Ignoring N Q Dias strategy,
the UNP Government removal of military camps helped LTTE terrorism arise – same
mistake should not be repeated
N Q Dias was referred to as
Sri Lanka’s Clausewitz. He was the most powerful public servant serving as
Permanent Secretary for Defense plus Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister in the
Sirimavo Bandaranaike Government of 1960-65. Having read Panikkar Doctrine he
was apprehensive of India’s designs on Sri Lanka. His anticipation of the rise
of a Tamil separatist war was prophetic. His grand strategy to counter this was
brilliant. Successive UNP Governments either failed to understand the prophecy
or preferred to remove and reverse the decisions taken thereby helping
militancy to rise. Removal of the military camps in the North following the JRJ
Government victory helped LTTE terrorism and Sri Lanka to suffer for 30 years
while the present Government doing the same, seriously raises alarm bells and
cautions the public to not sit silent and watch another terror period unfold.
The memoirs of Neville
Jayaweera, former GA Jaffna is enlightening for many reasons. The memoirs give
excellent account of how N Q Dias had virtually taken a leaf from Germany’s
famous Schilieffen Plan of 1905 (encircle Paris in event of war) to also advocate
the need to encircle Northern & Eastern Provinces with a chain of military
camps. The camps demarcated were in Arippu, Maricchikatti, Pallai, Thalvapadu
in Mannar, Poonery, Karainagar, Palaly, Point Pedro, Elephant Pass in the
Jaffna District, Mullaitivu in Vavuniya District and Trincomalee in the East.
The establishment of military bases was in contemplation of the rise of Tamil
separatism.
Knowing that in giving the
real reasons, the government would come under severe objections by Tamil
Leaders, N Q Dias proposed to use the argument of establishing bases to counter
illegal Indian immigration and illegal Indian smuggling as reasons, which no
one could counter.
A Task force called Task
Force Anti Illicit Immigration was set up under command of Gen Sepala Attygalle
to set up the camps. Moreover, N Q Dias aspired to build a fleet of small, fast
boats and even contacted the US Ambassador Cecil Lyon to see if the US
Government would gift some old PT boats to Sri Lanka without torpedo tubes as
part of their foreign aid package.
The importance of N Q Dias’s
strategy comes in being able to foresee the turn of events as far back as 1960s
before the Vaddukoddai Resolution and Tamil youth taking up arms. He foresaw
the Indian hegemony, he believed India had ‘sinister
designs on Sri Lanka, if not to take the island over completely, at least to
keep it permanently disabled and dependent on India”.
India did in fact
clandestinely train Tamil youth in India in the 1970s armed and financed them
to destabalize Sri Lanka. India kept these Tamil militants under the tutelage
of Indian intelligence. J N Dixit in his memoirs, says
that arming Sri Lankan Tamil youths was one of the two major policy blunders of
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Assignment Colombo) April 1988 Wikileaks cable
quotes J N Dixit that India had agreed to pay LTTE Rs.50lakhs per month to make
up for the tax loss for the LTTE after the Indo-Lanka Accord. RAW chief Gauri
Shankar Bajpai had admitted that Colonel Kittu (Sathasivam Krishnakumar), the
LTTE commander, was India’s mole in the militant outfit. So too was LTTE’s
deputy Mahaththaya. India’s former Union Law Minister and advocate Ram
Jethmalani has said that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was
created by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the protection of Indian
interests. “They were trained by our own agency RAW. When the Chinese and the
Pakistanis were establishing their power in Sri Lanka, Indira wanted some force
inside Sri Lanka to safeguard our Indian interests,” Jain Commission report quotes
Nedumaran : Para-6 :- “It was at that juncture, the Late Prime Minister Mrs.
Indira Gandhi entrusted the full responsibility of Military training of the
Tamil Militant youths, to the Research and Analysis wing (popularly known as
RAW). Book by Lt. Gen. Depinder Singh Overall Force Commander (OFC) of
the IPKF gives details of the material help the LTTE received in Tamil Nadu
even while its men were killing the IPKF’s jawans.
There is enough evidence
that reveals an Indian hand in Tamil militancy and the demands made by them for
a separate Tamil Only area. This was what N Q Dias foresaw.
India even forced Sri Lanka
to sign the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987 and tweak Sri Lanka’s constitution by
implementing the 13th amendment and creating the white elephant of
provincial councils making a quasi-federal set up out of which the political
proxy of the LTTE are now demanding a change in the Sri Lankan constitution to
build the foundation to creating a confederal set up which is part and parcel
of the ITAK constitution.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=112823 – Bungling the Eelam
War
Kamalika Pieris article
Bungling the Eelam War says the main reason the war dragged for so long is
because all former Presidents other than Mahinda Rajapakse did not give clear
orders to the armed forces to eliminate the LTTE and instead preferred to
negotiate deals with LTTE at any cost. She highlights that recruitment and
training were stopped and requests for multiple rocket launchers and Bushmaster
cannons by the army and navy were refused and the govt instead bought a
hovercraft for Rs.250m which was never used. Questioning the military and
undermining terrorism resulted in leaders asking idiotic questions like why the
military would need such a large stock of ammunition when there were only 2000
LTTE fighters. Reading Maj. Kamal Gunaratne’s book Road to Nandikadal one is
angered by the careless decisions of past leaders (Govt, Officials and
Military) that ended up unnecessarily sacrificing the lives of many a soldier.
Kamalika Pieris cites the
examples of promoting officers on seniority not competence, lack of security
clearance on sensitive battle information which reached media even before the
operation commenced, sending soldiers on UN Peace Keeping Missions even while
Sri Lanka’s war hadn’t concluded, Defence Review Committee set up in 2002 to
reduce the size of security forces without representation of the military
(while LTTE was thriving) transferring officers for doing their duty to the
nation, responding to LTTE attacks with knee-jerk reactions thus suffering
weapon losses including soldier lives are just some of the debacles committed
by both government and yes-men type officials who had no backbone to tell the
politicians the dangers of their decisions & actions.
Taken together with the
article titled “Evidence of India’s involvement in regime change in Sri Lanka” https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/21/sril-j21.html the same author K Ratnayake
goes on to another “More evidence of US involvement in Sri Lanka regime change’
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/02/16/slus-f16.html
In the backdrop of the
predictions made by N Q Dias and following the defeat of the LTTE, the list of
demands being made in particular related to the closure of military camps, the
charges of ‘rape’ against the soldiers, demilitarization claims coming from all
the quarters that assisted LTTE over the years solidifies the need for the
present Government to not be in haste to do the same mistake that the previous
UNP Governments have made. However, since January 2015 a number of
strategically located camps have been closed by giving in to undue pressures. A
new precedent is being created by funding groups of unruly ‘people’ to surround
camps and demand their removal and the Govt has unfortunately caved in to these
theatrics. What kind of government closes down military camps just because
some people scream outside the compound demanding its removal! JRJ regime closed down military camps and was unable
to handle LTTE at its initial stages thus leaving Sri Lanka to suffer 30 years
of terrorism, the present UNP government should not repeat the same mistake.
The govt may have come into
power making assurances to LTTE proxies who decide whom the Tamil people vote
for, however the country’s national interest and security must come first.
Leaders in power and
officials working for them are not expected to function as doormats for every
whining that comes from LTTE proxies, LTTE fronts, regime change apparatus, UN
and in particular the UNHRC that is going beyond their mandate by interfering
into the internal affairs of a sovereign nation as seen by the plethora of
demands its head is now making. Allowing the UN apparatus to penetrate into the
internal affairs of a nation is creating precedents that will be detrimental to
the internal affairs of other nations as well. Our govt and officials are
foolhardy to ignore these realities simply to be delighted about getting a pat
on their backs for their appeasing approach & actions in simply saying yes
to all that they demand.
What good are accolades for
selling the country to the devils! While the Sinhalese are asked to watch in
silence the reconciliation perahera that is demolishing the Sinhala national
identity of the country, paving way for the separation of Sri Lanka.
Repeated mistake of ignoring
advice is likely to repeat history and if history is repeated we are likely to
see another bloody phase which will reverse all that Sri Lanka gained after May
2009.
Mr. N Q Dias is the father
of another patriot & attorney Mr. Gomin Dayasri.
Shenali D Waduge
