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To understand the concerns of India, struggle for control of Indian
Ocean, presence of US and the new big game we need to recall thehistorical events intertwined with the strategic location of Sri Lanka.
Background/ strategic importance of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has always been a strategic place as far as the subcontinentgoes and the sub continent has both mythological as well as historical
relations with the place which was very much part of the subcontinent.
But in the history which we are living today it is strategic importancethat matters and Sri Lanka is strategically poised since it is right in the
middle of Indian ocean and the complete potent ial of marit imepossibilities and probabilities have not yet been exploited by the world
that is changing every second. Tamil/Sinahlese problem again is
historical and India took the lead to exploit it for making sure that
strategic gains were her but it did not happen the way India wanted itto happen and a hasty retreat had to be the option but India hadcreated a monster in form of LTTE.
Strategic importance of Indian Ocean:
"Whoever controls the Indian Ocean dominates Asia. This ocean is t he
key t o the seven seas in the twent y-first century, the dest iny of theworld will be decided in these waters," said US Rear Admiral Alfred
Thayer Mahan more than a century ago.
The Indian Ocean covering 2,850,000 sq miles is the third largest in theworld with several important islands and about 47 countries around.It has Indian subcontinent in the North; Malaysia, Indonesia and
Australia in the East; Antartica in the South; and East Africa in the West.
The Indian Ocean covering Red Sea moves towards Suez Canal, andoil-rich Gulf, the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Malacca, which
is a major sea route between the West and the Far East.
In the South of Indian Ocean we have Diego Garcia where US has
move aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to Bay of Bengal in support for
Pakistan during 71 war.
It was after that India started thinking on formation of terroristorganization LTTE. Formed in 1976 LTTE began its armed conflict with
the Sri Lankan government in 1983 and relies on a guerrilla warfarestrategy that includes the use of terrorist tactics. After the 1983 riotsIndia started supporting the Tamil militants and in 1987 it had come up
with another idea to have a role in Sri Lanka which could give India
leverage for having strategic hold in the Indian Ocean.
India signed an accord with Sri Lanka in July 1987 for deploying IndianPeace Keeping Force (IPKF). Though apparently the aim was to find a
solution to the Tamil ethnic/separatist problem but it was clearly a
strategic move by India.
Indian duplicity in dealing with the LTTE
Though after signing the accord India had sent its
forces for peace keeping in Sri Lanka butunfortunately Indian soldiers end up sacrificing
their lives for deceptive game of their
government, not knowing that it was their owngovernment that was sacrificing the innocent
soldiers for polit ical mileage.It was reported by media that even when Indian
soldiers were fighting LTTE, India was facilitatingLTTE terrorists. Tamil Nadu was facilitating LTTEcadres for reinforcement and regrouping.
In 1997 a report appearing in Indian Express said ―Soldiers are t he only
innocents in politics. So it seems from the tale of a distraught father
looking for his Army-officer son, evacuat ed with a head wound. The
father walked into a hospital room only t o be t old by the nurse that ,``These four injured are cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE), and your son is in the next room''.
This was in November 1987, the injured Army officer served in the IndianPeace Keeping Force, and the mistaken hospital room was in Chennai,
India! In the truest sense of non-alignment, the Government of India
and its state government in Tamil Nadu were simultaneously treating
the LTTE cadres injured by the IPKF; and the IPKF personnel injured by
the LTTE.‖
Manvendra Singh wrote in the repor t ―Even while Indian soldiers were
dying in the jungles of north and east ern Sri Lanka, New Delhi was st ill
engaging the LTTE in t alks, and Chennai was allowing the militants torest, recoup and refit in Tamil Nadu. And some intelligence agentswere ambushed in the company of LTTE by t he IPKF, unaware that
New Delhi's operatives were even there and, above all, moving with
the militant s. He further accused RAW of orchestrat ing ambushesagainst Sri Lankan Army which even the IPKF was unaware of.”
―Similarly, the intelligence agencies even organised an ambush in
Amparai by the Indian-raised Tamil National Army on a Sri Lankan Army
brigade commander without the knowledge of the IPKF leadership.
There is even t he case of detailed maps made available to theint elligence agencies, but locked away in dust y cupboards, while theIPKF casualt ies mount ed because of insufficient information.
While a senior int elligence official was arrested for passing information
to a West ern country, officials closely involved with the crisis declaredunequivocally t hat each agency was pursuing its own agenda in Sri
Lanka and each kept the government informed, but only from itsparochial perspective‖, Manvendra Sing claimed in his report.
It was also reported that in clear disregard for sacrifices of Indiansoldier during fighting with LTTE, Indian government was still engage in
talks with LTTE. During the same period Indian Prime Minister RajivGandhi held a meeting with a senior LTTE leader Kasi Anandan at his 10Janpath residence.
Why India provides radars to Sri Lanka instead of weapons?
In the past whenever Sri Lanka asked India for sale of weapons to fightLTTE, India refused to sell necessary military hardware terming it
offensive weapons. However India did provide radars and technical
assistance to Sri Lanka.
When two Indian radar operators were injured in air strikes by LTTEplanes on Sri Lankan Air Force base in Vavuniya, Indians were boasting
about their role in fight against LTTE however they never elaborated
actual reasons for Indian assistance with regard to radars operation.
Operation Oyatha Alaikal (Operation Ceaseless Waves) overran Sri
Lankan military positions in the north and captured the Elephant PassBase and entered Jaffna; it was feared that LTTE would run down
thousands of Sri Lankan troops stationed in Jaffna, Sri Lanka soughtMBRLs from Pakistan. According to Jane's Intelligence Digest, weapons
and ammunition, including artillery shells and multi-barrel rocketlaunchers, were airlifted in an emergency operation from Karachi toColombo in May.
In 2006 as well Sri Lanka sought multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs)and other advanced weapons from Pakistan when Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Pakistan in March-April 2006along with an 80-member delegation that included military officials.
India was never happy with Sri Lanka over purchase of weapons from
Pakistan.
New players: China, Iran and Saudi Arabia:
The vacuum created by absence of active Indian support to Sri Lanka
against LTTE is being filled by new players including China, Iran andSaudi Arabia which again is a great cause of concern for India other
than worrying about Pak-Sri Lanka military ties.
China has also been supplying necessary arms and weapons to Sri
Lanka to fight the war against the Tamil Tigers. According to recentreports ―Sri Lanka has signed a US $ 37.6 million deal with the Beijing-
based Poly Technologies for a wide variety of arms, ammunition,mortars and bombs. Sri Lanka is also getting some Chinese Jian-7fight ers, JY 11-3D air surveillance radars, armoured personnel carriers, T-
56 assault rifles, machine guns and anti-aircraft guns, rocket -propelled
grenade launchers and missiles."
Besides China is also constructing a modern port at Hambantota in thesouth with an estimated cost of one billion US dollars which will be
completed in 15 years. The port work on which was started in 2007 can
be converted into a naval base in future.
Recently Iran has also agreed to provide assistance to Sri Lankaincluding training a team of Sri Lankan army and intelligence officers in
Iran, besides providing low-interest loan to enable it to purchase
defence-related equipment from China and Pakistan. Iran will alsoinvest US $ 1.5 billion in energy-related projects in Sri Lanka.
Similarly Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka recently have agreed to
cooperate in areas of mutual interests in the field of oil supply,explorat ion and investments.
US interests:
Keeping in view long term strategic interests in the region US hadalready made its presence felt with constructing Air Force base on
Diego Garcia, a coral atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a
submarine base and a Navy harbor for propositioning equipment andsupplies, in 21 fully-loaded ships at moorings, and in warehouses, for
U.S. military operations in the Arabian Gulf, the Middle East, South Asia,and East Africa.
Diego Garcia is the permanent US outpost nearest the subcontinent as
it lies approximately 2500 nautical miles from Islamabad. The base isapproximately the same distance from Kashmir and 2200 naut ical milesfrom New Delhi.
The presence of American intelligence agencies in Sri Lanka sincedecades is to monitor US interests viz a viz developments taking place
in the neighboring countries around India Ocean also is not a secret.
The central position of the island between the Straits of Malacca andHormuz further gives reasons for US interests in Sri Lanka besides it eyes
Trincomalee harbour. Since centuries Trincomalee harbour has been acentral strategic point for many powers right from Portuguese, Dutch
to Brit ishers. The harbour has played a significant role in WWII .
The presence of all these important countries gives Sri Lanka geo-
political importance keeping in view the bigger game for power in the
Indian Ocean.
In this scheme of things India seems to be at the receiving endalthough the recent warming up of its relations with US might have
decreased concerns about US influence in Sri Lanka which India
always considered a threat to her in the past. But given the history of
US relations with its allies especially Pakistan in the region, Americansare not considered reliable. Above all US doesn‘t tolerate potentialregional powers that challenge or tend to challenge her hegemony in
the future and undercut crit ical US st rategic interests in Asia and India is
Proximity between Indian support to LTTE and Baitullah Mehsud:
A sharp similarity between Indian active support to LTTE and pulling out
its chief Prabhakaran and militant Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and pullingits chief Baitullah Mehsud with help of CIA is stunning.
To understand the methodology in both the cases we need to have aclose comparison of Indian support to LTTE and TTP.
Sometimes back an Indian army Gen openly accepted that India hasits assets in FATA the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The communication equipment and weapons used by terrorists in FATA
are only used by US or Indian armed forces which even are not
available with Pakistani army.
The following report appeared in Pakistan Observer Newspaper onDecember 30th, 2008
Indian intelligence - RAW network in Afghanistan is the main cause ofdestabilization in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — According to informed sources Indian intelligenceofficials working in the disguise of diplomats in Embassy and Consulates
in Afghanistan have set up a vast covert operation network to
destabilise FATA, Northern Areas and Baluchistan engaging dozens of
Afghan, Indians, the drug dealers and other Afghan warlords.According to sources several agents hired by the RAW were capturedrecently in FATA, Waziristan and Southern Eastern areas. They have
provided loads of details claiming that the Indian had managed to
penetrate deeply inside Pakistan in collaboration with Indian paidagents in the region.
According to one spy who was recently killed by Taliban happened tobe Indian intelligence official named as C.R. Garg working as Attaché
and Personal Secretary to Indian Ambassador in Kabul who was found
offering as much as US$2000-3200 per one foreigner killed in Pakistan.The spy was given a telephone number for urgent contacts
Another Indian senior official named as Malkit Chand supposedly
working as Third Secretary of Education & Director of Indian Cultural
Centre is found engaged in human trafficking of Pakistani Baluchstudents from Afghanistan to India for their special training. Baluchi
students particularly the children of Baluch nomads are being offered
a sum of about US$200-300 per month when they are inducted to
proceed to India.
Chandra Mohan Mishra a Third Secretary at Indian Embassy in Kabul
and a person named J. Baby working as an Attaché (Technical) are
alleged to have held several meetings with Baluch militants duringmid-2008. These Indian intelligence officials are also engaged infinancing Pakistani youths and sending them from tribal areas to
several other Central Asian states. Recently two spies were hauled up
and arrested in tribal areas carrying ‗Thuraya‘ satellite phone numbers00-873-763095858, 00-873-763095867 and 0700501385 which belonged
to Indian intelligence officials inside Afghanistan. From the record ofcalls made they were traced down in contacts with Consulate
General of India, posted at Mazar-i-Sharif named Dinesh Behari and
Vice Consul D. N. Dutta.
‗Thuraya Satellite telephone‘ is product made of a dynamic
technology which gives freedom of movement and the ability to stayconnected in more than 110 countries in Europe, North, Central Africa
and large parts of Southern Africa, the Middle East, Central and SouthAsia. This means total coverage whether you are in a village, on a
mountain or by the coast. The GSM/Satellite Phones also are the
handheld phones combine three powerful technologies: satellite, GSMand GPS allowing users the flexibility to avail seamless connectivity
outside terrestrial network and utilise global positioning overview.
Thuraya also has the World‘s Smallest Satellite Phones designed to bethe smallest and lightest phone in the satellite industry, the Thuraya SO-2510, weighs a mere 130gm and is ideal for heavy users who require
only satellite service in areas with limited telecom connectivity like
Afghanistan and Pakistan tribal area. The SG-2520 is the only satellitesmart phone in existence; offering satellite service along with the full
range of advanced features.
Another Indian agents Sanjay Asthana working as Vice Consul at
Habibabad,, in Jallalabad was traced being in touch with above
arrested spies called ‗assets‘ using phone/fax number of 0797638744.An Indian official based in Herat, named Manohar Gangesh is working
as Consul in Indian Consulate. He is known to remain in close contactwith local agents who organize secret meetings and trainings for
Islamic militants. A militant leader has claimed that he discovered the
telephone number of a senior Indian intelligence official RajuBalakrishnan working as a diplomat and Vice Consul in Herat his
telephone 0799427738 retrieved from the possession of a recently
captured spy after his detailed interrogation.
According to a reliable sources early this year Indian agents
disguised as Muslim militant leaders by the name of Yasin Khan
(Original Indian name Amat Verma) and ―Nasir‖ identified as―Santosh‖ were operating a massive network of terrorists in Jallalabadwhile another so-called ―Islamic militant leader (original name Sudesh )
also operates in Khost. Local Afghan commanders, drug dealers and
military commanders of US- NATO forces are well aware of their activities but they overlook these activities of covert operations against
Pakistan for sake of their own clandestine businesses and nature ofoperation.
Suicide bombing, LTTE and Baitullah Mehsud:
LTTE has said to be the inventor of suicide bombing. FBI in a January 10
report, posted on its website under the title ―Taming the Tigers,‖alleged that the LTTE had perfected the use of suicide bombers,
invented the suicide belt, killed some 4,000 persons in the past twoyears alone and ―assassinated two world leaders — the only terrorist
organisation to do so.‖
On the other hand the militants from TTP terrorist organisation of
Baitullah Mehsud are also using the same methodology of suicide
bombing and haved also been involved in killing of high profile
Pakistani government officials including Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
In an April 2008 report, the U.S. State Department also accuses the LTTEof engaging in abductions and extortion. Similarly the same tactic is
used by Tehrik-e-Taliban for generating money for their terroristactivities.
‘Al-Qaeda follows LTTE text book on terror’
FBI further said in its report that terrorist groups around the world are
following LTTE.
―The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is one of the ―mostdangerous and deadly extremist outfits in the world‖ and the world
should be concerned about the Tigers as they had ―inspired‖ networks
worldwide, including the Al-Qaeda in Iraq‖, Federal Bureau ofInvest igation (FBI) said.