Battle of Vakarai- a debrief

Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka

"In War what matters is Victory, not prolonged campaigns. Therefore, the General who understand war is the arbiter of the people's fate, and on him depends whether the Nation shall be at peace or in danger" Sun Tzu

Battle of Vakarai, the greatest battle ever fought by the SL armed forces has certainly had the right Generals to lead the battle. As the Great Military Genius once explained, victory of a military campaign if long delayed, both the nation and the military have to suffer.

During last 26 years, SL armed forces fought many battles. From Operation Vadamarachchi in 1987 to Operation Agnikeela in 2001 the lack of vision of the national leadership had thrown the military in to a prolonged campaign which in turn put the whole nation into a great misery.

Vision gives the direction and a worthwhile purpose for the soldiers to fight. Therefore, the setting of the vision is the duty of the national leadership. Unfortunately, SL suffered heavily from lack of leadership and therefore the right vision during its 20 years of war on terror. As the vacuum of leadership filled, the victories once presumed impossible started flowing naturally proving that the formidability of the "Terror Tiger" was nothing but a fad.

The Vision of President Mahinda Rajapksa for the national security is to free the future generation from the horrors of terrorism. Thus, the children in our country would be able to live with dignity at anywhere in the Island without fear. It was this compelling vision more than anything else enabled him to rally the support of diverse forces which again deemed impossible for any political leader in SL to be achieved.

Road to Vakarai
It was with this vision the President committed himself to the peace process in November 2005 with the terror organization that had already killed hundreds of people including the country's Foreign Minster during the ceasefire itself. What followed afterwards do not worth mentioning. Painful patience that had to be exercised on the part of the government amid daily killings of civilians, security forces members, and government officials could not move the stubbornness of the LTTE leadership towards the democratic stream of politics. Today, it is only the psychopathic leader of the LTTE, some power hungry politicians, false peace activists and bogus free media men that do not share the President's vision, and who hates country's future generation and stand by the LTTE.

Humanitarian aid provided by the Government and INGOs for the stranded civilians Vakarai has been used to built bunkers of the LTTE terrorists.

The human catastrophe created by the LTTE by the end of October 2006 ,obligated the country to take stern action against the terrorism. In June 2006, the LTTE closed down Mavil-Aru sluice gates denying water supply to 15,000 civilians and disrupt their livelihood by destroying over 30,000 acres of agricultural land. Then again in July in the same year the LTTE made a desperate attempt to capture South of Trincomalee by attacking Muttur, Mahindapura and Thoppur areas. Hundreds of civilians perished and over 20,000 were displaced during these battles. From August to September in 2006, the LTTE undertook a major military offensive to capture the Jaffna peninsula .Though miserably failed in their attempt; the LTTE managed to close down the A-9 road by making it unsafe and thereby created a serious humanitarian crisis in the peninsula.

To all these atrocities the government only responded with limited defensive operations and continue to stay committed to the ceasefire agreement. In October 2006, amid all these blatant violations of CFA, the government decided to hold talks with the LTTE in Geneva to which the LTTE too sent few of its agents. However, the LTTE delegation refused the seven fold framework for peace process proposed by the government and returned to SL after having engaged in their usual fundraising and propaganda campaigns in the Europe.

Meanwhile, the growing popularity of Karuna Amman as a political figure among the Tamil speaking people in the East caused the Wanni leadership to unleash his rage upon the Eastern people. The LTTE sealed off the areas under its domination in Vakarai and started attacking civilian settlements and security forces in government controlled areas with heavy artillery weapons taking the cover of the civilians living in Vakarai. Over 40,000 Tamil civilians in Vakarai, Panichchankerni, Verugal, Kathiraveli and Echchanpaththu were taken at hostage and used as a human shield by the LTTE while the civilians in Somapura, Mahindapura, Kallar, Sirimangalapura , Kadjuwatta and Mankerni were being continuously pounded with heavy artillery. Further, assassinations of political opponents and abductions of civilians including the school children increased to an alarming rate in both Ampara and Batticaloa districts.

In this backdrop, no democratically elected government should be expected to stay deaf and blind. Thus, the Commander in Chief devised a new mission for the military that aligned with his vision; that is to eradicate the LTTE terrorism from the Eastern Province. The battle of Vakarai was set about as a result.

New strategy against Terror
"The General is like the spoke of the wheel .If the connection is tight and complete, the wheel will be strong and so will be the state; if the connections is defective , then the state will be weak" Sun Tzu

A vision and a mission, no matter how clearly expressed need actions to be fulfilled. And such actions must be taken according to a strategic framework to ensure the desired outcome. The Secretary Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, along with his team of military chiefs set forth a whole new strategy to the battle against terrorism that has never been used by the SL military in its previous operations. Furthermore, the veteran infantryman could effectively bridge the understanding between the country's executive power and the military, so that all parties shared the same vision and acted upon it confidently. This in turn guarded the military effort against being politicized and also resulted in a huge morale boost among the troops as for the first time they could feel that they are fighting an ending battle.

In the new strategy the difference between the conventional warfare and the counter terror operations were given the topmost importance and the tactical level operations were designed to cater the specific requirements arising from such differences. In conventional warfare, artillery and aerial bombardments are extensively used for area neutralization, followed by armour and infantry advance to gain control over the hostile territory. However, the conventional military strategies could not be applied to the local scenario mainly due to the presence of large number of civilians in the un-liberated areas.

Thus, unlike in the past offensives conducted by the SL military, purging the enemy strongholds were given priority over the gaining of ground. Elite forces were deployed deep behind the enemy lines in small groups to attack enemy strongholds and property in lieu of artillery and aerial attacks. This in turn helped to gain intelligence on the large enemy bases and gun positions where subsequent artillery and air assaults could be carried out with precision. The new strategy required the infantry to consolidate the achievements of the elite forces which was an entirely new concept for the SL forces. Earlier, the elite troops were more engaged in isolated missions or even for the conventional warfare itself. Therefore, the military could develop an invincible competitive advantage over the enemy through the new strategy.