CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

RETIRED INDIAN INTELLIGENCE COLONEL SAYS NEW DELHI IS IGNORING LTTE TERRORISM AT THE COST OF ITS OWN SAFETY

By Walter Jayawardhana

A retired Indian intelligence specialist has warned the Indian government that that if New Delhi ignores the threat by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the country’s sea going vessels taking a political angle the government is doing it at the cost of India’s national sovereignty.

“Is there a political angle in this issue involving national security? It should not be. If so, it would be dismal because it is at the cost of national sovereignty, and security of vessels flying the Indian colors,” said Colonel R. Hariharan, a military intelligence specialist in counter insurgency, writing in the Indian defense website. Hariharan had worked in the Indian Peace Keeping Forces before in Sri Lanka.

Hariharan said regarding major incidents of piracy committed by the LTTE New Deli has maintained stony silence due to political reasons and it has endangered sea vessels flying Indian colors.
“With all these happenings in the close proximity of Indian waters involving Indian vessels and citizens, one would have expected the Government of India to react more visibly. However, it had continued to follow its policy of maintaining a stony silence despite the act of piracy by an insurgent group involving a vessel flying the Indian flag”, Hariharan charged.

Harihran said, Indian trawler 'Sri Krishna', hijacked by LTTE in March, 2007, was sunk in Maldivian waters. On their release from custody, 11 members of its original 12-member Indian crew have confirmed that it was LTTE that had arrested them after taking over their vessel.
He further said Information from Maldives indicates that the LTTE probably seized the vessel to transfer weapons from another ship in an area well outside the beat of Indian and Sri Lankan navies. This would indicate the conscious effort of LTTE to elude Indian and Sri Lankan navies' ocean surveillance to bring in its weapons.

Hariharan said the Sri Krishan incident “is not the first act of LTTE piracy involving Indian assets. LTTE had hijacked a Jordanian ship Farah III in distress off the coast of Mullaitivu on December 23, 2006. It was carrying 14,000 tons of rice from India to South Africa which had been seized by LTTE. Then also the Government of India had ignored the whole affair. This attitude is all the more surprising, considering the readiness with which it had expressed its "concerns" as and when Indian fishing boats trespassing into Sri Lankan waters are rounded up or driven off by the Sri Lankan navy.” He further said.

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