Despite battlefield losses last week with the LTTE delivering bodies of 30 soldiers killed in action through the ICRC, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa while agreeing that the road forward is hard remains convinced that victory is certain.

It is clearly seen that the war between the LTTE and Government Security Forces is moving towards a decisive phase.

After the capture of the East, Forces were able to capture Mannar which was under the control of LTTE and now they have entered Kilinochchi which is considered as the main power base of LTTE. According to some war analysts, the LTTE has so far mobilized only the second grade fighters for their forward defence lines and have not mobilized the first grade fighters. But for the Kilinochchi battle, LTTE has replaced the Forward Defence Lines with first grade fighters. According to some analysts, after this battle, the LTTE will have to withdraw in to the Vanni Jungles. But according to some analysts, the LTTE strategy is to allow penetration of the Security Forces in to their area of control and then strike back, which will enable them to cause severe damage to the Govt. Security Forces.

Nearly 20 years ago my late brother Mervyn told me of a fascinating encounter he had with the then President Premadasa. If I remember correctly now, during this one –to- one meeting that lasted some 2 ½ hours Mervyn had the impression that President Premadasa actually enjoyed India’s criticism of him and the attacks against him by the Indian media. In fact President Premadasa seemed to invite criticism by sometimes actually baiting India. This was at the height of the JVP inspired anarchy that appeared to grip the country, and Premadasa wanted to legitimise his rule by being seen as a true nationalist demanding Indian troops quit Sri Lanka.

Velupillai Prabhakaran's terror empire stands on a foundation of myths, the biggest being its so-called invincibility. The LTTE is also being described by some as the most ruthless terrorist outfit in the world as if someone had carried out a global survey to measure ruthlessness of terrorist groups! A prerequisite for countering terrorism is to strike at the roots of such well entrenched myths surrounding terrorist organisations.