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Wikileaks Expose: What India said about Sri Lanka
While the Sri Lankan armed forces were battling the LTTE in the East in early 2007, India expressed serious concern that the situation in Sri Lanka was rapidly deteriorating, according to a confidential US embassy missive released by the whistle blowing website, Wikileaks.
The US cable dated April 27, 2007 dealt with the situation in Sri Lanka at an initial stage of the military campaign launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government in response to the LTTE declaring war in the second week of August, 2006.
The cable quoted senior Indian officials as saying that the situation in Sri Lanka was ‘beyond bleak’ and that neither the government nor Tamil separatists had any ‘regard’ for the international community and also sought a briefing from the US regarding Sri Lanka’s growing relations with China.
Sources pointed out that a discussion between Indian and US officials based in New Delhi on April 26, 2007 had been the basis of the embassy cable in the wake of the launch of Sri Lanka’s military operations on the Vanni front in March 2007.
Military sources said that contrary to the perception in New Delhi, Sri Lankan forces had liberated the Eastern Province within three months. The LTTE collapsed on May 19, two years later.
A New Delhi based US diplomat quotes in the leaked cable Mohan Kumar, Joint Secretary of the External Affairs Ministry as saying, "The situation in Sri Lanka is "bad, really bad - beyond bleak."
The US official said that Kumar had called the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE as two sets of people with scant regard for the international community and was sceptical that political progress could be achieved anytime soon.
The embassy official says: "Kumar confirmed reports that the Indian Navy has stepped up patrols in the Palk Strait, and said that India and Sri Lanka are doing coordinated patrolling to prevent the smuggling of weapons from the Tamil Nadu coast. Kumar said it would be helpful to get the American assessment of the port being built in Hambantota, which he estimated China was willing to spend US $500 million to help develop." He noted that China has increased its influence with President Rajapaksa, opining that Rajapaksa had a "soft spot" for China following his visit to Beijing in March.
In spite of Kumar’s claim of coordinated patrols in the Palk Strait, the Sri Lankan Navy intercepted and destroyed many trawlers carrying weapons after they crossed the Indo-Lanka maritime boundary. Sources recalled how New Delhi declined Sri Lanka access to those LTTE cadres and their Indian associates held in India on arms smuggling charge.
According to the leaked cable, which dealt with Burma, Maldives & Bangladesh, the Indian Joint Secretary of External Affairs has expressed concern over the Hambantota Port building project. A New Delhi based British diplomat, too, was involved the discussion. The US embassy identifies the British official as Alex Hall-Hall. Sources said that this was evidence that US and British strategy on the four countries could be the same as revealed subsequently.
President Rajapaksa commissioned the first stage of the Hambantota port project last month.
The Island
While the Sri Lankan armed forces were battling the LTTE in the East in early 2007, India expressed serious concern that the situation in Sri Lanka was rapidly deteriorating, according to a confidential US embassy missive released by the whistle blowing website, Wikileaks.
The US cable dated April 27, 2007 dealt with the situation in Sri Lanka at an initial stage of the military campaign launched by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government in response to the LTTE declaring war in the second week of August, 2006.
The cable quoted senior Indian officials as saying that the situation in Sri Lanka was ‘beyond bleak’ and that neither the government nor Tamil separatists had any ‘regard’ for the international community and also sought a briefing from the US regarding Sri Lanka’s growing relations with China.
Sources pointed out that a discussion between Indian and US officials based in New Delhi on April 26, 2007 had been the basis of the embassy cable in the wake of the launch of Sri Lanka’s military operations on the Vanni front in March 2007.
Military sources said that contrary to the perception in New Delhi, Sri Lankan forces had liberated the Eastern Province within three months. The LTTE collapsed on May 19, two years later.
A New Delhi based US diplomat quotes in the leaked cable Mohan Kumar, Joint Secretary of the External Affairs Ministry as saying, "The situation in Sri Lanka is "bad, really bad - beyond bleak."
The US official said that Kumar had called the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE as two sets of people with scant regard for the international community and was sceptical that political progress could be achieved anytime soon.
The embassy official says: "Kumar confirmed reports that the Indian Navy has stepped up patrols in the Palk Strait, and said that India and Sri Lanka are doing coordinated patrolling to prevent the smuggling of weapons from the Tamil Nadu coast. Kumar said it would be helpful to get the American assessment of the port being built in Hambantota, which he estimated China was willing to spend US $500 million to help develop." He noted that China has increased its influence with President Rajapaksa, opining that Rajapaksa had a "soft spot" for China following his visit to Beijing in March.
In spite of Kumar’s claim of coordinated patrols in the Palk Strait, the Sri Lankan Navy intercepted and destroyed many trawlers carrying weapons after they crossed the Indo-Lanka maritime boundary. Sources recalled how New Delhi declined Sri Lanka access to those LTTE cadres and their Indian associates held in India on arms smuggling charge.
According to the leaked cable, which dealt with Burma, Maldives & Bangladesh, the Indian Joint Secretary of External Affairs has expressed concern over the Hambantota Port building project. A New Delhi based British diplomat, too, was involved the discussion. The US embassy identifies the British official as Alex Hall-Hall. Sources said that this was evidence that US and British strategy on the four countries could be the same as revealed subsequently.
President Rajapaksa commissioned the first stage of the Hambantota port project last month.
The Island
