By Shamindra Ferdinando
The TULF led four-party Tamil National Alliance [TNA] contesting the five-Northeast electoral districts and Colombo, is optimistic that the LTTE would not initiate ‘major offensive type military activity’ in the north-east in the run up to the December 5 general elections.

The LTTE would not undermine their ambitious campaign aimed at pushing the next government for talks with the LTTE designated as the only party that would represent the Tamils at future peace negotiations, a leading TNA candidate said. The contestant expressed confidence that security forces would not engage in any ‘military adventure’ to drum up support for the PA in the run up to the election.

Responding to questions, the candidate said that there could not be any truth in claims that the LTTE was planning to mount a massive offensive on Jaffna before December 5, the day the government declared it had regained Jaffna exactly six years ago. Another leading candidate agreed.

The TNA has held a series of meetings in the north-east where they vowed to back the LTTE that has waged war against successive chauvinistic governments. "We don’t expect any trouble in areas outside army’s domination in the north-east," the candidate said.

The TNA has also urged Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake to relocate certain polling booths in the north-east for the convenience of the voters living in the ‘cleared’ and ‘uncleared’ areas. The Commissioner has been forced to establish

LTTE will...

several cluster polling booths in villages and towns near areas outside government control for the convenience of the voters living in LTTE held areas in the province particularly in the east.

The TNA and the UNP have also urged authorities to relocate polling booths scheduled to be set up in areas under EPDP control in the northern islands.

The LTTE, reeling under joint US-UK action against global terrorism and Friday’s announcement that Canada too has proscribed the group, is likely to refrain from initiating any major military offensive, a senior military official said. "That would not be to their advantage," he said ruling out the possibility of the group upsetting TNA’s plan.

The TNA has announced that they would back any party that accepts their just demands: lift ban on the LTTE, declare a cease-fire, lift ‘economic-embargo’ and resurrect the Norwegian peace initiative. These demands were identical to the pre-requisites announced by the LTTE for resumption of fresh peace negotiations.

However, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is expected to reveal his stance with regard to the election and the stalled peace process in his Martyr’s Day speech to be carried by Voice of Tigers on November 26. Prabhakaran is likely to reiterate the same demands. He is also likely to insist on the withdrawal of security forces from areas captured during Riviresa offensive in 1995 with a view to creating congenial environment with military de-escalation as additional pre-conditions for resumption of the talks.

Military officials and other political party sources agree that the LTTE would not resort to military action that would have a detrimental impact on the TNA, but definitely engage in operations against selected targets. An LTTE suicide cadre on Friday mounted an abortive attack on a jeep carrying a group of policemen at Valachchenai. Four policemen suffered injuries, police headquarters said adding that they believe terrorists were planning to step up attacks on selected targets in the North-East and Colombo in the coming days.

In view of the threat posed by the LTTE as a result of their stance on the North-East issue and the LTTE, the JVP on Friday urged IGP Lucky Kodituwakku to initiate a special security plan aimed at preventing attacks on their national level election rallies. JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva has expressed the need to provide them adequate security when Kodituwakku met senior representatives of political parties contesting the election, at police headquarters, party sources said.

The JVP has said that peace negotiations could not get underway until the LTTE drops its demand for self-rule in the north-east. The police chief has agreed to consider their request.

With the PA expecting JVP’s support in a post election scenario, the government is most likely to respond favourably to their request for additional security.

At the meeting, the JVP also urged the police chief to disarm groups of PA and UNP goons accused of carrying out a series of politically motivated attacks on party activists.

However, some other political parties have not being successful in securing adequate security. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem who contests the Kandy district on the UNP ticket yesterday said that he decided to go before the Human Rights Commission in a bid to get an order supportive of his demand for additional police security.

"I have to follow Professor Peiris," he said pointing out that the former minister managed to increase his security unit to 15, only after he made representations to the HRC. Kodituwakku is not in a position to ignore an order from the HRC.

Responding to questions, Hakeem said that he accepts the LTTE’s designation as the only party that would represent the Tamils at future peace talks. However, "we have a key role to play," he said pointing out that the LTTE could not represent the Muslims in the North-East. Claiming that the SLMC is in touch with the TULF, Hakeem expressed the belief that the peace process could get underway when the UNP led United National Front wins the general elections.