Political parties in Tamil Nadu this week criticised India’s sale of radars to Sri Lanka, saying the Colombo government would use them in its crackdown against the country’s Tamil population, IANS reported.
“There are reports that the Indian government is providing radars to the Sri Lankan government, which is waging an undeclared war on Tamils in the island nation and carrying out attacks on civilians,” T. Thirumavalavan of the Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) said.
The DPI, which has called for a protest rally July 8, said several ‘like-minded organisations’ would take part in it.
The DPI and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), both allies of the an ally of the opposition All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) are strident supporters of the LTTE and Sri Lankan Tamils.
Meanwhile, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), an ally of the ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), also criticised the radar sale Tuesday. Its leader, S. Ramadoss, urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop the sale.
“This partisan action of the central government is against the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Thirumavalavan said, adding that it amounted to “abetting the killing of Sri Lankan Tamils.”
He also alleged the Indian government was ‘toeing the US line’ on the Sri Lankan issue.
The Hindu newspaper reported over the weekend that India has resumed its defence ties with Sri Lanka with the commissioning of two military radars to secure the island-nation against low-level aerial attacks after a gap of six years.
The decision to gift the indigenously made Indra radars was made late last year following reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was scouting the global arms market for air assets, the paper said.
At present, the LTTE is believed to possess a couple of micro light aircraft. It had also developed two airstrips in the area under its control.
The last time India provided military capabilities to Sri Lanka was in 2000, when it gifted a fast attack craft, to help maintain sea dominance in general and check LTTE activities in particular.
Confirming the installation of the radars, non-military sources told The Hindu the gift fell under the category of “defensive and non-lethal equipment” and was in line with India’s policy to help the militaries of neighbouring countries to counter threats from non-state actors.
India had generally refrained from extending military assistance to Sri Lanka after stopping supplies in the mid-1980s, The Hindu said. But the paper’s sources “were unable to say” if the current transfer by the Indian Air Force would mark the beginning of the supply of more “non-lethal and defensive military” equipment to Sri Lanka.
The Hindu newspaper also quoted sources as saying India recently gifted a warship to the Maldives to patrol its island territories more effectively and that similar assistance was being provided or would be given to other neighbouring countries such as Seychelles, the Mauritius and Myanmar.
Radars that could locate artillery and mortar gun positions across the border were the first Government-to-Government sale by the United States to India after sanctions were lifted in 2000.
Internationally, even Japan was considering lifting its 60-year-old ban on military sales by gifting frigates stripped of their weaponry to some South-East Asian countries to help counter threats from pirates and poachers.
The decision to gift the radars was taken on the eve of Sri Lankan President Mahendra Rajapakse’s maiden visit to India in December last but was not disclosed by the defence establishment.
In response to a query, however, Defence Ministry sources confirmed to The Hindu the transfer of the radars.
India too is inducting Indra radars under the Air Defence Ground Environment System plan to improve low-level detection capability especially in peninsular India.
India hastened to provide the radars after Pakistan began showing interest in improving Sri Lanka’s aerial detection capabilities. The offer was first made during the former External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh’s visit to Colombo over a year ago.
“There are reports that the Indian government is providing radars to the Sri Lankan government, which is waging an undeclared war on Tamils in the island nation and carrying out attacks on civilians,” T. Thirumavalavan of the Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) said.
The DPI, which has called for a protest rally July 8, said several ‘like-minded organisations’ would take part in it.
The DPI and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), both allies of the an ally of the opposition All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) are strident supporters of the LTTE and Sri Lankan Tamils.
Meanwhile, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), an ally of the ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), also criticised the radar sale Tuesday. Its leader, S. Ramadoss, urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop the sale.
“This partisan action of the central government is against the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Thirumavalavan said, adding that it amounted to “abetting the killing of Sri Lankan Tamils.”
He also alleged the Indian government was ‘toeing the US line’ on the Sri Lankan issue.
The Hindu newspaper reported over the weekend that India has resumed its defence ties with Sri Lanka with the commissioning of two military radars to secure the island-nation against low-level aerial attacks after a gap of six years.
The decision to gift the indigenously made Indra radars was made late last year following reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was scouting the global arms market for air assets, the paper said.
At present, the LTTE is believed to possess a couple of micro light aircraft. It had also developed two airstrips in the area under its control.
The last time India provided military capabilities to Sri Lanka was in 2000, when it gifted a fast attack craft, to help maintain sea dominance in general and check LTTE activities in particular.
Confirming the installation of the radars, non-military sources told The Hindu the gift fell under the category of “defensive and non-lethal equipment” and was in line with India’s policy to help the militaries of neighbouring countries to counter threats from non-state actors.
India had generally refrained from extending military assistance to Sri Lanka after stopping supplies in the mid-1980s, The Hindu said. But the paper’s sources “were unable to say” if the current transfer by the Indian Air Force would mark the beginning of the supply of more “non-lethal and defensive military” equipment to Sri Lanka.
The Hindu newspaper also quoted sources as saying India recently gifted a warship to the Maldives to patrol its island territories more effectively and that similar assistance was being provided or would be given to other neighbouring countries such as Seychelles, the Mauritius and Myanmar.
Radars that could locate artillery and mortar gun positions across the border were the first Government-to-Government sale by the United States to India after sanctions were lifted in 2000.
Internationally, even Japan was considering lifting its 60-year-old ban on military sales by gifting frigates stripped of their weaponry to some South-East Asian countries to help counter threats from pirates and poachers.
The decision to gift the radars was taken on the eve of Sri Lankan President Mahendra Rajapakse’s maiden visit to India in December last but was not disclosed by the defence establishment.
In response to a query, however, Defence Ministry sources confirmed to The Hindu the transfer of the radars.
India too is inducting Indra radars under the Air Defence Ground Environment System plan to improve low-level detection capability especially in peninsular India.
India hastened to provide the radars after Pakistan began showing interest in improving Sri Lanka’s aerial detection capabilities. The offer was first made during the former External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh’s visit to Colombo over a year ago.
