India could again help Sri Lanka
India could again help Sri Lanka
By Rohan Gunasekera
COLOMBO (Reuter): India could help Sri Lanka fight Tamil guerrillas with a naval blockade and logistics support, but it is unlikely to commit troops to the island again, defense analysts and diplomats said on Tuesday.
"Sri Lanka surely could do with Indian help," a Western diplomat told Reuters. "India could mount a sea blockade for a start (to cut off Tamil rebel supplies).
"As for active measures, I do not know how much Sri Lanka is ready to ask for and how much India is prepared to give."
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in New Delhi on Tuesday for a summit of South Asian leaders, was expected to ask for Indian military aid in talks with Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, diplomats said.
They said Sri Lanka sounded out India for military help after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) raised the intensity of their 12-year-old war by downing two air force planes last week, killing 94 people.
Diplomats said India might be reluctant to send troops into action against the Tigers after failing to crush the Tamil rebellion when former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi sent in troops in 1987.
The Indian troops, numbering 60,000 at their peak, eventually pulled out in March, 1990, after 2-1/2 years of indecisive warfare in which some 1,100 Indians were killed.
At one point, former President Ranasinghe Premadasa was so keen to see the back of the Indians that he was arming the LTTE to fight them.
Both Gandhi and Premadasa were killed by suspected Tamil rebel suicide bombers. India has alleged Tiger chieftain Velupillai Prabhakaran was behind Gandhi's assassination and wants him extradited for trial.
"India may be reluctant to extend any support to too greater levels that would involve Indian casualties or POWs," another Western diplomat said, referring to prisoners of war.
"India may provide helicopters for logistical support away from the front lines," he added.
"I'd be surprised if they extend naval support to naval gunfire support (for Sri Lankan army operations). If they try to introduce combat troops or anyone in combat, it could cause more problems than it would solve."
He said India could also help by keeping Indian fishermen out of Sri Lankan territorial waters. The Tigers are known to smuggle arms and supplies using fishermen in the neighboring south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The Tigers are fighting for a separate state in the north and east for the country's 2.5 million Tamils, who feel they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese in land, language and education.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in the war which began in 1983. Both sides say they are committed to eventual peace, but the rebels broke a 14-week truce on April 19 and offensives and counter-offensives have continued since then.