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.