LTTE cautions Tamils on martyrs day speech

The intelligence wing of the LTTE has cautioned the Tamil people not to give credence to any speech one of its intelligence operatives may give on Martyrs Day on Friday as he is now in the custody of the Sri Lankan army.

A press release e-mailed by one Kathirkamathambi Arivazhagan, in charge of external intelligence of the LTTE, says the Sri Lankan armed forces are planning to use Ram, one of the three former LTTE intelligence operatives captured by them, to make a broadcast on Martyrs Day to confuse the Tamil diaspora already divided with one section accepting that LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran "has attained martyrdom" in the final battle with the forces last May and another still clinging to the belief that he is alive.

"This is part of the propaganda offensive being carried out by the Sri Lankan armed forces to weaken the movement", the release said.

It also warned that besides Ram, two other operatives, Nakulan and Prabha, are in Sri Lankan armed forces custody and the three are being used to gather information about the overseas supporters of the Tamil Tigers.

The press release said former LTTE intelligence Devendran, who is part Sinhalese and who was trusted because he was used for intelligence operations in Trincomalee in the past, has crossed over to the Sri Lankan army side and he has successfully ensnared Ram, Nakulan and Prabha.

The press release, which reads like a page from a spy fiction, said Devendran was initially believed to have escaped along with the thousands of refugees from Mullivaikkal area of Mullaitivu in the last days of the battle. It transpired only later that he had crossed over to the Sri Lankan side.

The first to fall into the hands of Sri Lankan army's intelligence wing was Prabha, LTTE's Batticaloa in charge who escaped from the war zone and was hiding in Vanni region. He was trying to move to Batticaloa and was in touch with fellow operatives guarding Ram and Nakulan who escaped from Amparai during the final phase of the war in May and went into hiding in Batticaloa.

Prabha believed that Devendran was in Trincomalee and contacted him to link up with Ram and Nakulan. By then, the Sri Lankan intelligence got wind of the fact that Ram and Nakulan were hiding in Velaveli area in Batticaloa. The Sri Lankan intelligence used Devendran to get at Prabha. Believing Devendran, Prabha informed Ram and Nakulan that he would link up with them after reaching Batticaloa.

As promised, Devendran came to Prabha's hideout in the Vanni region from Trincomalee in a vehicle in which there were some Sinhalese in civilian clothes. It was only after getting into the vehicle did Prabha realize that the civilians were from the Sri Lankan intelligence. Thus, the Sri Lankan intelligence scored its first victory in its hunt for Ram and Nakulan.

They used Prabha to get in touch with Ram and Nakulan to find out their hideout. The two were blissfully unaware that Prabha had already fallen into the custody of the Sri Lankan intelligence.

Prabha asked them to come to a particular point in Batticaloa. Prabha and Devendran went in a Hiace van to that spot. Though LTTE intelligence men guarding Ram and Nakulan found out that the Sinhalese in the van were intelligence men, Prabha made them believe they were Devendran’s contacts. he Sri Lankan intelligence then used Ram to get in touch with LTTE's overseas supporters and donors by making them believe that he was going to carry forward the Eelam struggle.

Around this time, K P alias K Pathmanabhan emerged as a leader of the LTTE and the Sri Lankan forces feared if he was allowed to be at large, he might revive the movement. They, therefore, targeted KP. Since a section of the LTTE refused to accept KP's leadership, Ram was used as a trump card by the Sri Lankan intelligence to win his confidence.

This he did by pretending to accept KP's leadership and writing letters to overseas LTTE supporters.Eventually, KP was captured thanks to information provided by former LTTE operatives in Sri Lankan intelligence custody.

"It is not clear whether the Sri Lankan intelligence used Ram and Nakulan together or separately to sow seeds of confusion among the already divided diaspora supporters. But the fact remains that the intelligence got information about the supporters through the two.

In another dramatic twist, the intelligence leaked a piece of information that Ram escaped from its Minneria camp on Nov 5 and that he was rearrested on Nov 10."It is not yet clear whether Ram really escaped or whether the Sri Lankan intelligence had deliberately spread misinformation as part of its psychological war".

The press release said: "We believe the Sri Lankan intelligence is planning to use Ram to deliver a speech on Martyrs Day, the key part of which will be about the martyrdom of our leader Prabhakaran. It is being used as a tool to further divide those who want to pay respects to him and others who believe he is still alive. We caution the Tamil people not to fall a prey to the the propaganda offensive".

- Asian Tribune -