ALL three leading English newspapers in Sri Lanka on Monday (17), highlighting importance of the historic capture of Pooneryn said all Prabhakaran`s day dreams would not live long.

Editorials of The Island , Daily Mirror and Daily News are as follows

A Historic Victory! The Island Editorial

The liberation of Pooneryn couldn`t have come at a better time for President Mahinda Rajapaksa engaged in a war on the political front where the UNP, the TNA and the JVP have joined forces to dislodge his government.

A message General Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln in 1864 comes to mind. `I beg to present you,` Sherman, having successfully completed his march through Georgia and South Carolina, told Lincoln, `as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah .` Similarly, mutatis mutandis, it may be argued that Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has delivered Pooneryn to President Rajapaksa as a birthday gift. The army chief is likely to make a Savannah of Kilinochchi for the President in time for Christmas.

Prabhakaran, when asked at his Vanni press conference in 2002 what he considered his best military achievement was, said it had been the thwarting of Operation Jaya Sikuru (launched by President Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1997 to open A-9 highway in spite of expert advice that A-32 should be cleared instead). With the opening of A-32 road, A-9 highway which Prabhakaran is hugging at present at a tremendous cost has been rendered obsolete! The army has proved there is more than one way to skin a cat.

With the army now poised to march eastwards on several fronts, the LTTE will have to vacate Muhamalai and Elephant Pass sooner or later thus letting more columns of troops move out from the peninsula bringing unbearable pressure to bear on Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. If Prabhakaran thinks he can effectively put up resistance on all fronts, he is only daydreaming. He is hoist with his own petard and stewing in his own juice.

It will be interesting to know what the Tiger chief has got to tell the world when he makes his birthday speech in less than two weeks. He is likely to avoid rhetoric and make a passionate entreaty to his Tamil Nadu allies to intervene and take him off the hook. But, the sky is not the limit for his Indian sympathizers in backing him, as evident from the recent extension of the LTTE ban in India. India`s Additional Solicitor General P. P. Malhotra, it may be recalled, giving reasons for extending proscription said though the LTTE was based in Sri Lanka, it had sympathizers and agents on Indian soil. That shows India`s grave security concerns vis- -vis the pro-Eelam campaign in Tamil Nadu. Prabhakaran`s friends in India will therefore have no alternative but to subjugate their separatist agenda to the national security interests of the union.

The capture of Pooneryn caused Rathu Sahodarayas to be caught with pants down on Saturday, when they voted against the budget while pledging support for the military campaign against the LTTE. Last December, having abstained at the final budget vote thus dashing the UNP`s hopes of scuttling the budget, JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe and JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva told the media The Island of Dec. 17, 2007 that a victory for the UNP would have had a catastrophic impact on the military campaign against the LTTE. There would have been chaos and political instability to the advantage of the enemy, the duo said. It is a supreme irony that the JVP voted against the budget this year. Is it that the JVP wants to bring about `chaos and political instability` at this juncture for the benefit of the LTTE?

The public may have taken the UNP`s vote against the budget for granted as the UNP and the SLFP are notorious for pursuing their political agendas, at the expense of the national interest. But, Rathu Sahodarayas wearing patriotism on their sleeve stand unmasked. Wrapped in the flag, they find themselves in the exalted company of the Tiger proxies! What a shame!

Heroic Achievement Daily Mirror Editorial

We join all peace loving people of this country in saluting the security forces and the police for the brave and patriotic roles they have played in regaining the strategically and political important Pooneryn and other areas that the LTTE had wrested from the state through acts of terrorism. The political leadership led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa that pursued the aim of ridding the country of the curse of terrorism undoubtedly deserves the people`s encomiums. It was indeed a difficult task that had to be accomplished in the face of obstacles placed in their path by powerful forces locally and internationally.

These forces that obstruct are motivated by various reasons. Among those thus motivated are, persons who are genuinely concerned about the loss of lives, destruction of property and the ruin caused to the economy, those in the Tamil community that have strong suspicion about being let down by the government and of course the hardcore supporters of the LTTE in its mission of creating a separate state exclusively for the community.

The efforts of the political leadership, however, would have been brought to naught had it not been for the considerable sacrifices that the rank and file personnel of the forces have made in the battle fields of that inhospitable terrain. They should therefore be hailed as the real heroes who made the achievement of this success possible. Many indeed made their supreme sacrifice in the battle field fighting to preserve the country`s integrity. The bereaved families deserve the sympathy and gratitude of all. The forces richly deserve the week-long felicitation that the government has launched to mark the occasion.

However, care has to be taken to ensure that these celebrations are not exploited for political gain and also avoid causing any harassment or embarrassment to sections that have, for some reason or other, backed the vanquished. It is indeed advisable for all concerned to follow the spirit of Rudyard Kipling`s poem `IF` which says, If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same Already some overenthusiastic persons even in parliament have shown their elation in waving the Lion Flag. It must not be forgotten that there is still some more left to cover before the menace of terrorism is completely eradicated. As repeatedly asserted by many the complete victory over terrorism will come only after the Tamil grievances are redressed and their aspirations are satisfied through a reasonable political solution.

The achievement of this objective of finding a political solution would indeed be another battle that will have to be fought on the negotiating table. Although most politicians glibly utter that the LTTE will be welcomed to the table of discussion, yet it is a matter of doubt whether they will be magnanimous enough to support any moves to grant the minority communities their due place. How many among them would be prepared to share power with the minorities? It is in the extent of this support that the hope of creating a nation where all citizens have equal access to fundamental rights and freedoms rests.

President Rajapaksa has quite rightly repeated his appeal to the LTTE to lay down arms and come to the negotiating table. There are, however, doubts whether his objective of building up a united nation where all communities could live in peace and harmony, could be achieved, if the present culture of acrimonious and contentious political party rivalry continues to plague the country. It took centuries for Americans to bring about a deviation from racial discrimination after having held in its Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and have the equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Most of our leaders and political parties pay much lip service to these ideals but it is likely that any attempt to enthrone them by one party would be opposed by other parties mainly for partisan gain.

What is essential, therefore, is to bring about some kind of political thawing that would create an atmosphere conducive to reaching a solution to the main national problem. There are, of course, some signs that raise hopes for a consensual approach to the problem. Both major parties in the opposition, the UNP and the JVP hailed the capture of Pooneryn. They have come round to acquiesce in the need for suppressing terrorism militarily. And all parties acknowledge the need for a political solution. But they differ in their views about the shape that the needed political framework should take. These differences should be and could be settled if the parties are honest, reasonable and magnanimous enough to understand different points of view without resorting to the traditional practice of political expediency. They should at least at this late stage realize the destruction and the misery that the country and the people have suffered as a result of their endless political bickering.

The Pooneryn Victory Daily News Editorial

The fall of Pooneryn a formidable bastion of the LTTE after 20 years can certainly be described as a prominent landmark in the Security Forces` journey towards the total liberation of the North from the clutches of LTTE terrorism.

Saturday`s dawn seige of the strategic Sea Tiger bastion would certainly have dealt a body blow to the outfit`s fighting capability. Pooneryn is the latest in a string of hitherto `impregnable` Tiger defences to fall into the hands of the troops underscoring the valour and resourcefulness of the Security Forces.

Its capture no doubt would make a severe dent on LTTE pride. Pooneryn was believed to be one of the Tiger strongholds considered impenetrable. That it could not defend this vital fortress from the Security Forces` onslaught is a sure sign of the decay and disintegration of the LTTE as a fighting outfit.

The captu...