Tigers Untamed

YOUR excellency's rule and authority has been firmly re-established in the said city of Yapa Patuna (the ancient Sinhala name for Jaffna) and its surrounding areas, freeing them from and defeating the said terrorists who are the enemies of peace through the immense effort and sacrifice of the heroic commanders and of all the heroic members of the said armed forces and police." That longwinded report by Deputy Minister of Defence, Colonel Anurudha Ratwatta, to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga at a formal ceremony in Colombo on December 6 heralded the end of Operation Riviresa (Sunrise), the biggest ever military offensive launched in Sri Lanka.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Colonel Ratwatta hoisted the Sri Lankan flag in Jaffna town, which was secured by the army earlier in the day. It took three divisions of the army and 50 days of fighting—including 11 days of rest for the troops—to complete the capture of the main area of the Jaffna peninsula, known as the Valikamam division. Both the army and the LTTE paid dearly in the fiercest fighting in the 12-year-old ethnic war. The army said 390 soldiers were killed and 1,246 injured while rebel casualties were estimated at 1,781 killed and 3,850 wounded. The LTTE has not issued any casualty figures.

"We are in Jaffna to stay until the situation is such that the people of Jaffna are secure and free of LTTE atrocities," said military spokesman, Brigadier Sarath Mun-asinghe. Although Operation Riviresa has officially ended,.

Senior officials say the army would want to recapture the Vadamarachchi division, south of Palali air base. "The army will most likely launch the next operation to capture this area to secure the eastern coastal belt for the navy. It is from bases here that the LTTE's Sea Tigers have been attacking navy convoys bringing supplies to the troops," a senior official said. The area also includes LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran's home town of Valvettithurai and Point Pedro, the port being used to unload supplies for civilians in the rebel-controlled areas.

Another target would be Tenamaradchi, south of Jaffna town, where the LTTE has regrouped. The hundreds of thousands of civilians forced by the rebels to flee Jaffna have also taken refuge here and the government is keen to facilitate their return to Jaffna.

But President Kumaratunga's first priority is to maintain support for her peace package among the minority Tamils. In an emotional address to the nation from the Presidential secretariat in Colombo, she announced that rebels who surrender would be granted amnesty. She also appealed for continued Tamil support for her proposals for wide-ranging devolution of powers to end the ethnic crisis..

The president’s task has been made easier by the attitude taken by the LTTEtowards the civilians. "The people are very bitter. The experience of being thrownout of Jaffna by the LTTE has been harrowing for them," said Rajan Hoole of the J affna University Teachers for Human Rights. The rebels used loudspeakers to warn civiliansthat anyone staying behind in Jaffna would be considered a traitor and executed.

Government officials and international relief organisations say the refugee problem hasnot reached a crisis situation, but an estimated 100,000 refugees in Chava-kachcheri arefacing shortage of medicine and shelter. Following the loss of Jaffna , their headquartersfor the last decade, the rebels have shifted their nerve centre to Kilinochchi in the north e rn mainland. "The LTTE is only looking after refugees in Kilinochchi because theywant all the people to move there," said Hoole.

But despite facing the biggest crisis since the Indian peacekeeping forces restrictedthe LTTE to the Mullaitivu jungles in the late 1980s and— for the first time—facing the wrath of his own people, Prabhakaran remains adamant and unrepentant. OnNovember 26, which was also his 41st birthday, he gave notice that he was not interestedin peace talks and would hit back militarily to regain lost prestige. "The Sinhalamilitary devils may hoist victory flags in depopulated Jaffna which has been reduced torubble. The Sinhala chauvinistic gangs in the south may light crackers in jubilationassuming that they have captured Jaffna. Chandrika may send peace signals believing thatmilitary hegemony has been achieved. In these circumstances we wish to make it absolutelyclear that as long as the Sinhala army is occupying Jaffna the doors for peace will befirmly closed," the LTTE supremo said.