AMBASSADOR BRIEFS INDIANHIGH COMMISSIONER ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 00123 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/INS, USPACOM FOR FP E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2016 TAGS: PREL PTE MARR CE IN SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR BRIEFS INDIANHIGH COMMISSIONER ON U.S.-SRI LANKAN MILITARY DISUSSIONS REF: 190653Z DEC 06 Classified By: Abassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. for reasons 1.4 (b and (d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador hosted a one-on-on lunch for Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad n December 22, hours after Prasad presented his credentials to President Rajapakse. The Ambassado told Prasad that he and his Embassy colleagues looked forward to working very closely with Prasad and his mission to share information and coordinate our messages to the Government of Sri Lanka, since the U.S. and India share virtually identical interests in Sri Lanka. Prasad fully endorsed the importance of very close coordination, noting that the U.S. and India were the most influential countries in Sri Lanka and therefore should work closely to ensure maximum impact. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador briefed Prasad on the request the Embassy had received earlier in the week from the Sri Lankan Navy Commander for USG assistance in locating and interdicting three LTTE ships believed to be 600 nautical miles south of Sri Lanka (ref). Ambassador told Prasad he had received the Navy Commander's blessing to brief Prasad on the Sri Lankan request since the USG wanted to be transparent with India, both because of our close bilateral relations, but also because the Indian Navy was active throughout the southern Indian Ocean making close coordination a must. The Ambassador noted that PACOM was now studying what the US military might do to respond to the Sri Lankan request. The Ambassador told Prasad the Sri Lankans had not approached the Indians directly because they believe that Tamil Nadu politics would likely preclude Indian action on this matter. That said, Ambassador noted that President Bush and PM Singh had agreed during the President's visit to India earlier in the year that maritime cooperation on such matters as piracy and smuggling marked a promising new area in which to expand cooperation. Cooperation to help Sri Lanka interdict LTTE arms shipments would be an equally promising area for cooperation. If India was interested in helping the U.S. and Sri Lanka regarding the three LTTE ships, the U.S. would be open to such cooperation. Prasad thanked the Ambassador for letting him know about the Sri Lankan request, promised to report this back to Delhi, but did not venture an opinion on whether India might want to participate. ¶3. (C) Ambassador also briefed Prasad that he had asked the Sri Lankan Navy Commander to brief the Indian High Commission on USG plans to install by mid-2007 land-based radars in Trincomalee, Point Pedro (Jaffna) and Mannar to improve Sri Lanka's capability to detect and track sea-based weapons and other smuggling by the LTTE. Prasad responded that the Sri Lankan Navy had indeed briefed his Defense Attache. In the spirit of transparency he noted that the Indian military might object to the radar at Point Pedro since it was so close to India that its purpose might be misconstrued. Ambassador explained that the purpose of the Point Pedro site was to give Sri Lanka the capability to monitor frequent LTTE ship movements to the east, north and west of Jaffna, not in any way to monitor or spy on India. Prasad, who served as India's Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington from 2001-2004, laughed and said he understood that, but others in the Indian system might not. ¶4. (C) Comment: This was a good, friendly start to what we are confident will be a very close working relationship. With respect to India's concerns about the proposed radar site at Point Pedro, the Embassy will plan to have ODC Chief Major Miller meet with the Indian DATT in January to brief him more fully on the planned capabilities of the radar at Point Pedro to relieve possible Indian concerns and discuss options. *********************** * Missing Section 002 * ***********************