Regional security: Indian intel warns of possible LTTE-linked attack
15 May 2022
Regional security: Indian intel warns of possible LTTE-linked attack
15 May 2022
Intelligence and security vigilant to address threats: Alwis
Foreign news reports last Friday (13) warned of the risk of a terrorist attack in Sri Lanka by former cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).In a report published on Friday, The Hindu newspaper cited unnamed Indian intelligence sources that former LTTE cadres may want to exploit the economic and political instability in Sri Lanka to mount an attack to mark the Mullivaikal anniversary.“As the island nation has declared Emergency twice amid escalating violent protests, some sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, with multinational links, were trying to make their presence ‘felt’ in the ongoing clashes between protesters and security forces, Police sources said on Friday. Besides planning attacks to mark the Mullivaikal anniversary that falls on 18 May, which some groups observe as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, the ex-LTTE cadres were also conspiring to avenge the killings of their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, newsreader Isai Priya, and others, who were killed as the ethnic conflict ended after fierce fighting in 2009,” The Hindu reported.According to The Hindu, Indian security authorities have bolstered coastal security on the Tamil Nadu Coastline to ensure such plans are not executed.When asked about the report, Ministry of Public Security Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Jagath Alwis told The Sunday Morning that the Sri Lanka intelligence and security apparatus was vigilant and that risks of such threats had been noted in the past, especially around the month of May. “We continue to be vigilant and will act swiftly to prevent any threat to Sri Lanka,” Alwis said. However, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam questioned whether the concerns raised were timed to coincide with the national security narrative of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.“Perfectly-timed! People in the north and east remember loved ones lost in Mullivaikkal this week. Was this planted to stop them from remembering the dead? Is this from Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Shavendra Silva, or Kamal Gunaratne’s playbook? Also what’s your source, The Hindu?”he tweeted on Saturday night.
