An accelerated project the LTTE has launched to build a clandestine airstrip capable of taking heavy aircraft in Mullaitivu has raised many an eyebrow in defence circles. LTTE cadres, as we reported yesterday, are said to be carrying out construction work like beavers with the help of heavy machinery day and night, paying scant regard to their vulnerability to airstrikes. Why are the Tigers in a mighty hurry to build such an airstrip at this juncture?
There are several possibilities. The LTTE is trapped in the Wanni with its sea and land supply routes being severed effectively. The on-going military onslaughts to clear the A-32 land route on the North-western seaboard and to block the LTTE’s access to the sea on the North-eastern littoral are a frightening proposition for Prabhakaran, who is also facing a military thrust targeting the soft underbelly of his Kilinochchi bastion. The army is poised to launch an offensive on the Muhamalai front anytime. Therefore, it may be argued that the LTTE may be trying to have an aerial escape route open for its leaders, should push come to shove. It may also be that the LTTE is expecting an emergency consignment of military material to be delivered by a huge cargo carrier for the final battle in Kilinochchi. The possibility of a rescue operation with help from an external source cannot also be ruled out. It could also be that the LTTE has in its possession larger planes than the ones it has unveiled and it is planning to take them out as the last resort for some unknown mission. The runway project could even be a ploy to distract the SLAF from other targets or to lure it into a trap.
These are mere surmises and even the defence experts are reportedly groping in the dark as to the real goal of the LTTE’s project, which is proof that the outfit has not yet run out of its surprises for the military, in spite of a heavy beating it has suffered. Anyway, there is not much time left for the LTTE to put the Mullaitivu airstrip to its intended use with the army forging ahead and bringing more and more of its Wanni targets within artillery range.
The real problem is not so much what Prabhakaran is going to do with his airstrip but where on earth he has got so many heavy vehicles and building material. The sheer number of vehicles that the LTTE is using in its runway project has surprised the military, according to our defence correspondents.
Obviously, many vehicles that the various NGOs and INGOs took into the LTTE-held areas purportedly to do development work there have found their way into the LTTE’s hands. We reported the other day that the LTTE had obtained several vehicles belonging to the Norwegian People’s Aid. That cement and steel taken to the uncleared areas are either given to the LTTE or seized by it is only too well known.
Surprisingly, nobody seems to know the actual number of vehicles that NGOs and INGOs have taken to the Wanni. Many heavy vehicles were moved into that part of the country during the first few years of the Norwegian-brokered truce. Failure of successive governments to hold the whole caboodle of non-governmental organisations working in the LTTE-held areas accountable for their assets and operations has posed a serious threat to national security.
A probe—not a witch-hunt, we stress—is called for into the illegal transfer of NGO and INGO assets to the LTTE, the evidence of which is patently clear. Laxity on the part of politicians in handling these organisations and their projects due to their international links and attendant influence has stood the LTTE and its NGO/INGO allies in good stead. It is time for the government to act and bring rogue NGOs/INGOs to book.
Better late than never!
end:
Tamils For Justice comments : Utter nonsense from Prabath Sahabandu' the editor,
to justify more civilian targets by SLAF. Most likely, the Tamils would take the fight
to the South and West. Such bogus claims by the Sinhalese editor, is simply paranoia than fact. SLAF has unmanned sircrafts to take photographs of such airstrips if it is really true. The Day of the Jackal is once again near or round the corner. War hurts all communities and not the monopoly of the Tamils alone.
Sauce to the goose is sauce to the gander.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment