The Hindu editorial May 01, 2007 :
Get serious about LTTE threat
REACTION MUTED: It is more than 50 days since 12 Indian fishermen
were abducted by the Sea Tigers - the naval arm of the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam. Unfortunately, there has been no word of condemnation
yet from the Government of India or the Tamil Nadu government.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu are the first to condemn the Sri
Lankan government for killing, capturing, or intimidating fishermen from
the State who cross the international maritime boundary line.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly has adopted several resolutions
condemning the island nation's Navy. But when the State's Director
General of Police, D. Mukherjee, revealed that the Sea Tigers were
directly involved in the firing on Indian fishermen that left five
people dead on March 29, and that 12 missing Indian fishermen including
one from Kerala, have been detained by the LTTE from March 4, the
reaction was muted.
It was left to the Congress and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam to highlight the issue in the Assembly. The pro-LTTE parties
and groups have expectedly maintained a damning silence. Chief Minister
M. Karunanidhi, who registered his shock, offered an assurance that the
LTTE would be given no room in Tamil Nadu.
As though these anti-India extremist acts were not enough, improvised
LTTE aircraft bombed oil storage tanks and facilities in Colombo in the
early hours of Sunday. The fuel depot of Ceylon Petroleum Storage
Terminals Limited, a joint venture of the Indian Oil Corporation, the
Government of Sri Lanka, and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, was
targeted. Even this has not been condemned.
The time has come to remind the Congress-led government at the Centre
that foreign policy, even when it involves Sri Lanka, must be made in
New Delhi - not in Chennai, and certainly not under the influence of
pro-LTTE parties.
It has become abundantly clear that the banned terrorist organisation,
especially through the Sea Tigers and now a small air wing, has emerged
as a security problem for India.
The people of Tamil Nadu - who decidedly do not want to return to the
benighted experience of 1983-1991 - expect both the Central and State
governments to crack down on all groups and fringe elements that aid and
abet, from Indian soil, the activities and cause of the LTTE. India must
also equip its neighbour to deal defensively with threats to its vital
installations.
Without directly getting involved in the military effort in Sri
Lanka, India must provide state-of-the-art radars and anti-aircraft guns
to the Sri Lankan government to neutralise the threat from the LTTE air
force.
It is shocking that the LTTE, which took quite a beating in recent
months from the Sri Lankan armed forces, has been able to deploy its
light aircraft, concealed in the Vanni, on bombing raids thrice in
recent weeks without coming under effective attack. In its own national
interests, India needs to give up any ambivalence on what needs to be
done and get serious about the LTTE threat. |