| Charge of The Lion Brigade (English / 2009) |
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A theoretical analysis of Sri Lanka’s epic victory over LTTE terrorism, the Charge of the Lion Brigade filled a vacuum in the contemporary war literature at a time when many writers, caught up in the war euphoria, concentrated largely on the anecdotes instead of the theories behind the scenes.
A war victory is not solely dependent on one individual or a factor. It is a result of a coming together of a variety of factors. These include political leadership and stability, social recognition and acceptance, military leadership, man power, training, fire power, a grand politico-military strategy, war tactics, an economic ability to sustain the war, ability to provide reinforcements, endurance levels, public vigilance an d managing external pressure.
The Charge of the Lion Brigade is in a way is a comparative study of Sri Lanka’s victorious war strategies with those mooted by the likes of Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz. The book also goes to compare and contrast the local experience with the battles of acclaimed war heroes like Syrus, Alexander, Caesar, Ashoka, Genghis Khan and local kings like Vijayabahu, Dutugemunu, Parakramabahu, Wimaladharmasuriya and Rajasinghe, among others. Graphs and maps have been liberally used to explain the military operation that started from Mavil Aru and reached its destination at Nandikadal
It also goes on to explain the factors that contributed to the crushing defeat of the LTTE and dissects the intrinsic inadequacies which finally led to its downfall. In that way even for the soldiers who took part in the warfare Charge of the Lion Brigade would serve as a guide as to what exactly they won.
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| Negenahira Sinhala Urumaya (Sinhala Heritage in the East - Sinhala / 2002) |
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The first political party to claim the Eastern province as part of the Tamil homeland was the Tamil People’s Council formed in 1925.
In 1949 when the Tamil State party (Federal party) was formed it argued that the Tamils including those who were brought India form a separate nation and therefore should be accorded the right to self determination. The party based its arguments on the premise that Sri Lanka’s North and East form the traditional homeland of Tamils.
This was how the first seeds of separatism were sown. Later when the separatist movement metamorphosized as terrorist movement its members were unanimous in their stand that Trincomalee should be the capital city of their homeland and claimed right to land, sea and natural resources in the Eastern province.
The purpose of Negenahira Sinhala Urumaya was to lobby support and provide legal and political ideological backing for the de-merger of the North-East province created by J.R. Jayewardena through the Indo-Lanka Accord merging the Northern and Eastern provinces.
The book chronicles the history of Sinhalese in the Eastern province with ample proof – evidence for ancient Sinhala settlements based on documents by both local as well as western historians – to debunk the Tamil argument. It further explains the as to how the British went on to colonized East with Tamils and Tamil leaders from Chelvanayagam to Devanayagam created illegal settlements and encroached the historical homeland of Sinhalese. King Senarath offered land for thousands of Muslims in the East to protect them from Portuguese harassment and another set of Muslims were provided with lands by the English to curb the Wellassa rebellion.
The book provides statistics of the ethnic cleansing of Eastern Sinhalese and Muslims by the LTTE and also showcases the cauldron of communal politics created by colonization programmes of the region.
I have also discussed the possibility of developing East as a naval, trade and energy opening to East Asia.
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| Al Jihad Al Qaeda (Sinhala / 2003) |
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Authored in the aftermath 9/11 Al Jihad Al Qaeda goes on to explore the roots, growth and the expansion of the Islamic fundamentalism.
It goes without saying that Al Qaeda and its affiliated outfits continue to attract a large number of disgruntled Muslims to launch attacks on the US and its allies. The potential harm that could be caused by its network is quite colossal. In order to study the terrorist outfit and its line of thinking it is crucial to have a proper idea about the evolution of the movement.
This book goes on to analyze the most central themes of its advancement – the Sunni-Shia split, history of Israel- Palestine conflict, the war in Afghanistan and its evolution as a war between west and communism and the birth of Al Qaeda, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East and elsewhere, Iraq-Iran conflict and partition of India and the spreading out of extremism in South and East Asia. It also sheds light on the role of Sri Lankan Muslim fundamentalists in the backdrop of war, mushrooming of extremists Muslim sects and the radicalization of Sri Lankan Muslim community especially during the last fifteen years or so.
In Al Jihad Al Qaeda I maintain that it is mandatory for the other communities to support the moderate Muslims in Sri Lanka in order to prevent a further radicalization of the community putting the security of the entire country in jeopardy. It is with a sense of gratitude that I have mentioned as to how the Sri Lankan Muslim leaders sided with the Sinhala leaders in the run up to the independence while the Muslim leaders in India moved to divide their motherland based on religious lines.
Though the book came under attack by a few extremist elements several moderate Muslims have confided in me that they appreciated the content. In the same work I have set aside a chapter for Christian fundamentalism. The conflicts triggered by the birth of breakaway groups have spanned for over thousand years since the Crusade and have had a major impact on world politics. Also discord between Catholics and Evangelists, Catholic Church and Liberation Theologists and the function of Opus Dei activists too have been elucidated.
I assume that this is the first classical work on Al Qaeda and Opus Dei written in Sinhala.
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| The way to defeat the Tiger (1999) |
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When we formed the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) in 1998 quite a large number of junior and senior military officers came forward to extend support to us. They fed us with information on military and political strategies that could be used to counter the LTTE. The wealth of information inspired me to put everything together and formulate a politico-military strategy. When we presented the document to Chandrika Kumaratunga government it did not pay much attention to the proposal and instead pursued an agenda of peace.
However with a view to muster public support to our cause we published the document under the title ‘National strategy to defeat the LTTE’ including whatever points we could do. The 29 point plan encompassed three key areas viz – a military front to nation, reinforcements and upgrading of weaponry.
When perusing through the battle plan of 2006-2009 it became quite obvious to us that we have been talking on the same lines ten years ago.
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| Stripes of Tiger |
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The National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) has the distinction of being the first organization to work towards forming a pro-Sri Lankan international opinion. It was also the NMAT that developed the first website and cyber network to counter LTTE propaganda by roping in Sri Lankan expatriates and intellectuals into this anti-LTTE forum. ‘Stripes of Tiger’ contains quite an interesting array of articles written by a few academics and intellectuals which have been edited by me.
The essays cover a wide range of areas starting from the origin, growth, expansion of international network and strategies of the LTTE.
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