Sri Lankan government intensifies military offensive against LTTE

President Mahinda Rajapakse ordered the “limited” military operation on July 26, claiming that it was necessary on “humanitarian grounds” to reopen the sluice gate to provide water to thousands of farmers downstream. The “water issue”, however, was simply a pretext for a military offensive aimed at capturing LTTE territory and weakening its hold throughout the East.

Over the past three weeks, the military has seized the opportunity provided by the LTTE’s closure of the sluice gate to bomb LTTE installations that are nowhere near the disputed area. Last Sunday, the LTTE, after discussion with Norwegian peace facilitators, offered to open the gate but the government rejected the proposal. Military shelling prevented representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) accompanying the LTTE to release water.

On Tuesday, the LTTE announced that it had opened the gate for humanitarian reasons. Later that evening, the government disputed the claim and insisted that the release of water was “to the credit of military”. By Wednesday, whoever was responsible, water was flowing to farmers in the Serunuwara area.

SLMM officials expressed the hope that the opening of the gate would ease tensions, but the opposite has been the case. Some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in the Mavilaru area over the past two days as the military attempts to secure control of the gate. The seizure of the LTTE territory is an open breach of the 2002 ceasefire agreement.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/sril-a11.shtml