The Sri Lankan government is now reconsidering the decision to impose censorship on news items related to the ongoing conflict. A number of media institutions immediately opposed the ban when it was first announced. Internal sources from the government confirmed that the Gazette regarding censorship has now been revoked. If the censorship was imposed, publication of any information on military operations/ weapons procurement by government forces would have been illegal.
However we assure our readers that DefenceNet will continue its operations normally even if such restrictions were applied. For the 9 or so months that this blog has been online, we have not posted any information that was deemed 'classified' by the military nor released any information that put national security in jeopardy. However we have disagreed with both the government based news sources and pro LTTE media reports on several occasions. Our aim was (and is) to ensure that our readers knew the truth rather than false propaganda and we can proudly say that we have done this without helping the enemy or promoting any political parties.
"However we assure our readers that DefenceNet will continue its operations normally even if such restrictions were applied."
ReplyDeleteThat is good to hear! Keep up the good work guys.
Just remembered, any news on Captain Nilan, the former head of the DPU that went missing in Indonesia?
ReplyDeleteDefencenet,
ReplyDeleteAny news about the outcome of the inquiery into the Anuradhapura attack? The Island says, the Navy commander is heading the inquiery which is good news. Please keep us informed about this development too.
"For the 9 or so months that this blog has been online, we have not posted any information that was deemed 'classified' by the military nor released any information that put national security in jeopardy"
ReplyDeleteThat is good to hear too. I hope Jack would agree with me.
Samuel, saw your earlier response to that Ranil's cocksucker Rifard...good stuff mate! Even OaO Asithri could not have said better! LMSSAO!
ReplyDeleteI strongly suspect this Rifard is really a LTTE mf, masquerading here as a "concerned Sri Lankan" and he is here for the express purpose of fishing for slip-ups from those of us who he thinks have connections to the MOD/SLDF and while he's about it, to turn SL population against the present MR GOSL so that his faggot Ranil can come to power and hand over "peelam" on a platter to the Fat Black Ugly Pig! Just days ago I saw some member here also questioning him about it (i.e. if he is here for fishing info.)
So be warned patriots!
The day is not too far off when we rope every single of these terrorist-sympathizers and gas the mf’s for the good – for the good of humanity and our Motherland! Until then, we need to be on our guard.
Cheers,
OaO Asithri
This is again a reflection of poor leadership from Rajapaske. Implementing something in the morning and withdrawing it in the night.
ReplyDeleteExample, The Anura attack, who gave the base details in any blog or newspaper. It was obtained by the LTTE through bribe, recce etc. Hence sensoring the news only keeps the common man in the dark.
They can continue to say only 2 aircraft lost etc etc etc. As I said before a hard headed leader looks very good at the start but in the long run the cracks will start to show.
LTTE killed Laskman Kadigamar for this reason. One he was a tamil(breaks their race theory) and two he would not have done so many ridiculous policies.
Again people feel like Ranil will give EELAM to the LTTE. I think its the Rajapaskes whom are blatantly ignoring international critism that could hand the LTTE EELAM.
ReplyDeleteBeechcraft can monitor coastal movements. Its from these movements where large scale amphibious ops and smuggling of weapons can be first traced. This will then be traced back to the ships. Its like a drug bust. You identify the pusher then you fill the kingpin by monitoring the pushers activities.
This was a UNP intiative but achievements of which were celeberated by the SLFP. Remeber it was the SLFP who took Jaffna but lost the east and the greater vanni region including elephant pass. Where was Rajapaske brothers then.
Ranil would checkmated the LTTE into peace. That is why they forced the tamil people to not vote for him. The LTTE also knew that no attack will come unless they provoked it. Thats the reason they went to take the army top brass. Failing that they went for Gota.
I ask a question here, did the LTTE attack Gota because they felt he was inportant or because they wanted to make him important.
"That is good to hear too. I hope Jack would agree with me."
ReplyDeleteHi Hemantha, yes agreed, as I said in my post at defencewire, there is a difference between truth and national secrets. National secrets should NEVER be getting to the media in the first place censorship or not.
So no one should hide truth under the guise of national secrets, then it is just as bad as what the LTTE and their various web portals do.Cheers.
Navindran
ReplyDeleteRanil did some good as well by fixing the economy and putting it on the right track, but he was weak we it came to war with the LTTE.
The main thing that is really hurting the economy right now is the high inflation which raises the COL. But at least the war effort is carried out by guys who know what they are doing.
Chandrika and her government were a bunch of short sighted fools when it came to fighting a war. They brought old Eastern European and Russians weapons that were rusting at the hinges and expected miracles out of them. I can go on, but I will stop.
The MR government has brought us to a good position, we have the East and its now up to us the develop it. This will be the testing ground for new ideas to end the conflict.
All we now have to do now is maintain the status quo, while rebuilding the east provinces, economy while gaining full control of the seas which will truly isolate LTTE from the outside world.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"I ask a question here, did the LTTE attack Gota because they felt he was inportant or because they wanted to make him important."
ReplyDeleteNavindran,
Is this a new theory?
Did LTTE attck Sarath Fonseka just to make him a hero?
Did LTTE attck Chandrika K. just before the presidential election to make her the winner?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis relates to a comment on an earlier article.
ReplyDelete"Nija Bandara-
What you are writting is true points. However it's easy you and me to point out those points than pointing out solutions. As a group what we should do is trying to point out some sort of solution/s than questioning all the time. I'm sure forces as well as country will benefit from that."-Perein
Well, I should comment on this. It is true that typing is easier than finding solutions and also implementing them. However my point is something else.
As mentioned by defencenet purpose of this blog is to share true (and more) information about defence releted matters in SL. And I don't think we can do any thing more than that in an online blog. I too did write many things just because they came into my mind. But I don't expect any responsible person to learn from me (or from this or any other blog.) I assume responsible officials already studied formally all these stuff we share here. I don't think I need to explain this point any more. (Yes at that time Dutugamunu learn about war from an old lady; a common man's advise was useful to him according to mahavansha. But I beleive that time is over.)
The Island learns that the investigation would also go into the possibility that the LTTE suicide squad `operatted` the new L 70 Indian anti-aircraft guns installed there. Two high ranking SLAF and SLA officials yesterday denied this possibility. They said that the Indian manufactured guns with integrated fire control radar couldn`t have been operated by the attackers.
ReplyDeleteSri Lankan security forces believe that this particular type of weapon had not been previously used by the group. But after capturing the gun positions, they had fired them at fixed wing aircraft and choppers parked there, they said.
Many an eyebrow was raised at this shocking possibility. The operation of a dedicated anti-aircraft weapon is a complicated process and having to acknowledge the enemy`s expertise in handling this particular weapon has stunned the Sri Lankan military, the sources said.
`Where did they acquire the expertise? Have they bought a similar type of weapon or most importantly did they have prior knowledge of the type of the heavy weapons in SLAF`s armoury.`
The deployment of 40 mm guns at the base has been part of the Indian air defence package offered to Sri Lanka. The Indian offer thwarted Colombo`s decision to secure an advanced Chinese air defence package to face the threat posed by the LTTE.
The SLAF recently installed two 40 mm weapons at Anuradhapura base, home to the Maritime Surveillance Command and a critically important platform for operations including casualty evacuation. There had been two 23 mm weapons of Bulgarian origin.
It has been established beyond doubt that the LTTE launched two aircraft after the infiltrators seized the gun positions and wreaked havoc, thereby ensuring that the Anuradhapura base would not be able to launch aircraft to intercept the enemy aircraft. The LTTE aircraft dropped two bombs and flew back despite the Indian radar installed at Vavuniya detecting them soon after they were airborne.
"Heavy fights broke out in Mannar as Army captured LTTE's first line of defence North of Giant Tank, near Madu. Six LTTE cadres were killed in the battle."
ReplyDeleteDailymirror
Did LTTE attck Sarath Fonseka just to make him a hero?
ReplyDeleteHere I would say no, they wanted to provoke the army and simultaneously kill the leadership.
Did LTTE attck Chandrika K. just before the presidential election to make her the winner?
Most probabily yes. However the SLFP might have conspired with the LTTE to remove her like congress did to remove rajiv ghandhi. At the end of the day, if chandrikha dies the party wins, if she lives, the party wins.
it will be good if these two events occur. However I believe things will change drastically in the comming months. LTTE might even hold on till Hillary gets elected.
ReplyDeleteThe MR government has brought us to a good position, we have the East and its now up to us the develop it. This will be the testing ground for new ideas to end the conflict.
All we now have to do now is maintain the status quo, while rebuilding the east provinces, economy while gaining full control of the seas which will truly isolate LTTE from the outside world.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNavindran,
ReplyDelete"Beechcraft can monitor coastal movements....This was a UNP intiative but achievements of which were celeberated by the SLFP"
The Beech HISAR you are referring to was not involved in the recent deep sea interceptions by the SLN. The Beech does not have the range to do that, as pointed out earlier, (also see the defencewire blog). So its quite ridiculous to give credit to the UNP for the recent sucesses of the SLN.
"Ranil would checkmated the LTTE into peace".
No one can checkmate the LTTE into peace. That would also assume amongst other things that there is a so called "international safety net" to trap the LTTE and force them to settle. There is no such thing. The international community are not going to do any more than what they have already done (i.e. ban the LTTE, occasional bust etc). None of this stopped the LTTE from walking out of peace talks during the UNP Govt. So what went wrong, checkmating didn't work?
Navindran
ReplyDeleteC'mon man, Hillary ain't gonna be the long awaited messiah of the LTTE. If Hillary does win it still won't give her the power to do as she wishes. The congress will keep her in check especially the Republicans in it.
Besides I really doubt the LTTE is pinning their hopes on Hillary so much. We have fought these guys for 25 years, you must know they are smarter than that. They never put all their eggs in one basket.
If MR & co start the Wanni offensive at this stage, it will cost them dearly. We don't have enough troops for it and our economy can't sustain it without serious reprecussions. Its better to rest, gather our strength and then give the final push.
GoldenEagle:
ReplyDeleteThe LTTE is going to use their money to keep hilly happy.Also she will get the LTTE supporting tamil diasphora vote.This is why it is imperative we build up a non ltte supporting SL diasphora overseas.Hon pres MR is going the right thing by making way for SLankans to live and work overseas(fx.nurses).Take the worst case scenario...if LTTE gets part of country a self appointed sinhala or muslim VP will continue fight for "our" rights..It is very "easy" for any community in the world living in any country to feel "subjugated" especially when cultivating that feeling will bring "foreign treasures" never imagined..Cheap education,good housing.not to mention shopping in NY..(which enables one to see wonderful consumables in even more wonderful and larger packaging)..etc.
Good article in LBO, regarding casuality numbers if you have time check it out
ReplyDeleteSri Lanka war dead don't add up
srilankan
ReplyDeleteLook, even if Hill is kept happy with the money from the Indian lobby(which most likely have some LTTE supporters in it) and wins the election, she still won't be able to do as she pleases. She will have to rely on the support of the congress to get things done. Its called checks and balances.
Besides the LTTE has had links with the Al Queada and Taliban(stinger missiles)in the past, so it would be unwise on Hill's part to support the LTTE thereby giving Republicans the ammo they need to paint her as a "terror supporter". Does she really want to shoot herself in the foot?
Besides China and Pakistan want Lanka to remain one country and so does India. The LTTE's influence able to penetrate only South India, not the North for they still remember Rajiv.
BTW, I agree that we need to better organize and mobilise the non ltte supporting SL diasphora overseas.
Shared intelligence accounts for SL Navy's successes
ReplyDeleteThe availability of real time maritime intelligence from South and South East Asian countries has been a key factor in the Sri Lankan navy's recent stunning successes against the intrepid and innovative naval wing of the LTTE.
"Both ASEAN and SAARC are now highly sensitive to maritime terrorism seeing it as a common threat, and intelligence is shared," an informed source told Hindustan Times explaining the Sri Lankan Navy's successful hits against the LTTE's Sea Tigers in the past year.
The Sri Lankan naval spokesman, Commodore DKP Dassanayake, had said that in the past 13 months, the Navy has destroyed 8 large LTTE vessels, 11 multi-day trawlers and six to seven small boats off the North, North Western and Southern coasts of the island.
Explaining the modus operandi of the LTTE, Com.Dassanayake said that munitions and dual purpose material were smuggled out in small boats and then put on mother ships anchored in mid sea. As these ships near the Sri Lankan coast, the consignments are loaded into multi-day "fishing" trawlers and then again transferred to small "fishing" boats and landed where-ever suitable.
"The availability of good internal and external real time intelligence and bold and innovative execution of action plans, have enabled the small Sri Lankan Navy to do a good job. They have achieved more than what they have publicly announced," a reliable source said.
Most of the multi-day trawlers had been seized in the Gulf of Mannar, between North West Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. But the big ships had been taken hundreds of nautical miles south of Dondra, the southern most Sri Lankan point, Com.Dassanayake said.
However, some analysts say that while some of the big ships destroyed ( like the three off Sumatra) were genuine arms smugglers, others might have been pirates roaming in the deep seas looking for prey.
Indian connection
Asked if there was an "Indian connection" in the illegal activity in the Gulf of Mannar off Siluvathurai and Arippu, an analyst said that many of the items seized were dual purpose goods which were not banned as such.
"Take ball bearings for example. They are good if they are used in bicycles but bad when used in mines! There is no law against manufacturing ball bearings and they are readily available commercially in India, as elsewhere. These may be bought and smuggled out. If there is an Indian connection it is just that the goods in question may have been manufactured or bought in India," the analyst said.
But there is increasing surveillance by both the Indian and Sri Lankan forces. "There is a lot of policing in the sea between Sri Lanka and India. The Indian and Sri Lankan navies and the Indian Coast Guard are active, but there is no fool proof measure against smuggling," he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=5fa7dc09-af6d-4eab-b577-97c795236e7f
"However, some analysts say that while some of the big ships destroyed ( like the three off Sumatra) were genuine arms smugglers, others might have been pirates roaming in the deep seas looking for prey."
ReplyDeleteI disagree, the three ships that were sunk off sumatra were trailed by the SLN vessels. When attacked the personnel operating the ships spoke in Tamil to their leadership in Wanni about what to do. The SLN vessels were able to listen to the panicked messages.
Malay pirates don't speak Tamil.
is that true, the beach craft was earlier used as a air craft for take officials here and there?
ReplyDeletelater on it was modified as monitoring craft
Patriot...
ReplyDeleteyes, beech crafts are "civilian" air crafts and if not for the technical gear they carry they are relatively cheap and harmless :)
Besides China and Pakistan want Lanka to remain one country and so does India.
ReplyDeleteCant be so sure. SL can be manipulated, only when it is weak. So their interest is for the conflict to continue.
We have to count only on our own resources, the human.
Only through the development of our unity and our skill, we can make the country invincible.
APPAMADO AMATHA PADAM
A man who is alert, vigilant and diligent can never be subjugated.
"Sri Lanka Army's infantry units moving ahead of the Muhamalai Forward Defenceline in Jaffna last morning destroyed an LTTE bunkerline killing ten LTTE cadres."
ReplyDelete"By the time this is written, the SLA has overrun the LTTE's FDL in Mannar killing over twenty LTTE cadres in a fresh offensive launched by the SLA this morning."
Defencewire
It's not alway taking revenge,
ReplyDeletehave to work wisely, plans for the future..........
better to collect good human-resources, we cant depend on anyone better stand up alone.
have to identify ppl who born for war and intelligence,
to identify that
every college boy/girl has to be in the college cadet platoons at least for a year(i suggest after O/L)
(I personally believe people who were in platoons have a good mentality for most situations)
list all good, skilled people
then give them scholarships, foreign training, develop them
as a true patriots..
not for war for anything..
before these bloody politicians eat all the good in this motherland..
I agree with you patriot.
ReplyDelete"the confrontation erupted in the general area Northwest of Giant tank in the morning hours. Troops have found eight bodies of LTTE cadres during the subsequent search operation. Monitored radio transmissions of LTTE have revealed 14 more terrorists were killed in the incident."
ReplyDeletedefence.lk
Mathamathica
ReplyDeletePakistan and China want Lanka on their side, while India wants lanka under their wing. A clear winner is yet to emerge.
Pakistan wants to be our friend because they want an ally on India's southern doorstep. This irks india.
China has always helped us, but now we seem to have become a vital "pearl" in their "string of pearls" strategy. Lanka is situated in a strategic location that is hard to ignore.
Whether we have allies or not, we should not forget the time old advice:
"Nations have no friends, they only have interests"
i think.. when we get the oil out of the earth, everyone wants to be the friend;
ReplyDeletehave to be very careful when having allies, thats true GE, china is a good friend who helped us having no expectations of returns.
it's always better we stand in a stance that others willingly offer us help ,if we can..
have to be friendly to everyone, while maintaining good law and order within the country..
thats how the country which having Buddhism should be
patriot
ReplyDeleteThe thing that makes China stand apart is that they have always been in our corner from the beginning. They never flip flopped on the LTTE issue(unlike India), they always supported our country's unity over it's seperation.
According to tamilnet the army is organising an attack to capture pooneryan.I sincerely wish this is not true.May the triple gem bless all our troops.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that every detail regarding defence matters should be divulged in public. It is indeed a fine and difficult line to draw.
ReplyDeleteBut I think it is perfectly ok to know the magnitude of the damage that was done.
Sorry if I missed this, but Defencenet can you provide the exact amount of craft and assets destroyed/damaged in the Anuradhapura attack?
Do we have alerts across the different forces?
ReplyDeleteFor example there have been some fighting in Mannar and Muhamalai. These may well be diversionary tactics. When such things happens all forces army, navy, airforce, police, STF everywhere must stay at attention for any sort of attacks on their positions.
For this we could use certain alerts. Like say a white alert when something like the mannar and muhamalai incidents happen. If something a little more serious happens a yellow and even more serious a red. I am sure there must be something like this in place anyway. But the point is that this alert should be raised as soon as possible when something is suspected so that there won't be any surprises anywhere.
Sri Lankan,
ReplyDeleteTamilnet predicted few such offensives prior to this too. But we haven't seen any being realized yet. Either there weren't such plans and just some guess work by LTTE or if there were plans for such offensives then they may have been cancelled due to leek of information.
What I think is that LTTE is just guessing without any solid information. They are publishing these guess work to avoid such offensives if there were such plans. If they had some solid inf. about intended attacks they would have gathered lot of resources from other fronts and would have prepared to do the maximum damage without advertising it.
In short, their advertising is an indication of a lack of strength (in their part) to face such an eventuality (I guess).
ReplyDeleteHemantha, there were the same sort of news items on Tamil net before the Muhamalai incident last year, so as you say may be a hint to the SLA that 'we know' sort of thing to try and forestal an offensive.
ReplyDeleteMannar Offensive
ReplyDeleteThis is what we should not start at this time.
The president of the United States have veto powers over the house of representatives and the senate. Thats why Bush still holds alot of power even though both houses are controlled by congress.
ReplyDeleteAl qiadia and Taliban are both indirect creations of the Americans. The LTTE that of India. If the US see that its best intrest is served it will do so.
Example when fighting Saddam, the americans gave a free hand to the kurds. Ofcourse saddam was also their creation. Now when turkey wants to attack Iraqi kurds they are also contemplating the situation. This is because they need the kurds to destabilise Iran.
I took this from Asian Tribune "The Sinhalese Kings sought the help of the Dutch, who were somewhat more reasonable, to get rid of the Portuguese. Then the British, who appeared most gentlemanly, came along and took over the country on an agreement entered in to with the Sri Lankan chieftains to protect Sri Lankan values and its religion. British with their ostensible gentlemanliness was the only power to conquer the whole of Sri Lanka in 1815."
Is this the situation today which Sri Lankan leaders are pushing the country to by ailing with China, US or India. How much of Sri Lankan assets are under foreign ownership today.
navindran
ReplyDelete"The president of the United States have veto powers over the house of representatives and the senate."
Not always the case. The president's veto can be overturned if 2/3rds of the Senate and House vote to overturn it.
yup but this seldom occurs especially now when democrats hold the swing in both houses.
ReplyDeleteAgencies like the CIA, NSA etc have unfortunately also elvolved to be independent on their own and tend to do their own handiwork where they see fit.
navindran
ReplyDeleteThe Dems do hold swing in both houses, but not by much. That makes a difference.
Besides do you really think that the dems in the House and Senate will back a resolution to support the LTTE for Hill's sake thereby and run the high risk of being painted as "weak on terrorism" by the Republicans? The Democrats image could be damaged badly in the American public's eye if this unfolds.
The Dems could have pulled off a move like this 10 years ago, but very unlikely in the post 9/11 political atmosphere.
GUys we should hold up on hilary THe future president of the united staes will be inaugarated in january 20th of 2009! THat is about 14 MONTHS from now. If we are still fighting the LTTE in mannar FDL's as is the case now i think all of you will agree that this goverment has failed to achive what it set out to do.
ReplyDeleteLets talk about the present, Defencenet i am confused about the offensive in wanni have SL army taken over the first line of ltte bunkers as claimed in defencewire or have they been repulsed by the LTTE as claimed by Tamilnet.
dose anybody have more info on this?
"The operation of a dedicated anti-aircraft weapon is a complicated process and having to acknowledge the enemy`s expertise in handling this particular weapon has stunned the Sri Lankan military, the sources said."
ReplyDeleteI doubt that's an accurate source. It may take expertise to use the weapon and radar system against a flying aircraft, but it's a relatively simple matter to operate an AA weapon in the ground role. Any experienced soldier (and these BTs were experienced) could do it.
Hemantha i agree with you.We have to be careful not to kill innocent people in the north.What is more disturbing is the fact that LTTE terrs who speak sinhala have been ambushing people clad in army uniforms in oder to blame the army.
ReplyDeleteTamil chelvam Dead!
ReplyDeleteConfirmed by Tamilnet