Tiger Tactics

“If the Government of Sri Lanka can be concerned with the real needs of the Tamil people they can win their hearts and minds. But now the Tamil people have been suspecting the Government policy over their problem. In general a people find it harder to believe in and put their trust in an unknown god than a known devil.”
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• (July 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Veluppillai Prabhakaran, once again has declared a unilateral ceasefire for 10 days, to cover the forthcoming SAARC summit. However the Government of Sri Lanka already rejects the LTTE proposal and says they are ready with the necessary security strength to counter any LTTE activities and that they need no LTTE ceasefire these days to keep the country safe. The government’s rejection of the offer has marked new fear in the Tiger mind. This is the first time any government has rejected the Tigers’ tactically proposed cease fire.
  
  Actually the Tigers have been trying to implement their old tactics in the present situation in the country. Even if during the SAARC summit period they target any leaders or civilians in Sri Lanka it would be a reason for more and more support to the government to eliminate the LTTE. So the offer is ab initio empty of any content. V. Prabhakaran’s plan seemingly is to create another communal riot between communities but it has so far failed because large numbers of Tamils reject the LTTE today and they are hoping for a new leadership to emerge within their community.
  
  Now, why is V. Prabhakaran planning to have 10 days of cease fire for their cadres? The reason is clear. It is to silence the government’s guns. The LTTE needs time for reconstruction of the movement. Presently they even have redeployed civilians as troops at their FDLs. According to reliable information, some poor families are deployed to live inside the bunkers at their FDLs as cadres of the LTTE. Others think the government’s LRRP have targeted a few senior leaders of the LTTE during the past and as a result some of them are indefinitely reporting sick because of the effectiveness of the unrelenting attacks from the Sri Lankan Air Force.
  
  On the one hand as the political wing of the LTTE is going down in strength, on the other, the military wing of the LTTE is now limited to a small number of senior experienced cadre. The LTTE leadership needs more and more time as respite because this situation, unless somehow reversed, can create much harm to the Tiger leadership.
  
  According to Sun Tsu, the world famous war thinker from ancient China, “Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardour damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.”
  
  Furthermore, he notes in his famous book ‘The Art of War,” “Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays”.
  
  As a military movement, the LTTE is going to lash out with their guerilla tactics. In the past they have acted as an offensive movement but now they cannot even face the government’s determined might as a defensive movement. But the LTTE cannot be so easily written off. They are waiting and observing the weak points of the Security Forces. They are still capable of attacking security bases that are located outside the war front like Panagoda, Ambepussa, etc..
  
  But the most important motivation behind the Tigers is seen in their letter of Unilateral Ceasefire: “For sixty years, the Sinhala leadership is continuing to refuse to put forward a just solution to the national question of the Tamil people. The Sinhala nation is not prepared to deal justice to the Tamils. The politics of the Sinhala nation has today taken the form of a monstrous war. Because the chauvinistic Sinhala regime is putting its trust in a military solution, the war is spreading and is turning more and more intense.”
  
  This is the government’s weak point. Whatever the Tigers noted here about Sri Lanka still having a vacuum of solutions to the minorities’ problem is very true. So long as this remains true there will be some sympathy for the Tigers from the Tamil population. The Government of Sri Lanka cannot limit itself to the military war without addressing the Tamil people’s political needs. It will be good for the Sinhalese to be enjoying a war victory. But it is different for those of the Tamil community – they have been badly affected by the war during the last 25 years. Do not forget that the GoSL cannot sell the War to the Tamil people.
  
  If the Government of Sri Lanka can be concerned with the real needs of the Tamil people they can win their hearts and minds. But now the Tamil people have been suspecting the Government policy over their problem. In general a people find it harder to believe in and put their trust in an unknown god than a known devil. This needs the immediate attention of the Head of the Sri Lankan state if our poor bleeding country is ever to find true peace.
  - Sri Lanka Guardian