COLOMBO: China, one of Sri Lanka’s major suppliers of armaments, had also been the principal supplier of arms to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), says a report published in the Colombo-based daily The Island on Tuesday.
According to the report, the LTTE had bought ammunition, T-56 assault rifles and 14.5 mm air defence guns from the Chinese public sector firm NORINCO with End User Certificates showing the buyers as North Korea and Eritrea. The Tigers also bought artillery pieces, mortars and ammo.
The Chinese government must have known about these purchases, which had been made through bribery, an unnamed Sri Lankan official told The Island.
Although Colombo was aware that LTTE was buying weapons from China, the magnitude of it came to light only in the final stages of Eelam War IV, during the operations in Puthukudiyiuruppu and Udayarkattu, east of the arterial A-9 highway in the Wanni.
The army had discovered a four-barrelled mobile anti-aircraft gun of Chinese make, which had been used with “devastating success”. The “floating platforms” destroyed by the Sri Lankan navy and the Air Force in 2007-2008 had carried 152 mm, 130 mm and 122 mm artillery rounds and electronic warfare equipment. “All ammunition aboard were of Chinese origin,” the paper said.
According to the daily, the LTTE started purchasing from China during the 2002-2004 peace process. Japan, which had been friendly to Sri Lanka, had noticed this and had also investigated the North Korean link.
Lanka bans mobiles in schools
The Sri Lankan Education Ministry on Tuesday banned the use of mobile phones by students on school premises. Teachers are allowed to use their mobiles, but only sparingly. The directive was issued after a 14-year-old girl, who was reprimanded for telephone contact with a boy during school, hanged herself, reported AFP. Another student from the same school in Colombo attempted suicide after receiving similar reprimand.