Monday, Dec 16, 2002
Monday, Dec 16, 2002 |
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By V.S. Sambandan
COLOMBO. DEC. 15. The controversy over broadcasting equipment imported for the Voice of Tigers (VoT) has deepened with media reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was granted a temporary licence for a private FM radio station. The LTTE, the Sunday Leader said in a report today, was given the licence last month to broadcast at an assigned frequency of 98 MHz, subject to the condition that the station would be at Kilinochchi, with a coverage of 20 km radius and an altitude of 75 metres. Though on the face of it, these assigned specifications could mean that the LTTE's broadcasts would be out of range from southern India; the possibility of installing repeaters to extend the range still leaves the crucial question unanswered. With Kilinochchi around 120 km, as the crow flies, from southern India, the relative ease with which repeaters can be installed, the existing VoT network and the fact that signals are stronger across seas, could still make it possible for the LTTE's broadcasts to reach Indian civilian pockets. While the immediate purpose of the transmission equipment is to broadcast to civilians in the northeast, beaming into India form a longer-term strategy, given the fragile nature of the ongoing peace process. The temporary licence, according to the Sunday Leader, was to broadcast ``educational, sports, entertainment (with desirable family content) and foreign news''. Local news would be permitted ``only with the approval of the Director of Information''. The equipment imported includes transmitters, antenna, amplifiers, a 20-channel audio mixer and speaker systems, the newspaper said. The issue is bound to occupy the domestic political agenda in the days ahead. The consignment, which was handled by the Norwegian embassy here was then sent with Government escort and handed over to the LTTE. Mystery over LTTE arms ship In another development, mystery surrounds the reported presence of an LTTE arms ship off Sri Lankan waters. According to the Sunday Times, the ship was sighted by the Indian Navy about 100 nautical miles northeast of Sri Lanka. Attempts by the Sri Lanka Air Force to locate the mystery vessel failed, the newspaper said, adding that the radar-equipped Beechcraft surveillance aircraft was deployed in the mission. The ship is said to have carried ``some cargo, suspected to be ammunition'' which the newspaper said was ``dumped overboard after the crew suspected they were being tailed''. It was ``not clear'' if some cargo was ``unloaded to barges'', the report said, adding that the ship had moved``deeper into international waters in an easterly direction''.
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