The Sri Lankan government quickly backtracked on statements made by its prime minister that rebel Tamil Tiger camps were operating in southern India.
Mind your tongue Mr. Prime Minister
Prime Minister Dee Moo Jayaratne seems to have put his foot in his mouth, though he was forewarned only weeks ago to be careful in speech, one of the tenets to be followed by good Buddhists.On Wednesday, he told Parliament that there were LTTE training camps in he southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu only to draw the wrath of the Indian authorities who lost no time in denying the story.
Srilankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne told the Sri Lankan Parliament the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were operating three training camps in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The state is the nearest part of India to Sri Lanka, being only 33 miles across the Palk Strait. It is also home to many ethnic Tamils.
Jayaratne said intelligence reports showed one of the camps was training rebels to assassinate officials in Sri Lanka.
"Their next target is to create small-scale attacks," he said. "The entire nation must be ready to face this threat."
But after strong denials from senior Indian government leaders and top Indian security force officers, Sri Lanka's government quickly said the prime minister based his statements on wrong information.
Jayaratne told the Sri Lankan newspaper The Daily Mirror that accounts of the supposed camps were "mentioned in two newspaper reports" and "there appears to be false information in these reports."
"The incorrect statement made by Prime Minister Jayaratne was a closed chapter as he himself has made a statement accepting the mistake," Sri Lankan Youth Affairs and Skills development Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said. "The denial of the existence of LTTE camps in Indian soil strengthened the friendship between the two countries."
An opinion article in the Sri Lanka Guardian newspaper questioned the prime minister's understanding of the government's victory over the LTTE in 2009, acknowledged by the LTTE itself. Many of the LTTE's senior military leaders were killed in the last year.
Jayaratne, 80, may be suffering from a "fear psychosis," the unsigned Sri Lanka Guardian article said. He "is said to be suffering from Tamil Tiger haunt syndrome even after the LTTE has been militarily vanquished outright by the government."
India was quick to deny and condemn Jayaratne's comments amid tense relations between the countries. Both are holding fishermen from the other country and their boats after allegations the detainees were fishing in the wrong territorial waters.
India's Ministry of External Affairs "categorically" denied the camps existed. "Such a reference is indeed unfortunate and we urge the government of Sri Lanka to desist from reacting to speculative and uncorroborated reports," a statement said.
Tamil Nadu's Director-General of Police Letika Saran called the reports of LTTE camps "baseless and devoid of any reality."
State police are patrolling coastal areas of the state with regard to insurgent activity, including that of LTTE, she said.
"The intelligence wing of the state is fully geared up and constantly monitoring such information, and the State police, including the Coastal Security Group, are keeping a vigil in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu," Saran said. "The police were taking action immediately on any report or intelligence input received from any quarters."
She also said the attack at the Mahabodhi temple in the state capital Chennai in late January wasn't carried out by LTTE sympathizers. "The LTTE has no role in this affair and their very presence in Tamil Nadu is denied," she said.
The LTTE was founded in northern Sri Lanka in 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran to fight for a separate Tamil Eelam state. The LTTE evolved into one of the most successful fighting groups, an FBI report said in 2008.
Kilde: upi.com
No comments:
Post a Comment