to lean on the flimsy arguments such as... 'Sri Lanka will go bankrupt'... 'There will be hit-and-run attacks by the Tamil terrorists'...... 'Economy will bust'... 'Foreign monkeys will land'....etc...

But they are blindfolded to see the writings on the front wall.... that when it comes to the country... Sri Lankans, including the worst politicos... will shed all differences and fight the Tamil terrorists to the finish.

Our most effective weapon? The very effective 'Divide and auto-Kill' method.

That is to divide the Tamil terrorists and Tamil Diaspora coolies / separatists into manageable, small lots... like we do with fleas, flies, cockroaches, mice etc... and throw in the 'Tamil identity' flame.... and the scenario will be on auto-pilot...

Because when it comes to age-old Tamil terrorism... our destiny always hung in balance on one surefire formula...

KILL MORE... ACHIEVE MORE.

Prove me wrong, if you can.

So it’s our solemn duty to train our future generations to invent more and more novel imaginative ways to divide the willing Tamil terrorists and coolies… and send them all the way to the next world... the glorified Elaam.

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

Guys,

READ THIS AND ANALYSE IT CAREFULLY

The master minds behind Tamil Diaspora now say they have subcontracted Tamil Nationalism to LTTE. However “thambi” now known as thaleivar hijacked the cause and relied mainly on military methods. They also claim failure of LTTE is a major part of Tamil Diaspora failure by not taking stronger political methods.

Master minds now want to have another subcontractor who will be focusing on political methods to achieve eelam without giving much attention to military methods.

This is a real danger because Tamil Diaspora is now well known and well placed in international arena to call shots from big guns. Unless SLG and Sri Lankans are careful next phase of Tamil struggle will be harder than the first.

මොරටු සමන් - MoratuSaman said...

Thank you DefenceWire

Ela-da-Bra...Boss.

Ape Kollan Huthukudirippuwa saaha Mullin Al-lana dawasa Ithama Langaie

Unknown said...

Gringo says

"KILL MORE... ACHIEVE MORE"

Thank you for openly expressing your cruel genocidal face of sinhala regime.

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

THE REAL DANGER
They never give up their struggle. Even before first phase is over; they wanted to start second phase of the struggle.



Read Here

Gringo said...

Kasthuri...

Well observed... and we must guard ourselves. But they are tiny bit late!

There are massive expansions on the cards to develop and tap the resources of the NE for the benefit of all Sri Lankans.

Once they are being implemented, and the people prosper, the worthless piece of sh*t called 'Tamil' identity will find its due place probably in Toiletnadu.

Yet the herd of cattle, who are clearly branded 'Tamil Diaspora’ will have some use left... for the smart politicians in the TN, West etc. exploit.

Who cares!

Unknown said...

Kasthuri:

You are 100% right. We never give up our strugle. Because we are fighting for freedom. Our strugle not just started with LTTE in 1976. It started in 1950's using non-violence methods. We want our land. We are not asking your land. We want to rule overselves. Not ruled by you. This struggle may change its forms BUT will never end.

Gringo said...

[Thank you for openly expressing your cruel genocidal face of sinhala regime.]

Thanks for the feedback.

Whan you have a minute call Velu and ask what name he used for the project that dispatched 70,000 of my brothers and sisters early to the next world.

Let us know his reply.

මොරටු සමන් - MoratuSaman said...

Our most effective weapon? The very effective 'Divide and auto-Kill' method.


Ha..hah..ha..heh...

Ela-Kiri machang

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri Bro.

"This is a real danger because Tamil Diaspora is now well known and well placed in international arena to call shots from big guns. Unless SLG and Sri Lankans are careful next phase of Tamil struggle will be harder than the first. "

Don't worry macho...their master mind not going to work in Sri Lanka...road side baaham will take care of them.

All they can do is hooting in western world. collect welfare, musterbate, sleep etc...

sorry about my french.

Thusitha said...

Can we make all the NGO activity more transparent. Make them put every thing they do over the Interent, so people can monitor what they do and how they spend there money. Otherwise there would be another disaster like this again.

No_MESS said...

Moshe,
Have you seen this?

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090224_06

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

Gringo,

I sincerely hope I am wrong and you are correct on this mate.

I just want to see what senate committee of USA will come up with their hearing today. Also the UK is trying hard to discredit SLG after failed peace envoy attempt.

We are at really dangerous water now and SLG need all help and courage to overcome obstacles that will be created continuously by dark forces to stop our progress on unity and prosperity.

Thusitha said...

Also a set of people who screen the people who work for NGOs. These people cause irraparable damage to our country and name. It would be really good if we screen them before we give visas to come and work here.

lankaputhra said...

SCENARIOS: What's next for Sri Lanka's 25-year war?


By C. Bryson Hull

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka dismissed calls for a truce with the Tamil Tigers on Tuesday, with its soldiers battling for control of the last town held by the separatists just a few kilometers away from the site of an expected final showdown.

Here are some scenarios about what could happen next in one of Asia's longest-running wars:

SHORELINE SHOWDOWN

The military has the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) boxed in and is battling to push them west toward a no-fire zone on the island's northeastern shore. Troops are about 5 km (3 miles) from the lagoon that is the western edge of that zone. Military commanders have told Reuters that most of the LTTE's commanders are there, including founder and leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran. That 12-km strip of land is already surrounded by troops on the north and south. The presence of tens of thousands of civilians has slowed down military operations, and commanders say they are waiting to see what the LTTE will do when they are penned in. How likely is a conventional military victory? Very. When Reuters was given a rare visit to the frontline on Monday, troops and tanks were moving forward amid heavy LTTE shelling and the no-fire zone was just 6 km away. Commanders are confident it is a matter of days, not weeks.

HOW WILL IT PLAY OUT?

Hard to say, but one thing is for certain -- the geography of the area will leave the LTTE completely surrounded. The military can then play a waiting game, and let the LTTE exhaust their ammunition. The LTTE's biggest trump card at the moment is the civilians. The government says there are 70,000, but aid agencies put the number at 200,000. Diplomats and aid agencies are working hard to figure the logistics of getting them out after the Red Cross had success in negotiating the evacuation of several boatloads of sick and wounded. But they have had no luck persuading the LTTE to let people move. The military says it does not shoot at civilians, and commanders are not saying what their plans are for what could amount to a huge hostage crisis.

CEASEFIRE?

To varying degrees, international players from the European Union to the United Nations have urged some type of halt in the fighting to allow civilians to get out. The LTTE asked the international community on Monday to push for a ceasefire, saying civilians were in bad shape because of the fighting. They did not address statements from witnesses who have escaped saying the LTTE was shooting those who tried to flee and forcing others to stay as human shields. The government has ruled out a ceasefire given the LTTE's history of using them to rearm. This time, the Tigers can surrender or be destroyed, the government says. Either a ceasefire or a surrender seem as likely as the sun rising in the west.

At no time in the 25-year conflict has the army been so close to handing the Tigers a conventional defeat, nor a Sri Lankan leader been as committed to military victory as President Mahinda Rajapaksa. And the Tigers wear cyanide capsules around their necks in case of capture.

AFTERMATH

No one, including the military, thinks the LTTE will completely wither away after a conventional defeat. The army says it is ready for hit-and-run guerrilla moves by the rebels for the immediate future. With the Tigers finished as a conventional force and all of the land back in government control, pressure for a political settlement to address the concerns of the Tamil minority will mount. So will pressure to promptly resettle thousands displaced by the war. Rajapaksa has said he plans to move swiftly on both counts once the war is over, and is already making good on his plans to redevelop war-hit areas. One likely event is that Rajapaksa will call an early election to capitalize on surging popularity because of the war. The only question is the timing.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

GutiKewa - ගුටි දෙනවා said...

Thanks for the update DW.

Even though 59 Division was slightly unsuccessful in their last battle they have done a GREAT service to our motherland. No doubt about that.

Bravo SLA!

Gringo said...

Kasthuri...

Relax.

US / UK / UN et al... know more than you and me.... that Sri Lanka is bending backwards to protect and rescue the hostages from the clutches of LTTE. As one military officer rightly put, it's just one day's work to wipe out the remaining terrorists, if civvies weren't there.

Await a very diplomatic statement... which will enhance the hopelessness of the Tamil Diaspora... who funded killing of 70,000 our folks + and destroyed our property worth billions in our country... and now shedding CROCODILE TEARS!

What chance Tamils Diaspora?

We are ready.

lankaputhra said...

I was amazed by the NGO’s worked carried out in North. There should be proper investigation on this matter and we should implement correct code of practice for every NGO in the country.
It’s better to start new ID card system with BIO-metric info before resettling IDPs in north. Eventually this must be compulsory for all the citizen in the country.

Gringo said...

[It’s better to start new ID card system with BIO-metric info before resettling IDPs in north. Eventually this must be compulsory for all the citizen in the country.
]

Absolutely.

Our population, as well as the country, is small. Also we have now realized (the hard way) that there are EXTERNAL threats to us.

So we MUST introduce and maintain MOST EXTREME security measures... every nook and corner of the country... in the interest of Sri Lankans... (not Canadians, Germans or Eskimos)

On our soil... we are KING... and we need not hesitate to show it off!

Thusitha said...

lankaputhra said...

It’s better to start new ID card system with BIO-metric info before resettling IDPs in north. Eventually this must be compulsory for all the citizen in the country.

-------
Yeah, this we must do, so that no one fuck around anymore. This way we can get the bastards who are responsible instead of killing innocent people.

Gringo said...

[From today's Wall Street Journal Asia.

The Sri Lankan government is steadily gaining ground against the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and an end to that country's 26-year-old civil war may finally be in sight. Now the United Nations, European Union and U.S. worry about a looming humanitarian crisis in the conflict zone. With the Tigers reportedly holding civilians hostage as human shields, Colombo has few good options. But the worst would be to stop now.


AP
Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The army says it has the Tigers cornered in a 24-square-mile patch in the Northern Province. But as many as 250,000 civilians, most of them innocent Tamils, may be trapped in that zone. While the government has tried to establish routes for them to leave and is providing camps for those who do, the Tigers reportedly refuse to allow the majority of these civilians out. They're too valuable as human shields, and as PR tools.

The government's options are either to push forward in the knowledge there will be civilian casualties or to heed international calls for a break in the fighting for a few days in the hopes the Tigers will allow the civilians out. Colombo insists it must keep the pressure on the Tigers, especially when it's so close to victory.

This week has seen renewed calls from the U.N., the EU and the U.S. for a temporary pause in fighting to allow civilians to flee. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that the U.N. "would strongly support a suspension of fighting." Also Monday, a conclave of European foreign ministers in Brussels called for an immediate cease-fire while a State Department spokesman said Washington "want[s] to see" Colombo and the Tigers "discuss ways to end the hostilities."

The Opinion Journal Widget
Download Opinion Journal's widget and link to the most important editorials and op-eds of the day from your blog or Web page.
The danger is that any let-up in the assault will give the Tigers time to regroup, thus extending the conflict and the civilian suffering even longer. A reminder of the danger the Tigers still can pose came with Friday's kamikaze aerial attack on Colombo with two small planes. That attack also casts doubt on the sincerity of the request for a cease-fire the Tigers issued Monday, especially since that proposal didn't include a promise to lay down their arms.

Nor is there any guarantee the Tigers would honor a break in the fighting, let alone allow the civilians to leave. The last time a formal cease-fire was negotiated, in 2002, the Tigers spent the following four years violating it frequently. Tiger leaders must also be keenly aware that their human shields are their last remaining "defense" against a Sri Lankan army better equipped and trained than any in the country's modern history.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's military offensive has made more progress against the Tigers than any effort in the past 26 years. The civil war has come at a high cost in Sri Lankan blood and treasure, a cost that may grow as this offensive reaches its conclusion. But the cost of stepping back from the fight would be higher still.]

Well... this doesn't have to come from WSJ.

Our political and military leaders seem to know what they are doing.

If we give ceasefire to Tamil terrorists now.... WE ARE DOOMED!

Moshe Dyan said...

no_mess,


thanks for the link.

strange that TN is silent about it which means they surely lost it.

done.

Saman said...

Shun,

/We want to rule overselves. Not ruled by you. This struggle may change its forms BUT will never end./

Yes, I totally agree Shun.
Yes, a Tamil maniac has ruled you last 30 years. That must be the happiest and most progressive era of Tamil civilization. No doubt.
Yes, you have a land (for few more days) 45sq Km. The rest is for IDP's at this stage.
Yes - this strucggle will change it's form but will never change. It hasn't for the last 2000 years and Sinhalese always - always won. We are in present and in future.

As for the "shape and form of your next struggle", bring it on man. Sinhalese have developed one of the best defenceforces in SA - in resources, skills, training and stratergy.

BRING IT ON BROTHER
BRING IT ON

Sri Lankan Diaspora is also growing and getting well placed and entrenced in the west. Sinhalese leaving for overseas studentships, as we speak, 8:1. In this rate we are comfortable.

Moshe Dyan said...

we did it to GAZA now we are doing it to VEZA (vezapillai).

what is good for israel is good for srilanka.

Moshe Dyan said...

gringo,

"The army says it has the Tigers cornered in a 24-square-mile patch in the Northern Province."

looks like our guys had made an error in calculating!!!

103 sq km
= 103 / (1.6*1.6)
= 40 sq miles

but we will get there soon with a BUMPER HARVEST! just 16 sq miles away.

MathaMathica1 said...

4C, Thushitha, Kasthuri, ConspiracyTheory,

As you are rightly contributing to achieve, ability to defend ourselves against future diasporic disturbances or other subversions by similar dark forces is as important as the military capabilities of SLDFs.

Continue the good work.

= = =

ReallyCold,

Thanks for publishing links to many worthwhile forums.

Ananda-USA said...

Moshe Dayan said..

give me sometime. gmail server is not responding. will get back to you ASAP.

Moshe, I had the same problem. I cheked my internet connection, it was good. Then, I thought some virus crept in, so I ran a full Norton Anti Virus scan; no viruses. Then, I remembered "when in doubt do what the neighbors do" and rebooted...still, no gmail!

Gmail was down about 30 min, I think. Google really should pay the electricity bill on time! :)

MathaMathica1 said...

Ananda-USA,

Thank you for highlighting the Dinky Winky’s outburst « Enough Is Enough » .

The essential is there, we can further enhance it by adding datas and references .

Ananda-USA said...

Mathematica1 said..


Ananda-USA,

Thank you for highlighting the Dinky Winky’s outburst « Enough Is Enough » .

The essential is there, we can further enhance it by adding datas and references .


Be my guest, bro. Add a Comment, and I'll add it to the Article itself.

Thanks! :) :)

Saman said...

Guys,

Pakisthan test may be a draw but not the battle between LTTE MF and GoSL. This will be an outright win.

Game is on and in our favour. This is the scenario,

GoSL will convince the West (or made them responsibel) that they are risking civilian lives by putting undue preasure at the operational command (buy a bunch of administrators, politicians and diplomats without due consultation with their respective defence experts) in the fight agaist LTTE terror.

Failing that, if IC is stupid enough to do that (i.e shy away from their responsibility is to provide their defence and rescue expertise in assist GoSL to bring civilians to safety), the eventuality is that SLDF finish the rest of LTTE scum (with or without GoSL backing) in couple of days with outright attack where 2000-3000 civilians may perish. Country is bigger than all.

Alternatively, SLDF may box them, cut supply lines from the west and use East coastline to feed and evacuate IDP's. They may hold fire for couple of days with a final demand to LTTE to release Civilians (with specific targets of civilian release- say 20,000 a day) before final push to kill LTTE(enough calls for surrender). And put those who call to end the war on notice - US, India, EU and UN, who ask for it, to take the responsibility to convince PadeSun to comply.

The idea is by this demand,GoSL to make 12 Km stretch ours by default and let LTTE defend/hold west FDL over this period (say a week) and take civilians out in small batches.

Would be very interesting couple of days.

Nisal said...

Latest visuals from PTK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJtyfUxsAlI&feature=channel_page

Nisal said...

Liberation Tigers of Tamil France

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIGL33cfbOY

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

Moshe,

24 sq.miles is correct! I saw some where the current eelam area has reduced to about 65sq.km!

Ananda-USA said...

Saman said...


Sri Lankan Diaspora is also growing and getting well placed and entrenced in the west. Sinhalese leaving for overseas studentships, as we speak, 8:1. In this rate we are comfortable.


Saman, bro, well said!

The LARGE & FAST GROWING Patriotic Sri Lankan Diaspora resource is still largely unorganized and untapped as a resource for the motherland.

The task of marshalling that resource to that end should be OUR goal, OUR contribution, to the mother Lanka.

The vision just boggles your mind: A Phalanx of Patriots, ever VIGILANT, ever ABLE & READY to defend Lanka!

MathaMathica1 said...

Ananda-USA,

Let us keep the original article as it is. Some of us can expand on each of the myths and add them as comments. And when we have fully busted all the myths we can add everything together to form a reference document, titled may be “ Tamil Separatist Mythology”

I’m working on:

[In 1972 standardization was implemented and this discriminated Tamils beyond belief. Northern province offers little opportunities and education is everything. You take it away from Tamils and they will not have any livelihood left.]

Will post my text soon.

Saman said...

Ananda-USA,

/Dinky Winky’s outburst « Enough Is Enough »/

Dincy Winky's answer proveds the flow and the structure. It can be brought up to a good article. How about we do it the way we normally improve a journal paper by a team. If we can improve to a level that can be published in a reputed forum (outside the blog)that would help.

If you need help I am an e-mail away.

Thusitha said...

Ananda-USA said...

A Phalanx of Patriots, ever VIGILANT, ever ABLE & READY to defend Lanka!

------------
Hope that is what your blog spot try to achieve.
We are utterly fed up with Tamil Disapora who whinges like bitches 24X7

sinhale said...

I might have published a wrong link before for this excellent article. We should forward it to to the misguided IC loonies

Statement from the Mackenzie Institute
"Enough Already with the Genocide Talk"

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/search?updated-max=2009-02-23T03%3A42%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=16

Sam Perera said...

Ananda-USA,

"The vision just boggles your mind: A Phalanx of Patriots, ever VIGILANT, ever ABLE & READY to defend Lanka!"

What an analogy! We want to be the 50 and 60 series civilian equivalent of our army.

Sam Perera said...

cj my man,

Check this article. In fact, what you said a few weeks ago is a reality today. Thanks for the prophecy.

ReallyCold..... said...

@ Thusitha

[Hope that is what your blog spot try to achieve.
We are utterly fed up with Tamil Disapora who whinges like bitches 24X7]

Sri Lankans don't have the self motivation of getting together and achieving something.

There is a story called 'andi hathdenage kenda haliya wage'.

Few stingy buggers got together and wanted to create rice porridge. They started boiling the pot and every suppose to contribute one handful of rice to the pot. Instead, they all pretended they were adding rice. At the end they all drank hot water.

Often, blogs created to a certain mission in Sri Lanka have become like that.

We have been put on the defensive by bitching of diaspora.

They brought 7000 to DC and we managed only 700. Granted they opened up the gates from Canada. We should have more than 2000 in NY alone.


Why why why?

Moshe Dyan said...

kasthuri,

yep. possible.

103 sq km on the 19th feb.

40 sq km for 5 days work! wow! not bad.

Anonymous said...

/We want our land. We are not asking your land. We want to rule overselves. Not ruled by you./

Whatever the number, 24 sq miles is enough for those in peelaam as they now live in that safe zone. Why begging for 1/3 of SL and 2/3 of coast line while 24 sq miles and 10 miles of coast is more than sufficient? Well, this doesn't mean we will give you even that part (ya, not even federal to that safe zone..), what I am saying is you can buy some 24 sq miles land from Canada or Australia or some where and have all you diASSpora go there and live in that tamiz peezaam. In fact, in SL safe zone its just tents, so if you can build big building like in NY or Singapore you can reduce the cost of land drastically. May be, 2 sq miles will be sufficient. So stop funding terrorists, stop paying LTTE to kill sinhalese and instead directly spend money to buy land (out side SL.)

ReallyCold..... said...

[In 1972 standardization was implemented and this discriminated Tamils beyond belief. Northern province offers little opportunities and education is everything. You take it away from Tamils and they will not have any livelihood left.]

This is a very false statement.

Standardization distributed the joy around the nation by breaking the foundation of certain country clubs.

When I went to the university, I couldn't get a premium seat since it went to a poor Tamil from Vanni.


The best and the brightest was never affected from standardization.

If anyone abolish standardization today, the beneficiaries will be Sinhalese in large numbers.

Anonymous said...

http://www.divaina.com/2009/02/25/news03.html

Saman said...

Ananda-USA,

/The vision just boggles your mind: A Phalanx of Patriots, ever VIGILANT, ever ABLE & READY to defend Lanka/

Vision excites me.

They say - adversity brings hope and solidarity. Art of harnessing that brings tru leaders. End out come is a true society.

This war has not taken 70,000+ lives for nothing. You must see/feel how ordinary people in Sri Lanka is excited about this. If MR gets the victory to next level - growing a culture and a society where people take their hats and bow for performance/commitment to nation - well we would be proud Sri Lankans.

ReallyCold..... said...

@Saman

[Sri Lankan Diaspora is also growing and getting well placed and entrenced in the west. Sinhalese leaving for overseas studentships, as we speak, 8:1. In this rate we are comfortable.]

From a leading univ in SL, the gold medal (given to the best student) has been a Sinhalese during a 5 year span. During that time, Sinhalese in large numbers entered foreign institutions through scholarships. If anyone attending any of the international conferences in technology, you will definitely see more Sinhalese faces.

The rich Sinhalese also sending their children abroad in large numbers. In one school in US had 40 of them in a given time.

The problem is Sinhalese diaspora is not well organized as their Tamil counterparts.

They are very independent and enjoy the life than sitting next to somewhere and having a bitching picnic.

Moshe Dyan said...

reallycold,

(pundi)andi hathdenage kenda haliya wage will not happen to the blog.

one reason is most SLs think TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL. it DOESN'T!! we have to make it triumph.

the other reason is unlike tamil americans, sinhala americans are more integrated to the american society. they find it MORE difficult to flock together.

the other reason is of course the (pundi)andi mentality of some.

good on those who did their part; others please do your bit; you don't have to die in the battlefiled; just move your arse.

Anonymous said...

http://www.divaina.com/2009/02/25/editor.html

Gringo said...

[http://www.youtube.com/user/sinhahada]

Ayyyyyooooooooooooo!!!

Our boys seem to take the Tamil terrorist coolies to CLEANERS!

YOU MAKE.... WE BREAK!

What a nice game!

Thusitha said...

Ninja said...
http://www.divaina.com/2009/02/25/editor.html

Good article, we should hammer this in to our peoples mind to so that we do not allow traitors within Sri Lankan community.

Look at the uproar when Obamas wife said she is proud of US for the first time in her life.

And in Sri Lanka people have been giving away our country and nothing happened to these people.

The sinhalese who are responsible for these acts of treason should be given maximum punishment under national security the same way U.S treates spies.

මොරටු සමන් - MoratuSaman said...

lankaputhra said...

"I was amazed by the NGO’s worked carried out in North. There should be proper investigation on this matter and we should implement correct code of practice for every NGO in the country.
It’s better to start new ID card system with BIO-metric info before resettling IDPs in north. Eventually this must be compulsory for all the citizen in the country."

Yes Sir, it is a must....

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Through the lens

KB said...

Bugger! Even dead terrorist leaders are hurriedly buried in a scratched out hole like dead stray dogs now. Actually when one of my beloved dogs die it is buried with much more respect and dignity. Take a look at the latest video from the place with the unpronounceable name. It's Puthu whatever. Let's call it pumpkin patch for ease of use. Take a look at the frame at 1:20 from the pumpkin patch.

video


Cheers!

මොරටු සමන් - MoratuSaman said...

Ananda-US thanks for posting Dinky Winky's post...amazing writing Dinky

thanks bro.

Nihara said...

Ninja

Thanks for the 'Through the Lens' document.

It's a valuable KEEP SAKE!

Thambapanniya said...

@Saman

Saman good observation :-)

@Really Cold

In the coming weeks and months things going to change... you will see more in the coming weeks keep eye open expats in universities doing a great job but quietly

e.g.

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/15444

Dark Knight said...

Shan said...

>>> This struggle may change its forms BUT will never end.


ooooh don't worry. we are very very aware of that. That's why we don't trust the soft-spoken Federalists.

Thusitha said...

Why does defence.lk gets updated?

Is it because they are busy blogging here. Haha.

කස්තුරි..Kasthuri said...

Guys,

Any news from Washinton DC about the senate hearing?

sorth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sorth said...

"Any news from Washinton DC about the senate hearing? "

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-25-voa1.cfm?rss=asia

"But Neistat is equally critical of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE. "The LTTE has deliberately prevented civilians under its control from fleeing into the government controlled areas. We have documented several incidents where LTTE forces fired at fleeing civilians, killing and injuring dozens. We also documented cases where the LTTE effectively used civilians as human shields to protect their positions from attack. This is a war crime," she said."

Ananda-USA said...

Mathematica1 said..
MatheMathica1 said...

Ananda-USA,
Let us keep the original article as it is. Some of us can expand on each of the myths and add them as comments. And when we have fully busted all the myths we can add everything together to form a reference document, titled may be “ Tamil Separatist Mythology”


Good plan, brother. Keep at it!

HM said...

How to sponsor the education of a child of a fallen/disabled soldier

1. You can now easily sponsor a child of a fallen/disabled soldier through the Seva Vanitha scholorship program

2. You will be sending your contribution directly into the child's account (It does not go into a fund and there are no involement of 3rd parties)

3. Stipulated monthly amount is US$10 (Rs750-1000). You can contribute more if you like.

4. Duration of the scholorship can be decided by you. It can be 1 year or more.

5. Sevavanitha will provide you with the child's details along with contact info. You can contact the family directly and verify all the details yourself before depositing funds. Process is very transparent.

Please visit http://www.ranavirufund.org/ranaviruchildren.html for more details and to download the application form.

Ananda-USA said...

Thusitha said..


Ananda-USA said...

A Phalanx of Patriots, ever VIGILANT, ever ABLE & READY to defend Lanka!

------------
Hope that is what your blog spot try to achieve.
We are utterly fed up with Tamil Disapora who whinges like bitches 24X7


Brother, This IS indeed the GOAL of the SriLankaPatriots Blog!

The MOST EXCITING aspects of the GRAND PLAN is yet to be revealed.

We can make a REAL CONTRIBUTION if we keep the FAITH, join HANDS, preserve our UNITY, and PERSEVERE.

e Pluribus Unum!
From the MANY, ONE!

Semper Fidelis!
Always FAITHFUL!

Kings said...

it is a close door hearing, if the ooutcome in LTTE's favour, it will be in tamilnut.
I guess the outcome it will not be in our favour... becuase all the people were in the testimony is bias toward LTTE, no matter what we cannot show our anger to USA, USA also must know that any tactics to corner SL will not work, Because MR is a smarter guy !!!

HM said...

NOLTTE=Peace,

Thanks for your post.

Now the application form can be downloaded from our website.. I was holding my post until we publised the details on the web.

hemantha said...

Senate Hearing (Video).

click here.

First 18 minutes is blank. Move the time indicator to 18 minute point.

Unknown said...

on the contrary some LTTERs surrendered to the forces

Thusitha said...

Kings said...

USA also must know that any tactics to corner SL will not work, Because MR is a smarter guy !!!


---------------
Although MR didn't get to go to Harvard like Obama, he still is a lawyer. He will manage the situation. Lets keep our fingers crossed the next few days, till we hear that Vesaputhra is no more.

onecountry said...

Here is the video of the US sanate hearing today.

http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090224p.html

sinhale said...

"The Editor Monkeynath of Puligal.blogspot.com threatens that they will use a nuclear device some day. we should never underestimate such threats since LTTE will have no hesitation to use such a weapon against us if they had it."

This is a serious warning to the free world from a terrorist organization and we must make sure that the whole democratic world understands the suttle meaning behind this threat. When the terrorists gets their nuclear capability(and it is a matter of time), whole world please look out.. You are no longer a by-stander watching a rag-tag tamil terrorist rampage in Sri Lanka. You will also enjoy the benefits of nuclear capable LTTE terrorist explosions(as well as others who follow the LTTE) invading your own cherished homelands one way or the other.

Lakshan said...

great work DW

Caveman Velu said...

I just finished watching the Senate hearing on recent developments in Sri Lanka. In summary it was "Pus wedi". Another diaspora investment gone down the drain. They had the hearing to comfort the all the Tamil terrorist campaign contributors. Nothing came out of the meeting. Even if they made a decision senators realized it will be useless since US did not have any leverage over Sri Lanka any way. HRW rep. tried hard to channel humanitarian aid via them (obviously, because that meant more donations to HRW) but senators didn't buy that either. Total dissapointment for Tamil Terrorists representatives. It's just not working for Tamil sakkilias lately.

Ananda-USA said...

Last_Mile,

I emailed you an invitation to the SriLankaPatriots Blog. Please click on the long hyperlink, and enter your email address and email PWD in the Sign-on window to gain access to the Blog.

Cheers, :)

Moshe Dyan said...

"Fein recommends to the Subcommittee to adopt the following measures:

1. Seek an international arms embargo on Sri Lanka in the United Nations Security Council under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter;
- FAILED

2. List Sri Lanka (along with Sudan, Iran, Syria, and Cuba) as a state sponsor of terrorism under United States laws, which would trigger various sanctions;
- FAILED

3. Freeze the United States assets of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka;
- FAILED

4. Deny visas to the GOSL leadership, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa;
- FAILED

5. Vote against economic aid to the GOSL at the World Bank and IMF;
- FAILED

6. Deny Sri Lankan goods favorable tariff treatment;
- FAILED

7. List Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and Sarath Fonseka as specially designated terrorists under Executive Order 13224.
- FAILED

8. Support a “One country, two systems” political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
- FAILED

9. Withdraw the United State Ambassador from Colombo until the genocide and indiscriminate killing of Tamil civilians by the Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL ceases."
- FAILED

what an idiot this bruce arsehole is. useless crap! can't deliver the goods. get rid of the dumbass.

or, keep him and laugh with the "Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL".

Unknown said...

If tamilnet and puligal are lying go back to your la la land blogs like defencewire and defencenet and also denfence.lk. You know they lie and are desperate for the truth. At the end of the day if you really are going to win the war then Davexyz1234 you should be by the beach sipping a cool drink. Anyway you would be one of the few people there. How many of you are going to get retrenched soon. You have to go back to Sri Lanka, the only job as soldiers and die for no ryhme or reason.

Rupee again at another life low.

sinhale said...

Defencewire

It is one thing to be an impartial blog allowing multi-ehenic views, but it is a totally stupid stance to allow some LTTE terrorists to hijack a genuine blog spot for the terrorist propaganda work. These guys are weather beaten professionals.. They have exploited all the international news medias and we should not allow them to come and exploit our megre resources.. Kick them out AND WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE. They are carrying out their propaganda in our blog spots.. Deny them access without mercy. Let the genuine Sri Lankans patriots to appreciate your blog spot.

Anonymous said...

Navindran

How are you? Do you work in currency exchange shop in Fort? Ha Ha Anyway, we all know what happen when SL economy collapsed (of course thanks to your economics lessons.) I thought last year, by this time this year due to war SL economy collapse and peelaam created automatically. Ha Ha

Can you tell us what happen if SL economy does not collapse?

Shelly said...

where did the tigers get the 2 T55s ?where they abandoned in battle or captured and where did this happen.i know some time back the air force bombed a tank we lost in battle to the tigers.Do they have shells for the main gun of the T55's? Does any one have any info on this?

Shelly said...

Ninja...I totally agree with you on mind set of these guys who support the LTTE

Shelly said...

I would like to know how the like to know why on earth the LTTE capital keeps changing every ever so often.It seems every time before they (LTTE)get kicked out of a town they have big aspirations for the place and big dream.For instance back in the day they said that Jaffna was their capital then in the end of 1995 when they lost Jaffna and were evicted talk of the capital being was not mentioned any more. all talk of the capital being Jaffna was put on hold and they did try over the years really hard with many failed offensives to get Jaffna back.Then over the years they eyed trinco as the caiptal and tried a number of times to that end.They held Killi for years and they lost it Mulla became the capital and now it seems that title according to CJ goes to PTK.What i like to know is when are guy guys going to be able to hold you mud down and when are you going to make up you mind as to where your capital it is in no time in human history has a capital relocated to some many places that I can recall

Unknown said...

one tank was captured by LTTE in Muhamalai..

another one was captured in Elephant pass. but the firing mechanism of that tank does not work. but it can be used to mobilize cadres.

one armored vehicle was destroyed by army some weeks ago.

Shelly said...

Hey cave man
I didn't get to watch it on C-span thanks for the update it would be tragic if the senators came to any conclusions based on terrorist propaganda and lies

SL said...

Caveman Velu,

I watched that too. The HRW rep was so hostile to government. She should not be allowed back in SL. The former Ambassador showed some fairness towards claiming that President Mahinda is not a kind of a guy that attack journalists. He also rejects any claims of genocide. The senators seemed to be accepting his views rather than HRW bixxxxch.

tata said...

Ananda-USA,
Can't we just read SriLankaPatriots without loging in?

onecountry said...

This HRW woman is very critical of the govt. I think our govt has to do lot more to get the message across to HRW and other such organizations. At the same time, the interment camp issue is getting escalated now. None of these idiots said that LTTE can infiltrate the camps. So sad the hearing is very one sided.

onecountry said...

Shelly: I posted the link. You can watch the hearing online.

Shelly said...

Duzz,
I saw video of the tank the LTTE had put out on the web along with a captured BMP type APC,I believe It it seemed to have a cover over the muzzle of the T55 it might be the same tank you are talking about with the defective mechanism.Thanks for the update

SL said...

lthink,

I watched the full senate hearing. But the HRW bitxxxh was more hostile towards the GOSL. However, the senators seems to rely on the former ambassador, who had a more balanced view that rejected the claim of genocide(TM).

Ananda-USA said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Than you for the senate hearing .

The good senator luger was not exactly sure where sri lanka was . LMAO . The HRW bitch should be shot . but they probably hear that form HRW pussies all the time about their soldiers . Clearly the beggars in the US have no leverage cus they dont help SL . My feeling is that it is another hearing that will ne forgotten by tonight . heh he

Ananda-USA said...

tata said...


Ananda-USA,
Can't we just read SriLankaPatriots without loging in?


No. Sorry. Logging-in allows us to grant access to patriots, to deny access to LTTEers, and delete access previously granted to disruptive people, like those who employ Fake IDs.

Shelly said...

One country -thanks man that is very interesting reading on that link about all the some these people come up with.It seems to me that they don't have to work or something as i can only imagine that it would take a long time to come up with creative stuff like this about concentration camps and stuff.These camps are no different than any slum that you might pass by in Colombo suburbs.So i guess they could accuse the govt of running c'camps in Colombo as well for our own people.Thats a transit camp i a war zone any where around the world would look like what on earth do they people expect to see at a refugee camp -the bloody Hilton

Shelly said...

see what these people like to do is say the same lie over and over and use the same catch phrases like Genocide over and over and think that they can capitalize on the ignorance of foreigners who don't know what is going on in SL or who have a little bit of info from biased sources who have their own agendas and axes to grind.I am so tired of hearing of Genocide.Like a broken record.

Ananda-USA said...

Saul,

I want to expand on DW's reply to you.

Bunds are raised earth embankments typically used to impound water in a reservoir. In effect, it serves as a dam between two high areas between which the bund is built, to plug the gap in a low lying area to create a reservoir. Reservoir bunds are quite common in the North, and many were built a very long time ago by Sinhala Kings to form reservoirs, which are still used for agricultural irrigation.

In the context of this war, the LTTE did a cut-and-mound operation to build these "bunds" by digging a trench and mounding the excavated earth alongside it to create an earthen "rampart". Whenever possible, they fed water into the forward trenches to create a wide water-filled moat. They then fortified the rampart periodically along its length with bunkers having rear access.

Sometimes, they cut access trenches behind the bund running between the bunkers for transferring cadre between them in an undetected and protected way. The earth removed from these access trenches were also used to raise the height of the bund.

Within the bunkers they mounted machine guns and cannons, and had cadre with RPGs and assault rifles. As DW said, the areas ahead and behind the bunds were heavily mined. The bund-trench system allowed easier observation of the attackers, created a barrier to impede surprise attacks in strength, and forestalled the use of main battle tanks and armoured personnel carriers by the SLA. Any assualt had to be made by foot soldiers, or by troops airlifted and delivered behind the bund. The latter technique was never used by the SLA...I don't really know why.

As you point out, the WW-I trenches generally did not have bunds associated with them, and the troops fired from the ground level with machine guns, rifles, and sometimes mortars. The bunkers associated with these trenches were all at ground level, not raised, and continued deep underground to survive the artillery bombardments. Barbed wire, and mines, and artillery were heavily used in that war to impede attackers. The WW-I defences did not have raised bunds. The LTTE bunds in the Wanni were not subjected to the high volume artillery barrages commonly directed at the trenches in WW-I.

LTTE constructed bunds, as many as three, in parallel. The LTTE had mortars and artillery batteries pre-targeted on the bund and the land between the bunds. Consequently, they could direct a barrage of shells on the attacking force either in front of the first bund, or if they succeeded in breaking through that, to catch them in the open space between two bunds.

The munitions used for the large pre-attack preparatory bombardments in WW-I were LARGELY INEFFECTIVE in destroying the defenders hidden in bunkers, because they used high-explosive munitions fused to explode above ground or on contact with the ground. Only a very small fraction of those munitions were EARTH PENETRATORS fused to explode below ground. The result was, the defenders largely survived, came out of hiding in underground bunkers as the artillery barrage rolled on to the rear areas, and killed the attacking troops in droves. It boiled down to a race between the attackers and the defenders after the artillery barrage rolled on beyond the trenches to the rear: the attackers to reach the trench before the defenders could bring their often portable weapons and fire on the attackers. The defenders usually did survive to man the trench, for example, at the battle at the SOMME which was an unmitigated disaster for the attacking Allies.

tata said...

Ananda-USA,
No. Sorry. Logging-in allows us to grant access to patriots, to deny access to LTTEers, and delete access previously granted to disruptive people, like those who employ Fake IDs.

All your objectives can be met if you make it read only (for visitors). Also, that will enable anyone refer your site. (Unless you are planning of publishing the articles somewhere else later.)

Anyway, send me a password for s00s33@gmail.com (if you are sure that I am not LTTE). :)

Upul said...

Breaking News,

Heavy fighting in pkt west...

1,000+ SLA dead, 3,000+ injured.

58 Division decimated.

53 division barely intact....

Anonymous said...

Ananda USA

@ Your blog - some ideas;

LTTE agents have some standard accusations against SL usually running from 1948 - post independence. Mostly seen ones are;

1. 56 sinhala only act
2. 72 Standardization
3. State violence 58, 77, 83
4. ethnic cleansing/ sinhala settlements
5. citizenship
6. second class status ?
7. Genocide (latest one.. ha ha)

May be you can add another tab 'false allegations' with both the LTTE claims and counter arguments, (If GSL is responsible better accept that.)

Pre-British era events is mostly history now and you do have history column. Hope it covers 'homeland' issue.

I know there are guys here who can write well (better than me) and this is an idea for them.

@ Another idea is you can add another tab directing readers to other internet resources (links to pages) which you think useful.

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