By Sanjoy Hazarika

Foreign Militaries and Mercenaries Dirty War Operations, Paramilitary terror and Torture House Training Operations a la the Jakarta Method” and Operation Colombo” to Bolster ‘Yankie Dickie’ Jayawardena against India, then allied closely with the Socialist block and Soviet Union/ Russia.

Is history repeating with the setting up of Chabad Houses all over Sri Lanka?

ISRAEL SAID TO AID SRI LANKA FORCES—New York Times Archives

Credit…The New York Times Archives

Israeli intelligence agents and former British Army commandos are training Sri Lanka’s security forces as part of a new drive by the Government to combat a violent Tamil separatist movement in the north, the country’s National Security Affairs Minister says.

The minister, Lalith Athulathmudali, said in an interview this week that the training programs were aimed at overhauling the organization of intelligence gathering, building an effective information-gathering network and training a paramilitary unit to combat the Tamil insurgents.

(In Israel, Government officials denied any role in military training aid to Sri Lanka. A Sri Lanka official on a private visit to Israel had hinted earlier at assistance from the Israelis in an antiter rorist intelligence program.)

Mr. Athulathmudali, reiterating statements made last month by the President of Sri Lanka, Junius R. Jayawardene, said Sri Lanka had turned to the Israelis as a final resort after the United States, Britain and West Germany rejected official requests for aid in improving the intellligence system and training troops in counterinsurgency. Diplomatic Ties Broken in ’70

Since June 1 Sri Lanka has allowed Israel, with which it broke diplomatic relations in 1970, to maintain a special interests section under the protection of the United States Embassy here.

”Our intelligence system was not geared to this kind of thing,” said Mr. Athulathmudali. About 10 Israeli agents have trained about 100 Ceylonese in intelligence tactics in the last two months, he said.

”They come in batches and give a course,” the minister said. ”They do not go outside the classroom.” The training is being conducted in Colombo at a site that Mr. Athulathmudali declined to identify.

The minister said that former members of Britain’s Special Air Service, now working for a private security company based in the Channel Islands off Britain, had already trained a group of paratroopers who took part in a recent antiterrorist operation. They performed ”quite well,” and ”have come back for further training,” he said. Britons’ Presence Confirmed

A British diplomat said he did not know much about the British training team although he confirmed that they were here.

The presence of the Israelis, the Security Affairs Minister said, drew a few initial protests from ambassadors of nations proclaiming nonalignment, especially from the Middle East. The displeasure eased, he said, after President Jayewardene summoned the Arab diplomats and told them this was an internal matter.

But the Moslems of Sri Lanka were offended, and there has been rioting this summer to protest Mr. Jayewardene’s announcement about Israeli assistance. ”The Moslems are still angry,” a senior Government source said, ”although they have become quieter on the issue.”

The matter has been complicated by the recent visit of a high Government official to Jerusalem, where he spoke of Arab pressure on Sri Lanka to end dealings with Israel and of how the Government had resisted it. The official is Douglas Liyanage, secretary in the Ministry of State and the chief censor of domestic news reports.

In an apparent attempt to head off a possible outburst of Arab irritation, a Government spokesman said Thursday that Mr. Liyanage had not been authorized to visit Israel and that his statements represented his private views. Israelis Deny Training Role

JERUSALEM, Aug. 25 – Israeli Government officials have denied any role in military training aid to Sri Lanka.

A Sri Lanka official on a private visit here a few days ago hinted at Israeli antiterrorist intelligence help.

Officials here, when asked about reports of help in military training, have always said there was no operative aid, suggesting Israel was not involved in current military operations against Tamil dissidents.

Last week they said the only Israeli experts in Sri Lanka were two diplomats manning the new Israeli interests office in the United States Embassy in Colombo and three agricultural experts.

Mr. Liyanage, secretary of the Sri Lanka Ministry of State, the official who was on a visit here, said his country was benefiting from Israel’s broad experience in antiterrorist intelligence and that British military experts who had served in Oman were also helping Sri Lanka.

Mr. Liyanage said in an interview in The Jerusalem Post that Israeli security experts had not been involved in sea patrols or other operational activity, but had helped improve intelligence efforts in the civil strife. Gandhi Voices Concern

NEW DELHI, Aug. 25 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said today she was deeply concerned over reports that Israeli aid was being provided to the Sri Lanka Government in its fight against Tamil separatists.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted Mrs. Gandhi as telling the lower house of Parliament, ”We do not like the presence of foreign troops or any type of interference.” She said that British experts were also understood to be providing antiguerrilla training to Sri Lanka’s security forces.

The news agency quoted the Prime Minister as having said the Indian Government was trying to help bring an early end to the tensions in Sri Lanka.

”We are doing everything possible to try to bring people to the negotiating table, offering our good offices to Sri Lanka as a friendly neighbor,” she said.

She denied accusations by Sri Lanka that India had planned an invasion of the island republic last year after ethnic violence in which 400 people, mainly Tamils, died. ”There was no such plan,” she said.