CO09054 | Ending the LTTE: Recipe for counter-terrorism?

While LTTE was doing it all wrong, it would appear with hindsight that the Sri Lankan government was putting its act together in the right direction. Contrary to conventional practice, when most governments let their guard down during a ceasefire while insurgent groups re-build their capabilities, the Sri Lankan defence forces went on a massive recruitment and procurement drive, recruiting new soldiers and equipping them with advanced military hardware and training. Though military casualities were kept a closely guarded secret, there is no doubt that the Sri Lankan armed forces fought with unparalleled resoluteness, adapting the tactics of the rebels and bettering and surprising their adversary.

Second, exploiting the 2004 split in the group, the government managed to co-opt Karuna Amman, LTTE’s commander for the eastern areas. Karuna enjoyed extensive following among fellow Tamils, the support of which was lost to LTTE. Significantly, LTTE also lost one of its most important sources of recruitment which proved fatally damaging.

Diplomacy as a weapon

Third, the government used diplomacy to undermine undercurrents of sympathy and support for the LTTE abroad. Part of the initiative was to engage the countries, notably the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia, where the LTTE had strong pockets of support among the Tamil diaspora. Once the LTTE was proscribed as a terrorist organisation after 9/11, the sympathy for the group nosedived. This loss of diaspora support was quite debilitating for the LTTE both financially and morally. Colombo also enlisted the direct support of key countries, especially China and Israel, for procurement of military hardware including communication and surveillance systems. Beijing also kept the heat off Colombo’s back in the international fora.

Destroying enemy’s supply line

Fourth, when hostilities broke out, the government went in for full-scale multi-pronged offensives against the group. While the ground forces made painful advances to reclaim territory from LTTE’s control, its navy and the air force, equipped with intelligence provided by some friendly countries, targeted the supply infrastructure of the group. Between March and October 2007, the defence forces were able to destroy as many as nine LTTE merchant vessels which were the mainstay of the group’s supply infrastructure. As a result, the group was not in a position to recoup the loss of its weapons and armaments, which undermined its resistance and the ability to prolong the fight.

Wooing the neighbour

Fifth, Colombo took extreme care to engage New Delhi and enlist its support. This was very important as India’s reactions could have tipped the scale one way or the other. Because of domestic considerations, especially in the Tamil-dominated state of Tamil Nadu, there is an inevitable concern for the welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka with acute political and social ramifications. In the past, such concerns have resulted in what is dubbed as New Delhi’s interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. In fact, it would have been difficult, for Colombo to launch an offensive, endangering the lives of the Tamil civilians, without the tacit acquiescence or at least, silence on the part of India.

It appears that the Sri Lankan government handled this quite adroitly through open channels of communication encompassing India’s military, diplomatic and intelligence establishments. There was also transparency, especially involving issues of weapons procurement and military deployments and person-to-person contacts. Colombo was also willing to address issues which were of immediate consequence for the government led by the Indian National Congress, whose leader Rajiv Gandhi was a victim of LTTE’s brutality.

For example, Sri Lanka declared that it was halting the use of heavy artillery in the no-fire zone to minimise civilian casualities. Though Colombo’s credibility in keeping to this promise is still being debated, the gesture was sufficient to assuage feelings in India, which otherwise could have had grave repercussions in the recently-concluded Indian elections. As a senior Sri Lankan government official remarked, it made sense to expend diplomacy on its immediate neighbour, as India had a significant stake in the conflict.