Lanka knows despite the hue and cry, India cannot be ignored. In percentage terms, how much did India help Sri Lanka in the war against the LTTE? India said 'Go ahead with your operations', but was very clear in telling Sri Lanka not to harm civilians. India was very clear that the LTTE was a terrorist organsiation. We also denied the LTTE space to come out. The Indian Navy also played an active part in the LTTE's defeat. We gave them MI-17 helicopters, but told them to fly those in their colours. Within a while of liberating the east, two teams comprising three members each were set up on both sides. India straightaway told him that it won't give Sri Lanka offensive weapons.
He added that he didn't think the LTTE will be interested. Initially, he was also saying that he would negotiate. When Rajapakse took over, he came to India within a month of taking oath. Another thing was that the international atmosphere had changed after the 9/11 attacks in the US. When they took the east, they realised the LTTE could be taken on. What was the single biggest turning point? So the army knew it would be backed fully. This time, helicopter gunships were used, casualty evacuation used to happen. The air force was earlier basically an air transport wing of the army. The navy started adopting the LTTE's swarming tactics. The ( then) naval chief (EM>Admiral Vasantha ) Karannagoda said 'Let me take them on at their own game.' He started building smaller boats. When such a boat went down, it was a loss of about 40 lives and $15 million. It had large boats that used to come under LTTE suicide boat attacks. The second key thing was the total synergy between the three forces, which was never seen before.Įarlier, the navy used to be their weakest link. The Tamil issue, the devolution of power would all come later, it was decided. But this time the politico-military objective was to finish the LTTE militarily. But it did not seem very apparent till January 2007.Īs General Fonseka told me: "This time we were playing for a win, not a draw." Earlier, governments would go a distance and pull back. But that this leadership was different was very evident. Earlier leaderships did not want to take losses. I could sense that this army was taking losses. The day after the failed assassination attempt on Lankan army chief General Sarath Fonseka, I went to Colombo and went to the east where the fighting was happening.ĭid you get a sense then that this would be the biggest and bloodiest phase? You have been following this war, Eelam war 4, since it began. It took three hours for a positive identification, as they call it. Then Colonel Karuna was flown in to identify the body. When President Mahinda Rajapakse addressed the nation, he didn't mention anything about Prabhakaran. When they spotted some movement in the mangroves, they engaged in a gun battle and the top leaders were killed. But the army had deployed two defence lines and one of the reserve forces. If the rest of the top leaders had managed to escape, the war would have been extended. Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony died in the first wave of attacks. The idea was to come out of the lagoon and get into the jungles of Mullaitheevu. They launched waves of attacks, like they are known to do. The LTTE had tried to break through that lagoon. They knew this from people who were coming out, and also one of his bodyguards who was captured. In the last two days, the Sri Lankan army had intelligence that all the top LTTE leaders were in a narrow lagoon. How exactly did Prabhakaran meet his end? In this interview with 's Krishnakumar P, Gokhale discusses India's role, the death of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran, the lessons for India and how Sri Lanka still looks at its big neighbour with respect.
While China and Pakistan merely gave Sri Lanka the muscle, says Gokhale, India helped the island nation land the knockout punch.
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