The Indian Role

It was well known that Indian ' RAW ' which is the central government controlled external intelligence agency (and not the Tamil Nadu government) was directly involved in the Sri Lankan insurgency from the beginning. It is now well documented (by Indian journalists as well as by Dr. Rohan Gunaratne) that the Indian government ran training camps, funded various terrorist groups and gave them logistics support.

The common belief in Sri Lanka is that Indian intervention in Sri Lanka was a result of the Sri Lankan politicians using a `cow and calf ' story during the 1977 election campaign after Mrs. Indira Gandhi lost her election in India in 1975. However, the authors have authentic information given by a Bangladesh military officer in 1976 that Indians were having training camps for Sri Lankan terrorist in 1975. These camps were supposed to be in ……………………………………. Obviously the Sri Lankan politicians have in our customary manner started to blame each other (when we have an external threat) by inventing the `cow and calf' story while the Indians have never stated anywhere that the cow and calf story was the reasons for them to intervene and support anti government terrorism in Sri Lanka and de-stabilize their friendly neighbour. They did however mention that our pro-western stance and the proposal to lease out the tank farms in Trincomalee in the late 1970's were perceived threats to their security.

However, there is a general feeling in Sri Lanka that the Indians have stopped such activities since the killing of Rajiv Gandhi and after the LTTE is officially banned in India.

It is of interest that the writer met a senior Bangladesh civil servant who by virtue of his position was a member of the Bangladesh security council. He stated that the Bangladesh intelligence had information of ` RAW ' supplying LTTE with anti aircraft guns in Madras in 1995 (which was subsequently used to shoot down the AVRO aircrafts and several others). He also mentioned that in 1996 the Bangladesh police have arrested two tamils without travel documents in Chittagong. Instantly, the Indian High Commission approached the Bangladesh government and requested their release. He said that the pressure exerted by the Indian High Commission was so intense that the Bangladesh government decided to ensure that they leave the country secretively and did not want to allow them to be resident in Bangladesh to avoid upsetting the Sri Lankans as well. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner who was a participant to this conversation confirmed to the writer that the Sri Lankan High Commission does not have a military attachι or an intelligence operative in their Dhaka office. It was not surprising to read in the Newspapers a few weeks after that, that an LTTE member has been arrested in Katmandu and the Nepal government has invited ` RAW ' officers ` to assist (sic!) in the investigations ' .

Then we had a bombshell. The Indian Naval Chief Vishnu Bhagawanthie who was sacked by the Indian government went public on 2nd May 1999 and said that the Indian government is collectively supporting the LTTE and providing logistic support and that the Indian Defence Minister George Ferdinadez was personally involved in these operations. Lot of us are unaware that these revelations led to the fall of the Indian government . After these public announcements by the deposed Indian naval chief Jayalalitha Jeyaram met the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and wanted the Defence Minister George Ferdinandez removed and said that she would withdraw support to the coalition government if her request is not carried out. Ultimately George Ferdinandez was not removed and Jayalalitha Jeyaram's party withdrew their support to the government resulting in the government losing a confidence votes and resulting in the government's collapse.

The next incident involving Indians which became public was when the vessels Mariamma and Showa Maru suspected to be carrying arms for the LTTE was detected by the Sri Lanka forces and Sri Lanka requested India for assistance in apprehending the vessel. The Indian frigate which went to intercept the vessel deliberately delayed approaching the vessel giving them time to off load all cargoes and inform crew to set fire to the vessel and abandon the ship. The Indians reported the vessel was on fire and sank shortly after they approached the ship.This was the second incident the same deposed Indian Naval Chief Vishnu Bhagawanthie commented openly in the Media that the Indian navy deliberately avoided confronting these vessels.

The Sunday Times of September 5th 1999 in an article from it's South Asia correspondent said as follows;

Quote
The Tami Nadu leader had told an election rally in Salem that Mr. Fernandes had restrained the Indian Navy from taking action against the LTTE engaged in drug and arms smuggling in the seas around the Andaman Islands. Ms. Jayalalitha went further and said that Mr. Fernandes had himself told her that he helped save the LTTE in this way. Ms. Jayalalitha's contention was only an echo of what was commonly alleged in India before the Kargil crisis. The Defence Correspondent of the Hisdustan Times, Shishir Gupta, had reported that the then Defence Secretary, Ajith Kumar, had categorically told the service chiefs in writing that no gun running ships should be pursued on the high seas around the Andamans without prior and express permission from the ministry.

The Delhi-based daily had also reported that Mr. Fernandes had explained his stand saying that some of the supporters of the Myanmar rebels in Delhi and elsewhere were threatening legal action against the government of India for intercepting their vessels on the high seas. As a supporter of ' liberation' movements across the globe, the maverick politicians residence had been a meeting place of rebel groups, though he maintained that none of them was entertained since he took charge as Defence Minister. At any rate, before he became minister, he did hold a pro-LTTE conference on the lawns of his Delhi bungalow.
Unquote

More proof of the pudding is available with the Sri Lankan navy who have apprehended ……….. Indian boats carrying logistic supplies to the LTTE from India such as medicine, food, fuel and even arms and ammunition and it is known that LTTE also treats their injured fighters in India.

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