DEMARCHE ON LTTE ACTIVITIES DELIVERED TO GOI

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 007083 SIPDIS STATE FOR S/CT E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2015 TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV IN CE SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON LTTE ACTIVITIES DELIVERED TO GOI REF: A. STATE 163016 ¶B. NEW DELHI 06694 Classified By: A/DCM Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) We delivered Ref A demarche on September 8 to MEA Director (Americas) Sanjay Bhattacharyya and Deputy Secretary (Sri Lanka) Anupam Ray, both of whom accepted it without substantial comment. We pointed out that our giving the GOI this demarche was more about demonstrating our resolve to combat terrorism and to cooperate with the GOI on terrorism in South Asia, and less about sensitizing them to the problems presented by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- of which they are well aware. ¶2. (C) Bhattacharyya thanked us for bringing this effort to his attention, adding that he hoped he and Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security) Hamid Ali Rao would have an opportunity to host S/CT Coordinator Crumpton before year's end. ¶3. (C) The GOI freely shares with us its views on the LTTE, most recently last week (Ref B). ¶4. (SBU) Separately, Janata Party President and former Law Minister Subramaniam Swamy in a forthcoming "Hindu" column takes the GOI to task for its "policy fault lines" regarding the LTTE: banning it as a terrorist organization but not opposing the GOSL-LTTE peace talks ("which could end up legitimizing the outfit"). He continues by arguing that "India has a national security imperative and an unavoidable moral obligation to free Sri Lanka of the LTTE's treacherous terror" and advocates the GOI follow the below prescription to rein in the LTTE: -- Hunt down LTTE members who have been indicted and prosecuted under Indian law, including dispatching commandos to Jaffna to seize LTTE leader Prabhakaran. -- Assist and nurture non-violent, democratic-oriented political groups among Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils. -- Smoke out LTTE sleeper cells "in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and other cities" to pre-empt attacks on Indian economic targets and uproot LTTE supporters "in political parties, media, and government." As Swamy's article demonstrates, there are many in India who see the LTTE as a sufficiently grave threat to justify steps beyond what even US policy would support. ¶5. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: (http//www.state.sgov/p/sa/newdelhi) MULFORD