SRI LANKA CONFLICT: SPILLOVER INTO INDIA CONTINUES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000280 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER EFIS MOPS IN CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA CONFLICT: SPILLOVER INTO INDIA CONTINUES REFS: (A) CHENNAI 00198; (B) CHENNAI 0143; (C) CHENNAI 0086 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The effects of the intensifying conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan forces continue to spillover into India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. The death of five Indian Tamil fishermen on March 29, gunned down by unknown assailants, has raised anti-Sri Lankan sentiment yet again in Tamil Nadu. Indian defense forces have stepped up patrolling and monitoring activity in the wake of appeals by Tamil Nadu's DMK-led government. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu police continue to seize large quantities of supplies likely meant to be smuggled across to Sri Lanka. END SUMMARY -------------- WORST ATTACK TO DATE ON INDIAN FISHERMEN -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On March 29, five Tamil Nadu fishermen were shot dead by unknown assailants in the Gulf of Mannar. Initial media reports alleged that the attack took place in Indian waters and that the assailants were Sri Lankan Navy personnel who were not in uniform. Chief Minister Karunanidhi, however, referred to them as an "unidentified group" in his March 31 letter to Prime Minister Singh urging the Prime Minister to find out the "identity of the attackers and their international connections." The Chief Minister demanded enhanced Indian air and sea patrols in the area. This incident, the bloodiest in a series of recent attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen (Ref A),raised protests in Tamil Nadu with fishermen holding rallies and strikes in the coastal districts. ¶3. (SBU) Confusion prevails in Tamil Nadu over the identity of the killers. Chief of the Indian Naval Staff Admiral Suresh Mehta commented to the media that the attack could be a tactic by the Tamil Tigers to create a rift between India and Sri Lanka. A source with close connections to the Coast Guard agreed that that the Tigers could have been behind the attack. But sources with the Tamil Nadu police believe the assailants may have been from the Sri Lankan Navy, which uses hired fishing boats to monitor activity on Sri Lanka's northwest coast. Media reports that the surviving fishermen told investigating officers that the assailants had looked like Indians only add to the confusion. -------------- MORE SHIPS ARRIVE, RADAR SET UP -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The Indian Navy and Coast Guard, meanwhile, have responded to calls for a stepped up presence in the region. With the recent arrival of two naval vessels, media reports indicate that the Navy and Coast Guard are currently operating at least four ships and several patrol boats and hovercraft in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar. The Indian Navy has also reportedly begun discussions with the government of Tamil Nadu to set up a permanent naval station in Rameswaram (the point in India closest to Sri Lanka). South Indian media widely reported on March 29 that the Indian Air Force has set up a radar system near the coastal village of Sundaramudayan in the wake of the the Tamil Tigers' first-ever air attack in Colombo on March 26. -------------- ARMS SMUGGLING ATTEMPT BUSTED AGAIN -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Tamil Nadu police, meanwhile continue efforts to disrupt the alleged Tamil Tiger smuggling network in Tamil Nadu. On March 28, the police seized 1,950 detonators from the Irumeni coastal village. Deputy Inspector General of Police S.S. Krishnamurthi informed post that the detonators were obviously meant to be smuggled to Sri Lanka. He said they had been procured in India and were of the kind commonly used in rock quarries. The detonators were hidden in a sand mound in a coconut grove, close to the largest Sri Lankan refugee camp in India. No arrests have been made in the case so far although several people are being questioned by the Tamil Nadu police's anti-terrorism unit. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: With the virtual collapse of the ceasefire in Sri Lanka, post's interlocutors feel that the Tamil Tigers perceive the need to reactivate their smuggling network. Our contacts believe that increased intelligence and law enforcement activity directed at the Tamil Tigers by the U.S. and EU countries is forcing the Tigers to look to their contacts in South India for supplies. Tamil Nadu's fishermen, taking to the waters between India and Sri Lanka in thousands of small boats each day, present an almost insurmountable smuggling problem for both governments. Even while showing alacrity in pursing recent cases of arms smuggling and in stepping up patrolling by the Navy and Coast Guard, Indian officials recognize that the problem will continue to exist so long as the conflict continues on the island. Our contacts in South India do not want CHENNAI 00000280 002 OF 002 India to pursue the Sri Lankan proposal to hold joint patrolling: being caught in a direct military conflict with either the Tamil Tigers or the Sri Lankan Navy is the last thing they would want given the political complexities of the region. END COMMENT HOPPER