|
Captain says India was source of detonators destined for Sri Lankan rebel territory
Associated Press,
Fri January 27, 2006 07:50 EST .
DILIP GANGULY - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) India was the source of tens of thousands of detonators seized by a Sri Lankan navy vessel that were to be delivered to Tamil rebel-held territory, an Indian captain said Friday. The navy detained the five Indian crew members of the vessel, which was seized late Wednesday off northern Sri Lanka - , an area under rebel control, Commander D.K.B. Dassanayake said. Raj, an ethnic Tamil, told Associated Press Television while in navy custody that he received the detonators from a Tamil-speaking Indian man in the southern Indian port city of Rameshwaram. Southern India is home to 56 million Tamils, some of whom have family or traditional ties with Sri Lanka - 's 3.2 million Tamils. Raj said his contact gave him detailed instructions on how to deliver the cargo. ``I was told by this gentleman to take this and when we reach a particular destination, give particular light signals and people will come by boats and pick them up,'' Raj said. Raj, 25, said he was given 5,000 Indian rupees (US$160; euro130) in advance and was promised an additional 15,000 rupees when he returned to India. On Thursday, when the seizure was announced, the Indian embassy in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo declined comment. Calls to the embassy Friday went unanswered. The seizure came after the rebels agreed on Wednesday to resume peace talks with the government next month after a lapse of nearly four years. More than 65,000 people were killed in the country's civil war, which began in 1983, before a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire brought relative peace in 2002. Peace talks broke down in April 2003 over guerrilla demands for extensive autonomy in the Tamil-majority north and east. The rebels want to set up a separate homeland for Sri Lankan Tamils, saying they can only prosper away from the domination of the majority Sinhalese.
Discuss this story
Published: Fri Jan 27 08:46:17 EST 2006
|
Express your opinions, meet others at the
