Rebels training in India

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 18

Rebels training in India

From ‘The Economist,’ London

India’s southern coast has become a training ground for Tamil revolutionaries from Sri Lanka. The Indian Government has denied it, twice. But Indian journalists, practising the new national sport of investigative reporting, have seen and talked to the Sri Lankan guerrillas, and photographed them. The rebels claim to have links with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the anti-apartheid African National Congress, and Zimbabwean groups. Some 5000 rebels have undergone training, of whom a third carry arms. These consist of Kalashnikov rifles, supplied by the P.L.0., and G-3 West German rifles, said to have been bought through mercenaries in Britain. Retired Indian officers have been hired by the rebels to give train-

ing, and are sometimes paid higher salaries than they used to get in the Indian Army. The Tamil guerrillas are better known for bark than bite. At least seven different groups keep busy quarrelling with one another. The biggest and best known is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by 29-year-old Mr V. Prabhararan. Next in importance is the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, led by Mr Uma Maheswaran, who broke away from the Tigers and has since escaped an assassination attempt by his former colleagues. There is much vague talk of unifying the different rebel groups, but clashes of personality and ideology have proved too strong so far. There is no doubt that the rebels have the sympathy of the people and government of Tamil Nadu,

the Indian state from which the Sri Lanka Tamils originally came. Some rebel groups operate from the members’ hostel of the state legislative assembly. The state government pretends that there are no training camps. So does Mrs Gandhi. The result is that the rebels can make the two-hour journey from the Indian coast to Sri Lanka without interference from the .. Indian Navy or coastguard. The rebels also operate a radio station ? in Tamil Nadu, although this is forbidden by Indian law. They are not now capable of. anything more than occasional t acts of terrorism in Sri Lanka. But if they continue to get arms and overcome their rivalries, they ■’ could pose serious problems for Sri < Lanka’s tiny army. Copyright — The Economist.