As the parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on October 10, 2000, drew close, Sri Lanka continued to wage its battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Even as the political fight between the ruling People's Alliance (PA) and the United National Party (UNP) assumed serious proportions over the Constitution Reforms Bill and the Devolution Package, the threat of suicide bomb attacks loomed large over the fate of politicians contesting the elections.
A recent addition to the growing number of political leaders who have fallen victim to LTTE's suicidal maneuvres was the SLMC candidate Mohammad Baithulla, a former head of the Counter Subversive Unit of the Trincomalee Police Division, who was killed along with 23 civilians on October 2 at an election rally at Muttur. Earlier on September 10, another politician of the PA, Cheliyan Perimpanayakam was gunned down along with a supporter in Batticoloa district. On June 7, as the country celebrated the annual War Heroes Day, a suicide bomber killed the minister for Industrial Development, C. V. Goonaratne in Colombo. The earlier two assassinations along with death threats from the LTTE had its desired effect when several candidates began withdrawing from the race.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga, after taking over office for a second term in December 1999 had clearly articulated a hard-line position, stating that acts of terrorism would not be tolerated. Nevertheless, she also expressed her readiness to negotiate with the LTTE on the proposed constitutional reforms that aim at devolving powers to the Provinces. During her electioneering in December 1999, the President suffered injuries in a suicide assassination attempt in the town hall premises at Colombo.
It was at the same time that the LTTE was riding the waves of success through its Operation Unceasing Waves III, which accounted for the death of nearly 800 soldiers. They had run over several military camps, including Pallamadu, Perimadu, Palampitty and Thatachannamaruthu, in the Wanni region. They also took control of Madhu town, which was deserted by the army, and came within one mile of a major military camp in Wanni. In the process, they seized huge quantities of arms, trucks, armoured cars and armoured personnel vehicles. Jaffna however stayed out of the reach of the rebels. At the same time the President accused the opposition United National Party (UNP) of having influenced key military leaders, and of having conspired with the LTTE to engineer a military debacle for her government. Some wealthy Tamil businessmen and two senior media persons were put under investigation for the assassination attempt on the President.
In the beginning of the year 2000, the government permitted Norway to play an intermediary role in attempting a negotiated solution to the ethnic problem, an elusive goal till date. Even though the level of achievement remained marginal, the event marked a turning point as the special envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim shuttled between Norway, New Delhi and Colombo to place a peace package before the rebels. However, even this peace process has been thrown out of gear. The European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EUEOM) sharply criticized the LTTE for election violence and the government appears to have set the stage for withdrawing from the peace process.
Prime Minister Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremenayake declared on October 4 that the "stage of talking to the LTTE is over." This marked a strategic shift in the government's stance over the peace process with the rebels. This stance was reiterated by the President herself when she asserted in Colombo on October 6, that there "…is no other alternative but to conclude the war successfully." She added that her government would have preferred to end the war through political negotiations but the LTTE had left them with no other alternative.
The relentless attack of the LTTE on government forces in the Jaffna peninsula reached a decisive phase with the launching of the 'Operation Unceasing Waves IV' on September 26. The LTTE continues to occupy the strategic Elephant Pass, which they captured from government forces on April 22, thus denying a land link between the southern heartland and army positions in the Jaffna Peninsula. Despite the Prime Minister's categorical assertions regarding recapturing lost positions, government troops have not been able to make much headway.
In May 2000, the rebels came close to occupy the Jaffna town and at one point of time declared a unilateral cease-fire so that the 40,000 strong government troops could be evacuated to a safer place pending the fall of the town. Even as the government rejected the offer and put up a brave face, negotiations went on with foreign powers, notably India, for assistance. India's ruling coalition promised humanitarian assistance while ruling out any military intervention. Though the government forces were able to thwart any further advances by the LTTE as part of the latter's 'rolling offensive’; the recapture of the Chavakachcheri town on September 17 remained the only major achievement for government troops.
In a country where the loss of human life has become a regular feature, the issue of the solution of the never-ending ethnic problem has assumed importance in the coming elections. This parliamentary election alone has witnessed fifty-eight deaths so far, forty-eight of which has been allegedly committed by the LTTE. In the over sixteen years since fighting erupted between the LTTE and government forces, approximately 61,000 lives have been lost, with nearly 4,000 killed in 1999 alone, including the moderate Tamil leader, Neelam Tiruchelvam on July 29, 1999.
Nearly 1,400 have soldiers died in the country’s North and East, where they have been battling Tamil rebels since 1983. Authenticated data on actual deaths is difficult to get, but the total count has been variously estimated between 50,000 and 70,000. These figures may not include a large number of killings by what are called ‘pistol gangs’, killings and massacres in Tamil areas to eliminate rivals and at least some civilian casualties during clashes with government forces, which go largely undocumented and uninvestigated by the state’s agencies.
According to the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) leader, Tabirajah Subhathiran, for instance, the LTTE has killed 5,000 persons belonging to rival groups since 1986, including a number of prominent leaders. In early February 1999, the LTTE shot dead five members of a moderate Tamil group in Vavuniya. Since 1996 some 600 people are reported to have gone missing from the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula. In 1999 alone, the unending civil war cost the Sri Lankan taxpayer SLR 47. 3 billion.
Casualties among LTTE cadre too has been heavy. In mid-June 1999, the LTTE announced that a total of 11,569 of its cadres died in all these years of fighting. In the year 1999 alone it lost 2,300 of its cadres. In a major battle before the elections in the Nagarkovil region on October 5, 2000, the LTTE lost more than thirty rebels.
Meanwhile, the use of children as warriors in the struggle attracted attention of the world regarding the strategies adopted by the LTTE. The capture of the 14-year old Arumuyam Malar by the troops in July and her harrowing tales revealed a lot regarding the LTTE’s method of fighting the war. As a result the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) accused the LTTE of breaking a commitment not to recruit children for combat in its war against Sri Lankan state. The other revelation regarding the funding of the rebels also raised eye brows. 'The rebels have registered several front organisations as charities in Britain and are using them to fund and sustain their terrorist activities to the tune of several million pound sterling, tax free. '
Businesses regularly contribute to the LTTE coffers, as does the Tamil diaspora. The LTTE also levies ‘taxes’ on businessmen even in areas currently under the control of government forces. One example of the LTTE’s nefarious fund collecting activities in foreign countries was the LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham’s escape from Wanni region in the North of the island nation to London, in June 1999, for the purpose of raising funds for the LTTE’s war against the government.
The LTTE and its supporters are emerging as world leaders and pioneers in the use of cyber space and new information technologies as a vehicle for their separatist ends. The Internet Black Tigers was constituted as an elite arm of the LTTE to specialise in "e-mail bombings" and carries out an e-mail campaign against Sri Lankan missions around the world. The objective of the Black Tigers is to "counter government propaganda" and issue warnings.
On July 18, 2000, the government successfully enacted two new laws, 'Prevention of Hostage Taking' and 'Suppression of Unlawful Acts' in a bid to tighten the existing mechanisms to contain international terrorism. Sri Lankan politics was marked by a turning point when the five-time Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake laid down office on August 10 and Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremenayake assumed office, a move largely interpreted as a placating move to appease the Buddhist clergies who are vehemently opposed to the new Constitution Reforms Bill.
In another swift political decision the parliament was dissolved on August 18 and elections were scheduled to be held in October. Before that the government locked horns with the opposition political parties over the Constitution Bill and was forced, by a Supreme Court ruling, to defer voting on the act. The President is on record for having made her intention clear of introducing the bill once again in the new parliament and even converting the new parliament into a constituent assembly for the purpose. The election results will, however, have a definite say over the course of Sri Lankan politics.