Arms arriving for Sri Lanka

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, MAY 10. Despite their military gains, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) may now encounter tougher resistance from the Sri Lankan troops who are now getting fresh arms supplies from abroad, highly-placed sources in the Government said.

Sources here pointed out that the arrival of arms and ammunition for the Sri Lankan soldiers, which has already begun, is likely to make a material difference to their combat strength in the coming days. Key players who are involved in the transfer of arms are Pakistan, Israel, South Africa and North Korea.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard are planning a limited exercise near the coast. This exercise, in which a detachment of the naval aircraft is also likely to be involved, is expected to send a ``graduated message'' of ``operational readiness'' to the LTTE. Conversely, these manoeuvres are meant to boost the morale of the Sri lankan forces. Such show of strength in conflict zones are ``routine'' and have a psychological rather than a military aim, the sources said. The Indian maritime forces are also involved in screening the refugees who are arriving in boats from Sri Lanka mostly in the Mandapam-Tuticorin zone.

The preparedness of the Island's troops may also improve as they are now getting larger access to commercially available surveillance data to pin-point the LTTE strongholds in the Jaffna peninsula and monitor their advance. Sri Lanka is especially keen to observe the shifting Tiger artillery deployments. Colombo wants to ensure that the LTTE's artillery, which include the highly-effective multi-barrel rockets, is kept out of the range of the Palaly air base, the key to the maintenance of the over 20,000 troops positioned in Jaffna. Colombo is also making efforts to ensure that traffic is not disrupted in the key ports involved in maintaining supplies for the troops.

The chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal A.Y Tipnis, accompanied by a ``technical officer'' of the rank of a Air Vice- Marshall is touring some of the key commands of the Sri Lankan air force. According to sources, he visited the flying training wing at the Anuradhapura airbase in the North on Tuesday as well as the Southern command of the air force at Diyafhlawa. Diplomatic sources here said that Sri Lanka could do with technical assistance to improve the serviceability of its planes which include the Israeli-built Kfir fighter jets as well as a handful of unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance.

The assessment of the changing scenario here is that Sri Lanka is acquiring enough military capability to prevent the Tigers from overrunning the entire peninsula, unless the troops, despite their improved weaponry, suffer inexplicable reverses. The sources said though the fighting has currently peaked, its drop to more ``acceptable levels'' in the coming weeks is not ruled out.

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