The Sri Lankan Army advancing towards Kilinochchi in the Northern Province,where the headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used to belocated, and the LTTE cadres deployed for slowing down the advance have been engaged in a do or die battle since October 17, 2008.
While claiming that it continues to maintain its advance despite bad weather,the Sri Lankan Army has admitted that it has already suffered 33 fatalities inthe latest phase of the battle that started on October 17 and has been broughtto a temporary halt due to rains. In an attempt to explain the slowing down ofthe operations, the Sri Lankan Army has accused the LTTE of using poisonous gasagainst the troops.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has also indirectly admitted the slowing down ofthe operations. The Daily News of Sri Lanka has quoted him as saying at afunction of the National Research Council at Colombo on October 20, 2008, asfollows:
"The battle against terrorism which we could convincingly win within afew days, is nevertheless prolonged due to the grave concern and the optimumcaution exercised by the highly disciplined Armed Forces who are fighting undersevere constraints, to cause no harm or loss to innocent, civilian humanlife."
Thus, while the Army has attributed the slowing down to the alleged use ofpoisonous gas by the LTTE, the President has attributed it to the Army's anxietyto avoid civilian casualties.
Intriguingly for the last one week, the pro-LTTE web site tamilnet.com,which used to give battle front news in the past, has not done so. One wouldhave expected it to highlight the Army's admission of having sustained 33fatalities. It has not done so. For more than a week now, the Tamilnet has beengiving mostly political news regarding developments in Tamil Nadu in support ofthe Sri Lankan Tamil cause and activities of the Sri Lankan Tamil diasporaabroad. If at all it gives operational news, it is generally about the EasternProvince.
While puthinam.com, apro-LTTE Tamil web site, continues to give battlefield news, Tamilnet has notbeen doing so. The only news about the latest round of fighting is to be foundin the web site of Puthinam, which claims that the LTTE inflicted heavycasualties on the advancing army.
Why the silence of Tamilnet? One has to look for an answer to this questionas the fighting continues.
B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retired), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai.
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