New Lankan offensive against LTTE

MADHU (NORTHERN SRI LANKA), MARCH 24: Signalling a change in strategy, the Sri Lankan military has over the last few days opened a new fr...

MADHU (NORTHERN SRI LANKA), MARCH 24: Signalling a change in strategy, the Sri Lankan military has over the last few days opened a new front in its battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but worryingly for LTTE supporters, the group has offered little or no resistance so far.

In two limited operations code-named Rana Gosa (battlecry) I and II, government troops have secured more territory from the LTTE north of the Vavuniya-Mannar road around the 400-year-old church here.

In the first phase of the operation in the first week of March, soldiers captured the settlements of Poovarasankulam, Vannivilankulam, Mundumurippu and Iranai Illupaikulam just north of the Vavuniya-Mannar road.

In the second phase of the operation launched last Friday, soldiers moved into a few more settlements in the area, including two refugee camps near the church here. Soldiers, however, held back from taking over the church itself, a centre of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Hindus and Christians.

Besides thepolitical mileage for the government two weeks ahead of a round of local elections, the operations have led to speculation that the army will continue to move further west and attempt to take control of the Mannar-Pooneryn road on Sri Lanka’s western sea-board. Pooneryn is at the northern end of the Vanni mainland, and a short ferry ride from Jaffna peninsula.

Analysts believe that such an attempt could succeed where Operation Jaya Sekuru failed in securing a land route to Jaffna, with the added advantage of blocking the LTTE’s access routes by sea to the Tamil Nadu coast. A senior military official refused to comment on the speculation, but said “all options are open”

“The Mannar-Pooneryn road is definitely an option,” he said.

The surprising aspect of the recent operations has been the complete lack of resistance by the LTTE to the soldiers, worrying those who earlier swore by the group’s invincibility.

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One columnist of a weekly newspaper pointed out that the LTTE was now “minus the singlelargest concentration of refugees in the Vanni region” but “seems to care little”.

Wondering if it was a "clear sign" of the LTTE’s weakness or a tactic “to forego such a large piece of important real estate for something of greater value”, the columnist wrote: “The burden is increasing on Prabhakaran to show his supporters the world over that he let Rana Gosa walk in without firing a single shot only to buy time and resources for taking something of much greater value.”

There was no mention of the operations by the LTTE’s clandestine Voice of Tigers radio station.