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" Muthaliph had a role to play in the abduction of a top LTTE intelligence officer, Newton, on April 20 and
another section of the military believe this is the real motive for killing Muthaliph. Eight days after Newton's
abduction, D. Sivaram who wrote under the pen name Taraki was abducted on April 28 and killed the next
day, after attempts were made to secure his release with representations to the army commander to get
the Director of Military Intelligence to intervene. Was the second abduction and killing in roughly the space
of a week carried out after information was extracted from Newton on Sivaram, who had travelled in public
transport unarmed in Batticaloa and Colombo in broad daylight and at night for years? Sivaram was
abducted more than a year after Karuna broke away from the LTTE. In his writings he clearly sided with
the Wanni leadership and even taunted Karuna. He also irked a wide spectrum of people, organizations,
parties and even countries through his articles. But he was spared for so long. Could we ask the pertinent
question whether D. Sivaram was killed for his activities other than his writings? Or was he killed for both?
The question may have been asked before. But, answers are not forthcoming.".
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The slaying of Major Tuan Nizam Muthaliph (Posthumously promoted as Lt. Col) has evoked much
controversy on both sides of the ethnic divide. Muthaliph was ethnically a malay following the Islamic faith.
Yet he devoted his body, soul and mind to the task of combatting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
This sense of patriotic zeal led Muthaliph to work as a military intelligence operative thereby engaging in
many shades of gray as part of duty. Muthaliph an alumni of DS Senanayake may have imbibed this vision
at shool where the College motto was "Country Above Self" (Thamata Pera Rata). Predictably there are
many viewpoints about his murder. Let us read first what Keith Noyahr of the "Daily Mirror" has to
say -
" The killing of Major Tuan Nizam Muthaliph the Commanding Officer of the Sri Lanka Army Military
Intelligence Corps in broad daylight on Tuesday sent shockwaves down the intelligence arm of the State.
The government's legal establishment too was jolted by the news as Muthaliph who was awarded the Rana
Wickrama Padakkama had a hand in the arrest of many key LTTE suspects. In fact, in many instances he
has contributed his expertise to crack several cases and some feel his killing could be to silence witnesses.
This is besides his role in decimating many top rungers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Muthaliph, a product of D.S. Senanayake College, who was promoted posthumously to the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel, was one of the biggest, if not the biggest asset in the intelligence arm of the
government.
Had he lived another two days he would have completed 19 years in the Sri Lanka Army having joined it on
June 2, 1986 as a cadet officer (Regular Force). He mainly served in operational areas until he was
promoted to the rank of Captain exactly six years after his was enrolled. He followed several professional
courses both here and abroad and received several gallantry awards.
"His selfless dedication for defence of his motherland until last moment of his life would no doubt go in the
history as a true Son of the Soil who safeguarded territorial integrity of the country. His loss is an
irreparable loss to his beloved wife, children, parents, bothers and sisters, our Regiment, the Army, our
country and to all those who are peace-loving, said Major General H K G Hendawitharana on behalf of the
Commander of the Army Lt. General Shantha Kottegoda.
Muthaliph, who belonged to the first Regiment, Sri Lanka Army Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) was a
prime target in the hit list of Tigers, but was too smart for them until that fateful May 31.
Many of his friends in the army had advised him to get lost in a foreign country but Muthaliph, a committed
officer who had a very good rapport both with his seniors and juniors alike, was simply not willing as he
loved his country so much.
Hendawitharana, the Director of Military Intelligence, observed that Muthaliph was "a fearless warrior and a
tower of strength to his fellow soldiers, has secured many achievements in the face of enemy threats."
It will be no easy task finding a replacement for Muthaliph as many in this field were considering handing in
their papers as they have not been given special treatment despite the security threat to their lives.
In fact a recent order has debarred officers working in the military intelligence wing from performing official
duties in civvies. The uniform attracts greater attention and a bigger risk for those working in this carved
out area.
He was buried with full military honours at the Dehiwela Muslim burial grounds on June 1 leaving behind his
wife Kumudu and daughter and son.
Even before his death in his late thirties, or at the age of 39 to be precise, he had a premonition of the fate
in store for him.
He had told his new driver even as the two set out from his home at Narahenapitiya that May 31 was a bad
day for him. But, notwithstanding this premonition, he set out for what became his tryst with destiny.
Three attempts on his life in Jaffna, Vavuniya and Colombo by suicide bombers, the easiest and surest
way to get at one's target, were aborted by his sheer brilliance and on one occasion he shot three of his
potential killers dead in Vavuniya.
Muthaliph knew the LTTE had, at least temporarily, discarded suicide bombing as a means to get at the
organization's targets, largely because of the hostile reaction by the international community.
But, he and many others were very much aware that the LTTE's pistol gang was very much operative in
Colombo.
I am at a loss to discover how the Commanding Officer Muthaliph could repeat the modus operandi in
quick succession visiting the Kotalawela Defence Academy on two consecutive days, sans his security
outfit. You cannot afford to get slack when you are a prime target particularly in the light of the recent
abductions and political killings in the heart of Colombo. We shall address the different schools of thought
or conspiracy theories surrounding his killing later on in this column.
It is learnt that his regular driver and his buddy had curiously gone on leave and Mutaliph was not the type
to trouble others for replacements even though it was well within his ambit to have them.
His new driver had cautioned him that a man with a gun was approaching him but it was too late as the
killer sprayed him with bullets. His attempt to get off the vehicle too was thwarted as the killer kept
spraying. Government Analyst's Department officials claim the weapon used in the killing was a hybrid of a
pistol and a Uzi sub-machine gun using 5.56 bullets. In fact there were 12 spent cartridges found and 14
bullets in his body suggesting that the killers were not taking any chances. They wanted to see the
dangerous man dead. A suspicious van is reported to have followed the killers on the motorbike.
Following a cordon and search operation in Matale, five suspects were arrested there in connection with
the killing. They were produced before the Matale Magistarate who remanded them.
Parallel to the proceedings in the Matale Magistrate's court, the Criminal Investigations Department,
according to the Daily Mirror on Friday, has been reportedly instructed by Police Chief IGP Chandra
Fernando to initiate inquiries on a line of speculation that Muthaliph's security officer had furnished
information to a member of the Tiger intelligence service.
If, he actually was an agent of the LTTE, that speaks volumes for the screening process in the military
intelligence wing of the army. Inquiries conducted so far have revealed that the Lieutenant Colonel's
security escort had been entrusted with some other duties on the day of the incident. The CID has
questioned a number of army personnel suspecting that there was infiltration of the army by other
interested parties.
The Daily News lead story on Friday sent greater shockwaves across the country as the state-owned
newspaper had insinuated that, "a secret organization was behind the plot" according to "latest evidence."
The lead story gets more curious. "Investigators suspect that Lt. Col. Muthaliph would have been working
on intelligence reports relating to a secret organization operating with the backing of a certain chauvinist
political organization," said the Daily News report. Several intelligence agencies were shocked at this
report that appeared yesterday and it is very likely that an inquiry may already be under way to ascertain
the political motive behind it, unless the powers that be have authorized it.
Though this came as a big shock to many today at a certain influential circle in Colombo a couple of
people during a lunch to bid farewell to India's Deputy High Commissioner Mohan Kumar, at least two
people asked me very boldly without any caution whether the JVP was behind the killing. It just shocked me
and an American diplomat just shrugged it off as another conspiratorial theory. I too didn't buy that story,
as I could not see how the JVP could get the most important person in the military intelligence bumped off.
When I dismissed the idea on Wednesday, however I did not have any information that Muthaliph was
working on intelligence reports on any group other than the LTTE.
One group feels that the timing of the killing was to destabilize the government even as President
Chandrika Kumaratunga was in India to get the assent of the regional power on the Joint Mechanism, to
make it not so feasible for her to go ahead with it on her return.The other group maintains that President
Kumaratunga was so committed to signing the JM, that her camp wanted the state-owned Daily News to try
and implicate the JVP and not unduly accuse the LTTE, making an endeavour to sign the JM with the
Tigers a repulsive move.
There are two main schools of thought on the immediate motive for killing Muthaliph who was believed to
have had a hand in many of the killings of LTTE personnel, including Colonel Shankar and the Eastern
Political Wing Leader Kausalyan to name a few.
One is that he was killed in retaliation for the killing of D. Sivaram and former Tamil militant groups now with
the government subscribe to that view. There are some military officers too, who believe this line of
thinking.
Muthaliph had a role to play in the abduction of a top LTTE intelligence officer, Newton, on April 20 and
another section of the military believe this is the real motive for killing Muthaliph.
Eight days after Newton's abduction, D. Sivaram who wrote under the pen name Taraki was abducted on
April 28 and killed the next day, after attempts were made to secure his release with representations to the
army commander to get the Director of Military Intelligence to intervene.
Was the second abduction and killing in roughly the space of a week carried out after information was
extracted from Newton on Sivaram, who had travelled in public transport unarmed in Batticaloa and
Colombo in broad daylight and at night for years? Sivaram was abducted more than a year after Karuna
broke away from the LTTE. In his writings he clearly sided with the Wanni leadership and even taunted
Karuna. He also irked a wide spectrum of people, organizations, parties and even countries through his
articles. But he was spared for so long.
Could we ask the pertinent question whether D. Sivaram was killed for his activities other than his writings?
Or was he killed for both? The question may have been asked before. But, answers are not forthcoming.
One could dismiss the connections between the killing of Sivaram, the abduction of Newton, the abduction
of IP Jeyaratnam, a former intelligence sleuth, and the killing of Muthaliph. While some say Jeyaratnam
could have spilled the beans on Muthaliph others say he would not have had much of a clue on this top
intelligence officer.
Lt. Col. Muthaliph was a prime target of the LTTE long before all these recent incidents took place. This
was on account of his contribution to the army and the military intelligence of the state. In fact LTTE
leaders feared him so much that they would be wary of travelling even in uncleared areas (in their home
territory) when Muthaliph was around in adjacent government-controlled territory. The LTTE has and will
be happy for a very long time.
figure in the Army's counter-insurgency campaign.
Shadow War Comes to Colombo
POSTHUMOUSLY promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Nizam Muthaliff, who was shot dead in Colombo on
Tuesday, is described as a key member of the Sri Lankan military intelligence's (MI) covert operations
against the Liberation Tigers.
Rising through the MI ranks, Lt. Col. Muthaliff was first a central figure in the atrocity-punctuated
paramilitary aspects of the counterinsurgency campaign against the LTTE in the early nineties and then
had a critical role in the deep penetration attacks on LTTE commanders and officials, press reports said
Wednesday.
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday acknowledged Lt. Col. Muthaliff as commander of 1st Battalion, Sri
Lanka Army Military Intelligence Corps and hailed his service. Three hundred SLA soldiers escorted his
casket to Dehiwela Muslim burial grounds where his funeral was held with full military honours.
"His selfless dedication for defence of his motherland until last moment of his life would no doubt go in the
history [sic] as a true Son of the Soil who safeguarded territorial integrity of the country," an SLA
statement said.
Born in Trincomalee, Muthaliff began his military career as an officer in the infantry in 1986. He served
four years in the Gemunu Watch regiment before being later assigned to the intelligence unit "due to
special skills shown by him in that field," the Daily Mirror reported.
According to Sri Lankan press reports, Muthaliff was promoted to Lieutenant in 1989, to Captain in June
1992 and to Major in June 1995. He was posthumously promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
During his career, Muthaliff received special training in intelligence gathering and special operations at
military academies and training centres in several countries including the United States, Pakistan, and
Malaysia, the Daily Mirror said.
Much of Muthaliff's early intelligence career was in organising and supervising Tamil paramilitary group's
activities in Sri Lanka's counterinsurgency campaign against the LTTE.
Condemning the human rights abuses that punctuated the Army's paramilitary-led campaign, Amnesty
International protested that "such operations have often lead to human rights violations, including illegal
arrest, prolonged detention and torture, "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions."
Muthaliff was a central figure in the campaign. He was posted in Vavuniya in the early nineties, during a
phase of the conflict which came to be dubbed 'Eelam War 2.' The SLA garrison town became a hub for
the activities of the paramilitary groups PLOTE, EPRLF and TELO.
Hundreds of people disappeared after being taken into custody by the paramilitaries, who, according to
Amnesty International, operated dozens of camps in the town and its environs.
In particular, Muthaliff's Subversive Unit (CSU) was implicated in the disappearances of large numbers of
detainees in Cheddikulam. The SLA told Amnesty that the paramilitary groups were helping the military in
"identifying LTTE infiltrators" and "keeping the security forces informed" and that they did not come under
its control.
But many people were handed over to the paramilitaries after being arrested by Sri Lankan security
forces personnel. In a related development, the practice of midnight abduction and murder or
disappearance by the 'white van' death squads spread rapidly, despite repeated protests by local and
international human rights groups calling for official supervision and control of paramilitaries' activities.
Muthaliff gained notoriety in the "information extraction" process administered by the paramilitaries. He
worked closely with the PLOTE's military commander, Manickathasan, under whom that group became
infamous for its brutality (Manickathasan was killed, along with several others, in 1999 in a explosion which
destroyed the PLOTE headquarters in Vavuniya - the incongruously named 'Lucky House').
Muthaliff was also closely associated with another feared paramilitary leader, PLOTE Mohan,' who was
shot dead at a safe house in Colombo last year. Subsequently Muthaliff became an important member
part of a new MI strategy: the targeted killings of LTTE leaders and supporters.
As such, he played a key role in deep penetration attacks for which a dedicated unit - the Long Range
Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) - was raised. Specially trained commandos of the regular Army were
joined with Tamil paramilitary pathfinders and informants to stage ambushes and attacks in LTTE
controlled areas.
LRRP units are credited with important successes in the SLA Operations Jayasikurui, Vanni Wickrema,
Ranagosa and Watershed. Under Muthaliff's leadership, the LRRP killed one of the LTTE's top officers,
Colonel Shankar (on September 6, 2001) and a senior Sea Tiger commander Lt. Col. Kangai Amaran (on
June 29, 2001).
On May 16, 2001, the LTTE's Political Wing leader, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan narrowly escaped a claymore
mine attack on his convoy whilst on his way to a meeting with Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim.
Amongst other senior officials to narrowly escape being killed were Mr. S. Karikalan, the LTTE's then
political wing leader for Batticaloa and later, Colonel Karuna, the LTTE's top commander for
Batticaloa-Amparai, whose defection to the SLA in 2004 following his failed rebellion against the LTTE
ironically resulted in Muthaliff ending up working with him against his former comrades.
The SLA's deep penetration conducted numerous operations into LTTE-controlled territory. A number of
civilians who stumbled upon LRRP units were also murdered. Muthaliff was publicly resentful of the
February 2002 ceasefire agreement which the United National Front (UNF) government signed with the
LTTE, reporters in Vavuniya say.
Moving around the town, the Army officer was openly contemptuous of the peace process and would
openly threaten Tamils involved in organising the Pongu Thamil demonstrations or pro-LTTE
political activities.
"How many days will this ceasefire last?" he once reportedly asked protest organisers.
"Wait and see. We have a special building for you in the Joseph camp," he threatened, referring to the
SLA's expansive base has been listed in investigations by the office of the UN's Special Rapporteur on
Torture.
Some analysts link Muthaliff's hostility to the UNF government, doubtless reflecting sentiments within the
wider deep penetration operations community, to the exposure of the LRRP's headquarters in Millennium
City, Athurugiriya in January 2002.
That raid was subsequent to police investigations into allegations in late 2001 that hardline elements of
the Sri Lanka military were planning to assassinate the pro-peace UNF's leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe,
during his election campaign.
The exposure of the Athurugiriya safe house, from which weapons, claymore Claymore mines and LTTE
uniforms were recovered by Police officers, triggered political furore which endured, particularly after a
number of the Tamil informants and pathfinders linked to the LRRP were subsequently killed by suspected
LTTE attackers.
Muthaliff was deputy commander of the LRRP, which is led by Captain Shahul Hameed Nilan, Tamil
correspondents said.
In the wake of the abduction and murder on April 28, 2005 of political columnist and military analyst
Dharmeratnam Sivaram, correspondents in Colombo claimed that elements of the deep penetration group
had been reformed into cells including cadres of the Karuna Group, led by the LTTE commander who
defected to the SLA in April 2004.
Four unidentified men who loitered across from Colombo police station bundled Sivaram into a 4x4 vehicle
at 10.30pm. His body was dumped later that night near Sri Lanka's parliament.
Amid persistent speculation MI and the Karuna Group were involved in Sivaram's killing, there are also
claims Muthaliff played key role a week earlier in the capture of a senior LTTE intelligence officer, Newton,
who press reports say went missing on the same day that one of Muthaliff's colleagues, a top police
intelligence officer, T. Jeyaratnam, also disappeared.
Political analysts see Muthaliff's killing as the latest incident in the ongoing shadow war between Army
backed paramilitaries and the LTTE, a cycle of violence which escalated after April 2004, when loyalists of
the renegade LTTE commander Karuna bolstered the ranks of the paramilitary units.
However, the successful counterattacks blamed in the same period on the LTTE suggests the influx of
new members has also enabled the LTTE's infiltration of the Sri Lankan military's paramilitary network,
they say.