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.