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India & the
Struggle for Tamil Eelam
India
Circumspect about LTTE air strike whilst
UK All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka rushes in...
28 March 2007
[see also
Katunayake Military Airbase Bombed by LTTE Air Wing, 25 March 2007 and
Another U.S. base in the Indian Ocean? - B. Muralidhar Reddy in the Hindu, 9
March 2007]
Comment by tamilnation.org
"...today, the US
and India may find common cause in weakening the LTTE - but weaken it in
such a way that thereafter each of them may successfully jockey for
position and influence in the Indian region. The 'weakening' in this
context means the isolation and annihilation of Velupillai Pirabakaran and
securing an LTTE under a 'reformed' leadership....The political reality is
that, on the one hand, the US is mindful that it was after all President
Jayawardene's 'growing togetherness' with the US which
led to New Delhi's support of
the Tamil militant movement in the early 1980s. At that time the US kept
its oars in Tamil waters with efforts such as hoisting the
Eelam flag in the
State of Massachusetts. Today, the same US continues to speak of the
'legitimate aspirations' of the Tamil people. On the other hand, New
Delhi has no desire to lose its ability to play the 'Tamil card' to keep Sri
Lanka in line in the years to come - even after the successful annihilation
of Velupillai Pirabakaran and the weakening of the LTTE. And so New Delhi
too proclaims ad nauseam that they are concerned to secure the 'legitimate
aspirations' of the Tamil people. Additionally it builds its own network
amongst dissident Tamils both in Sri Lanka and abroad to propagate its
interests. It is within the interstices of this international frame that the
struggle of the people of Tamil Eelam to be free from alien Sinhala rule
continues
under conditions of excruciating agony and suffering . And it is this
same international frame which Sinhala Sri Lanka seeks to use to continue
its
genocidal onslaught on the Tamil people..."
Nadesan
Satyendra in Black Pebbles & White Pebbles, 12 September 2006
India
Circumspect about LTTE air strike, 28 March 2007
 India
treaded with caution and reserve Wednesday (28 March 2007) while reacting
to the
Tamil Tigers' air strike on the Sri Lankan Air Force base at Katunayake
airport on Sunday, Indian press reports said. Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv
Shanker Menon was quoted as saying India was concerned at the general escalation
of violence in which the airstrike was one incident.
"We are very concerned at the escalation of violence in Sri
Lanka in the last few weeks. The incident is one part of the violent
incidents that we have seen. The humanitarian consequences really worry us,
when you see thousands of internally displaced people," rediff.com quoted
Menon as saying.
He underplayed the air strike by the LTTE, and said,
"To pick on an individual incident of violence will not help
solve the root cause of the problem. The root cause of the problem is the
conflict that has escalated the violence in last few weeks."
Menon avoided responding to a query on whether LTTE's air power
as such posed a threat to India. Instead he insisted that a solution to the
protracted conflict is the real issue.
"We will join the voice within Sri Lanka and abroad who would hope that violence
comes to an end soon and that they can find a solution to this conflict, a
solution that
enables all the communities in Sri Lanka to live together in peace," Menon
added.
Sri Lankan government spokesmen have been saying that the LTTE's
air capability posed a threat to other countries in the region, especially India
and Indonesia, rediff.com reported. But according to various reports, the Sri
Lankan government has been involving security personnel from other countries in
conducting its own military operations against the LTTE.
Pakistan, Israel and Ukraine have been mentioned in this connection. Some
reports have mentioned that Ukrainian mercenary pilots have flown the Sri Lankan
aircraft conducting bombing raids in the LTTE-held regions in the northeast of
the island in recent weeks, rediff.com reported. Conceivably, India would be
watching the growing foreign military presence in Sri Lanka with a sense of
disquiet, the agency said.
Meanwhile Colombo has blamed the radar installed by India at the Katunayake
airbase for their security failure on Sunday to detect and intercept the
intruding LTTE aircraft. But Menon summarily rejected this. "As far as we know,
there was no scope of the Indian radars failing," he said.
Whilst.. Rt Hon the Lord Naseby of Sandy,
Co-Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary group on Sri Lanka rushes in...
Rt Hon the Lord Naseby of Sandy, Co-Chair of the UK All-Party Parliamentary
group on Sri Lanka in an official statement has condemned the attack on the Air
Force base in Colombo and has appealed to the British government to bring
concerted pressure on the LTTE return to negotiating table.
The statement reads: The members of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri
Lanka unequivocally condemn the offensive aerial bomb attack carried out by the
LTTE on the Sri Lankan Air Force based in Katunayake on 26 March 2007 killing
and injuring Air Force personnel and causing damage to military infrastructure.
This provocative action really undermines the peace process.
This attack demonstrates the offensive air capability of the LTTE which
undoubtedly poses a threat not only to the security of Sri Lanka, but to the
entire South Asian Region. It also exemplifies the LTTE’s steady expansion of
its military capabilities with the objective of carrying out terrorist attacks.
The fact that the LTTE has used ultra light aircraft which are
difficult to detect on radar for carrying out bombing and possible suicide
missions, is a development which the international community must note with
great alarm. The acquisition of air capability by a terrorist movement poses a
new threat and runs counter to the current global efforts to defeat terrorism.
Undoubtedly international terrorist groups constantly adopt each others tactics
and this incident sets a dangerous precedent which All Party Parliamentary Group
urges the British government to take cognisance of this factor.
The UK AA Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka, through its C0-chair Lord
Naseby of Sandy requests the British Government to fully implement the LTTE
proscription, bearing in mind the close nexus between its fund raising in this
country and its acquisition of further military strike capabilities.
The recent detection of the ship loads of arms consignments and
the possession of aircraft with military hardware are a clear result of the
steady flow of funds to the LTTE’s war chest. The All Party Parliamentary Group
is strongly convinced that the UK government firmly supports the efforts of the
Government of Sri Lanka to bring about a political settlement to the conflict
through discussion.
The British Government therefore must bring concerted pressure
upon the LTTE to return to the negotiating table, by pro-actively curbing its
fund raising activities in the UK, which are undoubtedly a major contributory
factor to its present intransigence.
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