CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

THE PHILIPPINE INQUIRY SAYS MANILA’S INTELLIGENCE RECEIVED INFORMATION ABOUT LTTE AIDING MINDANAO INSURGENCY

By Walter Jayawardhana

The Philippine Inquiry, a daily newspaer published in Manila elaborating on the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister’s statement recently made in their country quoting a Police Chief Superintendent said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was supplying arms to the Mindanao insurgency disguised as Pakistanis.

“Police Chief Supt. Rodolfo “Boogie” Mendoza told the Inquirer that three years ago, they received an unconfirmed intelligence report on the alleged entry of Tamil Tiger rebels in an Abu Sayyaf camp in Southern Mindanao,” said the Inquirer in a news story written by Cynthia Balana.

The report further said, “Mendoza, who is familiar with the history of Abu Sayyaf, said the Tamil rebels had disguised themselves as Pakistani. However, he stressed that they were not able to verify the authenticity of the information.”

The newspaper was elaborating on the statement of Bogollagama that said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), had shipped weapons to the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, through contacts with an al-Qaeda cell based in Pakistan in 1995.

“We’ve been able to prove this and we have evidence to show this,” he said during a press conference.

Bogollagama also said in Manila that the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, in its publication “Military Balance 2007,” also cited the “commercial links” between the LTTE and al-Qaeda.

In a recent session of the Asean Regional Conference and in the press conference that followed it the main theme of the Minister’s speeches and statements were the concern of the island republic’s terrorist problem. In a speech before foreign ministers of the ARF, Bogollagama said the LTTE owns and operates ships for the smuggling of humans, drugs, arms and military hardware. Majority of the narcotic shipments, he added, were destined for western markets.

In 1995, the LTTE transported a cache of arms and ammunition at the behest of Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Pakistan for use by the Abu Sayyaf operating in Southern Philippines.
“So long as funds are raised by these groups in some countries to commit acts of terror in another, this world of ours will never be safe,” Bogollagama was quoted having said by the Inquirer.
An economic downturn caused by a single terrorist act in one part of the globe, he said, would have an instant domino effect in markets far removed from it. “It is no longer an option to feel ensconced on the basis of acts of terrorism taking place in some part of the world far from our shores. Sharing of intelligence information assumes a sense of importance as never before,” he added.

At the end of the ARF, ASEAN foreign ministers renewed their call for a more concerted global war against terror by adopting without delay the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT). The 10-nation bloc is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

During the ARF meeting, ASEAN ministers stressed the need “to continue the strengthening of the international legal foundation in countering terrorism.”

They said that terrorism, “irrespective of its origins, motivations or objectives, constitutes a threat to all peoples and countries, and the common interest of the international community in ensuring peace, stability, security and economic prosperity.”

At the same time, the ministers reiterated their strong condemnation “of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”

They said terrorism should not be associated with any particular religion or ethnic group and expressed support and further called for “continued international efforts to promote and enhance dialogue and broaden the understanding among faiths, cultures and civilization.”

The ASEAN ministers were also unanimous in expressing their commitment “to prevent, suppress and eliminate international terrorism consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and other universally recognized international law.”

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