The Kilinochchi victory reminds us of the much hyped drama involving Baby 81, who took the world by storm in the wake of the 2004 tsunami disaster with several people claiming to be its parents. Similarly, there are many claiming the credit for the stunning victory the armed forces scored against the LTTE on Friday at Kilinochchi.

No sooner had the 'Kilinochchi Baby' been born than the aging JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe appeared on TV claiming to be its father! He said it was his party that had pressured the Rajapaksa government to pick up the gauntlet Prabhakaran threw down at Mavil Aru in 2006 and therefore, he and his party deserved the credit for the victories that the security forces had been scoring against the LTTE ever since. However, he remained silent on the JVP's attempt to abort the 'baby' last December by voting against the Budget 2009 in a bid to dislodge the government. Had his party and others of its ilk succeeded in their endeavour, the Tigers would have got off the hook and Kilinochchi would never have fallen.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, too, has welcomed the Kilinochchi victory and commended the armed forces for their achievements! It is like an abortionist celebrating the birth of a baby he failed to eliminate. Or, as a local saying goes, it is like 'kissing the hand that cannot be cut off'––kapanna beri atha imbinawa wagai. The question is why he who is full of praise for military victories fights shy of supporting the war.

The UNP has a history of successful military campaigns against the LTTE. But, what has sullied its image at present is the wrong policy its leadership has adopted towards terrorism. The UNP is still trying to market the same old appeasement policy to people who have rejected it lock, stock and barrel at successive elections.

The capture of Kilinochchi would not have been so difficult if the UNP-led UNF government (2001-2004) had not allowed the LTTE to smuggle in shiploads of arms and ammunition taking cover behind a CFA. Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told this newspaper on Friday that the army had come under a rain of shellfire and over 12,000 officers and men had sustained injuries as a result.

It was during the UNF government that the LTTE's arsenal got the biggest ever boost. According to the erstwhile LTTE military commander Karuna, the LTTE had used the CFA to smuggle in 12 shiploads of arms before his breakaway. It is believed that the total number of arms shipments the LTTE received during the UNF government could be 20 or even more. Most of those stockpiles have been reserved for the final battle.

The UNF government was also responsible for the decimation of the army long range operations due to a raid an army safe house at Athurugiriya. The deep penetration unit operating from there had accounted for several key terrorists including Prabhakaran's right hand man, Shankar, who set up the LTTE's air wing. His killing caused all the senior LTTE leaders to confine themselves to underground bunkers for fear of the army's shadow warriors who beat Prabhakaran at his own game. How scary a proportion their operations became to the LTTE could be seen from a clause in the Norwegian-drafted CFA prohibiting deep penetration operations.

It took the army a couple of years to reestablish its intelligence network in the LTTE-held terrain and resume long range operations.

War, as Clausewitz famously said, is an extension of politics by other means. Therefore, the government cannot be denied the credit for its leadership for the on-going successful military campaign against terrorism.

We have had the same army, the same Navy, the same Air Force and the same STF all these years but never has the LTTE got beaten so badly after its graduation from a rag-tag outfit to a formidable guerrilla movement capable of conventional warfare. Why?

One has to admit that the security forces and the STF are faring so well in battle because of the unwavering political leadership they are given. Had the Colombo-based western diplomats been allowed to dictate terms to the government, the LTTE would have by now established a separate state.

This war is being conducted against tremendous odds with many parties putting a spoke in the wheel. Locally, attempts are being made to provide an escape route to Prabhakaran via the political front. Foreign diplomats are openly pulling for the LTTE and some of them have the chutzpah to claim that it cannot be defeated! India is also blowing hot and cold under pressure from Tamil Nadu.

Some retired Indian pubic officers now in Prabhakaran's pocket unleashed a propaganda onslaught against Sri Lanka to break her will to take Kilinochchi. One of them even likened the Kilinochchi offensive to the famous battle for Stalingrad and predicted that the Sri Lankan forces would suffer the same fate as the German army. The army has proved him wrong. But, he has to sing for supper and therefore will continue to lie through his false teeth!

Such is the hostile campaign the government has had to withstand on several fronts while fighting the LTTE in the Vanni.

Funds for the war effort are allocated amidst difficulties and the war would have ended, had the UNP, the TNA and the JVP managed to torpedo the Budget 2009 in December, as was said earlier. Some members of the international community even ganged up to deprive Sri Lanka of the GSP Plus concession in a bid to make the economy scream and force the government to abandon the war.

Most of all, for the first time the war is being fought with the single-minded purpose of destroying the LTTE. The government may be faulted for many things––waste, corruption, abuse of power etc––but it has got one thing right: The LTTE must be crushed for any political solution to be evolved. No solution is possible so long as the LTTE which has rejected devolution at all levels––provincial councils, regional councils and federalism––remains powerful.

If the JVP and the UNP genuinely appreciate the achievements of the military against the LTTE, as they claim, they must shed petty partisan interests and help the country achieve its final victory against terrorism.