Statements issued by other senior government figures, too, reflect an upbeat mood. They suggest that while acknowledging the battle for the Wanni would not be as smooth as clearing the East, it could be achieved by sheer military might. And why not? According to the military spokesman and the MCNS, Tiger cadres are perishing like flies in the battlefields of the North.

The present government has learnt from its predecessor?s mistakes. It is able to fend off adverse criticism by not declaring formally that a military operation has already begun. The public is made to believe that all that is taking place is a series of armed clashes on the FDLs with the great ?push? yet to come. While on the subject of Jayasikurui ? the last major assault on the Wanni ? comparisons are inevitable. Initial battlefield victories of the security forces during Jayasikurui were quite imposing. Despite a counterattack by the LTTE on the Thandikulam camp soon after the operation began, the military was able to overcome Tiger resistance and advance up to Omanthai (from Vavuniya) and Nedunkerni (from Weli Oya) in around five weeks.

It was only as the army approached Puliyankulam that the Tigers launched a major counteroffensive, which served to alter the whole complexion of the operation. With its armour bogged down by the monsoon rains and fierce resistance by the LTTE, Jayasikurui began floundering. Judging from the government?s accounts of the fighting in the past weeks and a glance at an atlas, it is evident the advance to link up with Pooneryan has been confined, in the past three months, to fierce clashes at the FDLs stretching between Vavuniya and the north-western coast. As far as battlefield losses are concerned, each side makes different claims and I leave it the reader to investigate the veracity of the respective assertions.