US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI7083

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 007083 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PGOV, IN, CE, India-SriLanka 
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON LTTE ACTIVITIES DELIVERED TO GOI 
 
REF: A. STATE 163016 
     B. NEW DELHI 06694 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) We delivered Ref A demarche on September 8 to MEA 
Director (Americas) Sanjay Bhattacharyya and Deputy Secretary 
(Sri Lanka) Anupam Ray, both of whom accepted it without 
substantial comment.  We pointed out that our giving the GOI 
this demarche was more about demonstrating our resolve to 
combat terrorism and to cooperate with the GOI on terrorism 
in South Asia, and less about sensitizing them to the 
problems presented by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) -- of which they are well aware. 
 
2.  (C) Bhattacharyya thanked us for bringing this effort to 
his attention, adding that he hoped he and Joint Secretary 
(Disarmament and International Security) Hamid Ali Rao would 
have an opportunity to host S/CT Coordinator Crumpton before 
year's end. 
 
3.  (C) The GOI freely shares with us its views on the LTTE, 
most recently last week (Ref B). 
 
4.  (SBU) Separately, Janata Party President and former Law 
Minister Subramaniam Swamy in a forthcoming "Hindu" column 
takes the GOI to task for its "policy fault lines" regarding 
the LTTE: banning it as a terrorist organization but not 
opposing the GOSL-LTTE peace talks ("which could end up 
legitimizing the outfit").  He continues by arguing that 
"India has a national security imperative and an unavoidable 
moral obligation to free Sri Lanka of the LTTE's treacherous 
terror" and advocates the GOI follow the below prescription 
to rein in the LTTE: 
 
-- Hunt down LTTE members who have been indicted and 
prosecuted under Indian law, including dispatching commandos 
to Jaffna to seize LTTE leader Prabhakaran. 
 
-- Assist and nurture non-violent, democratic-oriented 
political groups among Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils. 
 
-- Smoke out LTTE sleeper cells "in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, 
and other cities" to pre-empt attacks on Indian economic 
targets and uproot LTTE supporters "in political parties, 
media, and government." 
 
As Swamy's article demonstrates, there are many in India who 
see the LTTE as a sufficiently grave threat to justify steps 
beyond what even US policy would support. 
 
5.  (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: 
(http//www.state.sgov/p/sa/newdelhi) 
MULFORD