Whence did LTTE arms ship embark?

Whence did LTTE arms ship embark?

Udeni Peiris, The Island, Asia News Network, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The debate which follows the sinking of each Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) ship with a load of weapons is once again
on; who gave the order to sink the ship -- President or Defense
Minister? As LTTE has already claimed ownership of the vessel
manned by 14 Sea Tigers, the nature of the cargo and destination
are not in doubt. What should be sought now is the port of
origin.

One need not be a military strategist to realize that blocking
the source of the arms smuggling, is the most effective way of
starving LTTE's armory. Yet sadly, SLMM is investigating whether
the MoU or international conventions have been violated, while
the politicians quarrel for a share of the credit. Full credit
should no doubt be given to the Navy.

As usual LTTE sought to mislead the Navy by declaring a false
name, State of Registry and Port of Origin. One could safely
dismiss the LTTE claim that the Port of Origin as Surabaya --
Indonesia, as a dead rope.

The Thai Foreign Minister who visited Indonesia a few weeks
ago on a fence mending mission, was told bluntly by the
Indonesian Authorities including President Megawati Soekarnoputri
to stop Thailand being used to smuggle weapons to such
terrorists. When the Thai Prime Minister visited Washington DC
last week, President Bush demanded that Thai government stop
immediately the use of Thailand as a safe haven and smuggling hub
for terrorists, including al-Qaeda and Hamas.

Sri Lanka's ablest Foreign Minister Kadhiragamar visited
Bangkok and urged the then Thai government to ban LTTE since
Thailand has become a convenient place to smuggle weapons to Sri
Lanka, as exposed by the Thai media. That request from a friendly
Buddhist country was ignored. But Malaysia banned LTTE no sooner
the terrorists were caught attempting to smuggle weapons to Sri
Lanka.

The last LTTE ship with arms sunk by the Navy could not have
come from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar or Indonesia. As LTTE ships
engaged in arms smuggling, are not registered in any country, not
insured and change the names frequently to avoid detection, even
the Lloyds Register of ships cannot be of any help to our
investigators. The name of the ship declared to the port of
Origin, may not be the name appearing on the ship when challenged
by our Navy.

Who could help us then to protect our country? The answer
clearly is principally Thai authorities, as Thailand is now the
well established haven for terrorists and convenient
transshipment hub for arms smuggling. Thai authorities owe it not
only Sri Lanka, but Indonesia, Philippines, India and even Russia
to fulfil its obligations under the UN Convention on Prevention
of Terrorism.

An interesting coincidence is that, each container load of
Buddha statues shipped from Thailand to Sri Lanka, is followed by
a ship load of weapons for LTTE. In fact, one wonders whether our
Navy should be on full alert, whenever golden statues are
delivered, which appear to have become a cue for LTTE to deliver
a shipment of arms.

The Thai Ambassador in Sri Lanka stated recently that,
although Thailand has not officially banned LTTE, unofficial
action is being taken to prevent LTTE activities in Thailand. It
sounds like the diplomatic "bad weather" excuse given by the Thai
Prime Minister for postponing his visit to Sri Lanka in May. The
arrest of LTTE terrorists in Bangkok a few weeks ago with a large
quantity of weapons and the refusal by the courts to grant bail
(unlike Sri Lankan courts) are welcome news and most appreciated.

However, it was revealed that one of the terrorists arrested
has been operating from Thailand for over ten years and even
participated in the peace talks in Germany. One could imagine how
many were killed in Sri Lanka with the weapons he would have
helped to smuggle to LTTE. Why can't the Thai authorities round
up all terrorists, freeze their bank accounts and cancel their
visas?

One could only hope that Thailand will prove friendliness by
stopping the flow of weapons to terrorists, rather than by
gifting golden Buddha statues or visits by VVIP's.