The fate of the Tiger looks sealed

The LTTE has started running out of ammo even for their small arms, ground sources informed DefenceWire as the 48-hour deadline to recommence operations approach. The Tiger leadership has ordered its cadres not to fire any bursts even on their T-56 rifles.

LTTE's intelligence leader Poddu is coordinating the remaining group of LTTE cadres as the other "colonels" have either been killed or injured in battle. How, when and where they would face a military onslaught to rescue the civilians is weighing in on their minds, electronic warfare sources indicated.

Sources in the Army were slightly unhappy with the choice of the terrain where the current NFZ was established since it opens-up to the sea on one side as opposed to a land-locked alternative. This they claimed could limit the Army's complete control of the situation.

For the time being, the Tigers seem to be waiting for a political intervention to save their skin, which in these circumstances would not be forthcoming. China, Pakistan and Russia have committed themselves fully to Sri Lanka seeking a military solution. The United States is not that far behind as long as the government makes every attempt to secure the safe return and rehabilitation of the civilians.

The only countries that the LTTE has a chance of garnering some sympathy remains to be India and UK. But with all the odds stacked against them, India and UK would not be able to ignore the dominant party in Sri Lanka, albeit the emerging Champion, which is the Sri Lankan government.

In many ways and with each day passing, the LTTE looks more like the loser or the hostage taker and in many ways it is. The pressure seems to be mounting on the group through its known international operatives and from its foreign sympathisers.

The LTTE leadership escaping and surviving the war can and will not have much influence. Can an organization win from exile a war it waged and lost from the ground? The conditions that created the LTTE back in the 1970s have changed drastically and exist only in the imagination of a few Diaspora Tamils. The rest await their applications for legal residency or citizenship and in their haste are committing horrendous acts of sabotage in full view of the western public.

Today the realities on the ground are different. Gradually, the world is warming up to the idea that a terrorist outfit which existed for 30 years has been destroyed in 3 years. The government on the other hand looks increasingly confident and powerful, which is encouraging to the International Community.

DW & dA