Following Delhi High Court blast:

India heightens surveillance on LTTE

India has intensified intelligence gathering on terrorist groups in India and the region including the LTTE following the deadly blast outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.

The Indian Home Ministry had advised all States to watch out for terror groups including the LTTE in the wake of the Delhi blast which claimed 13 lives. In the wake of the blast outside the Delhi High Court, the Home Ministry is reported to have raised the flag to all the States asking them to watch out for Babbar Khalsa, the Sikh terror outfit, and the LTTE.

In an advisory, the Secretary of Internal Security has asked the States to review the security arrangements of all the High Courts. The decision to keep a closer watch on the LTTE comes amidst credible reports that the group is striving to re-organise its military capabilities in India.

The US State Department in its ‘country reports on terrorism – 2010’, said LTTE members who fled Sri Lanka have since attempted to reorganise in India. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also called for strengthening the global intelligence gathering mechanism to tackle terrorism.

Speaking on the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, just a few days after the deadly blast outside the Delhi High Court, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said:

“The Delhi blast shows that there can be no let up in intelligence.

Security methods have been internally reviewed.

No civilised society can bear the loss of loved ones,” he said.

Investigators are reportedly taking a closer look at a few intelligence inputs over recent months that hinted at efforts by Sikh extremist groups to target New Delhi.

As late as mid-July, intelligence agencies had received inputs that Sikh groups may try to carry out attacks in the wake of the President rejecting the mercy petition of Khalistan Commando Force terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar. Similarly, the Indian President has rejected a clemency plea for the condemned killers (all LTTE members) of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Several pro-LTTE political parties and groups based in Tamil Nadu have agitated for a pardon for the convicts or commuting their sentence.

An Indian Court has stayed their execution by eight weeks. It has also been reported that the LTTE could have funded certain political parties in Tamil Nadu. A US diplomat of Indian origin who had a stint at the American consulate in Chennai had in a confidential cable hinted that the LTTE could have financially supported the MDMK, according to Wikileaks. Ravi Candalai, then acting US Consul General in India, mentioned this in a cable sent on May 15, 2006, two days after the DMK was voted to power.

The diplomat surmised that substantial financial support for the LTTE came from Tamils living in Canada, the UK, Netherlands and Germany. Meanwhile, the LTTE has intensified its propaganda and regrouping efforts in several countries. The Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) had organised a major fund raising event for the LTTE at the Aiyyapan Temple in Toronto on August 29 where LTTE ideologue Fr. S.J. Emmanuel and his assistant Suren Surendran from the UK-based Global Tamil Forum delivered speeches in an attempt to recruit members and revive the LTTE. According to participants, they had asked for funds to help the community to organize public protests in Jaffna.