This time round, Prabhakaran has pulled a different rabbit out of his camouflaged hat. Two LTTE aircraft flew over the Katunayake Airbase yesterday morning and dropped improvised explosive devices, which evoked one's memories of the crude bombs that the Sri Lanka Air Force used to drop on LTTE targets in days of yore. Three airmen died and sixteen more sustained injuries in the blast.
That Prabhakaran was in possession of light aircraft was no secret. Acquiring new military capabilities was his mission during the first few years of the truce. On the false pretext of taking part in overseas negotiations, his delegates brought in huge bundles of goods sans security checks through the very airport they had once devastated, and transported them to Kilinochchi-courtesy the SLAF. Karuna vouches for the fact that between the signing of the CFA and his breakaway, Prabhakaran took delivery of several arms shipments. The LTTE also built airstrips and trained pilots abroad for its air wing during that respite. Evidence has also surfaced of LTTE test flights in the northern skies. So, an LTTE air raid on a vital military target was something to be expected.
It was first thought that the LTTE would use its aircraft for Kamikaze type attacks but Prabhakran apparently doesn't want to send his air wing on suicidal missions. Or, yesterday's attack could have been only a ballon d'essai or a dry run. Why did he finally decide to flaunt his new capability? He has sought to kill two birds with one stone. First, he wanted to destroy at least some of the SLAF fighter jets, which are wreaking havoc on his military positions. Secondly, he was desperate for muscle flexing to boost the sagging morale of his combatants and activists and attract international media attention. Prabhakaran has achieved the second objective. BBC is gaga over the attack and calls the LTTE an innovative outfit. At home, the detractors of President Rajapakse are dancing in the streets in a fit of euphoria, thinking that the beginning of his downfall has begun with the LTTE air attacks.
The LTTE air raids executed with relative ease, in spite of all elaborate precautions that the SLAF claims to have taken, raise a number of serious questions that the government needs to answer. What if the LTTE had taken some other target, say the residence of a VVIP? The SLAF claims it had prior information of the attack and responded to the threat by opening fire before the bombs were dropped. If so, how did the enemy aircraft manage to disappear into thin air after the abortive raid? The attack has also given the lie to the government's claim that the SLAF has over the past few months weakened the LTTE air capability through continual pounding of its airstrips etc. Prabhakaran has proved his air wing is far from debilitated. Now, the government will have to rise to the new challenge. It must acquire the necessary capabilities to intercept enemy aircraft without trying to take refuge in rhetoric.
Meanwhile, the LTTE and its allies may expect insurance premiums to skyrocket and the tourist arrivals to plummet to zero and the economy to come to a grinding halt overnight. But, this country has amply demonstrated its resilience vis-…-vis terrorism. It has survived far worse attacks. The Airport has been devastated with a number of aircraft being reduced to rubble; the Central Bank has been bombed; the Kolonnawa Oil Installations have been attacked; a President has been assassinated and, in short, the LTTE has nothing new to do to hurt the economy. But for the ultra light aircraft, which even an average mudalali in this country can afford, Prabhakaran has nothing new to flaunt by way of achievements after twenty years of fighting.
Prabhakaran may resort to all sorts of gimmicks to prove his presence but the fact remains that, instead of carving out Eelam and ruling supreme therein, he has now had to confine himself to just only three districts. The King of Three Districts ought to realise that one swallow does not make a summer. He may recall that Osama bin Laden, who landed a jet on the Pentagon, razed the US economic icon, Twin Towers to the ground with fuel laden jets, has got nowhere near his goal.
With the ground shifting under his dictatorial feet, it is high time he woke up to the need to resolve the conflict peacefully. He should remember the fate that befell Icarus, who tried to fly too high with a pair wax wings, got too close to the sun in the process and went tumbling to a tragic end. The closer a candle gets to its end, the brighter its flame shines
Courtesy: The Island
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