Joint patrolling sought to prevent Mumbai-type strike from TN coast

by P.K.Balachandran|ENS

(August 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, a leading Sri Lankan expert on terrorism, has sought joint patrolling of the seas between Sri Lanka and India to prevent a Mumbai-type attack which a resurgent LTTE can stage from the Tamil Nadu coast.

Gunaratna, who heads the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, told an international conference on maritime security held in Galle last week, that the remnants of the LTTE, based in the West, could use Tamil Nadu to stage a sea-borne, Mumbai-style attack on targets in Sri Lanka.

Briefing Express on his presentation at the 10-nation conference, Gunaratna said: “The only place in which the LTTE can regroup militarily is Tamil Nadu, and it is the only place from which it can stage a Mumbai-type sea borne attack on Sri Lankan targets. Security is paramount for Sri Lanka. And since the LTTE poses a threat to India also, it is in the interest of both the countries to have their navies jointly patrol the seas between them.”

According to him, the Tamil Diaspora in the West is propping up pro-LTTE elements and Eelamists in Tamil Nadu. While most of the 20-odd pro-LTTE groups are small, some high profile politicians like Vaiko are also in it, posing a significant threat.

Gunaratna said that the Indian delegation at the conference led by the former Indian Navy chief Adm. Arun Prakash, saw the Mumbai-type strike as a trend setter and supported the idea of joint patrolling of the Palk Strait.

NEED TO GOVERN SEAS BETTER

The Sri Lankan scholar pleaded for a reform of the Law of the Sea to better police the “international waters” as these were still not governed properly. He recalled that from 1997 to 2009, the LTTE had brought 95 percent of its weaponry by sea.

“Today, the ocean is as vital as land. The ocean is vital for security and is also a vast untapped source of wealth too,” Gunaratna said.

He drew attention to the absense of adequate international awareness of the need to keep a watch on and police the high seas. The Law of the Sea needed amendments, because it had loopholes which the terrorists used to get away, he said. In this regard, Gunaratna cited the case of the LTTE arms vessel MV Yahata ( disguised as MV Ahat) whose crew was let off by an Indian court in 1996, on the grounds that the Indian Navy had no right to raid it in international waters. The judge pointed out that the cargo which the vessel was carrying was not meant for India but another country (Sri Lanka) and therefore its seizure by the Indian Navy, in international waters, was illegal.

HIGH QUALITY INTEL FROM INDIA

Among the key factors which enabled Sri Lanka to pulverise the LTTE’s military machine in the island between 2006 and 2009 was “very high quality intelligence” from India on the LTTE’s shipping, Gunaratna said.

There were key inputs from the US and Australian navies also. But other countries were not too forthcoming, he added.

The cooperation between the Indian and Sri Lankan navies had been on since the time Vice Admiral Clancy Fernando was the head of the Sri Lankan navy in the early 1990s. It was this cooperation which made the LTTE assassinate him with a suicide bomber on November 16, 1992, as he was driving past Galle Face Green en route to the Naval HQ in Colombo.