Boat people: country of origin in doubt

By Manjula Fernando

The Sri Lankan defence authorities said they suspect the LTTE's shrewed propaganda machine behind the issue of the alleged Sri Lankan boat people, which had been blown up out of proportion in the international media lately.

"These boat people noticeably had been reaching Canada and Australia, two countries where the LTTE lobbying is very strong," Navy spokesman D.K.P.Dassanayake said.

It is possible they want maximum media attention to these incidents so that their international campaign could substantiate Sri Lanka is not safe for Tamils thus the call for separate homeland could be justified.

"These boats did not take off from the shores of Sri Lanka. The ship `Princess Eshwari' which carried 66 illegal immigrants to Canada belong to the LTTE's shipping fleet. It is registered in Cambodia. The vessel intercepted in Indonesia was of Indonesian make."

It was reported a wanted LTTE suspect had been on board the ship detained in Canada and the Government had called for his deportation.

The Navy spokesman said they have intensified the coast guard operations in contrary to relaxing their naval patrols during the post war phase and can be assured that ex-LTTE cadres cannot take off to safe havens in boats.

The authorities however, said they cannot deny the fact that the civilians seeking greener pastures may have flown to countries which offer relaxed visa procedures, such as Singapore and had been entering Indonesia or Malaysia to be illegally ferried to countries of their choice.

"Malaysia had become the LTTE human smuggling hub," the Navy spokesman said adding, "If these people were Sri Lankans, it is a possibility they could have left the country before the war was over."

The Foreign Ministry said they were yet to ascertain if the boat load of illegal immigrants detained in Indonesia was actually Sri Lankans. The boat taking illegal immigrants to Australia was intercepted near Indonesia on a tip off from the Australian authorities.

"Our officials from the mission there had not been able to interact with them as the boat people have prevented anyone from entering their boat," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

Some NGOs and government officials have been providing food via a specially arranged process. A few sick people in the boat were taken to a nearby hospital and returned, but other than that no one had been allowed access to the boat so far.

"There had been incidents before, that Tamils of different origins claiming that they were Sri Lankans so as to claim asylum status. So we need to verify if these people are truly Sri Lankans," she added.